Welcome Batou. I just started earlier this Summer. It’s a lot of fun… It’s a lot of work too. Do not quit. Be persistent and enjoy. Read this thread from the beginning and success will come quickly. Welcome to the uni forum.
Glenn
Sounds like you’re already well on your way to a lot of fun! Good luck!
Went to my local park and mostly rode 2 miles of grass, pavement and some single track while Mrs GlennG jogged beside me with our pooch. Then we all went to the tennis courts where I lowered the seat and watched Mrs GlennG practice against the same fence that I used to learn on many weeks ago. She did great and will be riding in no time. I witnessed her make several revolutions while she was just “touching off” of the fence. She should be riding without the fence by next week. I’m proud of her progress.
Good to have you join in here, Batou!
A few firsts to report from me. Last Thursday I rode my 20" Avenir around the neighborhood and was able to ride all the way up my driveway for the first time. It’s pretty steep and has some cracks in the concrete partway up that usually stop me and dump me onto the ground, but at last I made it the whole way.
Saturday night, I reconfigured the 26" Nimbus muni that I had bought way back in May but hadn’t been brave enough to try to ride yet. I put on the Hookworm tire and the shorter pair of crank arms (150 mm) that I got with it, and removed the U-brake which the last owner had cleverly mounted but which unfortunately had a badly bent arm.
Sunday evening, I took both of those unis to the Arboretum. On the 20" I finally conquered my other nemesis, the arched wooden bridge with the bumpy concrete approach that had beaten me so many times. I also rode around on the park’s basketball court for a little bit and worked on making tight turns on the smooth surface. Then I switched to the 26" muni and got going on that without any real trouble. Again it was pretty shocking going to a bigger wheel size. My first impression was of how much riding it was about managing the momentum of the heavy wheel. Once it gets rolling, it really wants to keep going. In just a few minutes, I was riding it as far as I had been riding the 20" but getting there a lot quicker.
There was a good friendly diverse bunch enjoying the park and a lot of interest in my unicycles, and I had some fun conversations. A 20-something couple had put up their slackline (I had no idea this was a commercial thing but then happened to see this later that night) between a couple of trees and they offered me a chance to try walking on it. I politely declined, but they did both try to get on my Avenir.
They were impressed by how challenging it was to even sit on it, asked where I got it and how much it was, and were the first people I’ve met locally who actually seemed more interested when I told them that it had taken me about a month learn to ride it in open space away from any support. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they got one–or two–and started practicing. I haven’t been able to say that about anyone else I’ve met while riding. And if I have another chance, I might try their slackline after all.
Another couple closer to my age passed by while I was riding the muni. The woman said, “We’ve got tightrope walkers over there, and here you are on your unicycle.”
“I know,” I said, “it’s like a circus tonight.”
The man said, “I think there are some lion tamers over that way.” And then he wanted to know about how long I’d been riding, what size my tire was, what other sizes there were, how hard it was, etc.
Good times.
GlennG, you snuck in while I was typing. 
Excellent stuff! It sounds like things are coming along really well for you, and for Mrs GlennG too. That’s great to hear. I haven’t had any luck finding a local riding partner. You seem to have hit the jackpot.
Eddie sounds like you’re doing good too. How much tire pressure are you running in that 26er? I had a Muni breakthrough when I was told to let a lot of air out of my tire. I’m running 20-22 psi in my 24 and it seems to roll over the uneven bits much better. Prior to that I was using mountain bike pressure and the tire was too hard but I didn’t know any better.
My wife and I used to mtb and road bike together and she’s a beast of a climber. I once filled her mtb frame full of lead shot to slow her down and she was still a force to reckon with. I’m building a 29er to keep up with her on the 24 ;).
I’d like to find more people to ride with too but I got to get more skilled first because the only other riders I know are really experienced and I am not ready to ride with them yet. But soon.
One thing I noticed about riding a uni is that everyone in the park wants to stop and talk about it. I’d say 90% is very positive and the other 10 are just idiots that have to blurt out something idiotic but usually amusing.
Wow, this was worth reading. 
It is so cool when skill builds to a level and mind conquers matter and you finally master tricky surfaces that at first seem impenetrable
I’m working on lumps, bumps and slopes at the moment and inching forward in ability.
Moving from a 20" to a 26" Muni wheel is such a culture shock…but a nice one. Fast, smooth and nicely paced I thought. Takes a bit more effort to get it going and keep it going though. Im still a bit scared to wind mine up to full speed 
Great progress there LargeEddie…
UL
The gauge doesn’t work on that pump (my good one is Presta only) so I don’t know, but maybe higher than needed. Do you use the same pressure on and off pavement? I kept it on the paved walking paths on Sunday and didn’t want it to be sluggish and hard(er) to turn. Earlier in the week, I had the 24" with the mountain bike tire out there and noticed that it felt good on dirt and grass and going over roots with the pressure I had, but then it seemed mushy when I got on the asphalt. But the 26" Hookworm is much much bigger and might be different about that.
With her permission? Playing with fire there I’d say.
Good luck!
Maybe it’s just the luck of the draw and I’ll run into a streak of non-stop idiots eventually. But for whatever reason I haven’t had any yet. Everyone’s been unfailingly polite so far. I feel a little bit left out.
With the unicycle I’ve been trying not to get too much into the non-stop how fast and how far guy thing like I’ve done running and cycling and inline speedskating before. I go to the park for an hour and do what I want, and socialize for some of that time if I’m lucky to find people who want to be social. The way my legs feel the next day tells me that I’m getting plenty of work anyhow.
Thanks, Shmolagin. I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was an evening of things worth trying to remember.
It really is! I’m still pretty big on the idea that a lot of the adaptation is physical growth and just takes time. Practice and technique matter, but so does being patient and giving the meat-based machine a chance to adapt itself.
Sounds good. There’s a lot to work on, never any shortage of things to try. The former military facilities you’ve been posting about look like really good places to find them.
Well I did have the 24" project uni that I picked up last month. I was able to use that as a stepping stone and I think it helped. A 26" muni is that big a jump yet again, but it at least prepared me for having to make another jump.
I do still like riding the 20" for working on basic skills. I’ll take more chances because I’m never that far off the ground or going that fast. There seems to be a nice back and forth. The bigger wheels need more commitment to have any effect on them, and doing that has made me better at recovering from out of shape situations on the Avenir.
Absolutely! I wasn’t pushing it at all. We’ll see what happens when I get started doing actual muni, trying to take on some of the mountain bike trails around here. But I also like the twitchiness of light tire sometimes. I’m waiting for a rim to get here to start building up a second wheel, for whatever 700c road tire I can fit in the Nimbus frame. Taming the skittishness of the 20" wheel has been part of the fun of unicycling for me, and I’d like to try riding with some of that but on a faster wheel.
Thanks, UL!
I have to say that three years into riding I am still working on lumps, bumps and slopes – just bigger ones than when I started. I am also inching forward in ability. These things don’t change with time.
Took my car in for service this morning, and put the uni in the back so I could ride it home without needing someone to come and get me.
Five miles is not that far, but it’s the farthest I’ve ridden through city traffic. I was so nervous and tense the whole way it felt like I went 10 miles instead of 5.
No UPDs per se, but I had to stop at several stop lights, and it took me a couple tries to get going again from a couple of them. Fortunately it was a fairly wide street most of the way, with a designated bike lane, so I didn’t think I was going to get run over. Guess I’ll have to do it regularly to get over the anxiety. Anybody else get anxiety like that when venturing out into traffic?
Hi Lance,
yes I think we all do when we first start riding in public…
Then later, like you, when we actually try to go somewhere. I had the same sort of feelings when I first started riding to the gym(about an hour and a half) and having to stop and then get back on… used to have occasions when it would take me half a dozen goes to get on :o But after a few weeks I stopped worrying about what other people were thinking and was able to relax. Now it’s just a regular ride (well not at the moment, it’s too hot to ride over there during the day). And I still have days when I count mount for nuts 
Cheers
James
Lance,
My own experience is that mounting is 50% harder when people are watching me. I’ll mount effortlessly all day, but as soon as I’m in public with eyes on me, I start over-thinking it.
Thanks for the welcome!!
Thanks for the welcome.
As to where I am, I"m in Plantation Florida, just up the street from Markham Park (they have a few dirt bike trails I’ll tackle once I actually learn to ride my Uni ! )
I’ve been practicing for nearly a week and yesterday I got up to 12 feet, out in the open ( nothing to grab , except the ground )
That’s the farthest ride so far, but I’ll keep practicing!
How’s it coming along, Batou? Any progress to report?
I didn’t get out to ride in the first half of last week. Thursday and Friday I was at the parks (two different ones) trying to ride trails again on the Sun. No breakthroughs to report but it was good steady practice. I figured a few small things out and found more things that I need to figure out.
Sunday I stayed home and got the Avenir out again. I warmed up for a few minutes up and down the street then went around to the patio to do some things that I still need to use the wall for. I worked on riding backward, a little bit of hopping, and also on finding the balance point for static free mounting–especially tricky on the 20" wheel since it rolls back with even just a little weight on the back pedal. While doing those, I tried something that I hadn’t thought to try before: to see if I could balance well enough to lift both of my feet off the pedals while sitting. And I never could! But it seems like a good thing to work on. I felt like I had an idea of what it would be like to have all my weight on the seat and be all stacked up above the axle, and I knew I wasn’t there. I think I’ll keep practicing that one.
To finish up, I went back out to the street and rode out there some more, and felt smoother and more relaxed than before. When I checked later on and added up the lengths of the neighborhood blocks I’d ridden past, my longest ride turned out to be more than 1400 feet. I’m trying not to get too hung up on how far or how fast since I’ve gone through that before with running, cycling, and then inline skating, but I hadn’t done 1000 feet before so to have done a quarter of a mile non-stop felt pretty good.
Coming along
Large Eddie,
Thanks for asking. I’m more comfortable sitting on the unicycle (and not wobbling all over the place ). I was rolling along the edge of the fence, and I did try rolling away from the fence. (Got a sprained wrist, but no problems there, I’ve skateboarded, rollerbladed, iceskated and rode mountain bike, so falling off was just something that happens… ).
I’ve started watched a youtube series and (experts village ) and the gentleman does show he can ride, his method was different from mine (balance first, then walk on the dominant foot side, then on the non-dominate side (quarter turns with the extended foot ), then forward 10 rev, then back 10 revs.).
I’m doing this now, so that I can get a better balance and feel for riding before I try to ride off the fence again
[QUOTE=Batou;1600310]
Large Eddie,
I’ve started watched a youtube series and (experts village ) and the gentleman does show he can ride, his method was different from mine (balance first, then walk on the dominant foot side, then on the non-dominate side (quarter turns with the extended foot ), then forward 10 rev, then back 10 revs.).
This is the gentleman video’s I’m watching (this is video #4, and he does actually ride the unicycle,but his tire REALLY needs air ! )
Looks like you’re off to a great start, Batou.
I remember the feeling from not long ago, wanting to ride away from the wall and go somewhere, and wanting to think that I could do it if I just believed enough, like they say in the movies. And I couldn’t. But after some practice and a lot of failed attempts, I eventually did.
I guess it’s probably always that way. All the tricks I see people do on YouTube, I ought to be able to do at least a little of it. Not yet but one of these days…
Yeah, my thumbs are more or less perpetually sprained from the Superman dismounts. Small price…
That oughta work. Like you say, getting the feel for starting and stopping and how to use the pedals to keep your balance seems to be the thing. That, and also learning how to get off and stay on your feet when things get sketchy.
I see what you mean about his tire pressure though. Someone find a pump for the guy!
Keep up the good work, and I hope you’ll keep us posted on how it goes.
That’s so true…that feels like just yesterday
I think my confidence and ability took off when I got the hang of falling off without hurting myself (UPD’ing). Once I knew it wasn’t going to hurt (too much, too often) I was mentally more prepared to take the risks. A few months on I still find the biggest hurdle I have to overcome is mental. I managed my first transition from road to pavement (sidewalk) at a dropped curb (just a centimetre or two high) last week and realised all that had been holding me back was the fear of the Uni coming to an abrupt halt and tipping me off. I just need to apply the same bravery to exposed roots and full-on curbs
Keep up the good work guys…
UL