thanks to Roger over in the UK, i got my nimbus II frame on friday, put it together on my lunch break, and was riding that afternoon. this weekend i did a bunch of stuff i had not been able to do before with the tiny busted-ass 20" savage. ive ridden a kilometer(.6 miles for this side of the pond) and altho the new miyata seat helps, i still got kinda sore–should i lower the seat or something? then i started the real stuff, takin this puppy off road where it belongs. i did a pretty flat trail, then went back and worked on curbs–i can get down just about any curb, either foot forward, but i can only get up a smaller curb by rolling up it(2"high is about my limit, i am pedaling towards the curb, then depending on where my feet are, i either hop before i get to the curb, or i roll up onto it with barely any hop at all). by necessity, i learned how to hop(once i figured out how to stop trying to roll it was easy) and could get up a regular curb like that(but it doesnt look pretty!) the gazz 24X3" tire(tyre?) really helps a bunch. i still havent completely got the hang of holding on to the seat with one hand, so everthing feels kinda wierd. going down hills was not too hard for me to figure out, but i havent firgured out how to use that hand yet, so i’m kinda slow. going uphill is still really hard for me, a few pointers would be greatly appreciated. also, help with idling is needed, i can go back 1/2 a rotation, then go forward again, but i cant get into an actual idle. so uhh, ive been on a unicycle all weekend, my butt tells me to stop, but i’m not sure if i can
so, tricks for holding seat, climbing, idling
thanks guys, i’ll try to get pictures soon!
Holding seat is mostly a matter of getting used to. Stretch the other
arm sort-of forward, there it will give the best assistance to keeping
balance. You may need that bacause your other arm is not available for
flailing around.
Climbing: are you having the same problem I had? If I had to push hard
to climb, I couldn’t fine-control the force and hence UPD’d. Advice 1:
just keep doing it. You could go practice hard on slopes that are
almost within reach, or stay well within your comfort boundary,
slope-wise, whatever you think is more fun. Either way, you will get
better automatically, within weeks or months you will find yourself
pushing very hard on the pedals and stay upright. Then advice 2 makes
sense: make round pedal strokes, by which I mean: apply torque during
all 360 degrees. There’s spare power there!
Idling: you said you can do one 1/2 rev back in between forward
riding. Just try to make that two back-and-forths, then three etc.
That’s what helped me. Also, I found learning to idle easier on a 20"
wheel as compared to 24".
holding the seat is no prob anymore, i can do it if i need it.
if the rain lets up im gunna do some hill climbs tonight, i wish it were one of the skills that you just kinda “get” tho
i did a bit of idling practice last nite, its getting better/uglier–i figured out that i wasnt twisting at all, so i would just fall over, but thats all that i’ve ever seen anyone do…so i’m twisting all over the place, but i am going back and forth. another thing that will just take some practice–too bad my 20" uni is without cranks at the moment
>i did a bit of idling practice last nite, its getting better/uglier–i
>figured out that i wasnt twisting at all, so i would just fall over, but
>thats all that i’ve ever seen anyone do…so i’m twisting all over the
>place, but i am going back and forth. another thing that will just take
>some practice–too bad my 20" uni is without cranks at the moment
Yeah I could have mentioned the “twisting” thing. When I learned to
idle, I didn’t steer (change direction). I could keep the forward /
backward balance through a few idles, but I would fall sideways. (If
all you had done was single idles in between forward riding you could
have the same “steering” deficiency but not have noticed it since
usually one doesn’t fall sideways during only one idle.) Then I
learned to steer in the direction of falling during the forward part
of the idle. Steering during the backward part is somewhat strange at
first because you have to steer the other way.
