New to all this, some thoughts

General
1

Been lurking here for some months now, think it’s about time I made my debut
post.

About two or three months ago I visited a juggling club for the very first
time and have a good time chucking things in the air. But the spare
unicycle there aroused my curiosity. I loved watching people ride them, and
thought it would be a cool thing to try and learn to do.

Getting on it for the first time holding onto the edge of a stage felt
really strange, and I mean really strange! After wobbling about a bit
clambering on for my life, eventually I could learn to slowly move my feet
to make the pedals horizontal. Just about everyone else gave me a few of
the obvious tips I’ve seen here, but the most unhelpful tips of all are
ones that start with the phrase “Like a bike” or “Unlike a bike”; I haven’t
ridden a bike for fifteen years!

I was encouraged to face out from the stage, let go, and “lauch myself into
the abyss” straight away. Don’t know if this was a good idea or not, but it
taught me very quickly how to “UPD” safely as you say here. Trying to
remember to do all the tips I’ve been told is quite difficult when you have
to think your actions at what seems like 200mph!

With access to a unicycle of sorts only once a week at maximum, progress
seems to me to be very slow. Most of the time I would only reach about
two or three wheel revolutions before coming off, but at least once or
twice or thrice a night there would be a “magic” moment where I’d somehow
(but I wouldn’t remember how) make some way across the hall. It has a
badminton court painted on the bottom and my record has been about half way
across.

Recently I took a very relaxing two week holiday to Tenerife, came back last
week and… DISASTER! I was never able to make it to the third way mark
again that night. Only at the end of that night did someone tell me that I
should have had my balls of the feel on the pedals, I’d been putting my
arches of my feet on the pedals all along! Tried it for two minutes before
closing and my feet felt a little less insecure, but I did “feel” what they
meant by it having more control over the wheel. More experimentation will
come tomorrow night.

The big problem: I only have access to a unicycle once a week and thanks to
that holiday I sincerely need more regular practice. The only remedy for
that? I’ll have to buy my own! I’ve taken a look round unicycle.uk.com and
the various unicycles at the club, and since I have money to burn I may
skip the beginners models and go for a Nimbus 2003; it’s described as
“freestyle” and it certainly looks nice!

Anyway that’s my tale so far. Please do give me advice/encouragement or
whatever.

–
gkmac - To reply with e-mail, turn off the spam slicer.

2

I have the 24" version of the Nimbus II 2003. It’s a great unicycle. Get the second version with flat crown and Kris Holm saddle. The saddle feels good if you ride for longer distances and it has a handle which makes hopping a bit easier. The Hookworm tire is also quite good and grippy on pavement. Go for the 20" version. A 20" is a lot easier to start with.
If you really want to burn some money you could also try a KH trials unicycle or the Summit. The Onza would also be quite good. My first one was a cheapish plastic framed one and I was afraid to hop with it. I have now three unicycles. And I’ve only ridden for three months.

3

Re: New to all this, some thoughts

I think you’ve hit on the right answer here. I tried to learn to uni when I was in middle school, because my neighbor friend had one and became quite good. I just couldn’t get the hang of it trying his from time to time, so gave up for the next 22 years. Then it finally hit me what the problem was…I couldn’t learn to ride because it was his unicycle, and I just wasn’t getting the concentrated practice time necessary. That week I went out and bought my own starter uni (a Cycle Design for $95), and within 2 weeks I was able to ride around my neighborhood block. It’s been up and down hills ever since…

Good luck!

4

I’d consider the 24" Nimbus; it’s no harder to learn on a 24" than a 20".

Depends on what you’re planiing to do with it, a 20" is best for freestyle and trails tricks, but a 24" is much better for riding the streets on plus you can do most tricks and it’s great for muni (with a fat tyre).

In my opinion the old advice of 20" for beginners is not valid.

5

Hear hear, I’ve just bought the 24" Nimbus II 2003 aswell - its my second unicycle, I learnt on a 20", but got frustrated at the slow speed of going in to work every morning. I just love the 24" with the big fat tyre and KH seat, it really feels like driving a bus with cruise control in comparison. I can still do all the (very few) tricks i could on the 20", but generally find the extra magnitude gives me that little bit more time to react with the 24".
Also, I have heard some serious criticism of the durability of the KH saddle, but for my purposes its been really really nice.
Of course, I haven’t actually taught any beginners on the 24", so I can’t really say for sure whether its as suitable for starting out.

6

It appears this differs significantly with different people. I’ve a fair amount of riding a 24 (including some Muni) and a 20 (no Muni). Everything I’ve learned (except Muni and rolling up a bump) is still easier on the 20". Even things I first learned on the 24" (like hopping) I find easier to do on the 20".

That said, the 20" is really too small for riding any distances. If you can only afford one, get a 24". If you can afford a unicycle now to learn on and another uni later, then start with a 20" to learn on and then buy a second uni later (later on you may also know better what kind of uni you would like: muni, cruiser, trials, etc)

.duaner.

7

Re: New to all this, some thoughts

duaner wrote:
> That said, the 20" is really too small for riding any distances. If you
> can only afford one, get a 24". If you can afford a unicycle now to
> learn on and another uni later, then start with a 20" to learn on and
> then buy a second uni later (later on you may also know better what kind
> of uni you would like: muni, cruiser, trials, etc)

Thanks everyone for their replies, the old 20" vs 24" dilemma here. Did a
quick “survey” of the unicycles at the club tonight and everyone seems to
have a 20" and all tend to agree that 20" is easier to learn on and good
enough for the hall, but any kind of commuting riding would need a bigger
wheel.

Quick update on my relearning: One problem is keeping my balance on the
initial “launching off” from the stage and conciously dismounting a bit too
early, think I need to find a corridor and get the slower speeds under
control (pushing on the walls when necessary) to fix this one.

The other major problem is actually keeping my feet on the pedals! I’m
trying to put the majority of my weight on the seat as advised, but I
usually take this a bit too far and as a pedal comes past the 12 o’clock
position, my foot runs off it!

So I was initally stuck at two or three pedal revolutions again, but trying
my best to “think” past these problems (such as not grabbing the seat) and
at the end of the night I was able to almost get to the third way mark a
couple of times, so it’s gradually coming back to me.

And as for which unicycle? It will definetely be a Nimbus 20", probably the
XXX as it looks very nice. If I ever completely master it then I should
have enough for a 24" as well.

–
gkmac - To reply with e-mail, turn off the spam slicer.

8

Re: Re: New to all this, some thoughts

I had this problem for a while. What helped me the most was the advice to never bail before absolutely necessary. At this point, you have had enough practice dismounting that you should be able to safely UPD. No matter the situation, just think, “I am going to try to ride out of this.”

-Mandell

9

hear, hear, i learned to ride on a 5 foot giraffe with a 20" wheel, and after learning on that, trying to teach someone on a 24" was near impossible. the slower action of the 20" wheel makes learning for some people easier, these are the people who tend to sit up straighter and ride slower than the ones who are more comfortable with a 24" wheel due to their tendency to lean forward more and go faster.

congratulations on your purchase, you will soon have a closet full of the things.

10

Re: New to all this, some thoughts

On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 20:08:55 +0100, gkmac
<newsreplyspam@gkmacslicer.co.uk> wrote:

>The big problem: I only have access to a unicycle once a week and thanks to
>that holiday I sincerely need more regular practice. The only remedy for
>that? I’ll have to buy my own!

When I learned I had that same problem. I solved it by borrowing one
for a few weeks (from the club that I learned in) before I bought a
Sem 24". But if you already know that this is the sport for you, you
should buy your own uni indeed.

20" or 24"? While some people MAY learn faster on a 24" (but how do
they know?), statistically people learn 30% quicker on a 20" wheel.
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/agelearn_short.htm>.

If you think you want a single unicycle all your life (you will
probably be proven wrong), then you have to think of how eventually
you want to ride most, more than on what wheel you learn fastest.
E.g., distance and 20" is not a good combination. But otherwise, a 20"
will always come in handy so start with that. (I saw you decided
that.)

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

Grizzly bear droppings have bells in them and smell like pepper spray. - UniBrier

11

my experiances

Hey I kinda know where your coming from. I don’t have all that much time to practice, I did find a nice spot though, this fence up at the local store that you can go the whole way around when no cars are parked there… only thing is there usually are cars parked there when i’m not busy. I think it would help you to find a place to hold on, rather than just always going for it, at least thats what the unicycle.com video I have says. If your just launching all the time, your falling off more, but if you hold onto something you can use it if you need to, and gradually use it less. but still hold on and not fall off. I hear ya on the jumping off too soon, I do that a lot when I might be able to catch myself somehow, brains are weird like that. I’m getting better at sitting on the seat, and sitting straight, i’m still not sure exactly how to sit on the seat though, so if anyone can explain that it would be helpfull.

As for what kinda, I have no oppinion, I just got the beginners one, and it’ll work for me for now.

12

Re: New to all this, some thoughts

gkmac wrote:

> And as for which unicycle? It will definetely be a Nimbus 20", probably
> the XXX as it looks very nice. If I ever completely master it then I
> should have enough for a 24" as well.

Well that was me last week, it’s now noon on Tuesday and a box full of 20"
Nimbus XXX bits has just come on the doorstep! Now got to find some
spanners and get a tyre pump, and hopefully it will look like this soon…
http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=479
…but just the smell of the brand new rubber tyre puts me in heaven!

Won’t have much time to play with it just yet due to well-planned
commitments tonight (which also means I’ll miss a night of the juggling
club), but have a full day tomorrow to experiment in the small back garden
of mine.

One thing I didn’t think of is taking it on the train to the juggling club
is going to be highly embarrasing for me; I’m very shy and don’t have the
courage to tell my family about my forthcoming skill. Very few of my
friends know it and if any ask me “Hows your juggling/unicycling?” I cringe
and say “Oh it’s OK” and stop right there.

Am I too shy to do this?

–
gkmac - To reply with e-mail, turn off the spam slicer.

13

Re: Re: New to all this, some thoughts

there’s (fortunately) no place to be shy on a uni

:slight_smile:

for your train transport situation, take a look at these threads
there are a couple of carry-bag options available and should anyone ask, u can say it’s a folding tuba

if u’ve gone as far as halfway down the hall, i wouldn’t waste my time holding onto anything anymore
u r soooo close
rather look at a ‘better’ place to launch from
if the stage in your hall is anything like the stage in the hall our juggling club meets, when u’re seated on the uni, u almost have to lean down to touch the stage
to be leaning as far back as that before launching forward is guaranteed to make the overcoming of the initial inertia difficult
rather see if u can hold onto a window sill
u should be leaning slightly forward as u ‘launch into the abyss’
from there, it’s just practise, practise, practise

we’re counting the days till u ask about the freemount

:wink:

14

<<Recently I took a very relaxing two week holiday to Tenerife, came back last week and… DISASTER! I was never able to make it to the third way mark again that night.>>

Yesterday was the end of my 4th week since I first got my uni (a 24" Torker), and I am doing rides up to 1/2 mile without a UPD. I’m practicing in part on a hard surfaced high-school track. I thought when I first started that after you could ride a few hundred meters you had crossed a barrier and riding any distance would be easy. Not so for me. If the track went a mile straight, maybe I could make it, but there are those turns! At the start of each day’s practice, I find that I’ve lost the previous day’s skill level, and it takes some time just to achieve what I had accomplished only 24 hours earlier! I even still have butterflys in the stomach before the first launch. It’s probably the most discouraging part of the process. By the end of each day, though, I usually find that I have improved over the previous day. I long for the day when I can just get on a uni and ride without thinking about it, like with my bicycle now.

One thing that helped me was getting a pair of pedals with pins to keep my feet from slipping. That especially helped in getting the first revolutions going from a start. (Those pins might come back to bite me when I get serious about learning to freemount, though.) I also found that the ideal seat height is a bit higher than what I use on a bike. This helps me keep my weight on the saddle, something that has proven surprisingly difficult to do.

15

Re: New to all this, some thoughts

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 12:13:01 +0100, gkmac
<newsreplyspam@gkmacslicer.co.uk> wrote:

>Am I too shy to do this?

Although shy people usually don’t seem to be attracted to unicycling,
we’ve had a few people on this newsgroup seriously asking similar
questions. The point is that on a unicycle you will ALWAYS attract
some attention (unless no one is around, duh). But the good news is
that this very effect will probably help you to overcome some of your
shyness. Of course it would help if you at least ride, so keep
practicing wiith your brand new toy. As to your back garden: does it
have a nice flat and hard surface? That would work better than grass
to initially learn on.

Good luck with this new exciting endeavour.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

Grizzly bear droppings have bells in them and smell like pepper spray. - UniBrier

16

while i was learning i was never discouraged. this may be that i had such low expectations about my progress, that i saw improvements that other people would call me optimistic for noticing, and was extremely grateful for every one of them. does this mean that low self-esteem helps in learning to unicycle?

17

I’m in the middle of learning too. Last Friday my longest ride was 30 feet, with quite a few 10 to 15 footers. Then Saturday I did a 60 footer with multiple 30 footers, and Sunday night I did a 120 foot ride with multiple 60 footers. (at this rate, in 20 days I’ll be able to ride 25,000 miles before I UDP! That’s almost clear around the earth! Whoo Hooo!!)

I used the crawl-along-the-wall method, which is great for getting for-and-aft balance down but teaches bad habits in lateral balance. I found that when I did try to ride away from the wall I had a fatal lean to one side or the other. So I gave up the wall entirely and went for just riding.

The big breakthrough was when I realized I was having Wile-E-Coyote moments about 10 feet from the launch point. As in, “What the hell am I doing way out here on one wheel?” followed by a braking movement (wheel to the front), then standing still and an UPD. I decided to stop thinking so much and just ride, and it’s working. The feeling is weird - sort of like learning to use a single-wheel prosthetic device to keep the earth away.

I’m learning on a cheap 20", and bought a nice 24" Yuni with a DH seat and hookworm tire for when I stop bashing the seat so much. Have worn through the 12 layers of duct-tape protecting the cheap seat.

18

that WEC moment of yours probably co-incided with your pedals being in the 12-6 position
suddenly u find yourself with lil’ or no leverage to get them to turn over again and in a final attempt to get something going, u bend at the waist and gracefully/ungracefully step of?

focussing on keeping your pedal revolutions as smooth as possible and your back as straight as possible will make this go away

let us know when u go for the 25000 mile ride
:wink:

19

Ups and downs…

I have picked this passion i quite ripe age.The main wall of endurance is…my wins are not stable.There are days I am reduced to total toddling.This is the time when I felt despondent.After a while I have accepted the condition of erratic learnig courve.So…I will not give up.After all the delight is immence + many other assets.

20

Re: Ups and downs…

can i have that on a T-shirt please?

:slight_smile: