For the first time I think that this uni thing is not impossible. I even pedaled out of an off balance or two. I think I hit 10 feet a few times. I still have a loooooong way to go. I have about 1.5 hours practice time in so my progress may be a bit slow based on comments I have heard here.
Question: Is learning in the grass easier or harder? I think I ‘wuss out’ some because I don’t want to hit the concret (I’m 42, not 24 and the hard ground as gotten harder)
Sorry for the boring reports, but learning this thing is exciting to me and it helps keep me motivated.
That’s great that you’re making progress. And you are also right to try and stay motivated because it can be the most frustrating time when you’ve had some success but you can’t duplicate it. Don’t give up!
Also, it depends on what kind of grass. Are we talking about nice, smooth, even ground or hard, bumpy, uneven ground? Personally, I’ve found grass to be harder to ride on. Get some biking gloves (and wrist guards if you want) and ride on the concrete.
I’m 42 as well, and have been riding for about a year now. I find pavement or concrete WAY easier to ride on then grass. As others have said, when you fall off, you usually land on your feet anyway. Keep practicing!
Grass is much harder to learn on. If you are anything like me or my friends, it takes a long time before you fall and not land on your feet. The first time I started to not be able to catch myself was when I was learning to ride backwards and hop. If you want to be careful, try wearing some soccer shin guards. I think the most likely place to get hurt is your shins from the pedals whipping around (it was for me at least).
Great Job! I remember learning and as soon as i got to the point where i could ride to the end of my driveway i VERY quickly was able to ride to the top of the street every once in awhile and then around the block every once in awhile. Now I ride 20 miles or so if i go long distance and I’m doin MUni and Trials and everything much into it. Don’t worry it wont be long now, just keep goin!
I learned at 37 and am 40 now. Funny how I hit the ground more often and harder now than I did then The good part is I’ve also gotten a lot tougher and have yet to get hurt:D (Tears, yes. Broken bones/sprains no) You tend to do riskier stuff as skills progress. But I also remember practicing in 3 and 4 hour spurts. My leg muscles would be screaming for mercy but I couldn’t resist the urge to try “just one more time”. Still can’t.
i’ve only been unicycling for about a month but my friends look to me to help teach them… there’s not much advice to be given about learning to go straight, standard mount, etc… the only thing one can say just “rush it” one day it will click and you’ll go from riding 5 feet to riding 50.
grass is hard for me to ride even on my 24x3 muni… so you arent alone on that one
if your worried about falling, get protective gear most falls. i dont have any, so my shins and elbows are scabbed up pretty badly. oh well… no blood no glory, right?
On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:57:35 -0600, newtouni wrote:
>I have about 1.5 hours
>practice time in so my progress may be a bit slow based on comments I
>have heard here.
On the contrary, your progress is in the ‘upper half’. If you keep
this practicing schedule, you’ll be riding around the block in about a
week.
>Question: Is learning in the grass easier or harder?
Harder. Concrete is easier but might be frightening. I learned on a
gym floor which I think is the ideal surface to learn on.
While concrete is harder than grass, grass is harder to learn on.
>Sorry for the boring reports
No no, keep them coming.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
I have a feeling you might need two points of contact with the ground for such a thing to work? Or at least training wheels on the front and rear. - John Foss commenting on a picture of a one-wheeled vehicle he saw on RSU.
to me, that was the key
once i found myself pedalling out of off-balance situations, i found the time between off-balances slowly increased and the time to correct them started decreasing
eventually these merge in to seamless riding
u r really close
keep smiling
Don’t worry about the concrete, just wear wrist guards with the plastic inserts to protect your palms. You’ll almost always land on your feet, and the rest of the time you’ll land on your palms - no harm done. My worst falls have been trying to power out of the “dead zone” of pedal position, 6 and 12 o’clock. Sometimes the wheel goes forward and all is well, but sometimes it goes in reverse and you’re on the ground before you can think - on your palms if your reactions are good. Concrete is way easier, IMHO, and a slight down hill makes starting a bit easier, especially when learning to freemount. BTW, I’m 59, so get over tha age thing.
As for the 6\12 position dead zone, if this bothers you which it might on some occasions. And if you find it to be a problem you try to notice when its about to happen and sort of lean your body backwards to get the wheel moving and then you can recover. hard to explain but in no time at all it will become natural and you wont notice it. I had the dead zone problem both when i was first learning to ride and when i was first learning to 1-foot ride.
The good part is I’ve also gotten a lot tougher and have yet to get hurt:D (Tears, yes. Broken bones/sprains no) You tend to do riskier stuff as skills progress. But I also remember practicing in 3 and 4 hour spurts. My leg muscles would be screaming for mercy but I couldn’t resist the urge to try “just one more time”. Still can’t.
