Ok, so it’s only been two weeks. And at 46, I’m no spring chicken. But honestly, is this all a hoax? Can anyone really unicycle? Did mankind really land on the moon too?
My kids are embarrased. My wife just rolls her eyes. My friends ask if I’m joining the circus. My brother says I’ve found yet another bizarre sport…
I ditched the ski poles per some advice on here. I am trying to “launch” from a wall. The unicycle no longer flies forward from under me, which probably means I’m finally leaning forward. But now it usually flies out behind me when I crank down on a peddle.
When I actually make it a dozen turns or so, careening around like a drunkard, my speed accelerates to keep the unicycle under me, until I fly off and enter orbit.
Does anyone have any tips? Please tell me this is a natural part of the learning process. My vision of cruising down the cat tracks at my favorite ski area on a muni seem very distant at the moment…
nobody can really ride a unicycle, some are just better at delaying falling off.
but seriously, weight on the seat and look forward. be sure that the tire is at the correct psi and that your seat is not too high or too low. really its all just practice. perservere through the part of your learning where it seems like your going nowhere. maybe take a couple days break and then try again fresh. hope this helps.
Keep at it and you will succeed. 3 to 15 hours seems to be the time committed before you ride unassisted. Once you can go 50 yards unassisted then you will learn at an exponential rate. Welcome to our disease.
Just to add to what the others have said, practice for a long time at once. Just do a good couple of hours trying in one go instead of a litle bit each day and you’ll probably get it - or get a lot closer to getting it. I learnt by putting two garden chairs facing back to back with me between them, one hand on each and just getting used to balancing and doing half pedals backward and forward for a while, and I found that to be a great way to learn. Just keep trying and you’ll get there soon.
A dozen turns?!? You’re doing great! The suggestion to take a day or two off is a good one. Let your body digest what it has learned. You’ll do 50 meters before you know it, and then you’ll be able to ride as far as you want. Free-mounting is next.
It took me just over 20 hours of practicing at age 41 to ride 50 meters.
You’re doing better than I did after 2 weeks (at age 14). I’m sure you have a better unicycle, and of course more help from us (not your local folks, apparently). Don’t listen to the ones that make fun, you’ll soon show them.
Analyze your consistent mistakes. Always fall off the front? This is better than the back, but can also indicate a tendency to lean forward the whole time, and not let the wheel “catch up.” Let it catch up, and try dismounting to the rear on purpose. Remember not to take the bottom foot off first!
Thanks to all the posting so far. Unfortunately, I seem to have the bug. There’s just something about it…
Buying a unicycle seemed totally random, but then I remembered that I have always been eyeing this lonely unicycle hanging off the ceiling of a local gaming store. Complexity and simplicity in one swoop…
Taking a few days off from learning makes a massive difference; after resuming, suddenly those twelve rotations will be blown away by a much greater distance.
From my own experience i’ve realized that there’s no such thing as a perfect person. Some pick it up faster than others. Perserverance and patience are the key to unicycling in my opinion. I would try not to worry about what others say. Lets see them unicycle as good as you are and yes it is a natural part of the process.
Also welcome to unicyclist.com my friend, feel free to ask any questions you may have to me or anyone else.
I started at 45 and was able to figure this thing out. (I also live about 30 miles from you.) So it is possible to learn to ride when you are in you 40’s. A warning to you. Make room in your house for several more unicycles. You’ll be purchasing that Muni in the near future and then it’ll be a 29"er or a Coker. Perhaps both. Check you PMs.
I just thought i let you, there’s no such thing as impossible. The only thing that defines impossible is those who don’t believe/persevere/conquer in their dreams and i believe that my friend cliffhirsch can achieve/believe/persevere/conquer the unique ability of unicycling. So don’t give up and keep perservering and slowly slowly you’ll get better and better.
I learnt at the age of 35. I could not practice for more than half an hour at a go. It just gets too frustrating and your concentration and self esteem seem to colapse. I started by mounting the unicycle while holding onto a post. For about 3 days I could only do about half a revolution before flying off. after a week I was doing 1 or two revolutions. After almost 2 weeks I was getting up to 4 or five revolutions and by the end of two weeks I was clearing the whole lenght of the basketball court where I was practicing. It took another couple of weeks to get good at turning and going over anything higher than a centimeter. At the end of a month I was beggining to ride on dirt roads. It took me more than a month to freemount for the first time and almost three months before I got 100% freemount success rate. It took me half a year to start riding single tracks. Now 8 months later I am working on jumping up things (So hard and seems as futile as riding did in the begginning) and Riding Seat in Front.
Just a little chonology of a 35 year old learning to ride. Keep in mind that I never practiced for more than 30 minutes a day until I started riding the dirt roads. I then started taking hour to hour and a half long rides. I now do 3 hour rides on hard terrain and it is a blast!
I learned at 53 and it took me months to learn to ride (I woke up every morning 1/2 hour earlier just to practice) So you are probably going to learn faster:D
just tell us when it’s ok and we’ll share a drink (virtually - I mean the sharing not the drink!)
I learned at age 50. I used a tennis court to learn. The court is level, smooth and has a fence around it to hang onto. It took me about 10 hours over 2 weeks. I could only practice about 15 to 20 minutes at a time because my legs would get so tired. When you get used to it, you will be more relaxed and will rest your weight on the seat. That takes the weight off your legs and then you can ride longer and further.
Riding a unicycle is a series of active mistakes. In a sense, you want to fail because then you respond to the error you made. Once you figure out all the mistakes you make you go back and clean them up, patch them and then you know it, you can idle on a unicycle. I’ve always found that taking a day of recognition to let it all sink in to the brain helps alot.
Hang in there. Listen to all the advice given here so far. Practice and perservere. Come to the forum as often as you need to for moral support and advice. I may hold the record for being a balance-challenged, borderline retarded (oops. I don’t think that’s politically correct anymore), long-time-to-learn, unicyclist (conclude self-deprecation). It took me about 80 hours over 8 months to ride 50 meters at age 49. The main thing is, don’t give up. I now ride several miles each and every day and just love it. When you finally have the “major breakthrough” you’ll be amazed. It will happen.
