hmm, this is true, my parents didn’t move out of province, but they did move 400km away. They took me away from my two best friends, who I rode with everyday, and who (in my opinion) would be better than me today, had I not moved. If they both still rode, I firmly believe that one of them would have broken 120cm by now. This happened when I was 16. Anyways, Just thought I’d put that straight.
After i moved, I was in a subdivision, 1 hour drive from toronto (a.k.a. where Jeff lives). And I had to take an 1:30 train each way, to toronto on the weekends if i wanted to ride with someone. Most of the time, I was riding alone.
So, I’ll agree that moving away from riding buddies makes it harder, but it’s also a fact of life, just like going to school, and having to work. Doesn’t mean you stop riding.
saying that you dont ride because you just dont have anyone to ride with is a lame excuse.
I havent had anyone to ride with ever since picado started riding. and he lives 800km away... so we dont ride together that much.
and about what zack said: I dont know about you guys but I have to work and do a lot of stuff for college and I have a girlfriend and I do a lot of freelance... you know, life isnt all about unicycling.
Im currently suffering a lot because I just dont have the time to ride as much as I want. I understand what you are saying zack…
Apologies for assuming you had not moved, without knowing one way or the other. Fortunately your move kept you within range of your existing riding partners, with a nice, convenient train to get you there. Am I making excuses for Zack? No, just explaining there’s a difference between “quitting” and getting moved away from the riding environment that nurtured you.
Plus going through the conversion to earning your own living is usually a shock, that takes a while to get resettled and put your priorities back where you want them, rather than where they need to be to pay bills. I remember that one!
Except that I never had riding buddies. Last time I rode with anyone was late November, maybe early December. I just love riding too much to stop. I do however feel like I would be way more motivated to get better if I actually had someone to ride with.
I only ever knew 1 or 2 people that rode and all they did was ride (no tricks) so I didn’t really have anyone to push me. I don’t mind riding alone but I would defintly improve a lot fast if I had someone else about my skill level to ride with.
I convinced 2 friends from school to buy uni’s so it looks like I will finally get some good riding buddies. This summer should be good for riding.
Different people perceive the activity of riding a unicycle in different ways. There is a ratio of solo riding and group riding. For some, the ratio needs to lean farther to “group”. For me it does.
When I started riding I spent a LOT of time riding by myself, but there were also at least 8 hours a week with other riders. Then, most people in Austin simply quit riding muni. Moreover, I ran out of things I just “had to learn”. Finally, I had lots of problems with equipment breakage.
I transistioned to a different hobby (and have not quit). Equipment costs are lower, there are several groups I can socialize with (juggling club, fraternity, teaching kids at a near by school, teaching new fraternity members) and there are competitions locally and interstate. THen there are parades. Moreover, I earned a few thousand and was featured in a major motion picture.
I don’t really call myself a ‘unicyclist’ anymore (i.e. one that rides regularly) and I have a strong doubt that I will ever ride as much as I did in the past.
The bottom line is that my new “hobby (turned profitable venture)” offers a lot more benefits than unicycling ever will. However, I really believe that if those guys had kept riding, I would not have “left” the sport. I would have kept riding with them and overlooking my other hobbies.
I estimate that if all of the people from my current hobby vanished, I would probably move on to a new hobby that did include people. This is considering that I spend a lot of time practicing by myself and enjoy it more than unicycling.
I understand that I am different than you and other people that think that leaving a hobby for the “lack of group” reason is “lame.”
However, I’m willing to bet that the majority of us would NOT ride . . . . if there were social aspect to it at all (or even a lot less than is available).
I’m just a muni rider but to stay with it I need a couple things: good friends (most important) to ride with; good trails to ride on; enough friendly competition so you can see yourself improving in a general way. I can’t imagine doing muni all by myself. But I don’t ride for any reason but fun.
when you ride trials (assuming you do) how many set up hops do you take. 10-15.
zack took one or 2 and in addition rode really fast and smooth and went really big
I thought style meant how you do something, like sif or si or with a prebounce or not.
He has got nice style and it flows. Thanks for clearing that up.
First I think the “who is better thing?” is kind of childish.
Both Ryan and Zack are very gifted Unicyclists. I feel that both of them deserve respect from other forum members.
As for riding with others or moving away from riding friends, I am 35 years old and started Unicycling a year ago. There are a lot of juggling Unicyclist in Israel, where I live, but very few Muni and Trials unicyclists. (I love muni and am getting into trials recently.) I have a family, two little boys, and like Zack don’t get the chance to ride every day. The vast majority of my riding is with Bicyclists or just alone.
If you love Unicycling you will do it no matter what. Alone, with bicyclist, with friends, on work breaks, hell, I give up my Friday and Saturday naps for riding and my kids wake me up early in the morning!
The one good thing about riding with other unicyclists is the ability to learn from them and to egg each other on to greater and greater feats.
But in the end if you love Unicycling you will do it no matter what!
i don’t think anyone should diss Zack tho, just because he hasn’t ridden in a while. if he felt he needed to compete with Ryan, he’d do what’s necessary to get him to that level, regardless of the sacrifices or penalties he hd to pay. Sometimes it is necessary to prioritise and do things you really need to do as opposed to things you’d really like to do.
having said all this, at the moment, both Joe (Hodges) and Ryan are my favourite trials riders and are awesome.
Doing just about anything w/ others in an activity is more fun, hence easier to do while under difficult circumstances.
I went for a few short rides w/ others, but a while ago I went Muni riding w/ the Berkley club and had a blast! But since I don’t have a car I had to leave my house at 5 AM to get there by 10:30. This difficulty makes it less worthwhile for me.
Since I have had a very difficult time learning to freemount (although everyone was very patient and willing to lend a shoulder to lean on), I felt my time and effort would be better served by practicing this and related skills. If I could freemount consistently I probably go ride w/ them at least a couple of times a month.
Edit: I’m always trying to talk other people into giving it a serious attempt and I have only had two takers, but not enough to get their own uni’s yet.
style also how you do something. like on rolling SIF jumps I bring my uni up and to the right like a shifty kinda. someone else might do it and just bring it up and not over to the side. they are different styles of the exact same move.
This difficulty makes it less worthwhile for me.