Hi there, thanks for having this great forum. For a guy trying to figure out everything I need to know before starting unicycling again, it has been a great help.
I still have the old unicycle that I bought ages ago somewhere in the shed of my parents. Though I had to weld the pedals to the cranks as the threads were worn out, and the seat is so beat up that it is impossible to sit on anymore. Anyhow I have been trying to figure what kind of sport to pick up again now that I have a family and a job that seems to make any organized team sport difficult to do.
Long story short, I just received a 26" Nimbus Oracle w/disc brake. Wow, what a beast compared to the toy I used to have. It was quite intimidating to mount it the first time and ride it, but luckily I still remembered it somehow. Idling and riding backwards is a lot tougher than I remember and I have a feeling that I am sitting so much higher that I haven’t dared trying to jump with it yet.
Today I had my first somewhat longer ride (~2km) that also included some climbs and descents on grass and dirt. I must say I am very glad that I picked one with brakes, it was far easier to use than I anticipated and the difference it does on my untrained thighs is huge. It almost feels like cheat mode when going down. So the conclusion after 1,5 days of riding my brand new muni is that I can’t wait until my muscles start getting used to this again. There is no denying that I am out of shape.
I started riding again after 25 years. When I was a teenager my first uni was stolen. I didn’t ride again until I was 43 years old. I started again because I had a meniscus tear in my left knee that didn’t heal as fast as I thought it would. I had a 20" uni from a previous birthday that I never rode. My first goal was to ride a half mile. Now I ride 8 to 10 miles a week. I keep improving every year and so will you.
So I’ve had a few trips now and the muscles are starting to adapt a bit. I am slowly becoming able to ride also when I am getting tired. One thing I have not figured out yet is how to deal with balls getting squeezed. When I cycle on easier parts I put quite a lot of weight on the seat to relax, but for some reason I seem to constantly slightly misplace my sensitive parts. Anyone have a tips of how to deal with this?
Love the forum, anyway, I got my Uni Dec. 24 2013 and took about 17 days to learn to ride less 6 days of healing so really about 11 days. My legs are getting stronger but my quads burn after about 800 feet, was wondering if any other new riders experience this or is it I have old muscles.
At the outset I thought I would never be able to ride more than 100m without my legs screaming for me to stop. It seemed to take ages to be able to go further and a large part of that was probably down to technique (getting the weight in the saddle and not on the legs) with some lack of riding fitness to boot.
Slowly I’ve improved over the months and am now up to 7km+ without feeling like I’m dying.
You’ll get there slowly but surely with constant practice
Biking shorts will help (to keep everything in place), experience will do the rest.
Then flatten your seat (see thread about second best unicycling seat) and your private parts are safe.
Typical questions, i believe, that everyone of those who already flattend their seats have asked themself.
On the first ride i thought “whoa, what a difference” and had the mild feeling of less control. But after some getting used to it i see no disadavantage and have flattend the seats on all my unis (20", 24", 26", 36").
It looks like I need to look more seriously into flattening the seat. I’ve had a few trips around 3-5 km the last weeks and sensitive parts getting squeezed seems to remain a problem.
The largest discovery so far was how big a difference crank length makes. The muni came with 165 mm, switching to 150 mm made a world of difference. Strangely enough going uphill became far easier with the shorter cranks.
The 150mm cranks allow smoother circular leg movement compared to the 165mm, so you are pedalling more efficient. The correct height of the seat can have a similiar effect.
Welcome back on uni. I rode a bit in my twenties, with a bad chrome thing that then became semi-abandonned at my parents and eventually burned in my neighbors garage! That brought the sport back to my mind and I started again, as I turned 40. One of the best decisions I took!
Do you have the Nimbus seat?
I have one of my 20" and I find mind less nut-friendly that the KH I have on my other unis. The KH are less curved and the center cut is welcome.
Did you get cycling shorts?
I think the majority of seat bases has about the same curve, the difference is in the cushioning, how much there is, how soft it is and how much you do weigh.
By flattening the base you can quickly make any seat more crotch friendly, though crappy cushioning still is crappy cushioning.
I have the nimbus seat that came with the nimbus oracle that I got a month ago or so. I see that a seat like this has “gentle curve” in the description. I assume that this means that the seat is somewhat flattened. I assume that brake mounts etc that I have from the nimbus will easily fit this saddle as well?
I have been a bit unwilling to buy new cycling shorts as I should have some around. I did come to the conclusion this weekend that they might have magically escaped when we moved last summer. So I will invest in a new padded shorts next time I pass by a cycling shop.
After some more riding it seems like the sitting-on-sensitive-parts problem has more or less disappeared without having to start melting my seat base. A combination of getting used to it and a padded cycle shorts seemed to do the trick.
Speaking of tricks, I remember that I was fairly comfortable with hops on my previous uni. With this muni though, everything I’ve tried has resulted in the wheel rolling when I land or some other strange thing happening. Yesterday I finally had a breakthrough when I let out some air and kept my knees straight, doing the jumping with my ankles. Now I just need to figure out how to do rolling hops, how to free-mount without backpedaling etc. etc.
