Not every parent will allow this, but my daughter learned in the house. She sat on the Uni behind the couch, watching Clifford and Dragon Tales (you are probably older than she).
Then she migrated from the couch to the door-ways and halls, where she could touch something with both hands.
Then down the hall with one hand on the wall.
Then crossing the room.
Just some thoughts.
Re: still totally sucking.
“zambonijones” <zambonijones@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote
in message
news:zambonijones.1n6ufq@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> You have all been so very helpful, I really appreciate everything you
> guys have said. I was thinking about trying to get somebody to come
> help me, but I know how boring it can be to someone watching someone do
> the same thing over and over from the sidelines.
>
Remember : 30 feet is 30 feet more than you could do when you started and
30 feet more than the kid next door can do.
When learning on two wheels I bet it wasn’t long , after first reaching 30
feet before you could ride forever.
Try and assess why your ride ends: tiredness? wobble finally gets you?
It IS tiring to begin with, probably because it is unlikely that you have
your weight on the seat, and so your legs are taking punishment. Keep us up
to date wih progress and what is stopping you and someone is gonna help you.
Naomi
I’m only learning slowly myself but I just think that my body needs all this time to learn and there are no short cuts. Every try is one try closer to success, however long it takes.
It’s taken me at least a month or more of constant practice to freemount. Even when I feel I have got it at the end of a session, it’s 2 steps forward and 1.95 steps back. But the .05 of a step builds up and now I am succeeding with my freemounts about 1 in 3 at the beginning of a session and 1 in 2 at the end.
Keep trying, you too can be amazing.
Cathy
Naomi: I have really spent a lot of time concentrating on my posture–the problem isn’t me standing on the pedals. I stare ahead, I keep my back straight, etc. For the most part, I just stop because I’m tilting too far to the left (I can’t turn left because of the way my driveway), or I’m not riding smoothly enough (like, I’ll slow down at the end of a rotation)–but mostly, I can’t really problemshoot it enough to figure out what went wrong.
As for riding in the house, it would be a lifesaver, but the house I’m in has a lot of small, fragile, expensive things, and is rather small, and has lots of stuff on the walls. Trust me, I’ve tried. At my dad’s house, there is one small expanse of kitchen counter that provides about 15 feet of free space, but that isn’t too helpful, because for most of the time, 15 feet is about what I can manage almost every time–occasionally less, several times slightly more. He also had a fence, which was nice, but the space was just as restricted.
I got a good 35 feet once today, and I finally felt like I was getting it, but then I took a good huge spill the next time I got up, and totally lost it after that.
I don’t know. I’m just tired of not improving, aside from one or two crazy, freak-accident 35 foot runs. To date, that’s probably the farthest I’ve ever gotten (I’ve done it maybe 2 or 3 times before, but they are few and far between). For the most part, I can’t duplicate that at all.
But thank you, though. I really love hearing your advice.
What ever you do, don’t give up. People learn at different speeds - it took me almost six months of weekends to be able to ride forwards and freemount (and I’ve been a keen cyclist all my life), and I’m still struggling with idling. Some people get that far in a couple of hours (b*****ds :p).
But in the nine months or so since I learnt to ride I’ve got good enough to do quite a bit of cross-country riding, and a bit of muni (although I’m not really very good at technical stuff, I’m having the most fun I’ve had in years). My mountain bike has hardly been out since I’ve had the muni.
I learnt on my own, and my first attempts “in the open” were on grass. It’s easier to ride on tarmac but the grass gave me the confidence to go for it and not worry about falling off. When I could ride reasonably on grass I had a go on tarmac and suddenly felt much better.
Stick at it though - sounds like you’re nearly there, and it’s worth it in the end.
Rob
Edit: Err… when I said “riding on grass”, “the grass gave me confidence” etc, I obviously meant on a grassy surface, not any other meaning you may think of 
I did not read all the advice above in detail. My first take on all of this is that you’re over-thinking it. Two things you need to do:
Stop thinking and just go for it. Wear gloves or wristguards if you have them around. This is what an 8-year old would do. They don’t analyze, they just keep at it.
Stop talking yourself out of success. Originally you said you could go 20-30 feet, then you said you got 35 but you were tired of not improving. Well, you’re improving. Convince yourself you are going to ride, not that you’re going to suck. It’s a lot more fun that way!
A-ha, something to work with! Feel free to ingnore this part, because I just told you to stop thinking. But if you can’t help it, read on.
If you tend to fall to the left, try to make yourself fall to the right. the “sweet spot” is somewhere in the middle. You can find it sometimes by overshooting. If you’re slowing down or otherwise losing momentum, don’t worry about it, just go again.
Lastly, take the advice of U-Turn (or anyone else you can physically meet up with. There is no substitute for some live coaching. U-Turn is always writing helpful advice on here, and I’m sure it will be worth your time to go meet with him (parental units’ willing, of course).
Re: still totally sucking.
“zambonijones” <zambonijones@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote
in message
news:zambonijones.1nc70y@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> Naomi: I have really spent a lot of time concentrating on my
> posture–the problem isn’t me standing on the pedals.
It’s not “standing on the pedals”, its “putting too much weight on the
pedals”, and most novices do it. I know I still do to an extent, but
occasionally I get it sorted and everything feels so much lighter and
sweeter then. You may well not be doing this of course, just a theory.
Once you get into riding a bit further you will know for sure: your legs
will ache if you do it wrong!!
> I got a good 35 feet once today, and I finally felt like I was getting
> it, but then I took a good huge spill the next time I got up, and
> totally lost it after that.
>
The other very important thing to remember at this stage is: When you
fall off, learn to fall off forwards and land on your feet. Don’t worry
too much about the uni at first, just let it fall unless there are kids in
the danger zone. This is quite easy to do and it is a big confidence
boost to know that in an unplanned dismount ( a falling off) you can just
walk out of the situation. I find it removed all the scariness.
Nao
Re: Re: still totally sucking.
Very true. When OP mentioneded crashing and burning, I thought it was a figure of speech. If not, I would recommend figuring out how to bail predictably and safely!
I’m also going to chime in on the side of thinking more and not less. Granted, this is very much a personal thing and some people do better one way and others the other. But for me, I find it helpful to pay close attention to what I am trying to do and try to understand as best I can why it isn’t working.
If you always veer off to the left, it must be for a reason. Your riding area could be slanted. Your lean could be off. Differences in the strength and dexterity of different sides of the body may be the issue. Lack of confidence could cause you to unconsiously veer towards walls for support (or away from obstacles).
If you can’t get passed a certain distance, there must be a reason behind that too. Are you actively managing your balance up to that point – reacting as your balance point shifts and effectively compensating? With balance, it is often possible to “get by” by throwing your momentum in the direction you want to go and clearing the distance as quickly as possible. Sprinting across a raised beam is much easier than walking across it. Could it be that you are just throwing yourself into it and 30’ is the point when that momentum runs out?
Obviously, these particular questions/suggestions may not be applicable to you. My only point is that for some, it is beneficial to stop, take a deep breath and think things through.
Good luck!
My two cents:
(1) Learn to step (not fall) off of the front of the uni and catch the back of the seat with your hand. Step off of the front of the uni before you get into trouble, if you have to. You are falling to the ground because you are holding on too long.
(2) Count revolutions, not feet traveled. Once you’ve done three revolutions you should just have to keep repeating the same motions.
(3) Try to push away from the wall as soon as you can.
(4) Lowering your air pressure in your tires may help the tires wobble less.
Don’t slump your back and stay smooth.
-Reid
A bunch of us in CT are getting together Sat afternoon on the 23rd of April. We will be going to a local high school for unicycling, and back here for pizza or whatever. There should be about 10 people, including a family of boys and both their parents, my daughter and her friend, and a couple more local kids. Over half will be beginning unicyclists. You are very welcome to join us! The high school is a perfect place to learn (I learned there) because it has a great combination of fences, pavement, grass, stairs, hills, and the whole lot.
You are very welcome to come, Chedd! There will be lots of uni-teaching going on. In addition, we have big plans for riding the CT rails-to-trails this summer. It wouldn’t take much more for you to be able to do that too.
I will send you a PM with the name and phone number of the family of boys. You can call them and ask all the questions you would like. Depending on location, you may be able to get a ride if you would like to come.
Hope to see you there!