Starting off while in contact with The Wall teaches a bad habit which
will have to be unlearned.Using the wall to mount is great, but try to
be off the wall and balanced when you peddle.Practice freemounts every
time you ride so theres no putting it off.Sometimes you’ll pop right up
on top ,many times you wont.The kids are having a ball watching me learn
so I got them a 16in. yesterday.
cheechee
–
cheechee
I agree with this. When I was learning to ride, I didn’t prop myself on a wall and learned to ride (without stopping for about 200 feet) in 3 days.
I never used a wall I thought it made it harder. I just used a gate to a fence and went from there. Just something to gut you up was good for me.
Nice work, I never used it. I don’t need no thought control
Re: say goodbye to “The Wall”
If you start with the fact that you don’t know how to ride in the first place, it doesn’t matter much how you learn. You will have plenty of time to unlearn lots of bad habits. Just stick to one hand and count the number of bad habits I had when I started out:
Too much weight on the pedals.
Unable to turn.
Unable to control speed.
Flailing of arms.
Can’t stay within the balance envelope.
Learning to ride well is probably a multi-year venture for most unicyclists, and part of what you are learning is to recognize and recover from “out of balance” conditions. The Wall is a great place to start for some, and if you can’t find a balance point while riding along a wall, you probably can’t find it in the wild. I agree that it could slow down your learning progress, but I usually make the same general statement about using a wall for any skill: use the wall until you can get three complete cycles of the skill, then do the same, but if you feel balanced, try to veer away from the wall at a slight angle. Progressively you use the wall less and less as an aid, but not before you learn the mechanics of the skill. So maybe it is:
mechanics first, then balance.
If you can go 15 feet along a wall (on a 20" uni) without falling off, it is time to start venturing into the void.
hahahhahahahahah yeah I keep forgetting to read what I write after I type it.
I meant to say “Just something to get me up was good for me.”
Sofa how do you always find my typing and gramar mistakes first any way? or are you the only one to point them out?
Re: say goodbye to “The Wall”
On Sun, 8 Aug 2004 20:04:31 -0500, “Tim” wrote:
>Sofa how do you always find my typing and gramar mistakes first any way?
>or are you the only one to point them out?
In this case at least, I think Sofa wasn’t pointing out a mistake. He
made a reference to one of the best Pink Floyd albums ever, and in
fact with the quote marks and capitals in the subject line I thought
of it too.
To get back on topic, I learned along a wall for quite long - too long
according to some. May have slowed me down in learning, but then it
felt very comfortable. So depending on what one wants it can be
advisable to learn along a wall.
I like the idea of not having to balance when out on a ride - joe
Ah how could I not notice? Pink Floyd is awesome. Silly me.
and since i’d just heard today that roger waters has agreed to turn ‘The Wall’ into a broadway musical, i assumed the thread (should be in JC) and was about the tragic ‘end’ of a classic album
what’s next? The Wall lunchboxes?
action figures?
TV games?
and i though you were talking about freestyle tyres.
i think its best to learn without a wall after the first day.
a wall is nice and comforting the first time you get on a unicycle, but you should get rid of it as soon as possible.
think of it this way:
if you learn without the wall, by the time you can ride it you got everything you need to get going
It it feels pretty damn cool