I just saw a video titled “Introduction to Unicycling with Dustin Kelm” on unicycle.com. Apparently it’s introduced by John Foss, who I’ve seen posts from here.
Anybody ever see this video? Should I get one, being the rank beginner that I am?
Rich
i don’t think its nessesary, I think most of us learned with out an instructional video. but you never know, it might be a huge help, i’ve never actually seen one.
Personaly I think your money is better spent elsewhere, just keep on practicing and you will have it.
If you really want to buy a movie I would suggest buying a movie with alot of cool tricks that you will enjoy watching over and over, you will still be able to see people mount and ride but you will also be able to see super neato tricks!
I’d say go for it. It can really speed things up to see someone do what you are trying to learn to do.
If i had known about this video when i had started, im sure i would have benefitted from it. I learned without ever having seen someone ride a unicycle. I didnt meet another unicyclist until i had been riding several months. I think it would have been a bit different if i had known someone else doing it…
…which brings me to Unicycle clubs. Find out if youve got one in your town. This can help you with learning as well as finding riding partners!
Yet another alternative (or to be used in conjunction) is the internet here. Use the ‘search’ button to find out about topics previously disscussed here on unicyclist.com. There are other useful sites like http://www.unicycle.2ya.com/ and http://www.unicyclist.org/
Hope i didnt confuse things further!:o I still say go for it.
Intro to Unicycling Video
I suggest getting a copy for your club and then loaning it out to those who are interested in learning. The more variety of ways in describing how to visualize riding and learning will help in the learning curve. So many of us started out by not having a clue how to learn and often spent too much time getting frustrated. The video offers a sytematic approach to developing unicycle skills, encourages patience, illustrates various techniques of learning and riding. I think that the video is well worth the cost and the more you share the video the greater the return dividend will be on your investment.
Tommy
Get defect, altough i cant do much of the tricks on it i love watching it (bout 16 times) because it gets me syked up and ready to try my move.
Mike
I think I’ll go ahead and get the Dustin Kelm video. After I’ve learned, whether it helps me or not, I’ll either try to pass it on to a local club (I’ve subscribed to a local e-mail list), or I’ll see if any newbies that come along here are interested.
I’m going to order “Defect” as well, based on the reviews I’ve read here. I’m sure that I’ll never be interested in doing 90% of what’s filmed (and I probably won’t like the soundtrack much, either), but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it just as much as the Warren Miller skiing movies that I’ve seen: you’ll never see me skiing off cliffs, but I love watching others do it!
Thanks,
Rich
Just in case anyone was interested, I thought I’d post my reviews.
I didn’t find the “Introduction to Unicycling with Dustin Kelm” video very helpful. I think that the interesting “learning how to ride” stuff could have been condensed into about 5 minutes, and the rest – including the unicycle.com “video catalog” – wasn’t all that interesting. I’m not sorry I bought it, if for no other reason than I got to see Kelm mount a giraffe quite gracefully, and saw brief intros to mounting a Coker and wheel-walking. But in terms of learning how to ride, I don’t think it was all that helpful. Someone younger might find it more encouraging, just because they show a younger person learning how to ride.
And I LOVED “Defect,” including the soundtrack. Especially Kaori Matsuzawa’s freestyle. That was about the most incredible display of balance I’ve seen since I saw a Cirque Du Soleil show many years ago. I wish they’d spent more than a minute and a half on her!
Rich
Glad you got it. I was going to say that it’s Uni-Porn and you can never have too much of it, and as Tmornstar mentioned, it migh be handy to pass onto someone who’s thinking about learning.
I ‘learnt’ with the help of Charlie Dancey’s book ‘Learn to ride your unicycle’.
Apart from teaching me to put my instep on the pedals (according to young charlie, riding on the ball of your foot is for advanced riders only…) I can’t say that the book really taught me anything. But I read it constantly. More, I suspect, as a kind of learning totem or lucky charm than for it’s content.
I suspect this video might work in the same way.