new to the forum, just learn how to ride and I am not sure what stage I should be at. I am 47 years old and have about 55 hours of riding at this point. I do not know many people who ride and find it difficult to get feedback other than keep practicing and you’ll get it. I need more than that, like a benchmark or tips on what I may be doing wrong and what I am doing right.
Hi jyngles, and welcome to the forum. The Learning Journal is a good place to ask questions and share stuff while you’re learning. Posting a short video of your riding is a good way of getting feedback too.
Good luck and have fun,
Joseph.
Hey Jyngles, welcome to the forum.
That’s one more of us and one less of them.
Do you have a particular problem or question?
Fire away.
There isn’t a benchmark for where you should be after 55 hours. Why don’t you tell us what you’ve learned and what you’re working on? That will give us something to talk about.
Learning progress
Where I am at in my progress is I am able to ride about a mile and a half before I fall off, or involuntarily dismount, I can idle for about a minute maximum with ok control, balance is still an issue and consistency. I am able to hop a few times, but I can’t always recover from that. The thing that I struggle with is the control and consistent balance and pedaling. As I mentioned I have about 55 hours in and that is practicing about 4 - 6 hours a week. That’s all I have time for and I am not able to practice everyday. Any tips or feed back would be awesome and I will work on taking a video to post.
First of all, allow me to be the first to say: OMG!! You must be an athlete with a lot of natural ability!! Fantastic progress in so short a time!
Now you must tell us a bit more about your unicycle, what kind is it, what kind of tire and seat? For hopping, are you pulling up on the seat handle? How many hops? How high? Forward motion?
When you post the video, better help will come!
Thank you for the praise
I am not an athlete, just a 47 year old stubborn, I can do anything kind of attitude. I have a basic uni, Sun brand, no handle on the seat, but working on that.
I can sometime get in 5 hops and about 30% of the time I am able to ride on. Most of the time I fall. I can’t get really high, maybe two inches, but it is hard to get this 175 lb. body off the ground, not to mention I am old and out of shape.
The tread is a basic tread, but I am wearing it out and have a new tire on order.
Now that I am able to perform a few different feats, I am not sure what to practice. I am starting to train myself on riding backwards and I can get in, maybe 3 full pedals and then I panic. Backwards is my next feat I am trying to learn. Goal date for that is first day of Summer, to at least be able to ride 20 feet or so. If more that will be a bonus.
This is a unicycling related topic and the thread shouldn’t really be in Just Conversation.
For any riding and idling always ALWAYS remember to keep as much of your weight in the saddle as possible. One tends to stand on the pedals when making corrections and frequently will keep the legs tensed while slightly standing on the pedals. Remember to relax back into the saddle. Repeat it to yourself constantly as you ride: weight in the saddle.
Look into the distance, not at the wheel and not directly in front of you. This is true for riding forward and idling and riding backwards as well. To learn to ride backwards find an area with no obstructions behind you. Learn to ride backwards looking into the distance in front of you. When you know how it’s supposed to feel, then start looking around behind you. Keep your weight in the saddle. Repeat it to yourself.
Make sure that your saddle height is adjusted correctly. If it’s too low you are working too hard. Adjust it like you would for a bicycle. Extend your leg fully with your heel on the bottom pedal. Adjust the height so that just fits. Ride with the balls of your feet on the pedals. While learning, lower it an inch or so. Keep your weight in the saddle. Repeat it to yourself.
You might also want to remember to keep your weight in the saddle. It’s kind of important.
P.S. Live free or die.
New to message boards
Sorry for any post that may not be in the correct section of this blog, but I am learning my way around the site. This is all new to me and things are a bit foreign. Bare with me and I will get things in the correct sections. Any guidance will be welcomed.
Riding backwards
Does anyone have a single piece of advice for riding backwards? I have watched several videos on you tube and they are very helpful, but they are all brief and short. Could use some additional direction on things I can focus on.
Gee, I guess not.
Single piece of advise for riding backwards would be “relax your hips”.
Adding to that, always stay in control.
Don’t practise riding backwards untill you UPD. Don’t practise to failure, this can lead to practising bad habits.
Decide that you’re going to ride forward, stop, ride back three revolutions, stop and ride forward again.
Slowly increase the amount of revolutions backwards, but always stay in control.
Practising the transisiton between forward and backward is also important.
Riding backwards
Great advice, I will do my best to remember that when I am practicing. Thanks a million.