new to the list - 1 year unicyclist

General
1

Hi,

I have been riding a unicycle for the past 1 year almost. I learned because it was a challenge and it was good to ride a long distance. I didn’t learn to ride so that I could perform as a clown, but just to use it for transportation.

I have a Torker with a 24" wheel. I like to ride forwards alot and go left and right. My greatest accomplishment so far (which is small for you who are more advanced) is to ride off a 3 inch curb on a sidewalk.

I am interested in learning to ride backwards. But I don’t know how I should handle my balance. I have a small fear of heights even if I am 4 feet from the ground.

I used to be very clumsy and the unicycle has helped my balance a great deal. When I learned it took me a whole summer between college semesters of practicing everyday to learn. I started at the tennis courts and moved on to the basketball court. I had some close calls on that concrete so I started to wear a helmet.

Now I ride the unicycle to my university classes and take it into the building if I don’t get stopped. And most of my teachers find it interesting. I had one person tell me that I could not take this ‘bike’ into a building and asked me to chain it up outdoors. Later I thought that I ought to go back and educate that girl on the differences between a bike and a unicycle.

I have been thinking about trying out a very cheap Ultimate Wheel from www.unicycle.com. But I don’t have the finances to get one just yet. My legs have started to get stronger.

After this long intro (and possibly posting this on my website) I have a second set of questions. The first is how do I learn to ride backwards? The second is… I have read that riding an Ultimate Wheel will give the rider more awareness of where his balance is. How hard is this ‘U wheel’? Does the wheel stay vertically balanced and not wobble?

Finally, here is my third set of questions. How do I stall (rock back-and-forth) without swerving left or right too much? How do I slow down a little bit while riding without loosing my balance when going into the stall mode?

Please contact me directly with your answers.

Thank you,
Daniel

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2

Daniel, welcome to the fora! Try the “links” section of the unicyclist.com web site to find tips on riding backwards and idling (what you refer to as stalling). If you also try the “search” feature at the site you can read past threads, of which there are many, for more tips.

You will quickly find, however, the best tip for developing any unicycle skill is to practice, practice, practice. You can read all the tips you like but you must educate your muscles, not your brain, in order to perform a given skill. To get started on the skills you’ve inquired about, practice riding slowly, stopping (without dismounting), then riding forwards from the stop. Do this repeatedly until you get comfortable with stopping. This will make many skills easier to learn.

I agree that you need to educate the young lady on the differences between a bike and a uni. Us uni riders are opening minds across the globe, one person at a time; it will take the efforts of every rider to make this happen!