Now that I have converted my Pashley to a 29er, I am able to commute to work and school and just about anywhere else I used to ride my bike. I get everywhere in about twice the time it used to take but I have ten times as much fun. However, my machine is now a little trickier to hop and ride down stairs on. I decided to buy a rugged 24 so that I can have the best of both worlds.
Here’s the catch, since I’ve been spending what little money I have on unicycles, I told my girlfriend that I was buying this one for her. You see, at a friends party I recently got all of the guests to try and learn on the host’s 24" torker. Much to my surprise, the most promising strides were made by my roommate/girlfriend, who pedalled very confidently and depended the least on spotters for support.
I am curious to hear who has had success teaching significant others to ride and interested to hear about pitfalls or cautionary tails.
For my part, I don’t doubt for a minute that she’ll learn because she is pretty coordinated and athletic, not to mention hard headed. I am worried that I will be blamed for skinned knees and shins.
Consider yourself lucky, brother, that your girlfriend is interested in the unicycle.
My wife thought I lost my mind when I started on the uni a few months ago. Finally, she’s slowly accepting the idea, now that she sees that I’m in much better shape these days because of it.
But to get her on the unicycle, just so she could see the light, I might as well try getting her to freemount the moon. No way. She’s still suprised I haven’t joined the circus yet…
If your girlfriend is into checking out the uni, you have got yourself a rare find! The rest will follow…
Dogbowl
Teach your girlfriend to unicycle if she shows an interest. Who could be a better riding partner? Hard-headedness pays off more in the end than grace, balance, and athleticism combined so she’s on her way if she says she wants to learn.
Don’t push her. She’ll learn because she’s determined but she may not be a rider because it doesn’t interest her. Help her. Encourage her. Tell her to keep her weight on the seat, look ahead, and pedal with smooth, round strokes. Praise her. It gives you ample opportunities to hug and kiss her.
My girlfriend is 15-18 hours into learning, can ride until her legs give out, has freemounted a couple of times, can turn both directions with some facility, and has ridden halfway up a formidable hill. She’s incredibly determined. She joined RSU and started her own thread awhile ago. Right now she loves it and I hope she maintains an interest in it.
go harper…
on the topic of unicycles, my significant other spends more time being one rather than the other
(with apologies to jjuggle’s original quote (which i can’t find anywhere))
from ‘teaching’ a variety of other people who’ve learned at the club, i’ve learnt that the most tricky part is getting the balance of support-and-advice vs being-a-pain-in-the-neck right
as a general rule, less is more
they’re going to have to get thru that ‘grey period of frustration’ by themselves
so u might as well let them get some me-time in while they’re on their way
i show the basics and then leave them to have a go at it
i’ll pop around a lil’ while later to make sure they haven’t developed any bad habits yet, remind them of the basics (a’la harper’s post above) and then leave them in peace
i’ll keep an eye on them and if i see them doing something particularly ‘wrong’ (looking down, no weight on seat…) i’ll pop around and just mention it again
once they start getting just beyond 3 pedal strokes or so, i’ll go and offer a shoulder to see if they’re keen on heading away from the wall
help them like that for a while and then introduce them to Charlie Dancey’s ‘launching into the abyss’ where i’ll leave them again
once they’re riding a fair distance, i’ll look out for problems and suggest ways of remedying them
i was very guilty of crowding people in the misguided belief that i could teach them how to ride
sharing unicycling is the ultimate ‘Zen Master’ activity
the master does not teach, yet the students learn
dont know what happened there
I tried to teach a female friend how to ride. She was so interested that she bought her own unicycle. The problem was that while trying to learn how to freemount, she fell and broke her wrist in two places. I felt horrible, but she kept insisting that it wasn’t my fault.
She married me, so I guess she didn’t hold it against me. 
Re: teach girlfriend?
Get her some guards.
I taught my wife to ride a couple of summers ago. She’s still a nervous rider, but I suspect she’s just letting me be the “star.”
Her concern was with falling and getting hurt (she’s had knee surgery). I used plenty of safety gear, and held her hand enough so that she never actually fell–or if she did fall, I’d catch her in my arms. As she progressed we’d ride holding hands for mile after mile.
There are lots of side benefits to having a significant other ride.
David
I suspect you are referring the portions that I italicized in the quote, especially the first one:D 
for the record, my girlfriend taught me how to ride 
I don’t have a girlfriend yet, but i’ve concidered making it a requirement for my girlfriend to be able to ride a unicycyle, or she won’t be my wife. Now of course if I really like the girl and she dont’ want to ride I MIGHT make an acception, but I still think it would be cool to look back and say something like " we really got to know each other from when I taught her to ride unicycle" like paco said kinda.
Getting taught is also a good way to meet people, like corbin said. I haven’t met girls, but I have had lots of kids from the youth center teach me how to ride skateboard, not near as much progress as unicycle, so I keep learning it over and over again : )
Andrew
I taught my girlfriend to ride, and, unbeknown to me, her best friend’s boyfriend can ride as well, so we’re gonna teach her best friend as well, and go on a double uni date!!! 
Unicycling is kewl as well cos it never gets boring and it’s always funny when one of us falls off, the other one gets to laugh at them …
I didn’t “teach” Paul to ride, but he was a very wobbly newbie when we meet and some of our first “dates” were spent playing out in the street. He borrowed my uni, I borrowed his stilts, it was a fair exchange.
We had no money at the time so they were nice cheap dates.
sarah
teaching a girlfriend how to ride
Although none of the girls I have dated wanted to actually learn how to ride there are quite a few ladies I have met at college parties who wanted to see what the Uni was all about. These girls just wanted to hop up on one and see what it was like.
Being the gentleman I am I was more than willing to be a spotter for them. should they fall I was right there to catch them.
Why didnt I think of bringing the uni to parties sooner!?
actually…here is a pic of me and my current girlfriend…we met in central park this summer. she likes to ride the uni
Re: teaching a girlfriend how to ride
Wow… And I thought I had no fashion sense! 
Re: teaching a girlfriend how to ride
Man, that is one unbelieveably way cool picture!
So EXCELLENT!
Cheers,
Dogbowl