Yes, you can.
You can do it. My ppl thought I was crazy when I started too. Prob is now I just don’t force myself to get out enough. Hopefully change is coming 2016. Work work work sucks!! I’m in Boston so ya got at least one person in your area that’s game to roll out.
And these people are experts at… ? Or their expertise comes from… ? Maybe an article they read in the Weekly World News? 
People who will never ride a unicycle are always telling other people what they can’t do. And it’s not like they could never learn; they just decided they could never do it, so told their brain not to ever try. And that leads them to telling others they can’t do it either. The same people who say “I couldn’t learn to juggle for my life”. I heard that literally hundreds of times back when I worked for the National Circus Project.
In two months you’ll be riding rings around your friend. You should up the ante!
Facebook, and perhaps other social media as well, though I’m not an expert. I dabble in Facebook but rarely post; there’s a lot of unicycle content there.
Shorter answer: yes, but longer answer: when learning to ride, people look to make equipment adjustments that they hope will make it easier. But unless your unicycle is really, really bad, they won’t make a big difference.
However, at 15", there’s a possibility your unicycle is one of the bad ones. Does it look like the wheel from a child’s tricycle? Solid tire? Does it look anything like this one? That’s about as bad as they get, in which case nearly any piece of junk from China will be an improvement.
Also, having already made a purchase, you will have the ability to switch back and forth, which will only improve your skills. And once you get going, you will definitely want the bigger wheel to start covering some ground.
Have a great time learning, and prepare to enjoy your friend eating his/her words!
One guy who told me that I’m too old for unicycling (as well as for rolling blading, hoverboarding, weight lifting, shooting, etc) was probably the most nasty ageist I’ve ever met. So his opinion about learning to unicycle is no more than a reflection of his attitude. But my friend with whom I made a bet is himself an older man who is very active and likes to try new things. I was so surprised to know he has such a barrier.
The good thing is that being a Russian born tomboy pretty much immunized me against any “you can’t do it”. I however have to admit that so far unicycling is the most challenging activity I’ve tried. Probably because I barely remember learning to walk, to bicycle, and to ski.
Yes, a small solid tire thing. My new one is so much better. I made three full revolutions today. The most challenging part is coordinating constant pedaling, balancing, and observing your surroundings. That’s a major challenge and a great workout for body and mind.
It might do your friend some good when you prove him wrong. I am a 47 year old woman learning to unicycle. And now that I’m getting out on trails, I cannot wait to see what my middle age brain and body can do. Be very careful… I have found this to be insanely addictive. Have fun, from one tomboy to another!
Hi Yelena! Yes, I think that’s a good point. I never learned to ski (spent time being a human snowball on a mountainside a couple of times–not the same thing) but yeah, we were probably pretty shaky walking and bicycling for at least six months or a year. But we weren’t burdened with expectations telling us that there was something wrong with that.
Thumbs up. Just don’t feel bad if you go out next time and it feels like you’ve never been on a unicycle before. Not saying you will, but I had days like that after I thought I had made a breakthrough. You’ll get there, no doubts.
Although I did some fairly long rides beforehand, it was probably at least a year before the pedaling and balancing could be delegated to my subconscious and I could just pay attention to the world going by. That’s on pavement though. On a mountain bike trail, I’m 100% engaged with riding. And if it gets to where it isn’t, I’ll look for a harder trail.
It’s funny that maybe different regions or social circles are different about this, but I never had anyone in my everyday life say that I couldn’t do it. Everybody was positive and encouraging, outwardly at least, whatever they might have thought privately, for as long as I was struggling and falling off after one or two wheel turns. Later on, when I started having some successes and skills learned and rides enjoyed to report, they seemed somewhat less enthusiastic to hear about it. I wonder why.
Hey, no joke! After a soggy winter when the trails were closed a lot of the time, it’s great to have some beautiful riding days–before it gets hot again.
Tomboys rock!!!
Tomboys rock and roll! How is it going on the new uni?
Way to go Yelena!
I can’t wait to hear about your friends eating their words when you start riding circles around them. I can’t believe there are people out there that believe 36 is too old to learn to ride a unicycle! Amazing.
I just turned 36 yesterday, and only started unicycling in November of last year. I was recovering from a very hilly marathon(foot race) and suffering from a running injury when I first started learning to unicycle on a 24" wheel. In other word, my legs were totally trashed. I think it was a bad case of runner’s knee; it slowed my progress with learning to unicycle, but once I learned I soon found myself riding for 12 miles straight on my 24" unicycle(my knee was totally healed by then). The 12 mile ride took place almost 2 months after first learning to ride. I can also idle, though not very well. I’m slowly getting there!
Your persistence will pay off. I think an hour a day of practice should be adequate. I found deep breathing very helpful for dealing with the fear of letting go of a fence to ride unassisted.
Love the progress so far, keep it up Yelena!