Hmm, if you are already starting to get the hang of it, I would suggest that you get a unicycle that fits your future riding. If you want to ride around, a 24" or 26" is faster than a 20".
I had this, too, when I switched to shorter cranks.
Your muscles don’t support your knee properly, make sure the pain is completely gone, before you ride the next time. Lest you damage the joints.
What helped me was training different kinds of uni in rotation. Make sure to expose your knee to different kinds of stress, so all involved muscles grow.
Getting a handle on a handle
I finally put the handlebar on.
It took me a good 15mins to ride off with it. It was like the first time I road the 36". The added weight of the handle just throws me off. In the picture, the handle is extended out a lot. I decided to move it back in as much as possible, and get used to a handle being there first. It is strange. This isn’t like a bicycle where you can put as much or as little weight as you like on the bars. Whatever weight put on it, will affect your balance.
Yesterday, I went for a short 8km ride around the neighborhood. Going down slopes, and braking by resisting the pedal motion is a tough thing to do. Sometimes I almost get thrown off the front, because the momentum of the wheel is so great that I get lifted off the seat. After the ride, I Iced my right ankle. I don’t if it’s the reduced distance, or the icing, but my ankle isn’t sore today. This is good!
No I don’t use warm water, more a matter of convenience than anything else. It is something to do 24 or more hours after you have been riding/running (doing whatever aggravates the sore spots…) But 15 minutes of ice after riding etc is a good idea while you have any pain or discomfort.
I’ve had the “tingly electric therapy” too, was very pleasant and relaxing. That was for knee ligaments…
Just thought, possibly worth thinking in terms of riding time rather than distance. That may be a more useful way of judging when to stop!!! if you are riding a smaller wheel etc.
Oh and seeing a professional is an intelligent behaviour 
Cheers
James
To Jeff2
Sorry to hear of your loss, hope you get another uni soon and keep up with the practising.
Kamikaze
Ta for the info.
I do a lot of kneeling down in my job (shelf filler in a shop) so hopefully my knees will recover quickly.
Lonereaction
Well done on getting a 36" . Take care of yourself.
Elaine
Hi everyone. I’ve read through a large portion of this thread and thought I should introduce myself. I finally got my new unicycle last Wednesday and have been busy trying to figure out how to not fall off of it so often since I got it. Today was my second day of attempting to ride without a support (except for the initial getting onto the unicycle). I managed a 4-5 pedal ride and probably could have gone a few more if I had not gotten so excited that I lost my concentration and ended up falling off. So far I’m having a blast despite the countless UDPs that have already transformed my shinny new uni into a very well used one. I really can’t wait to start riding all of the trails that are scattered throughout my city.
Welcome to the sport! Happy to see another brother!
Dude, you’re making good progress! Keep it up!
Hi Zehdy! It’s great to hear that you are having fun. If you have read this thread, you will know that it is inevitable that you will eventually be able to ride. 
4-5 strokes will become 5-10, then 10-20, and soon it will be over 100!
Welcome Zehdy
Zhedy - Glad you found the thread and decided to post. Keep letting us know how you are doing! Going as far as you did on your second day is awesome!
I just did some quick math and noticed that the combined age of the last three to post on the thread (Zehdy, SchafferJN, LR) add up to the same age as some of our fellow TLJ Team Learning Journal friends
As far as I can tell all unicyclists are very young at heart! Last year when I started learning I felt like a 13 year old boy again 
Other observations on commonalities of one-wheel-riders?..
Same here NSYO, I only wish I could learn as fast as a 13 year old. I don’t bounce as well these days either 
I only started this uni thing as a challenge and now realize I’m in it for life.
Good luck Zhedy.
Hello Everyone!
Way to go Zehdy! You are making QUICK progress.
So right NSYO and Jojoxie! (hey Jojoxie!)
Every day I wish I were back to twenty-something. However, I’m back to regular practice after taking it easy due to various interruptions that were mostly beyond my control.
In response to your thoughts, NSYO,
the following attributes seem to fit most unicycle people (imho):
–Just plain nice!
as demonstrated by most everyone on the forum.
–A bit stubborn and prone to perseverance
Perseverance is my favorite word.
–Possibly a bit eccentric
Or does just the fact that we can do something other people think is impossible make us seem eccentric?
–autonomous
I like this one actually. It helps to have support from everyone on the forum, but when it comes down to it… to ride, you have to do it all by yourself sometimes despite discouraging comments from non-riding friends and family who think it’s dangerous, etc. Maybe this applies more to older riders. Another reason it might be nice to be 20 again. At 20 it would be much easier to find riding buddies. But then, I don’t mind people thinking I’m eccentric… or crazy, etc.
Happy Riding Everyone!
Hey Alucard!
How are your knees?
Tried to add this to the last post,
but my 10 minutes was already gone.
Wow thank you everyone for the warm welcome and the words of encouragement it is much appreciated.
ShafferJN you will have to settle for a sister :p.
I am happy to report that I am continuing to make progress. I went out for a practice session this morning and managed a 9 pedal ride, it felt amazing! I averaged about half that on the rest of my rides. I tried a few free mounts as well to change things up. I managed to get a good one followed by a few pedals forward. However once again I was so excited that… well… the next thing I knew I sitting on the asphalt with a bit of a sore backside haha. I would have been out yesterday but it rained ALL day, except of course for the few minutes that it attempted to snow.
I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten better my unicycle has ‘shrunk’. I remember the first day I got on it it felt so high up. But now I’m starting to feel much more comfortable and sitting on it now I feel much lower to the ground. Of course I am armoured to the teeth when I ride my unicycle so that adds to the feeling of safety I’m sure haha. I wear a helmet, wrist guards, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads and shin pads. However the growing number of bruises on my calf from a few of my not so graceful dismounts is starting to make a very compelling argument to upgrade my plain old shin-guards that I took from my old martial arts gear to something that will also protect the back of my legs.
Welcome Zehdy If you are excited about 9 peddles wait till you can go down the road and back ( as I’m sure you will ) for me it exceeded the excitment of that first solo drive after you pass your driving test. Don’t stop posting your progress, maybe I’m the only one but all the positive things people achieve on here, however small gives me a huge smile and makes may day better!! Good luck!!
Hi Grizoo!
No, your not the only one!
This forum makes my day… every single day!
How did I miss seeing you before Grizoo?
Pleased to make your acquaintance!
Hey Zehdy,
Always good to have more BC unicyclists. Congrats on your progress, it sounds like you pretty much have it. I’m not sure if you found it yet, but there’s a mailing list and a website for vanuni, where people post events and rides. Unfortunately most of the stuff happens further west of you, but if you’re interested in meeting some other unicyclists and getting into things like muni it would be worth signing up and saying hi.
Mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/vanuni
Website: http://www.vanuni.com/
Cheers,
Marshall
Thanks Marshall I’ve checked out the mailing list as well as the web site. It would be great to meet a few other unicyclists even if it’s just over an hour drive to Vancouver. Hopefully I can make it to one of the get-togethers I’m sure it would be worth the drive ^-^. I was also very pleased to find out there is a store that sells unicycles in Vancouver. I am going to have to go check that place out some time! I’m already thinking about buying a second uni.
Now for my progress, in the past few days I’ve managed to ride all the way across the cul-de-sac I am learning in every time I have a good run (about 20 or so pedals across). Yay! So now I’ve realized I need to start learning to turn. I spent some time today trying to learn. It wasn’t really all that successful. My guess is because I really had no idea what I was doing haha. So I’ll probably be looking up a few tutorials on how to turn in my spare time before I go out again. Of course if you guys have any pointers please share.
I posted this somewhere else. You just look at where you want to go, and your body will naturally learn towards that direction.
There are two turning methods. Leaning and twisting (what I refer to as ‘snap turns’).
For the snap turn first look the in the direction of the the turn, then slightly un-weight the saddle and make a quick twisting motion. You will hear the tire scraping on the ground. This is good for tight areas, for making quick adjustments, and for learning to un-weight the saddle which is useful for many things. You do not actually stand up on the pedals, rather just a quick equal pressure on both pedals to just start to stand which will make you light in the saddle. After the turn return to putting your full weight back on the saddle.
For the leaning turn look in the direction of the turn and lean your hips in that direction. Your feet and shoulders will both stay in about the same position they were. So for a left turn your body will kind of look like the < less than symbol, and for a right turn your body will look like the > greater than symbol. Not quite that extreme, but hopefully this gives you an idea. The key is to lead the turn by looking that direction, then lean from the hips into the turn while keeping your upper torso perpendicular to the ground, seeking to keep your weight firmly down in the saddle and continue to pedal smoothly. Performed well this turn will be smooth with no jerking or twisting and no scraping of the tire.
Hope this helps! Find a wide area to practice the leaning turns. After a while you can start trying figure 8 turns and shorter radius turns.
One more thing. Force yourself to practice turning both directions. One will be naturally easier, so once you get that one down spend more time on the opposite side until you get it smooth and comfortable.
Enjoy, and keep us posted on your progress.
Prime suspect
Up till last week, my right ankle didn’t get worse after taking krjames’s advice to ice it after activity. However, last wednesday I had a ride cut short by rain. Only got to ride for 2km. So, on thursday, I decided to go for another ride. Lo and behold, it rained just as I was starting.
Not wanting to give up, I waited till night to ride, and did 12km more time than usual practicing freemounting, because it was tricker with handlebars. The next day, my foot ached. I suspect that cycling itself it not much of a problem, but rather all the jumping and hard landings of a beginner unicyclist.
The ache lasted a few days, and is nearly gone today. I have exams till next week, and so will take a week off riding. After that, I may test my hypothesis by minimizing jumping, or sticking to riding 2 wheels (it has been a while since I did that!)