I’ve been riding for almost 6 years now and I was looking back at how many times I took a break, and for how long, and how much time was actual serious riding compared to just riding around. I came up with that a person riding for about 2.5 years could know all the things I know. Isn’t that sad, you take a person that cranks out 20-25 hours a week on a unicycle, if focused enough, can learn all the flip tricks, sliding rails, sets, and tech grinds in 2.5 years. Kinda sad. Make me wanna practice more.
-Shaun Johanneson
p.s. I’ve never gotten better from taking a break.
I’ve gotten better from taking a break…it’s all mental, see. Practice some trick for like a MONTH straight, then take a few weeks off, then come back to riding, during that month off your brain has done it’s crazy thing and you’re a little better at it.
But anyway I never really practice so even though I’ve been riding for about four years at least I’m still not very good at all.
For me, the muscles can’t learn without practice. I’ve gotten better at flips down sets when I went to all streetlanding, but I always have to be riding to get better. It sucks.
I just took about a month off from riding, I found I was closer to landing tricks I couldn’t do before, but my balance was really bad, my hops weren’t as high, my gaps weren’t as far, and when I landed things it was way more sketchy.
For me, if I don’t practice a certain something often (trick, gap length, up hight, etc.) I start to lose it… So when I learn something new I do that over and over again after I learn it so I get more used to it.
Unfortunately, age is a BIG factor as far as how proficient you’re going to become at unicycling, or most other sports. Young people learn things amazingly fast, and their bodies/muscles adapt quickly. A good example of the age factor is boxing; You’re basically over the hill at 35! Even though you may appear amazingly fit, your bones, muscles, reaction time and overall stamina will be considerably less than your 25 year old counterpart. That’s life! But many people (me included) are just too stubborn to quit! Although my youth has long passed, my spirit, motivation and love for unicycling is still intact and very much alive and well!
Well MuniAddict, I am only 13 years behind you but we are in the same boat. Hey, this is what will keep us young right? My friends my age are half as fit and energetic as me. Helps being crazy I guess! Working 70-80 hours between 2 full time jobs makes me want to practice all the more (stress relief).
