Learning Journal

Riding Advice
683

Isn’t that the truth? When you can freemount and ride away without much effort and the ride is where you’re at and not what your working on, unicycling takes on a whole new life.

The doors start to open wider and you start to think “Where shall I go next?”, and “What’s around this corner?”.

Personally, I am looking forward to increased indurance and practice on single track MUni rides. It’s truly exciting.

I, too, am encouraged by everyone’s support on this forum.

Hope everyone’s summer ends on a high note as it seems we are doing better every day. To quote one of my favorite BBC TV programs, “You’ve all done very well”.

684

Good job Imrisk! once started getting those distances constantly i just starting taking off like a rocket, and within a few days i was hitting over 800’ =D

Today was one of those days… did not get my pre gym/uni cuddles… Had a few ok attempts at a free mount, but nothing worth noting, i had several rides were i rode up hill about 200+, turned around a island and then back downhill another 200’ with a planned dismount. Spent quite some time try to free mount and it was driving me insane but i had some great distance ride so it was a good night =D Getting some cuddles tomorrow and i got my go pro helmet cam back so i will be taking some video/photos of the fun!

685

So it’s true that the unicycle is a magnet?! I cuddle my uni too but people look at me weird!

I met some locals at their weekly unicycle hockey practice yesterday… and got to try a 20". It felt much smaller and unstable… I could just fly right off it over a small bump, compared to the 24". I can ride over 50 strokes quite consistently now, but sometimes I forget I can actually ride, and get all nervous on startup. Tried to free mount about 50 times, and only succeeded once.

686

Hello LoneReaction,

If you’ve only tried 50 times, and you’ve already succeeded even just once, you are doing great!

TopHatPlus, it sounds like you are doing great, as usual.

Hi Risk!

60 degrees?!
Wonderful!
I can hardly wait for some cooler weather!!

687

haha cuddling with the uni? why did i not think of that! haha i was wearing my shin guards but i didn’t know if shed be cool with the uni? Looks like i will find out =D

Going to take an attempt at riding of a curb again, and i need to figure out the rough patches, i can ride the side walk until i get so an intersection where the storm gutter thing has a 1-3" lip, it kind of send me for a loop >_<

688

Risk: U+86

Practice on the 20 in was not going down a good track this morning :thinking: , so after a quarter hour, I picked up the 24 in and decided that it was time to start converting to this wheel. My eventual goal is bike trail riding on a 29er that I already have, so starting to bridge to a larger wheel makes sense to me.

A solid hour of practice put me just about where I have been with the 20 in wheel. I reached 40 feet a number of times, 50 a few and 55 feet once (9 wheel revs) :smiley: . All of this was with a wheel assisted freemount. Its time to stop counting and begin looking at distances now with this wheel.

I’m going quiet for about a week, making a trip to TX to get the house ready to sell. I will not have a wheel there. See yall on the other side.

689

Great to feel the happy tone of everyone’s progress. I guess I can add to that!

Set out to do my 4.5 miles yesterday, actually thought about doing more. A neighborhood kid that lives on my route, actually on my (current) big hill, was biking, and rode with me for a bit. He enticed me into trying a dirt track behind his house. It was overgrown dual track, and a lot of fun going down. Not as much fun trying to go uphill. (Safety note: Yeah, I need wrist guards…) Went back out and did the rest of the route. Only fell once each side of the hill, which is best effort yet! Total ride was about 5 miles, longest yet!

For those newer than I who are finally getting a few revs under their belt, what a great feeling, eh!! I vividly remember going from under 100 feet to 500+ feet in what seemed like no time. You will hit your sticking points, but push through! At that point, I dreamed of measuring my ride in miles, even fractional miles, rather than feet. Oh, how dreams change!!

690

I think Scott Ttocs response is good. A thinner tire will probably be more difficult. Try playing around with different air pressures. Lower pressure will put more tire “patch” on the road, giving you more control and less torso twist. Too low will not be good on asphalt or concrete. So I would recommend trying a few different pressures. Maybe start at 20 psi?

I just have an old 20" with lollipop bearing. The spokes were all loose so I tightened them and that made it quit creaking with each pedal stroke and made it more responsive.

I really like the Torker LX 24", but the original saddle is terrible and for some reason Torker ships it with a Miyata seat post instead of the standard one so it is a hassle. But I now have a standard post and a KH Freeride saddle so it is really comfortable. I’m not big on spending money to save weight, but I am definitely willing to spend money to increase comfort and safety. The KH saddle is kinda spendy, but it is a joy to ride on and for us boys it is much safer because you put almost all your weight on the sit bones and not on the middle :slight_smile:

691

been having a blast! almost got free mounting dow, and thats really all thats holding me back now. I have been working on hoping and riding backwards, and turning.

Is a KH seat really that amazing? i find my seat by Axiom is really finicky, i have to be positioned just so or i get some really nasty pains… I was wanting to spend very little if anything on this uni and just buy a complete KH 20" in a month or 2 once i get good. But if i get consistent pain like this all the time i will have no issues buying a different seat… for safety… I plan on keeping this uni for many, many years as a emergency back up, a second for friends to come out and ride, and as a beginners for friends. Just want a “guys” opinion on it… (its a guy issue but girls are allowed to comment as well)

692

KH Saddle, worth the money

TPH,

I wanted to spend as little as possible too. But I rode on 5 different saddles, then on the KH Freeride. There was no comparison. I now have the Freeride on 2 unicycles, and the KH Street on the other. The only difference between the Freeride and the Street is that the Street is a little stiffer foam and it has a smooth leather-like cover while the Freeride is a little softer foam (not much, but a little), and it has a breathable fabric cover.

I have read that some people prefer the Street for long rides (more than an hour in the saddle), but I think you can peruse the Community for posts on the topic for more opinions and experiences from other riders.

In short, I spent the money for the KH saddles because they were much better and much safer for the anatomy. Like I said in my last post, when it comes to comfort and safety that is where I am willing to spend the money. If you plan to spend much time on that uni it would be good to get a quality and anatomically well-designed saddle. If you are not going to spend that much time in it then you could go with a Velo brand saddle. I bought two of them, one with gel and one without. They are the same as the older KH design, and are not bad. Just go to www.ebikestop.com and do a key word search for unicycle and you will see both. My daughter has the gel on her uni, which I ride occassionally, and it is a good saddle. But if you are going to spend a lot of time, and can afford it, I highly recommend the KH (Either Freeride or Street). Some people say they like the UDC club saddle ($30) but I have one and do not like it. It causes pain where I do not want pain!

Too wordy–but I hope this helps. Keep up the work on the freemounts! Idling is great practice to enter the world of backward riding so that would be a good skill to focus on. I use the “roll back” mount a lot lately as it is a good gateway to idling. And practicing stalls is also a good gateway to idling. But lots of practice on the static mount is, IMHO, very important as it is the basic mount that can be done under any conditions including really tough conditions like uphill, downhill, narrow spots, rough terrain, etc.

At the rate you are progressing you will soon surpass my ability level! But that is how it goes :slight_smile: Something wonderful for me about unicycling is that I am motivated by others’ success and it makes me try harder, but I don’t have any sense of competition. It is fun to see success and not feel the need to compete :sunglasses:

Sorry again for the long post. I am prone to writing novels ;). Keep up the great work everyone. It is so cool to see the progress. It keeps me going in spite of the busy-ness of life.

G’night.

NSYO aka Brian

693

That is exactly what i wanted thank you, i will look at getting one when i go on holidays (next week probably). It is effecting the rate to which i am learning free mounting… i have to sit down just so but when you don’t have a fence to help re adjust… >_< Money is money… you will never have enough and always wish you had more, so if i can learn faster, and enjoy it more? i see no issues haha.

I had a pretty good night last night, my best friend came over for the second time and had another try as well. So with a combined practice time of 1 hour he was riding 40-60 un assisted… i was a little bit shocked… he completely credited me saying it was because of my critiquing while he was learning, and i don’t like to argue these things =D I did no hit any records for distance but that was not my concern, i wanted to free mount… had about 40 successful attempts, of probably 150… so its getting much better! and easier! and i was on it successfully probably 90-95% of the time it was just starting the pedalling, but thats going as well =D haha i can balance in one spot for an easy 3-5 seconds as well =D haha it was a fun night, and my buddy is completely hooked and said several dozen times “i have to get one of these” haha =D

694

So tempting to upgrade parts! I have padded bike shorts, so the cheap saddle is okay right now.

Just went to ride for 2 hours. Able to consistently ride over 50meters now. Working on putting more weight on the seat. Realized that to remain in control with weight in the seat, I had to rely less on the pedals to keep balance. Instead of speeding up or slowing down abrubtly to remain on top of the wheel, I can instead be more precise in my hip’s position. This is rather tricky, but now I can go for longer without getting tired legs.

Tried to freemount many times, using the rollback method. Managed to succeed only 3 times. TopHatPlus, which method do you use?

695

hey, not the role back… not that i advent tried but thats slightly ahead of me… i got about 1/2 successful, i keep my pedals vertical, with my lead foot down, and i step/sit into it, if you jump you go right over, you want to keep your body as low as possible which creates more stability, i actually video taped it, as soon as i can i will post the video.

696

Its not a how to video, just a video of me doing it, and not… but its in high res and on board =D

697

Ooh, that’s called a static mount right? I tried doing that, but it was hard not to put weight on my dominant foot. I’m using a 24" and need to jump a lot more. It seems that the rollback mount is related to idling and backwards riding.

698

hey, i believe its called a static mount, if you notice in the video my uni is on a pretty good angle, i have the lowest part of the counter on the top of the seat (the middle) at my belly button, and i keep my on my dominant foot, weight low, and step into it, i will shoot another video on tuesday explaining it better.

699

Mounting

TPH - It was hard to see your foot position in the video, but I agree with LR that you were doing a static mount and not a roll-back.

LR - It is hard to learn to not put weight on your back (dominant) foot, but it will eventually come to you and you will get more proficient over time. It is worth all the work :slight_smile:

The roll-back is a good mount to learn as well, but initially I suggest putting your energy into the static. But who knows, maybe the roll-back just works better for some so don’t take my advise alone. The biggest thing is doing what you are (and the rest of us are) doing, and that is to keep trying.

Some of us not so young ones are wishing we could progress as fast as you two! :smiley:

700

When freemounting (static mount as you have stated), I find it easiest and more consistent to place the saddle securely beneath me snugged up nice and close. I hold the handle with my left hand to keep the seat there. In this way, when I place my right dominant foot lightly on the pedal (at 8 o’ clock) I can hop up onto the uni and place my left foot in position and ride away.

Since the saddle is already firmly secure beneath
me prior to the mount, my weight is already in the saddle and not on the right foot. It’s a simple matter to get moving by using my left foot to start me forward. Also: as I’ve stated elsewhere, the less I think about the mount the more successful I am. I also look ahead of me and not at my feet, that seems to help quite a bit as well. Don’t know if this will help anyone, but there ya go.

701

Going to go google that right now! :smiley:

702

Hey, I will try to get a video made of me free mounting, while not on my head =D haha

I agree with Tincher Teach, i get the saddle where i want it, as snug as possible also setting up “the goods” so theres no pain once mounted, i tend to press me right leg against the fork and find it helps me get a little more stability once on, i spent more time paying attention to my body positioning, as i mentions i step/sit into it trying to keep my weight low and controlled. I have my seat fairly high so once up i have a proper saddle position so I’m on almost a 45 degree angle with the fork before mounting, i get all set and i lean my upper body forward, in a very aggressive manor and have my head almost over top of the wheel, then once i initiate the free mount it is a matter of pulling my hips in line with my right foot and my head, i played around with it more today on more of a 8-9 o clock and it all translated over as though i was at 6. I wanted to push myself today! so i told myself i would not use a fence! This worked out rather well, my first free mount attempt was 100% successful and i rode about 10 revolutions and dismounted to try agin, the second 3rd, 4th 5th, not as successful but i had several very good free mounts. I stayed out rather late last night… got 3 hours of sleep… worked 9 hours, 2 hours of intense gym workout, then uni practice, so after about 30 minutes i could not free mount to save my life… my feet were all over the place and i was toasted… tomorrow i have planned for a more well rested ride =D As for the actual riding part, its getting easy =D and smooth and comfortable and easy =D hehe i am just pumped, once i get consistent with free mounting i will start bumps, lumps, and small drops (curbs).