This may come as common sense to some, but it goes more towards those that are just getting into uni-n. Last night I went on my first real ride downtown, bout 3 hours and I have to say it was the best learning experience i’ve had so far on a muni. Special thanks to Steve & Keith for babysittin me and helpin me get over lil obstacles. I learned alot more on balance and form, plus got the riding stairs and got a good start on small hops. It really helps if you can ride with people whom are better then you, they can help coach you and they can SEE what you are doin right and doin wrong. Basically what im saying is that you shouldnt be intimidated by being new into this sport. Find a club, a group or someone that rides already and ride with them. Your learning time will be greatly reduced and then youll be enjoying uni-n alot more. Big bonus is riding downtown youll get lots of encouragement from spectators. Hell, we even had a bike cop try to clock our speed, just didnt work though.
Welcome aboard, JR. Too bad I didn’t get to join ya’ll. Looks like you’re progressing quickly. Congrats on your first urban assault 
Re: Learning Curves
Too true!
Me and a mate ride Glasgow very often and we get “pure hunners” of abuse thrown at us (we get the occasional nice thing shouted too!)
The bonus of this is that it toughens you up and makes you not afraid to fall in front of people. And it shows you just how stupid some people are.
It also makes it hard for people to laugh at you when you’re already laughing at yourself! Especially the fake-laughers (you know the kind I mean)
Anyway, man, keep riding in the streets! I don’t know about your high street but Glasgow’s are littered with ideal trials obstacles: benches, stairs, random metal boxes that stick out of the ground, traffic bollards, etc, etc.
Keep riding!
T.
I could imagine the average Glasgow attitude wouldn’t take to Unicyclists Tom. I am quite lucky up here, I don’t get hassle very often, and most comments are friendly.
I would of thought that the tricks you have done on your videos would of gone down quite well no matter where you are though.
The one person that looks down on unicycling to me the most is my Dad, he just doesn’t get it. I don’t care really though, he doesn’t know how good it feels to ride a Unicycle up a hill, or over an obstacle that has beaten you all the times you tried it before.
I would like to have some other riders about here to go unicyling with, you are lucky to have your friends there to keep you right 1-less-wheel.
Innes
having friends are the best. they laugh at you, with you and encourage you too do better. However, you mentioned the one person that looks down on it is your Dad. Well my girlfriend thinks that is a dorky sport and that i should stick to mountain or raod biking…but i havent given up and slowly im wearing her down…to the point that she see’s that im getting better and i explain to her in detail what it is we do. i keep her involved. So, maybe you could try that with your Dad…have him try it and work with him…tell him you need his help to pull off a new trick, even if you dont, he’ll feel important in helping his son and youll feel special having Dad there…just my 2cents.
Oops…i forgot to log Steve off and posted that last response under his name…lol…soory folks
Too right, man! Glasgow people are the rudest, nastiest ever! It’s like, come to the city and become a degenerate! I’m glad I’m not from Glasgow! But kinda like living here.
Bit of topic here…
Me n Pebbles went to Perth last weekend to see what it’s like before going to BJC at the end of the month.
We had a wicked day cycling all round a new town, and only got one idiot shouting at us from the other side of a football pitch (we stood our ground and shouted back but he kept walking away!)
Everyone else we met was lovely, interested in the unicycles, interested in us, nice and polite. Even when we invaded the Skate-Park folk just got out the way and watched, smiling. A few folk said we were crazy, but in a nice way!
Upon our return to Glasgow, we were 5 minutes out of the train station and had had about 4 groups of young guys shouting shit at us and even got a can of lager hurled at us!
We think that Glasgow is just insanely jealous. People can’t just say “well done” or “that looks hard”, they’ve gotta shout abuse. A good one is when junkies (heroin addicts) shout “I hope you fall and break your neck” we retort with “I hope you buy some dodgy smack which clogs your veins and you die a slow, painful death” or some such insult.
But then when you meet a nice person they seem so much nicer. We met an elderly swiss woman once who asked us how we can manage to defy gravity so well. Stuff like that just cancels out the negative shit.
T.
I would suspect riding around a college town is pretty similar to riding around a city. Drunken college students either cheer you and and throw you high fives, or shout insults that aren’t quite understandable.
You gotta love it, though, when you run into that group of people who are genuinly impressed and interested in what you do, even without the help of alcohol. That is the best.
PS. I wish I could get a police officer to clock my speed. 
I thought for sure when i started riding muni actually off road that alot of guys i used to mountain bike with, or ones that just see me on a muni would heckle, laugh or poke fun…but its been totally the opposite here. Everyone shows respect and admiration. In reality its alot of work, far more of a work out i get then riding a mountain bike on the same trails and i guess they all realize this. We ride right beside them, trail for trail, take breaks, and just generally shoot the sh#@ about both sports and theres respect from both sides. And the park we ride at is always packed with joggers, bladers, bikers, hikers, etc…and they all just look at us in amazement. Occasionally we’ll stop and let someone try it and see what its like and they only confirm the difficulty, so all in all id have to say that so far this new sport is awesome. Back on to the original topic of this thread…do not be afraid to go out and ride trails…its mostly mental…i promise…ride with guys that are better and gues what, you get better a helluva alot quicker…Now that my muni is done, i ride everyday…rain or shine…seat time is the only way you can can get better. Big thanks to Steve0we, Krashin Kenny, S_Wallis for bringin me to where i am.
