There was this thread here a number of months ago with a fabulous juggler on his unicycle. Does anyone know anything about him? I tried to restart the thread but I couldn’t seem to do it.
Here he is with five balls and idling…
And here he is with six balls and riding backwards…
I was quite impressed as I have been doing more and more with juggling on my uni. For the first time, I got through more than three throws while riding backwards. That guy doing six while riding backwards is really amazing!
I’ve tried a few times. And by trying I mean 3 balls while trying to ride. It’s hard, no way could I idle and juggle. Pretty frustrating for me, and a pain in the butt to keep having to keep pick up balls, remount, then do it all over again. Made for slow progress… Too slow so I gave up
They key with juggling on a uni is good idling skills–I mean really good idling skills. You have to be able to use your hips and body, leaning forward when going forward and back when back instead of using your arms and shoulders.
If you want to do it, you need to practice idling without using your hands as much as possible.
I filmed and uploaded those clips while on vacation earlier this year.
The jugglers name is Justin (I don’t know his second name), and he is from Shrewsbury in the UK.
He practiced in an idyllic location down by the river most days.
He had been riding/juggling for eight years, and was impressive.
I watched him juggle seven bean balls, occasionally catching them on the back of his neck before carrying on.
I could only get short clips, as he was not too keen on being filmed.
Hmmm. I have been looking around the internet for unicyclists with the name of Justin. So far, I have not located our Justin from UK but I did run across Justin Anderson. And I saw an interesting video of Justin Sorensen who is a place kicker for BYU and also rides a lot of unicycle. Gotta love those unicycle riders who are also in another sport!
Justin was very much into his craft, but had no knowledge of the unicycle community, nor of this forum.
He did not even realise that they made unis as big as 29" or 36".
He also rode a basic UDC trainer (with Nimbus gel seat upgrade) , which just goes to show that you don’t always need expensive kit to do the business.
Thanks once again, joggerdude, for these clips and your insights on them. They are very inspirational.
It’s quite interesting that he did not even know they had 29 or 36 inch unicycles!
I have to admit, juggling on a unicycle has been very stimulating lately. The challenge is perfect for the space and the time I have. I like that I don’t have to travel too far to find good places to practice. Progress may be slow at times (most times) but it sure feels good when I make some advancement. And that juggling while going backwards…whew! I finally did five throws and catches with a clean finish, but that was one lucky run.
Yeah, it’s hard. Old thread, I know. I finally got to where I could run a 3b cascade (reverse and tennis worked too :)) while riding forward today. I’m not good enough at idling to even attempt juggling simultaneously.
I tried to do it (riding forward) months ago. I can ride well and I can also juggle well. Together, it felt like I had completely forgotten how to do either. I was absolute pants, but at the end of the session, I could maybe qualify and collect, which was progress. Not motivated enough, I didn’t try again until today. I usually don’t have juggling balls with me when I am also on a suitable riding surface, so I made a special trip today. Unsurprisingly, I was rubbish again, but managed to actually run it after working on it awhile. Two sessions to basic competence isn’t so bad, really, compared to some other skills. Yeah, dropping and having to do the dismount/remount dance is a drag. It goes with the territory. You only have to dismount immediately if a ball lands right in the path of your wheel. Otherwise, you’ve got time.
I ended up juggling while riding parts of the way home from the park. I stopped juggling whenever I heard a car coming, of course, and for any difficult terrain. If you think having to dismount to get your dropped ball(s) is a drag, just imagine what road camber does. At least you don’t have to climb down into a drainage ditch on the other side of the road if you’re on a tennis court.
It feels weird. I end up riding more slowly than usual, and my juggling range of movement is limited. I assume those will both free up if I practice more. My usual juggling technique ranges from bending my elbows only to lots of arm motion. When riding a unicycle, the elbows only end of the continuum is what works; for now, at least. I found it to be tiring. I think I may have had more weight on my pedals than I do when not juggling.
Glad to hear someone else out there is doing this too. I’ve been back at it. I’ve been spending a lot of time working on juggling lately and also back to riding the small wheel (19").
In the past I had tried idling and juggling, it was a bit more than I could handle, then I didi a bit of riding and juggling but never got anywhere. Now I’m a bit older and have more time and patience I guess. I started trying the idle and juggle, at first was happy to get through three throws. After a week or two I am up to 10-12 throws if I’m lucky (and still often only get 4 or 6). Riding and juggling is so much easier… I can ride 100-150 feet usually without dropping, sometimes I can turn around. I can juggle and ride in a small circle a few times, which is pretty fun and probably ‘useful’ as a skill. It’s pretty fun, I like it. I’m definitely gonna keep working at it.
I’m like you idlux, I use a lot of energy still when I’m doing it, it’s slowly getting better but it reminds me of when I first learned to ride. I’ve found it’s important to keep your elbows in at your side and concentrate on throwing the ball in the right spot. Also important to BREATHE! I keep having to remind myself often to relax and breathe, over and over… BREATHE!
Someday I’ll bust out the clubs and make a real spectacle of myself, if that works out it’ll be time for the fire clubs.
I agree with both of you, riding is easier than idling. I thought it would be the other way around but was quickly convinced otherwise. I play around with it in the gym but not too seriously, should probably hunker down and get proficient one of these days.
