Journal of a New Unicycler

General
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Since it’s apparently been too long to edit now…

Learning to Unicycle: Day 19(cont.)

The second half of my day was completely awesome.

I went back out and immediately went back to practice freemounting in my driveway, doing what I had been before. I had minimal luck for a while, so once again, I carefully analyzed everything I was doing, and noticed that I wasn’t really using my hands at all to help keep balance. So on my next attempt, I tried to mimic the way experienced unicyclers do it, by using my right hand to hold onto the front of my seat, where it looked like I was trying to grab my balls (weird comparison, I know, but that’s what it mostly looks like). I got on, found my balance while still holding onto the front of the seat,
and as I started to pedal and gather my first bit of momentum, I let go. Surprisingly, I rolled right down the driveway and kept on going. I was amazed at how fluid that mount was, so for the next hour and a half or so, I basically refined that method. I probably put myself at a 80-85% success rate in my driveway, but still a 30-40% on the sidewalk.

I was starting to get tired, since in all, I had been practicing almost 3 hours today (and I’m really not in the best shape :P). As I was doing a few last runs down my sidewalk, I noticed my front door walkway, and suddenly saw it in a new light. It was smooth, slanted like my driveway, and ran all the way down to the curb, which is about 6" or 7" high.. Since I was in unicycling mode, my first thoughts were:

“Yeah, it’s time.”

I walked the uni up to the doorway, freemounted after a couple tries, and neared the curb. I think I was probably a foot away from the curb when I chickened out and PDed. I tried again, making it a few inches from the curb before PDing. I was starting to frustrate myself with this, so this time, I planned to go all the way. Well, I went all the way; I rode right off, hands in the air, my seat planted firmly on the uni’s seat, and I spun out, the uni collapsing behind me, and me falling into a roll and landing on my shoulder. It was a fun fall, to be honest, and I also now knew what to change.

This time, I rode down with no hands, then, as I neared the curb, I held onto the front of my seat, and very slightly shifted my weight to the pedals, so I was half-standing, half-sitting. I also slowed down tremendously as I neared the curb. This time, I rode off very smoothly, landing on the street, and still pedaling. I sat back down, took my hand away from the seat, and sped up a good deal. I had successfully ridden off my first drop! :smiley:

For the last 10 or 15 minutes, I just rode around, practicing my speed a lot. I can now successfully slow down to probably 2/3 a pedal revolution per second, which I can tell will probably pave a smooth transition into idling a little later on (which is definitely a skill I want to learn pretty soon, with all the cars in my neighborhood).

I’m also attracting a lot more attention from my neighbors. One older guy I didn’t recognize walked by our house while I was practicing freemounting in the street and asked, “So, you master that thing yet?” Evidently, he’d seen me in his car or something. I just responded with a “I can ride it now, I just can’t get on it. ::laugh::” I also got my first circus comment, finally. It was only a little girl though, she was outside with her dad in their front yard, and as they were going outside, I was doing one of my smoother U-turns, and she yells out at me, “You could join the circus!” Not offensive in the least, though, because from her point of view, that means I’m actually pretty good. :wink: Also just a lot of random stares from people driving by…mostly the typical :thinking: look. Surprisingly, I’ve gotten a couple :angry: looks, and that’s mostly from high-school age kids, which I found odd, but hey, I’m the one who’s having a blast on one wheel. :smiley:

Tips from today(cont.):

  1. When freemounting, you may find it helpful to hold onto the front of your seat with your dominant hand until you start pedaling. After you actually get going, I find that my hand there gets in my way, unless I need it for extra balance for a tricky maneuver.
  2. 3 huge tips for going off drops:
    2a. Hold onto the front of the seat with your dominant hand as you go off. This is mostly for extra balance, and trust me, it helps.
    2b. As you go off, shift a small portion of your weight from the seat to the pedals. If you’re not sure how to do this, just think of it as standing up ever so slightly on the pedals.
    2c. Slow down during the dropping process. For me, this is all about making sure I have the utmost control over my unicycle, and I always find I exhibit the most control when I’m going slow. I guess this could be a preference thing again, and it might look better when going fast, but to start out, I highly recommend taking it slowly.
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This is actually what I’m starting to do. It’s harder than I thought to put a lot less pressure on the back wheel, but I’m slowly working towards it.

Thanks for the constant encouragement, my 768 brother! I’m lovin’ the nicknames you’re giving me, too. :stuck_out_tongue:

Just for future reference, my name is Matt, if you’d rather start referring to me as that.

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Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve actually been riding every day for the past week, but I’m currently out of town, so I’ll update tomorrow when I get home.

-Matt

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Wait. . . How many wheels does your unicycle have?:stuck_out_tongue:

Seriously, Matt, thanks for the journal. I got my first unicycle for Christmas, and several people pointed me to your journal here for tips. I can tell it’s going to take me longer to learn to ride than it took you, but I can wait. :slight_smile: In the meantime, I’ll keep reading and re-reading your posts, and I’m sure I’ll cut the time down at least a little bit.

I like your idea, so tomorrow I’m going to start my own blog of my “process.” Mostly for family and friends, so I probably won’t be putting in any tips for others, just jokes for all, but I’ll post a link here in case anyone is interested.

Thanks again!

Rich

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Heh, slight typo there…

Glad to know my journal is already helping you out. Good luck!

-M

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Thanks!

We’ve been having intermittent rain with gusts up to probably 40 or 50 mph this morning, so I’m not sure sure I’ll be able to get outside today. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t do SOMEthing unicycle-related:

Happy New Year all!

Cheers,
Rich

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Last week, as previously stated, I was out of town in Tennessee visiting my grandparents for Christmas and the New Year. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get in a good amount of practice. However, I don’t really remember every detail of all 6 days of riding, so I’ll condense them into this one post and try to document the significant stuff. So, without further hesitation…

Learning to Unicycle: Days 20-25

Day 20

I spent today just getting used to the different terrain of Yester Oaks St. The first thing I noticed was that it was an extremely hilly street, and looked more like a series of large ocean waves than the straight, conventional streets I was used too at home. This had it’s pros and cons.

A main con was the difficulty of a lot of my mounting attempts because of the sloped surfaces, because yes, I was practicing mounting uphill. It also required a lot more effort to ride uphill, which tired me out faster, although this in and of itself also had benefits, in that my leg strength and my overall endurance increased over the course of the week.

On the opposite spectrum, the hills also helped both my skills and my confidence a great deal, plus made riding much more fun. I could freemount a lot more easily when going downhill, and be able to ride in a much more relaxed state as the pure slope of the hill gave me enough momentum so I only had to pedal very casually. Of course, this isn’t to say that I didn’t pedal hard on purpose, just to get some speed going. :wink:

Day 21

Today was a blast for a different reason. Pretty much all the family at the house was outside today (except my 92 year old great-grandma, God bless her), so I got to really showcase my progress to them. My grandpa got a good amount of video of me riding, so I finally got to see myself riding from a 3rd person perspective. It was actually pretty neat, and honestly, as I watched myself, I was thinking, “How the heck am I doing that??” :stuck_out_tongue:

I also experimented riding a rather steep little blacktop road that led down to a small private school a few houses down from my grandparents’ house. It took a couple tries, but I found myself pretty easily riding down, circling the parking lot, then riding back up to the main street, all without falling. I was proud of myself after that. :smiley:

Day 22

Not much new today, just rode up and down the street, working on more distance-related things than anything else.

Day 23

It had rained a little earlier that day, but that didn’t stop me. Today tested my abilities to the limit, as I was having to mount and ride on slick surfaces, but I actually did really well. The highlight of today was riding down that blacktop again, but this time when it was covered with a nice layer of water, making for a slick ride that made me surprise even myself at my ability to keep control over the unicycle enough to pull it off 6 or 7 times in a row.

I also extended my riding to other streets today, pushing my old limits of just making it down the street and then falling off.

Day 24

Basically continued from where I left off yesterday at riding further distances.

I also practiced riding on and off little 2"-3" bumps, just to be sure I could.

Day 25

I tried to make my last day count. I rode down the long street, turned and went down another street, turned again and went down another street, then rode uphill into a little cauldusack, and UPDed as I was turning around. I figured that was at least half a mile, so I was all excited. I mounted and went back the way I had come before, getting a couple of comments of encouragement from passersby.

My last 15-20 minutes of being outside were spent practicing my sharp turns in the street and trying to tighten my figure eights. I got videotaped a little more at this point, which is always cool, but then I had to take apart the uni for our trip back home the next day.

Tips from the past 6 days:

  1. Never be afraid to push your limits. This is a pretty generic tip, I know, but it applies heavily to unicycling. You want to learn new things every time you hop on, right? Well, what’s learning, but just going farther than you have before?
  2. Any time you’re leaving town to go on vacation somewhere, don’t be afraid to bring along the uni (unless of course it’s a funeral or something). It’s a great opportunity to experience new terrains, apply your skills in different ways, and learn to adapt to new surroundings with your unicycle. Plus, you’ll show new non uni’ers the awesomeness that is unicycling.
  3. Don’t be afraid to ride on wet ground. It’s a great way to practice exhibiting even more control over the unicycle. Just be sure to wear pads, because UPDs are more likely.
  4. If you aren’t already doing so, find a way to tape yourself unicycling, or just have someone else do it for you. You can carefully examine your UPDs to find out what you’re doing wrong, make notes of your successes to know what you’re doing right, and it’s pretty cool to see yourself on only one wheel from a third person point of view.
  5. If you’re having trouble learning to freemount, force yourself to only freemount when you get on. If you call it quits every time you can’t do it and go back to the support mount, you’re only hurting your own progress.
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Learning to Unicycle: Day 26

I rode in two 30 minute sessions today, riding my longest distances thus far.

At around 2:00, I rode from my driveway all the way to my friends house in a different neighborhood, riding down an actual back road as opposed to a residential street. This was my first experience at doing this, so it was pretty cool. I only UPDed once on the way there, and that was while riding up the hill to get to the road.

As luck would (not) have it, my friend wasn’t even home today, so I rested for a few minutes in his driveway and rode back to my house, taking a little longer route just because it was a beautiful day.

All in all, that trip was probably 1 and a half miles, maybe 2 at the most. It was a pretty satisfying ride.

I was lazy for a few hours, and then went back out at 5:30, when it was a lot cooler outside (it was in the 70s for most of the afternoon). I pretty much just rode around my own neighborhood, working on some small drops and showing off to some of the neighborhood kids.

I think tomorrow I’m gonna start working on idling, because as I’m riding longer distances, I find myself having to stop at times to lower my risk of, you know, getting run over.

Couple tips from today:

  1. Treat your longer distance rides as a regular workout session. By this, I mean you should stretch and drink plenty of water, both before and after you ride. If you take care of your body, your body will take care of you. (Do I sound like a 6th grade Health textbook yet?)
  2. Try to spice up your longer rides by practicing other basic skills while riding. This could include drops, hops, mounts, dismounts, figure eights, and really, anything else you may happen to have in your repertoire that you want to improve on.
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Great progress! Keep on that freemount… once it becomes second nature then you’re ready to start the really fun stuff like the running mount. It sounds like you’re well on your way!

With riding on hills don’t forget the fundamental rule: keep your weight on the seat. Riding up and down hills can seem tough at first, but if you try and relax as much as possible you’ll find that it can be almost as easy as riding on flat. Push on the pedals only as hard as is necessary to maintain your forward momentum. Relax the muscles that you aren’t using to ride, and relax the leg that isn’t pushing on the pedal (you only push one pedal down at a time, right?). Sit up tall, using good posture, and relax into the seat… focus on spinning the pedals in a circle and maintaining your momentum, nothing more.

Of course, after enough hill riding, it does turn into a workout. But if you focus on relaxing, you’ll find that you’ll be a lot less sore later!

There, I fixed it for you!

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Learning to Unicycle: Day 27

I went out around 1:00 or so today, and is was yet enough sunny, cloudless, warm day.

For the first 30-40 minutes, I practiced making smoother 6" drops on my curb, using my front door walkway as my mounting area, riding down and dropping off. After finally doing it about 5 times in a row, I tried something a little different. I would drop off, ride around and back up onto my sidewalk, then attempt to turn sharply and make the drop, sorta like this:

I tried this probably 15 times, but it was just no go. I couldn’t seem to make the turn sharp enough and then recover quickly enough to set myself up for the drop. I think I’ll set aside a different practice day for those sharp, 90 degree turns.

For another 45 minutes or so, I started to work on idling. I really had no idea what I was doing for a while, and pretty much just slowed down while riding, tried to pedal backwards a little bit, and then fell, over and over and over again.

I went back inside after a while and looked up some info on RSU, finding a method that caught my eye:

  1. Ride
  2. Slow down considerably
  3. Hold a standstill position in a vertical lock
  4. Pedal out of it and ride normally
  5. Repeat until proficient
  6. Slowly incorporate pedaling backwards a fraction of a revolution during the standstills
  7. Start doing 2 idles, then 3, etc.
  8. Repeat until able to idle

So I went outside again for another 30 minutes later that evening, working on the first 5 steps for a while. I made a little bit of progress before I had to come inside because it got dark, but I can tell it’ll still take at least a few days’ worth of practice.

I’m also starting to experience a lot more saddle soreness on my viscount saddle. I’ll probably head to my LBS this weekend to get at least a gel seat cover, maybe padded biking shorts if I see a pair.

Couple tips from today:

  1. As of right now, I’m going to recommend the 8-step idling method detailed above. I’ve just started learning to idle, but it seems like an effective enough method.
  2. As you start riding more technical things, such as drops, you’ll want to invest in some sort of extra saddle support, such as a gel cover or an air-seat conversion. Otherwise, you’ll experience saddle soreness like you won’t believe, and it’ll probably put a nice damper on the whole enjoyment thing.
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Learning to Unicycle: Day 28

I was out there for probably 80 minutes today, cause school is back on…so sadly, my time out each day will diminish significantly, due to homework and such.

For 15 minutes, I pretty much picked up where I left off yesterday, working on my stalls. I couldn’t really see much progress, honestly.

Then my friend came over, because he had never seen me unicycle before, so it was fun to show off to him. He tried mounting the uni using the fence back at area ‘A’ in my backyard (see Day 1 if you’re interested in knowing where this is). He didn’t do too bad for having never stepped on one before.

He stayed for probably 50 minutes, and I stopped working on my idles just to show him some stuff, like how I turn and mount. After he left, I practiced for 15 more minutes, and I did notice a small jump in my stalling progress, because I was actually managing to keep a vertical lock for about a second and then barely pedal out of it. But then it got pretty dark really quickly, so I headed inside.

My day wasn’t fully over, however. Just 10 minutes ago, while chatting on MR, [post=638731]abbabbible suggested a different method.[/post] So, tomorrow, I think I’ll try that, because it sounds more logical and quicker than that 8-step method I posted earlier.

Tip from today:

  1. Show off your unicycling abilities to your non-uni friends! Not only will it boost your confidence about your own skills, but it might impress them enough to recruit them to our side. One more of us; one less of them. :wink:
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Learning to Unicycle: Day 29

I think I made some progress today.

I went to my good buddy, area ‘B’, in the front yard, and got to practicing my idles right away. It took a while to even get it right with the support, but I eventually got into a nice rhythm.

I was probably a foot away from the fence, making sure to keep my weight on the seat and sit up straight. I put my pedals in the vertical lock position, with my right foot in the 6:00 position and my left foot in the 12:00 position. I pedaled forward probably 1/3 a revolution, keeping the remainder of my weight (that wasn’t already on the seat) on my right pedal. I used just enough force on my left pedal to pedal smoothly. Then I went back to the lock and kept moving 1/3 revolution backwards. I kept up this rhythm for a few minutes, and after I had managed to master being able to do this with my support, I tried a new method.

I would start at the back of the sidewalk at area ‘B’, mount and ride forward. When I got a good speed going, I would slow down again and ride a little closer to the fence and then in one motion, I would stop in the vertical lock, put my hand on the support, idle a few times then take my hand off and ride off down the sidewalk.

I repeated this a few times, and it seemed to help me with the smoothness of my idles, but then my friend came over again, and I tried to teach him some unicycle balance at my driveway.

After he left about an hour later, I went back to what I was doing for a few minutes. Then, I tried to idle just riding down the sidewalk in front of my house without any support, and I wasn’t having much luck there. I think one of the problems I need to work on is to treat the unicycle more like a pendulum than just me going back and forth on it. However, now that I’m starting to get the actual motions down, I foresee some more progress in the next few practice sessions.

Couple tips from today:

  1. To learn to idle, go back to your support from when you were learning in the first place, and just practice rocking on the spot. Just be sure that instead of oscillating around a horizontal lock, do it around a vertical one, as this is much easier (so I’ve read).
  2. If you get the chance to teach someone you know to learn to unicycle, jump on it! Not only will it be another recruit to the sport, but it might even improve your own skills as you analyze someone else’s.
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Ooooh, new avatar! Now newbies are going to wonder where your name came from. :slight_smile:

So it’ll be a while before I try it, but is there a “standard” definition of “idling?” Is there a certain amount of forward/backward motion of the cranks past which you’re “riding” instead of “idling?”

Rich

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An interesting question. As far as I’ve always understood it, anything less than one full revolution either way would count as idling. Once you do a full rev forward and one back that would probably be known as something like an ‘exaggerated idle’.

The other variant is the ‘circus idle’ where instead of your cranks going thru the vertical by a couple of degrees in either direction, they go thru the horizontal.
I find this incredibly difficult and still can’t do it properly.

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Learning to Unicycle: Day 30

Once again, I was distracted by my friend. :smiley:

I rode from my driveway to his house without falling one time, even when I left the residential streets temporarily. I was proud of myself for that.

He found a good little path next to a fence at the side of his house, and he worked on his support-riding for a little while. He’s actually getting pretty good. I threw out tips every once in a while that were basically from my journal, and he’s already read some of the journal, so that’s helping him progress fairly quickly.

Before it got too dark, I tried something kinda new, too. At the walkway to his front door from the street, there are three 6"-7" drops, each about 6-7 feet apart, one of those being the curb, two just being stair-shaped drops on the walkway. They make a nice little slope, and they are very smooth.

First, I tried starting from the top, riding down all 3, but I couldn’t get past the second one. So I practiced only the curb for a few tries, got that down easily, then tried starting from right after the first drop. I bailed once or twice, but then managed to ride off the step and the curb without falling. I did this a couple times, but then I accidently jammed my toe on the concrete, making me revisit an injury from yesterday, where I jammed the same toe (I didn’t mention that in day 29’s entry), so we went ahead and stopped. Plus, it was pretty much dark now, except for the street lights.

Sorry for the lack of tips today, guys. I’ve just been getting distracted from my regular practice sessions. I’ll probably get in a lot of just “me time” tomorrow after work, because my friend is supposed to be out all day with his girlfriend tomorrow. Plus, I’m gonna head over to my LBS for the first time to check it out, and look for both a gel seat cover and maybe some padded biking shorts.

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Hey, tips are good, but progress is better. You started nailing drops today. You have again entered a new phase in your riding.

Well done!

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Just a small update - no, I’m not dead, contrary to rumors. I didn’t have time over the weekend, plus I was worn out like no other, and today, I accidently took a 3 hour nap. ><

So, I apologize.

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You should make your whole unicycling journal into a book

I would buy it:D

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Learning to Unicycle: Day 31

I went out a bit earlier than usual today, like at only about 3:30, just because I missed the uni from 3 days of not using it. :smiley:

For a while I just rode around the neighborhood, enjoying the absolutely beautiful day, cool temperature, and slight breeze. I had a couple cool non-uni encounters.

One was while I was riding through a small park in the middle of my neighborhood, and these two kids (couldn’t be more than 9 or 10) who were riding their bikes in the opposite direction as me on the same trail stopped me and began questioning me about the thing, obviously extremely curious. I was proud to show off what seemed extremely basic to me, such as just mounting, riding, and making a couple sharp, more technical turns than I was used too. One of the kids insisted on trying it, until I lowered the seatpost all the way and he saw how tall it still was (he was a short kid), and he got a bit scared. I also got to show off my riding to this kid in my grade who had been wanting to see it for a while. He said it was really funny to watch, but I could tell by his expression that he was still pretty impressed.

So then I rode back and worked on idling for, oh, maybe an hour and a half. I basically just went back and forth on my sidewalk in front of my house, trying to idle until I fell (which was just about every time) and then mounting in the other direction to repeat the process. During all this UPDing, I inadvertently learned how to dismount with the unicycle in front of me, which I was previously stuck on, so I’ll go ahead and call myself an official level 1 unicyclist now. :smiley:

About 40 minutes into practicing, I finally managed to do one idle. I was riding normally, then slowed down greatly, and very carefully controlled where I finally halted for a split second, with the pedals in the vertical lock. I locked my body as best I could and pedaled forward about 1/3 a revolution, then pedaled backwards the same amount, and then managed to pedal back out of the idle and keep riding forwards. I know it was only one, but I can only grow from there, so it boosted my confidence.

I managed to do this 2-3 more times during my practice, and picked up on some very important tips along the way that helped me a great deal.

I also got my first positive attention from the opposite sex. While I was riding along my sidewalk, mentally getting myself ready for another attempt, these two girls whom I didn’t recognize, but still were pretty good looking, were walking towards where I was riding. I dismounted and turned around so I wouldn’t deter them, and rode into the street, riding in little circles while waiting for them to pass. I UPDed while doing this, and as I was mounting as they walked past me, they watched me, saying stuff like “Hm, that’s entertaining.” I didn’t make my first mount, but on the second try, I did a very smooth one and rode off, and I heard one of the girls sort of gasp and go, “Woah! Did you see that?? He got on it again!” or something to that effect. I was pleased with myself for impressing her. :wink:

Few tips from today:

  1. To dismount with the unicycle in front of you, slow down a little, lean back a good amount, and try to get yourself in a standstill, and hopefully, your body will just sort of fall back on its own. If you’re like me, learning to idle will pretty much teach you this whether you want to learn it or not.
  2. When idling, KEEP YOUR WEIGHT ON THE SEAT. I cannot stress this enough, beginners. Your weight MUST be centered on the seat to be able to keep your balance while making the swaying motion, otherwise, you’re venturing into much more difficult territory.
  3. Also, when idling, don’t do it too slowly. The idle motion should be quick and smooth; don’t pause in the middle of an idle, because then you’re basically just doing a standstill while leaning backwards or forwards, and that won’t you get anywhere except straight into a UPD.
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I actually have considered that, but honestly, I want beginners to be able to access all of my experiences and learn from them for absolutely no cost. :slight_smile: