Well, it’s been exactly a year since I my first wobbly attempt to ride a unicycle.
I kept a diary of my achievements as I went, so for the benefit of new riders who are wondering how long skills can take to learn, here is my progress calendar.
Over the last year I have tried to ride every day, around 1/2 hour per day on average.
I was hoping to have level 5 skills done after a year, but wheel walking and one footed idling with the right foot down still elude me!
02-06-03 Started unicycling
26-06-03 Rode 50m (wall mount)
29-06-03 Rode 40m (free mount)
02-07-03 Rode 50m (free mount)
02-07-03 Level 1 skills achieved
08-07-03 Rode off 15cm drop
09-07-03 Rode 10m between 2 lines 30cm apart (pole mount)
12-07-03 Mounted with left foot
19-07-03 Rode off 30cm drop
19-07-03 Turned 90 degrees to the right within 1m circle
17-08-03 Hopped 20 times (from mount, not from riding)
18-08-03 Turned 90 degrees to the left
23-08-03 Ride a figure 8 with circle diameters smaller then 3m
23-08-03 Level 2 skills achieved
25-08-03 Hopped 5 times (ride, hop, ride)
26-08-03 Side mount with right foot
01-09-03 Jump mount with right foot forward
01-09-03 Demonstrate 3 types of mounts
03-09-03 Turned 180 degrees to the right
11-09-03 Hopped sideways up onto gutter
20-09-03 Rode forward, pedalled backward 1/2 revolution, rode forward
21-09-03 Rode 10m with stomach on seat (started with stomach on seat)
29-09-03 Turned 180 degrees to the left
06-10-03 Rode figure 8 with circle diameters smaller than 1.5m
12-10-03 Ride, 10m stomach on seat, ride
12-10-03 Hopped sideways over 10x10 obstacle
12-10-03 Level 3 skills achieved
13-10-03 Reverse mount - demonstrate 4 types of mount
30-10-03 Rode backwards 5m
04-11-03 Rode backwards 10m
08-11-03 Suicide mount - demonstrate 5 types of mount
15-11-03 Seat out back 10m (sitting on hand/wrist)
15-11-03 Seat out front 10m (didn’t return to seat in)
25-11-03 Idle 10 times (idle=bwd+fwd) left foot down
29-11-03 Seat out back 10m
29-11-03 Rode one-footed for 3 revolutions
04-12-03 Idle 17 times left foot down
29-12-03 Idle 29 times left foot down
29-01-04 Ride one-footed 10m (hands free)
31-01-04 Seat out front 10m
09-02-04 Make 360 degree turn to the right
21-02-04 Ride one-footed 10m+ (return to seat in)
24-02-04 Ride backwards in a circle (anticlockwise)
24-02-04 Ride seat out back in a circle (clockwise)
24-02-04 Started working on wheel walking
11-03-04 Mount to one-foot riding
11-03-04 Rolling mount
11-03-04 Idle 11 times right foot down
11-03-04 Make 360 degree turn to the left
27-03-04 Idle one footed with the left foot down 22 times
05-04-04 Mount to idle one footed, idle left foot down 25 times
21-04-04 Idle 25 times right foot down
21-04-04 Level 4 skills achieved
09-05-04 Wheel walk 5m
09-05-04 Ride a figure 8 one footed (right foot)
11-05-04 Ride with the seat on side in a circle
11-05-04 Ride a figure 8 with the seat out back
