Well then;
Gig 'Em!!
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I went ahead and made the follow up video I said I would. It focused on what my intentions were, what they were NOT, how I plan to improve these videos, and some brief thoughts about performing for the general public. Again, huge thanks to everyone who gave feedback, and constructive criticism is always welcome!
My deepest apologies to anyone who found the previous video offensive. That is never my intention. It is never about me being better than anyone, but always about promoting this awesome sport to everyone else and trying to be an inspiration/encouragement. That was my first time with that style of video, but I think by applying the feedback I received from it, this concept could really take off.
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Thanks for your replies and consideration and continued discussion, @Discrete_Integral.
You asked for feedback, received feedback, acknowledge it, discussed it and are incorporating it in your future ventures.
That in all honesty something pretty impressive! Chapeau!
Oh, regarding that point I didn’t/I don’t know about how that’s in your country, neither legally nor how socially accepted it is there.
Anyway, I find some interesting discussion and ideas in this thread.
lol
Nice. I did and also do see that.
Have fun with your future riding and experiments.
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This makes sense to me. This is also what I think was the reason I had more reactions earlier, is that I wasnt as good and as confident as now. Non riders didnt feel threatened or felt inadequate and even offered me advice on how I could ride or do my tricks better. But when I got better I felt more people pretended not to look and less response from them. But I too did not look at them much as I got less self conscious over time
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So where do I start…
First off, as usual, your riding is awesome! I am working up to some of those tricks but not being in my 20s anymore, I will unfortunately probably never be that good.
But you have some major misconceptions about non-unicyclists…
Don’t unicycle with the hope/intention to impress people! That’s just doomed to failure.
Do unicycle because it is fun, because it is healthy and good for your balance and coordination, and because you meet cool unicyclists.
As to how non-unicyclists perceive unicycling tricks:
- Most people only care about something that is connected with money and fame (or danger) – for good and bad there is no money or fame in unicycling
- Those who are open to something different and maybe impressed by unicycling generally have no concept of what is difficult, so simply riding a unicyle is generally impressive to such people. Whether you can do backwards wheelwalk or standup ww or side saddle is usually irrelevant though.
Unfortunately there is not a direct relationship between difficulty and impressiveness. Here is my guess of increasing levels of being impressed from non-unicyclists:
- Riding a 20" unicycle (doesn’t matter if you’re doing side saddle or drag seat, it’s basically all the same, and it’s slow and not “dangerous”)
- If I were to ride through the A&M campus on my 36" unicycle (merely riding, i.e. way easier than the tricks you’re doing), then many more people would be impressed because it is “big” and appears somewhat dangerous (people might watch as I could wipe out spectacularly – I basically never do and have way more spectacular crashes trying tricks on the 20").
- If I were to ride through campus doing a 100+ yard wheelie on a mountain bike (again way way easier than your tricks and requiring less overall balance and skill), way more people would be impressed, because a) mountain biking is cool, b) the speed would be faster and more “dangerous” and c) many people can ride a bike but are not able to do a wheelie and wish that they could, so they are impressed. About 10 years ago I used to wheelie for say a kilometer at a time along a bike path on my way to work and people were frequently yelling out complements and expressing their awe with no negative comments other than an infrequent “show off” (contrast to the 36, where people do stare a lot and express shock and comments are maybe 60% positive and 10% negative and otherwise neutral)
- If I were to ride through campus on a motorcross bike doing a wheelie then even more people would be impressed (even though it’s easier than doing a wheelie on a mountain bike as you use the motor more than your body, takes less time to learn than riding a 36 unicycle and significantly easier to learn than your freestyle tricks), mainly just because our society labels anything with a motor that is fast to be really cool and a crash would be loud and “impressive”.
- Driving up in a Ferarri or expensive sports car (takes absolutely no skill, it just requires money) - most people would be very impressed (Unicylcists are some of the few people for which fast sports cars are generally not impressive, as they tend to respect something requiring skill and effort rather than money).
So I recommend: Just enjoy riding and go to unicycling events (I’m off to 4 days of mountain unicycling at ELSBET in Leichtenstein and Switzerland next weekend with about 100 mountain unicyclists)
P.S. the Bavarian (German) Freestyle is this weekend and I’ve been improving but not anywhere near your level… My wheel walk and 1ft wheel walk are finally solid and I can consistently also return to pedals say 90%; Crank Idle with leg wrap out (but not wrap into or our to cross); 1ft riding and idling of course; Hop on wheel and back to pedals and seat bounce are good (95%); Stand up hopping decent (but transition into ww not consistent); And finally making some progress with my drag seat with 5-10 revs getting there (but still need much more practice to pick up my seat)… and my 180 unispin is almost there (but not doing it in my choreo); TODO: 180 unispin, side saddle, 1 ft backwards, stand up ww, kusch-kusch, etc.
P.P.S. You friend in the video has his seat way to low for freestyle! It’s almost painful watching him ride one footed or wheel walk with his knees in his face. It looks too low for Flat too. So unless he’s a trials rider (in which case a low seat is correct), please recommend that he raise his seat!
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Exactly! If it looks hard and better yet impossible!! Then people may be impressed.
But if you’re really good (as you are), then it looks easy and only unicyclists will appreciate the difficulty.
People (mostly mountain bikers) often talk to me while I’m riding the 36 (say while we’re stopped at a traffic light) and many are impressed and ask questions like “Do you have a brake?” or “How do you get on that thing?” or “How do you stop?” or “Is that hard?” and I try to answer nicely and recommend that they first learn on a 20" and work up to the 36". Only one person has ever taken up my invitation to come to our weekly unicycle training.
I had the same experience with the 36": as I was learning and having to hold onto a pole to mount and wobbly, a fair number of people were impressed. Now I just whizz by in control and I think people are less impressed as it looks easy – I think more people just think I’m strange or crazy than impressive, but hey, like I said, I unicycle for the fun of it.
P.S. I can’t view your follow up video as the link says private.
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