Translation: Balls of the feet over pedal spindle = max leverage.
Excellent translation. My brain skidded to a stop on that too.
JD
Yay, another old female. There are too few of us. All the advice is good. Mainly it’s weight on the seat. You are doing what we all did–putting too much weight on our legs. I still do that when I’m off road. I remember my first trip to the end of the street was exhausting. Now I commute to work, climbing over hilly roads, on my 29".
I have started riding a bicycle again. I alternate between uni and bicycle. I bicycled for years and when I started unicycling, the unicycle gave me a better (harder) workout. I didn’t touch my bike for a year and now I find the bike to be a harder workout. I decided to use both. Bicycling has helped me climb better when on my unicycle. The bike (road bike) is geared much higher and forces me to work harder on hills.
Where are you located? You may find other riders nearby. There are a lot where I live but they are all very fast and I don’t like being the slow one. Also, don’t change your name. It will be a great reminder of uni-beginnings.
Thanks!!
I’m in Southwest Louisiana, near Lake Charles. Thanks for all the great advice. I’m feeling quite encouraged by all of your helpful comments. Yes, I do think I will keep the 57UniRider name. It will just remind me of when I started this crazy challenge my family and friends think is Looney Tunes!! I’m loving it already and can hardly wait until the whole thing starts getting easier and more natural feeling! Thanks!!!
55+ club ??
By the way… How do I join the 55+ club mentioned above?
Thanks!
Hey, go easy 57UniRider, you’ve woken up all the old guys and before you know it they’ll be bangin’ on your door with their sticks.
Ok, that sounded ruder than I meant it to.
Welcome to the group
Don’t ride to exhaustion so that dismounting can be done smoothly (without going flat to the ground). Practice dismounting with the uni in front as well as with the uni to the rear. Dismounting to the rear will help prepare for the unplanned dismounts after hitting a rock, stick, or neck of a squirrel.
you will crash
I hate bikes. Just gotta get that out of the way.
But for such a truly horrible construct, they have a surprising feature that may account for some of the extra wheel devices popularity.
Although completely useless, and unfun in almost all situations, the extra wheel prevents the big 3 ouchs of uni riding. The knee skid, the elbow skid, or the palm slide. The face plant is also on the menu, but rarely chosen.
I used to live in south La , so I know you are dealing with some serious heat. Tanking up with lots of body armor will be to hot. Definitely look into pro palm protection. You are definitely going to bail forward at times. Strong palm protection gear lets your arms to skid with no pain. My wrist wraps have front tongs that look like they just lost a fight with a lawn mower.
Everyone says relax. Useless advice. Ride a lot and go down a lot. Then the fear goes away. As long as you didn’t get hurt. Buy wrist wraps , maybe even knee and elbow stuff. I am fairly strong in the arms, and can murder my wrist wraps to protect my knees and elbows. If it was cooler here I would wear more protective gear, south La is worse than Key West in the summer. At the least , you must wear wrist wraps.
Thanks!
Every time I check here, I get some more great advice!!! Thanks!
Me too - looks like all us newbies suffer the same agonies and anxieties.
Thanks to all of the great advice here, I may be graduating from the newbie class soon. By my standard, when I can ride a mile without killing myself, I’ll consider myself whatever is just above newbie. Stay with it!!
That is what makes unicycling one of the great “levellers”.
We were all there once.
Many riders have said they will happily unlearn the ability to ride just so they can re-experience the joy of going from riding 10feet to riding 100 feet for the first time.
You truly will not get closer to flying in this lifetime.
Whilst I truly appreciate this sentiment, and personally agree that the balance of unicycling DOES indeed feel like flying, I do believe that
is somewhat closer to flying, as is
.
Oh, all-right then.
BTW, am I the only one who gets clammy palms just from watching that wing suit flying?
My whole body gets clammy…
wing suits, etc.
Uhhhh… I wonder what Leonardo da Vinci would think about that flying suit.
That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!
I will be thrilled to pieces when I can FREEMOUNT this crazy unicycle, and I think I’ll leave the real flying to you guys who are maybe just a little braver, crazier, and more nimble than I am.
Whoa! That’s crazy!
Thanks for the inspiration steveyo. If you can do that, surely I can freemount this thing! I shall get it one way or another!
Welcome to the unicycling world and as mbalmer said “Yay to have another woman rider!” 
Everyone’s advice is great I really can’t add anything.
For me, I notice that when I ride if I’m relaxed and have my weight on my saddle the ease of pedaling is evident. Once again, Welcome and I hope you enjoy riding!
You’re welcome for the inspiration. And, you most certainly CAN freemount! But, to keep the record straight, I most certainly do NOT do wingsuit flying. I like unicycling because it’s a relatively low risk way to get a flying feeling.
Again, welcome!
Hello again. Welcome!
It’s very, VERY hard to will yourself to sit in the seat. Beginners tend to mash both feet down onto the pedals. I did this for a long time. It’s the main reason beginners get tired easily – one foot is fighting the other. As your right leg pushes down on the front stroke of the pedal to propel you forward, your left foot is pushing down as the left pedal comes up, resisting what the other foot is doing. It’s almost like you are going uphill all the time. You will ease up on the pedals as you practice. And then there’s only one place for all that weight to go – and that’s into the seat.
Here’s an observation I had when I was learning to ride. It’s an experiment you can try. Ride up to something like a pole or a wall or a fence. Grab hold and come to a stop. Feel your weight sinking into the seat? Watch for it. You think you are sitting in the seat, but when you come to a stop, you really sit in the seat.
Also, how easy is it for you to adjust your feet on the pedals as you are riding? I assume you feel like they are crazy-glued to the pedals. This is more evidence that you are pushing down on both pedals. This only serves to tire you out and take weight off the seat. Again, this will go away automatically. Do keep it in mind, which may help a little, but don’t worry about it. Some day you will ride for miles at a time with the lightest touch on the pedals – and it won’t be a big workout!