I either need metal studded pedals or a dry place.
I took my first hard fall today when I slipped and got tangled
in the unicycle and fell backwards with both feet entangled.
My wrist hurts just enough to know it wasn’t fun.
But it’s nothing compared to dealing with online forms and telephone
help lines trying to apply for layoff benefits from Boeing (like recall
eligibility).
If there had been a “Press 9 to set fire to the corporate office building”…
Not much new… haven’t rode much because I’m busy being unemployed
right now. Rode a bit yesterday… oddly, both me and Drew got tired quickly,
and just weren’t in the mood to ride. We rode a bit for some seat time.
It wasn’t that we were having an off day where we couldn’t ride well,
we just weren’t into it.
On the plus side… 
I found a 20" Savage for $25. It was near where
my wife works, so she went and bought it. I haven’t seen it yet, but
the plan is for me to clean it up so we can give it as a birthday present
to my 14 year old daughter (it was 2 weeks ago actually).
She isn’t very motivated… she sat on Drew’s Uni a couple of times
and liked it, but she’s not easy to inspire.
Maybe her own Unicycle will motivate her. If nothing else, I don’t
have a 20", so I can ride it if she doesn’t.
I’ll see if the cranks are tight and all that. I have a lathe, so I can
make new cotter pins if needed (or fix anything else it could possibly need).
If she can learn to ride in a couple of months time, we can ride in
a talent show we hold with a bunch of friends.
My wife is recovering from shoulder surgery, so she’ll have to
wait until the next bi-anual talent show 
I told her to ask her surgeon if she would be able to ride the unicycle
after the surgery - the surgeon said “don’t get on one until next year”.
(He didn’t fall for that old joke).
Well, I got he “new” unicycle.
It’s a chrome 20" savage uni.
In very good shape. I put slime and air in the tire, cleaned it up,
checked it over, put Wesley’s Black Magic on the tire & set out
on the process of a tune up.
It has cotterless cranks. It had metal BMX pedals, so I swapped them
with my plastic ones on my Torker… which killed 2 birds w/1 stone.
It has the aluminum lollipop type bearing holders.
It was assembled backwards, so I switched left & right by taking the
bearing holders out of the fork end tubes & turning the wheel around.
I put blue Loctite on all of the bolts & the pedal shafts as I reassembled.
Made sure everything was good and tight, put a chrome bow and some
curly ribbon on it & hung it from Elizabeth’s chair at the dining table.
I missed seeing her reaction but my wife said she was pleased.
I adjusted the seat for my height and tested it while she watched.
I lowered the seat and Drew tried it out. Elizabeth wanted to wait
until the next day to try it… it took some convincing to get her to
sit on it while holding onto the neighbor’s gate so I could adjust the
seat height for her.
I later replaced the adjust lever with a 5/16 bolt so that the seat won’t
get crooked every time she falls.
BTW, that was my first time riding a 20" unicycle. It’s different. I may
eventually want to get one.
BTW2…
When my wife got home with the kids, the unicycle was in the back of the
car under a blanket. Drew and I did some riding, and then I sent him in
to start on homework. Elizabeth was just coming out to play, and I said
“Sorry, it’s time for homework”.
Of course she complained.
So I said “Well, you could have rode unicycles with us”.
She said “I don’t have one”.
I knew she expected me to tell her she could share with Drew
(He’s always been willing to let her ride his, but her legs are a
bit too long for his).
But instead, I said “Maybe you should buy one… you just had a birthday,
didn’t you get some money for your birthday?”
She said “Yeah…”
I said “Maybe you can find a used one for a good price”.
That was about two hours before dinner.
So as soon as she was stuck at the table doing homework
I snuck the unicycle into the garage and set about cleaning it
up - at a pretty fast pace - at the same time I built a 5" high ramp
for Drew & me (complete with carrying handles - I’ll hafta share a picture)
And also had to put the metal pedals on my Uni and check bolt
tightness and air up the tire. Unfortunately I used up the last of
the slime in Elizabeth’s tire.
BTW3…
I was very encouraged when she pointed out that girls tend to have
better balance than boys, so it will be easier for her to learn than
it was for us. She isn’t often prone to a “can do” attitude, so it’s
like I have a head start in encouraging her to succeed.
Good job, Mark. I set about teaching a niece how to ride her brother’s unicycle. She had a constant mind battle going on between really wanting to do it, and being afraid of it. Lots of encouragement, and ensuring that no-one else was around for her to feel self-conscious, meant that we could celebrate the little successes. She soon reached a stage where she was voluntarily taking time to practice, and then took charge.
Her biggest problem in the beginning (apart from the usual unicycling ones) was that she seemed to not want the uni to get damaged, and so would fall early in trying to save it. We had to work on her just abandoning the uni to the Gods, and concentrating on pedaling.
Be patient with her, Mark. The learning process is a great awakener of confidence and self-achievement. Celebrate the failures as being achievements on the path to success.
Cheers,
Eoin
Thanks!
I have found that liberal application of about 5 layers of duct tape really
does a great job of preserving the seat and other parts that contact the
ground. You can get duct tape in all sorts of cool colors these days -
I even have camouflage duct tape (I need to put a layer on my seat bumpers)
I offered to put some on Elizabeth’s seat but she said it’s gonna
get beat up anyways. I might do it anyway - she’ll thank me later.
But she will want a better unicycle if she starts riding trails with us.
Today my daughter tried it out. She got in one day about
to the level where my son and I got in a week or two.
Drew and I were going over a ramp and riding a board while
Elizabeth was pushing a jogging stroller around. My wife
video taped the whole affair. Unfortunately the only time
I did make the ramp & board the camera was not rolling.
I cam close once on camera.
Drew made it a bunch of times… I guess it was his day
to shine.
We did a little jousting too, but I need to make a couple
of takeoff platforms for curb mounts opposing each other.
We all had a blast. Once Sherri fully recovers from
shoulder surgery she can start learning too.
Elizabeth did decide on Purple duct tape to protect the seat.
I’ll put a layer of Camo over my plastic bumpers.
I’ll post the video eventually. I’ll have to upload it from the
camera to the PC and post it on Youtube.
I finally got some new videos uploaded onto youtube!
I’ll start with the best news… my Daughter is learning quickly and seems
to be dedicated to following through and persisting until she can ride.
My curb mounts are pretty consistent…
My freemounts are about 1 in 5, but this video was taken on
one of my off days (I’ve had a few in a row now, maybe because
I’m used to my indoor riding area which I no longer have available)
And now for the good stuff…
Drew and I are trying to get better at unicycle jousting.
I’m building some starting platforms for curb starts, which will
help because we will start out aiming at each other.
And we are practicing riding over obstacles so we can eventually start
riding Muni (there are 640 acres of MTB Trails a couple of miles from
our house).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFmuQ5BJlCY
The one time I was successful the video camera was not rolling 
Like I said - it was an off day. Normally I would be at 1/4 to 1/2 success rate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVNujMY4uM
Drew was having a good day… of course he continues to have good days.
I may never catch back up to him (unless we stop giving him breaks from
doing his homework while it’s still daylight outside 
)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C26cuHeUYx4
Sometimes momentum isn’t enough…
When you are riding over obstacles and off drops is when you want to practice standing up on the pedals a little bit. It helps keep enough pressure on them so you dont lose as much momentum, hopefully. It also protects the parts of your body near your seat 
Also holding the handle helps you stay with the unicycle a bit better.
You could also practice hopping up obstacles sideways. Or jumping off of drops instead of just dropping off of them.
Something Drew would probably learn pretty quick is going backwards… It is kind of like relearning to unicycle(a little faster) but it helps you a lot with control. Riding with one foot pedaling and one foot on the frame is another cool thing to learn. It helps with getting to wheel walking and also helps with learning control.
Just some thoughts and suggestions.
Great work by the way. Its great to see the change from riding down your hall
New Videos
That’s for sure!
BTW, Drew is working on bunny hops - right now he practices while
holding onto a support, but he’ll let go of that support real soon.
Just out of curiosity - any reason you guys aren’t wearing helmets?
We just don’t feel much need for helmets.
I stand a much greater chance of falling on my head while playing
basketball or ice skating, but I don’t wear a helmet for those.
For hockey, and for motorcycling & Demolition Derby, I always wear one.
For bicycling I usually wear one off road, sometimes a full face moto-x
helmet. On the road, not usually. I wear one for snowboarding, but not
for skiing.
When we start doing Muni we might wear them, but even there the speeds
are low enough (the trails near us are dense forest) that I may not.
I guess for me, unicycling w/o a helmet is at an acceptable level of risk.
Just like driving a car without a helmet… sure, if we all wore helmets
in our cars it would save lives, but it’s not worth it to me.
Does pushing the tricycle around help with learning to unicycle? I have not seen anyone try that approach before.
Scott
it may because it can be used for balance and movement, like a training wheel
And you can let go for a moment and grab it again and gradually increase
how long you go before grabbing it again. It gives a feeling of security, but
you can still break free (in a narrow hallway the walls are in the way when
you let go of them).
You can also use the jogging stroller for support to get a little momentum
and then push it away and see how far you go. It’s working really well for
Elizabeth.
I’ve seen a “training wheel” for unicycles which is basically a uni, but with no pedals, and a pair of handlebars instead of a saddle. Seeing someone riding with one for the first time hurt my brain - it’s like a bike but not joined in the middle!
Here’s a picture of something similar I found on Google image search:
Not exactly what I had in mind but you get the idea.