Some beginner questions

General
1

All,

I recently purchased a unicycle from unicycle.com and I’m loving it, but
of course I’m learning from scratch.

I’ve been out maybe 6 times now, for probably about 3 or 4 hours total
practice time, and I’m just going across to the school across the street
from me and using a railing there to get on the uni (not trying any mounts
yet) and I’m practicing pedaling. I go anywhere from a half a revolution
to about 20 feet, and each time I go, my average gets closer to the 20
foot distance, but I usually don’t make it past this.

I have been thinking about what I am doing, and I notice that I tend to
lock my leg at some point or get in a position with one pedal up, one
down, and a leg will be extended down, and somehow or another I lose
energy and I can’t seem to pedal out of that . I don’t know if I’m still
using muscles more than skill, so that when I lose energy, I’m fighting my
own feet, or what. Maybe without video (I wish I owned a camcorder or
something), you won’t be able to help, but I’m hoping this might be a
common beginner problem with a rote solution. Can you help?

Another question I have is this. I am doing better at side to side balance
than I had been doing, but I am now going just far enough that turning is
an issue. Specifically, sometimes I end up leaning too far one way or the
other, and so it’s either fall off or turn, so I just turn a little in
whatever way I happened to be going so that I can extend my distance and
face my leg-locking problems from above. But I am wondering, when I do
start to lean and go off in a direction, if I decide I DONT want to do
that, what are the techniques used to get back to center? Not only from a
turning point of view, but a topple/“timber!” point of view?

For example, if I find I’m leaning left too much because I got off
balance, but I don’t want to be forced to turn to keep going, I have tried
2 things, and so far neither has worked. Let’s assume I am falling a
little to the left. 1) I tried leaning my torso/head back to the right,
but that seemed to just make my hips/butt (which are on the seat) thrust
out farther to the left in the direction I was already falling. 2) I tried
moving my hips/butt over to the right, but then my torso lean over to the
left was increased. Neither seemed to work.

Rhysling said (and I may be mis-understanding him, he will correct me if
so) that he kinda uses his waist to yank the uni back underneath him as he
goes forward, but I assume then that he is a few inches off to the side
going parallel with his ideal path but off to the side, and maybe he
drifts back to where he wants to be. I haven’t yet made his method work
for me because continuing to go forward isn’t always successful yet
because of my initial question/issue.

So, any advice for me? Or is it better for me to just keep doing stuff and
let my body find a niche/style for it, and not think about the details
until I have enough basic ability to apply intentional movements?

I will say that I am enjoying the hell out of my unicycle. The learning
curve is slow for me, but I don’t mind that. I actually look forward to
going out each time. I had feared I would dread it for a long time, but I
don’t dread it at all, despite the learning curve. I have to say that for
me (34; 240 lbs), learning the unicycle is the hardest thing I have ever
done. Its harder than all my years of my engineering degrees in college
and harder than learning to play the guitar, combined, and I’ve only been
out 6 times. But its also one of the most satisfying things I’ve done,
even though I’m not at any useful level of ability yet. Great fun!

Thanks,

Lewis

2

Lewis-

If riding a unicycle is more difficult than several college level engineering degrees and playing guitar and you’ve only been out 6 times, I would say you are a severely under-challenged individual. I’m tempted to call Chris and have him flatten your tire, remove one crank, and put a backpack full of bricks on you.

Try to stay up until you fall at any cost whether it means drifting one way, turning, riding with an uneven cadence, whatever. I think you’re at a point where trying to stay up is what is now teaching you how to make small corrections.

When you are stuck with one pedal down and one up and the wheel is not rolling you are at the “dead spot” that you have probably read about. Sometimes you can accidentally go there by carefully and slowly riding over some small bump or dip and reaching zero angular velocity at the hub at just the wrong time. You need enough inertia to get over these little “obstacles.” Going downhill on a very slight incline is helpful here. In Kansas, where I grew up, a “hill” was anywhere that a ball would roll of its own volition so I hesitate using the word hill here.

I think (and many may disagree) that conscious and intentional turning begins with leaning the entire rider/unicycle combination one way or another. Not just the torso or hips. The rider remains relatively fixed on the axis than runs through the seatpost.

I also think that 20 feet is your “chicken out” distance, a psychological barrier for beginners that is begging for you to power through it.

I’d remain leary of Chris…keep him in sight and at a distance.

3

> I have been thinking about what I am doing, and I notice that I tend to
> lock my leg at some point or get in a position with one pedal up, one
> down, and a leg will be extended down, and somehow or another I lose
> energy and I can’t seem to pedal out of that . I don’t know if I’m still
> using muscles more than skill, so that when I lose energy, I’m fighting
> my own feet, or what.

You are most likely using muscles more than skill. Making circles with
your feet, even if you’re a cyclist, is not natural. the muscles that
straighten your leg are much stronger than the ones you use to bring it
past the bottom of the pedal stroke and back up. More practice will make
this easier.

The other rote thing to keep reminding yourself is to sit down. Let the
saddle hold your weight, and your feet just make circles on the pedals as
necessary to keep the wheel where you want it. Once you’re riding, you
will find this takes very little energy indeed. But that’s once you’re
riding. Until then, lots more energy will get used, until your legs find
the right motion and get used to it.

> am wondering, when I do start to lean and go off in a direction, if I
> decide I DONT want to do that, what are the techniques used to get back
> to center? Not only from a turning point of view, but a topple/“timber!”
> point of view?

Swivel your arms around. “Swimming” is what we call it. Generally you
first concentrate on making the unicycle go where you want, and follow
that with technique later.

> have to say that for me (34; 240 lbs), learning the unicycle is the
> hardest thing I have ever done. Its harder than all my years of my
> engineering degrees in college and harder than learning to play the
> guitar, combined,

You haven’t been working at it enough for this to be true. Think of
it this way: you’re learning to ride for free, on your own time. Once
you learn, you get to keep the knowledge and nobody can ever take it
away from you.

But odds are you’ll never make a living off of it… :slight_smile:

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com

“If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.” - Kevin
“Gilby” Gilbertson

4

You seem to be off to a good start! I would suggest that you focus on putting your weight on your seat, and not your pedals. This will help you to feel more at control. Also try leaning into your falls a bit to correct them. Harnish the energy of the fall and use it to pull you out of it. It sounds weird at first, but you’ll be doing it like it’s breathing once you really get riding down. I wish you luck! I myself have only been riding 2 weeks or less. Skill level 2 already. :slight_smile:

5

On 26 Dec 2001 12:32:45 -0800, lewis@lwb.org (Lewis W Beard) wrote:

>I have been thinking about what I am doing, and I notice that I tend to
>lock my leg at some point or get in a position with one pedal up, one
>down, and a leg will be extended down, and somehow or another I lose
>energy and I can’t seem to pedal out of that . I don’t know if I’m still
>using muscles more than skill, so that when I lose energy, I’m fighting
>my own feet, or what. Maybe without video (I wish I owned a camcorder or
>something), you won’t be able to help, but I’m hoping this might be a
>common beginner problem with a rote solution. Can you help?
I think that if you could maintain a higher forward velocity, you would
have less of a problem with this dead spot. But the main thing is
practice. You’ve come to 20 ft repeatedly with 3 or 4 hours of input, this
is by no means “slow” learning. I expect you will easily get past the 20
ft with just a few more hours.

>Another question I have is this. I am doing better at side to side
>balance than I had been doing, but I am now going just far enough that
>turning is an issue. Specifically, sometimes I end up leaning too far one
>way or the other, and so it’s either fall off or turn, so I just turn a
>little in whatever way I happened to be going so that I can extend my
>distance and face my leg-locking problems from above. But I am wondering,
>when I do start to lean and go off in a direction, if I decide I DONT
>want to do that, what are the techniques used to get back to center? Not
>only from a turning point of view, but a topple/“timber!” point of view?
I am not so sure that it would help to “cerebrally” know what you should
do. Initially when I was learning (and still, sometimes) I was analysing
too much, to the degree that it hampered my progress. I would recommend
that if you notice you tend to veer off to one side, you just follow that
tendency unless it would be dangerous to do so (car, wall etc). So that
means you steer the wheel with your butt to the side you fall to, so that
the wheel stays under you. Riding straight lines will then come for free.

(If you still want to know: if you DON’T want to go in that direction, you
have yet to steer to that side but too much. That way, you will begin to
fall to the other side which you then follow. It’s a bit like on a bike:
if you’re fluently riding on a straight line and SUDDENLY you should have
to turn (say) left, you first turn a bit to the right so that you begin
falling to the left, then follow that in a left-ward curve. It doesn’t
work if it’s not SUDDENLY because then you have time to “accumulate” a bit
of falling to the left.)

Klaas Bil

–
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “mullah Ubaidullah, CQB, Planet-1”

6

“Lewis W Beard” <lewis@lwb.org> wrote in message
news:c581d835.0112261232.39595302@posting.google.com…
>
> I have been thinking about what I am doing, and I notice that I tend to
> lock my leg at some point or get in a position with one pedal up, one
> down, and a leg will be extended down, and somehow or another I lose
> energy and I can’t seem to pedal out of that . I don’t know if I’m still
> using muscles more than skill, so that when I lose energy, I’m fighting
> my own feet, or what. Maybe without video (I wish I owned a camcorder or
> something), you won’t be able to help, but I’m hoping this might be a
> common beginner problem with a rote solution. Can you help?

I’ve had that problem in the past, and still have it on occasion when
free-mounting and idling. It feels like I’m concentrating more on trying
to remain balanced, and I simply forget to pedal. Or it’s like I can’t
pedal because I feel like it would upset my balance too much. So I freeze,
waiting for the uni to feel balanced (which it never does). You just have
to force yourself to pedal in those situations.

> Another question I have is this. I am doing better at side to side
> balance than I had been doing, but I am now going just far enough that
> turning is an issue. Specifically, sometimes I end up leaning too far
> one way or the other, and so it’s either fall off or turn, so I just
> turn a little in whatever way I happened to be going so that I can
> extend my distance and face my leg-locking problems from above. But I am
> wondering, when I do start to lean and go off in a direction, if I
> decide I DONT want to do that, what are the techniques used to get back
> to center? Not only from a turning point of view, but a topple/“timber!”
> point of view?

You can twist your waist and throw your shoulders/arms in the opposite
direction. For small corrections you can move your arms around you to the
side/front/rear and raise them. For a large correction you can give the
pedal on the opposite side of the turn a really good shove while leaning
forward into the turn. Or just pedal harder on that side.

>
> So, any advice for me? Or is it better for me to just keep doing stuff
> and let my body find a niche/style for it, and not think about the
> details until I have enough basic ability to apply intentional
> movements?
>

I believe you have to remember the details of what you were doing when you
successfully rode/turned/whatever, and then repeat those things you were
doing on your next try. Maybe try a slight variation on what you were
doing to find the perfect form.

7

Your leg locking may be due to your seat being too high. You want your
knee at about a 15-degree angle, give or take. Some ride really low to
help with tricks, and I’ve seen people ride with the seat so high that
they’re pointing their feet down (sort of tip-toeing) to keep them on the
pedals. Find a spot that’s good for you. Small adjustments will make a
difference. I’m 31 and weigh just as much as you do, and I’ve been back
into riding unis for almost 5 months now. I did have the advantage of
already having learned how to ride when I was younger, but it sounds like
you’re progressing nicely. I know it’s getting me into shape better than
anything else I can think of.

John

Lewis W Beard wrote:

> I have been thinking about what I am doing, and I notice that I tend to
> lock my leg at some point or get in a position with one pedal up, one
> down, and a leg will be extended down, and somehow or another I lose
> energy and I can’t seem to pedal out of that . I don’t know if I’m still
> using muscles more than skill, so that when I lose energy, I’m fighting
> my own feet, or what. Maybe without video (I wish I owned a camcorder or
> something), you won’t be able to help, but I’m hoping this might be a
> common beginner problem with a rote solution. Can you help?

8

> So, any advice for me?

Thanks for all the advice. I tried different things and just kept
sticking to it and I feel like I made some progress last night. I managed
to go 28 feet on one journey, and several in the 25 foot range, and most
of them seemed to be no less than 15 feet. It seemed like a big
improvement over where I was the previous time. I also managed to
deliberately right myself when leaning too far, and I managed some basic
steering / correction using my hips.

Of course, I still have a long way to go, but I feel like I’ve got past a
couple of the things that were bugging me. I also a lot less trouble
getting through the pedals-vertical position this time.

Lots more to learn. But, last night was a good night. Thanks for all the
help. Thanks to Rhysling for being there. :slight_smile:

I should point out that Chris is getting good at all kinds of hops, steep
inclines, and backwards pedaling. Whenever I’m practicing basics, he is
practicing more advanced stuff. Way to go!

Lewis

9

On 28 Dec 2001 06:16:54 -0800, lewis@lwb.org (Lewis W Beard) wrote:

>Of course, I still have a long way to go
Don’t let that bother you. Just enjoy where you are now. That way,
progress will not come by effort but by having fun.

Klaas Bil

“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “POORTSCAN, HAHO, remailers”