A few weeks ago a learned about a unicycle meetup group here in Southern California and decided it was about time I learn to ride than 20" cycle I had in the garage for 10 years. The next meetup was 7 days away and I wanted to go. So I watch Youtube videos and practiced in my driveway every day for a week. I liked the coach bob video.
After about an hour of practice on the first day my best ride was 16 pedals in a row (8 rotations of the wheel). By day 3 I had 40 pedals in a row, day 5 100 pedals and by day 7 I could go until I ran out of road or got tiered. I was just starting to learn to turn.
I went to the meetup and met 13 great unicyclists. I rode my unicycle a bit but couldn’t keep up with the group so I hopped on my Ninebot One “electric unicycle” for the 13 mile dirt trail. I am determined to be able to pedal my unicycle on the next group ride so I have been practicing every day. I already have my eye on a KH26 but they are back ordered so in the mean time I got a 24" Sun to learn ion from Craigslist for $40. Every other day Amazon boxes arriving with all the new gear I have been buying.
A week ago was the first time I was able to pedal a whole mile (with many UPDs in 30 minutes. Two days ago I rode 1 mile in 20 minutes with only 3 UPDs. Today I did that mile in 11 minutes with one UPD. And today I learned to term UPD from a friend a met at the meetup. I have been tracking my progress in this google spreadsheet. On day 14 I started doing free mounts. Today is day 18 and I did a figure 8 in a narrow street. I have 24 more days until the next meetup. I plan to be pedaling most of it and walking the rest.
Friday I rode 1.5" miles on a flat dirt path with some paved hills under the streets. This was more of a workout than the flat paved path I have been practicing on and I worked up quite a sweat. Afterwords I did some searching here on the forums to figure out what kind of short and underwear I need to make this more comfortable. No more cotton for me!
Yesterday I rode 1.5 miles on a hilly dirt path with elpuebloUNIdo. I had to walk on many of the hills but I pedaled up and down a few. I am doing all free mounting now using a tire grab including up and down hill.
Today I took a paved path for 2.5 miles. This one had a lot more hills than the flat loop I have been practicing on. I only got one smart ass comment about “where is the other half of the bike.” For every one of those there were 4 comments like “way to go man” and “you rock” and “no way”.
For anyone else in SoCal interested in unicycle group events, there are two sources of information which are currently more active than the unicycle forum. One is on meetup.com, and the other is the group email list for “one love unicycle club”, which was started by Jamey ( unicyclist6869 ).
James,
Also wanted to chime in with my congrats! It takes a lot of work to get going, and it looks like you’ve put in a lot! I ride trails in a park near my home, and I love all the comments and reactions I get. Amazingly, I get a lot of encouragement from strangers as well, but I actually like all the teasing about the other half of my “bike”. I also tease bike riders and tell them they’re “cheating” with that extra wheel. A lot of them stop and ask me about riding the uni. They seem to be attracted to the intense workout it provides. It’s a very social thing, and I think it’s a good way to encourage others to give it a try.
I am feeling really good. I rode 3.8 miles tonight in 56 minutes all on dirt along a creak in Irvine. Hicks Canyon Wash. Did a 1.5 mile stretch without a dismount.
The only comment I got was from a kid saying “look. He is on one wheel. One weel. Look. One wheel”
I never kept a log of my unicycling progress, though I’ve posted a fair amount on the forum, and that is a record, of sorts, of my progress.
One reflective practice I’ve adopted, after a long ride, is to think, backwards in time from the present, about the ride. I think about all the people I encountered, the challenges, the trail conditions, etc. It takes me quite a few minutes to mentally backtrack a long ride. In order to make this mental practice work, I cannot stay in the same place for long, during my ride. My ability to remember relies on being able to mentally string together, in backwards order, all the places I rode. If I were riding around a track, I’d have trouble distinguishing one lap from another. If I start my reflection at the beginning of my ride, then think forward, I struggle to remember details.