i just started learning to unicycle. i would love some tips on some
sort of way of practicing. so far all i do is pick a point on my
street and attempt to get that far. also are there any good exercises
that help with strength traing geared towards unicyclists? and does
anyone know of a balancing exercise i can do indoors without the
unicycle? and lastly is there a type of unicycle seat that wont leave
me feeling like i’ll never father children?
Go to the search function and type in “tips for beginners”. It’ll pull up a lot of threads with a lot of info.
What I did to learn was I had this deck. And it was about arm level for me (instead of a deck you could use a rail) but I rode holding onto the deck for a while applying a lot of pressure. Once I got better I lowered the pressure in segments until finally, I was riding. That took me about 5-6 hours and then within an hour I learned freemounting and was riding away.
Another useful tip for learning is riding on a sloped angle (downwards of course), which is how my friend said he learned.
Hope this helped.
Well, i did the opposite, i found it easier to just go balls out and try and ride, and i learnt easier on a slight uphill slope.
I also used the search function to find out that its personal preference, what works for one wont work for everyone.
Go with what you feel comfortable with.
J
Your seek a target and go for it technique is a good one. Remember a few things when you practice:
1.) ALWAYS keep your weight on the seat. You will tend to try to stand on the pedals to make corrections. ALWAYS settle back into the saddle after making a correction.
2.) Look into the distance. Looking down at the tire tends to make you fall forward. Pick a target like you have been and focus on that.
3.) Pedal with smooth, round strokes and maintain good posture. Learning to ride in a jerky manner hunched over won’t help you later on.
4.) Try not to chicken out. It’s easy to anticipate a fall and step off before it’s too late. It’s more difficult but more instructional to actually ride until you fall. This is how you learn to make corrections.
Core exercises like sit ups or crunches might help.
Why bother? The unicycle will help you learn balance. Maybe stand on one foot with your eyes closed? Can’t see how that will help you.
No. Time, bicycling shorts, and experience will help you with that problem.
A friend broke his wrist by “not chickening out” after about 30 min of practicing and never attempted again.
I recomend learning to fall on grass in a variety of ways. Do not go stiff like my friend did. I’d also wear some wrist guards.
As well as “swimming”. Lay on your stomach w/ arms and legs extended and alternately raise your arm and oposite leg. Three sets of 30 on each side w/ a minute rest in between should be good.
I found single and double leg raises to work much better than crunches. I do a wide variety of core exercises. They made my riding over bumps smoother, and reduced the frequency and severity of my UPD’s (especially when I start to get tired). I’ve done a lot of expirimenting w/ doing more and less strength training exercises and have found that doing these 20-25% of my total time the most benefitial for my time and did mostly core stuff.
well my best advice is find a fence to ride along you should find your balence improve with just simply riding the unicycle and for me the way i learned was it was easy to act more like swimming but im weird so i dont know if it will help at all 