Depending on distance you need,
Empty parking lot? (schools are out)
Roads behind big box stores.
paved bike trails?
board walks in the morning?
Sure looks like you’ve just about got it.
Keep at it.
The magic moment will happen soon!
Ride with confidence, and just keep going like you know you’ve got it whipped.
Hi xamana !
I’m working on it.
Slow going, but I have moments of “hmmm, maybe that was a little of the right feel.”
I went back and looked at your intro thread.
Are you doing everything on a 26"?
That’s pretty impressive!
I really wish I had conquered this when I was 12!
However, if I had, I doubt I would have felt the need to prove anything by riding it now. I’m thinking 45 years later, proving I can do it now is lots more fun, or maybe more rewarding.
I will do much more with it now than I would have then. I wouldn’t have been exposed to anything but riding down the street back then.
Now I (we!) have all these great new friends to watch, visit with, learn from and totally enjoy! …So not only am I enjoying this new challenge, I’m enjoying the new friends even more!
Thanks Everyone ! You keep me motivated !
Good visiting with you, xamana.
What is the derivation of xamana?
Keep up the good work Rider–
I’m pretty sure that people did some of these tricks when I was a kid, but I never learned them. just mostly rode around the block or to the store having fun
I have to work on the idling
Xamana is kinda long story, but the short version is that when I was in college I spent some time studying Maya archaeology and heard that the word xaman in Mayan was the same as the our word Shaman meaning like a witch doctor. Also, the X in Mayan is pronounced like an sh. I always liked that and when I got a sailboat I wanted to use it as the sailboats name. Boats are supposed to be female though so I added an A to the end. Since then it has just been an easy name to come up with when I am stumped to sign up for something.
Hey xamana,
I noticed you are an archeologist.
That is pretty impressive.
Do you have any archeologist stories… such as finding something really exciting?
A friend of mine, who majored in ancient art history, went on a dig once, but I can’t remember what location.
HA! My VICTORY FACEPLANT! TLJ page 29, post #426. Yes, that was me! I forgot about that.
I think the stairs were easier than hopping. Doing the curb drop 2 weeks ago, and then the stairs last week, I was surprised at how easy it seemed. I think my hopping issue is too much tire pressure, which I like for distance riding. I’m starting to save for a 29 muni, which will be easier to hop on, so I’m gonna focus on distance riding and whatever else comes up. Whatever else being loosely defined as whatever is in front of me, like a stair set, or chasing munis through the woods, which I am hoping for soon…
I think all the tricks are similar pieces to the same puzzle, and when you become good with one trick, it helps you to learn the others. Time in the saddle, that’s what its all about.
HA! AnimalCage! Funny!
See, I’m not out of my mind yet! I knew it was you or NSYO, and I remember NSYO got his brother interested rather quickly. I had forgotten the part about your brother-in-law, though. Haven’t heard about NYSO’s brother lately.
I had attempted to hop before reading that story just for the heck of it, but I had no idea how to do it. I was trying to hop without holding on to the seat (like I used to hold the pogo stick with my knees). After reading your story, I knew to hold the seat with my hands. Gee, that worked a whole lot better.
I did try it again today, but I don’t think I’ll be winning any prizes for hopping anytime soon…
besides, Darth is probably out there hopping down the street waving at his neighbor while I’m sitting here writing this post. 
You guys have a nice evening!
There are some pretty good youtube videos on hopping if you have not seen them, 57UR
Hi Risk,
I was just messing around with it in my classroom and, just for the heck of it, again today. However, maybe if I had a look at a few videos, the next time I play around with it I’d have a better idea how to go about it. Good idea.
Thanks Risk.
Some years ago I was working for a friend of mine in a second-hand furniture store she’d just bought.
We got it going and after a couple of weeks decided we wanted to work on the lay-out of the store and started moving some stuff around and cleaning out when we came upon a pile of old wooden crates.
Nobody knew what they were all about, not even some of the staff members who stayed with the shop.
We opened them and it turned out to be a lady-archaeologist’s life-work.
A detailed dig with artefacts and arrowheads and bones and all sorts of stuff all carefully catalogued and kept in order.
We contacted the archaeology department at the local university, thinking that it had to be seen to by professionals.
Yeah, sure, they tell us, they’ll send someone out to come pick it up, and thank you for calling us.
Long story short, they arrive 10 months later to collect.
I asked the chap what took them so long.
“Oh well”, he said, “it’s been underground for 10 000 years, a couple of months won’t make a difference.”
Hey GILD !
LOL!
Hey, I’ve been wondering…
If I may be so bold to ask…
Did you grow up in South Africa, or did you move there from somewhere else?
Gebore en getoe. (Afrikaans for “born and bred”)
I was born in Durban, lived in Pinetown for a while, moved to Stellenbosch (close to Cape Town), lived in Johannesburg for a while (or as I call it, Joyburg), and am currently living in Nelspruit, where I hope to retire.
Ideally next week sometime.
Retire?!
Wonderful!
I wish I could retire right now myself, but I don’t know what I want to do next. I have to work 2 more years before I can actually do it, so I have two years to figure out “what I want to do when I grow up.”
Do you have something you want to do next?
Do you speak other languages?
GILD…
It takes me a while!
I didn’t look at the" ideally" part long enough!
YES, ME TOO!
If you joke with me long enough, maybe I will start catching on quicker!
Don’t give up on it.
Gild …
Oh Shoot!
GILD, I’m not quick enough.
Read the above again.
I posted it too quickly, and then tried to fix it, but you were off already, probably shaking your head.
You are so funny!
Don’t give up on joking with me!
I’m still here.
I speak Afrikaans, which is a language that developed from the blend of Dutch, French, German and Malay people who inhabited the Cape of Good Hope in the early days.
It sounds very guttural, like old German, or Olde English, if you want to get technical about it.
Super!
That your still here… and that you speak two languages.
I think it would be neat to be an interpreter… but I don’t speak anything but English.
I work with languages every day and occasionally translate between English and Afrikaans, but the thought of being an interpreter and having to do it “on the fly”, is seriously intimidating.
Would love to try it someday tho.
GILD,
Sounds pretty impressive to me.
When I logged on, I noticed your post here, but I don’t think there was a green dot by your name.
After I posted, your reply came up immediately.
Do you have a set up that notifies you about a post to which you might want to reply? The interesting part there, is that it didn’t even look like you were logged on to the forum at the time. That may be where I’m mistaken.
What time of day is it where you are?
Yeah, you can set your “Thread Subscription” preferences in your User Control Panel.
I have it on immediate email notification.
I was probably logged out when you checked and only got back in when I clicked on the link in the notification email.
It’s 14h57.
The day is slowly sliding towards hometime at 16h00.
Doesn’t that stuff your email box like crazy?
I turned email notification off, and just log on here and check everything out.
That explains other instant replies though.
Maybe I should try that again.
Still… I would have to have the email open… and that isn’t always the case either.
Thanks for the info!
3:00 in the afternoon there, and you get to go home at 4:00?
Is that right?
I don’t use a 24hr clock much.
It’s 8:00am here.
You must have a desk job?
Can you say what you do?