Hi all. I’m currently a very new newbie with my first unicycle. Up to this point, my practice has taken place in my basement between the workbench and a wooden railing. This gives me about 15-20 feet to travel back and forth on with support on both sides. I’m getting to where I can go the length of the workbench while only occasionally putting a hand down lightly on one side or the other to regain my balance.
My problem is space. My uni has a 24" wheel which you might guess only gives me about 2 crank rotations before I have to stop and turn around. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall any local places with a wall next to a smooth, level paved surface. I’m thinking if I use two lightweight poles similar to ski poles to steady myself while I’m learning I could be a little less selective while looking for a place to practice. Has anyone used a similar method? Good Idea or bad idea? Thanks.
You can end up falling on the poles. If you fall badly you could end up goring yourself with one of the poles.
If you use good poles with good handles and good caps over the ends so they won’t gore you, they’ll be safer. Something with ski pole handles might be good. Ski pole handles are big and blunt and completely cover the end of the pole so it won’t gore you.
But you’ll still run the risk of getting tangled up in the poles when you fall.
I didn’t try using poles when I learned and I’ve never seen anyone use poles during the learning process so I don’t know how effective they would be.
I know some people who have used a hiking stick to aid in self mounting. They were able to ride the unicycle but had difficulty mounting out in the open so they carried a hiking stick with them. The hiking stick was used only to aid in mounting and not as an aid to stay on the unicycle.
Just be careful if you try using a hiking stick or similar aid. Falls while you are learning to ride can be uncontrolled and there is the risk that you could fall in odd ways on the hiking stick and injure yourself.
Ive just gotten away from always using the wall, and now I’m in the launching myself into the abyss mode, and I get better every day. Still not there yet…
Poles–Some people say they are good, but most of the info I’ve heard is pretty negative.
What seemed to work for me was going along a wall and getting used to the sensation of doing many, many rotations with my fingers just tapping the wall. Admittedly, I became way too dependent on the wall, but it did prove to be totally useful once I stopped using it.
Instead of poles, why not get a pair of heavy duty work gloves from the hardwear store, wear them with wrist protectors, get out of your house and find a wall somewhere what’s at least 70 feet long. Get to know the feel of riding the uni for long excursions-- the gloves will protect your fingers–they might get worn away as well, but that doesnt matter.
And just when your wall riding gets nice and smooth, start propelling yourself away from it; head into the abyss!
Oh, and about the poles–come to think of it, I did use them–a long time ago when I was a teenager. If I remember correctly, the experience was awkward, and I stopped using the poles in favor of a fence in my parents back yard.
(I since went for 30 years without a uni, so my teenage experience on the unicycle was no where near as excellent as my current experience is, but perhaps those pole’s were discouraging?)
I hope this was helpful…
Steve
i found using a wall worked best for me. using poles seems like a negative to me since it would have made me even more wobbly. i tried once with a single broom pole and it didnt work at all!
i found the best way was to start with a curb to the back of my wheel, negating the ability to roll backwards. it helped not only with learning to freemount but also to just go forward.
The method that worked best for me was to lean against a wall with my right hand, then my left. After that, I started by the wall and just went on a suicide run forward. I found it worked very well.
This is pretty much the same way I learned. I rode along side a wall until i felt comfortable, then I just held onto a pole to get up and balance for a second, then just rode away on a “suicide run.” That worked really well. At first you will probably only be able to go a rotation or two, then all of the sudden, you will just take off at go like, 50 feet. If you keep using some kind of pole (I used a lamp post) to gain some starting balance, then ride off, in not a whole lot of time you should be riding pretty well. Good luck.
The tennis court is probably the easiest thing to find around. Good places to look are parks and school grounds.
I learned on a thin hallway to start and moved to a baseball field which had a pretty smooth dirt surface. When I got balance I could veer away from the fence.
The reason for finding a good area is that you will be able to use it in the future for other skills, like riding backward, wheel walking, etc. A tennis court is great for practicing lots of freestyle skills. They usually have a slight slope to one side, which you can use to advantage in learning some skills.
Question: “I’m thinking if I use two lightweight poles similar to ski
poles to steady myself while I’m learning I could be a little less
selective while looking for a place to practice. Has anyone used a
similar method? Good Idea or bad idea?”
Reply: I used the blunted ‘ski pole strategy’ for a few hours last
Fall while learning to ride a 24" Torker. It was fun to try, but my
feeling is that it actually may have slowed my progress somewhat.
(I’d plant both poles to get started and then would simply stagger
along, insect-like, alternating poles while trying to keep upright.)
After gaining some confidence, I abandoned the poles, and tried using
a grocery cart in an empty supermarket parking lot. That was fun, but
that wasn’t very effective, I think. Later, I found a parked semi
trailer, a 60 footer, and used that as a swell wall (pedalin’ first
clockwise and then counter clockwise around the trailer), steadying
myself with gloved hand. After that found a long hallway in an
enclosed building (since the snow had come to the norther prairie).
I’d get up to speed using the wall, and then just try and pedal away
from the wall a short distance. Somehow all this eventually clicked!
Now, 95 hours after my first fall I’m zipping around the local bike
paths on a Coker. Practice, practice, practice! You’ll get it!
–carl (North Dakota)
Thanks for the responses. I guess I’ll abandon the pole idea. My thought was that by bringing my own supports I could choose a more secluded area and be a little less self conscious (and concentrate a bit better.) I’d rather not have an audience until I can actually keep the thing under me a little. No big deal. After practicing a bit in my basement it feels like it shouldn’t be long before I can stay up unaided. We’ll soon find out.
u just reminded me of my very first learning session!!
going up and down along the side of my car, occasionally trying to overshoot the boot and getting a revolution or two in b4 coming off
and all that while watching my friend ride up and down the road, as nonchalant as anything
grrr
I am also a newbie… I got my first Uni Last week and I have been practicing at a baseball field, with a chain link backstop. I would ride along from dugout to dugout on the inside of the fench. I was working pretty good, the dirt was level and hard packed. But a couple of days ago it was raining, and the field was muddy, so I used the same chain link backstop but stayed on the outside where it is paved. It was so much easier riding on concret. As of yesterday my longest ride with out holding the fence is about 35 feet. I only did it 4 times, but Iam encouraged to keep practicing. Good luck.
yes, i used the same way to learn how to ride my unicycle, hands on both sides of somthing ,and it worked for me…
Now im sorta remembering it more, now that im learning how to ride along poles, bc there is a railing along the pole enough for me to hold onto and ride the pole just lower. Its going along good, i can go for about 2.5 m on a pole, about 2/3 the width of my tire.
A wall or fence (or someone else’s car) are going to work better than poles for a few reasons:
They’re more stable. You just lean and get to concentrate on the riding, not the support.
They’re to the sides. Side to side balance is the relatively easy part. When first starting out, you need to learn the front-to-back control. Holding a support that’s in front of you, like poles or a shopping cart, limits your forward-backward movement and can slow the learning process.
Some people who learned to ride by holding onto things in front of them learn to ride with bent-over, bad posture. Basically when you ride a unicycle you should sit up straight, like your mom always told you to. This gives you the most control for normal riding. Learning to ride in another position will just add something you’ll need to unlearn later. Stick to the wall/fence, and then away…
You’ll get it!
No big deal. After practicing a bit in my basement it 
