I know offdays sneak in every now and again. (but I don’t have to like them)
Today, I…
didn’t get to do any riding. Both my outdoor and semi-indoor practice areas were rained out.
And today, I…
met a friend for lunch and during our conversation mentioned that I was learning to ride a unicycle. I was surprised by his reaction. It was as if I had told him that I was keeping monkeys in my shorts. Kind of a combination of “are you nuts” and “that’s kinda cool” and “when do you join the circus?”.
But he was mostly positive and maybe slightly envious. I liked it.
Today I went for the longest ride I’ve ever done- 30 miles in 4 hours on my Nimbus 26" muni. My knees are on fire now though XD
I really wanna try running even shorter cranks…anyone know what it’s like to put 110s on a 26"?
Pretty flat terrain! :o I went along NCN route 5, and it was mostly smooth(ish) hard surfaces. The next step is to try and hunt up some nice rugged singletrack to train on
Practiced my idling and managed 1 to 2 on either foot. It’s a start.
Practiced my static freemounts but only scored a 30 to 40 percent success rate (both sides). This one is tough. Can’t seem to improve.
Managed a complete circuit of the parking lot where I practice–about 400+ ft… Did it twice, easy, whereas last week I couldn’t. Turns were pretty good–controlled, and pace was slow and balanced–no frantic pedaling just to stay in the seat.
Not as tired after a 90 min. workout as I usually am. Some improvement in stamina, maybe.
Idling? 2 to 3 months - no kidding. That’s probably the longest I’ve ever worked on any given skill, unicycle or otherwise.
Edit: I’m not counting 20+ years playing the drums etc… I mean longest time spent on a very specific skill.
Why? Because it is one of the core skills. It is a mandatory step on the way to other skills I want to learn. And I will learn them. It’s already helped me with backwards riding. If you are interested in riding backwards, I can tell you it will come easier than idling. Idling however is the prerequisite in my opinion. You could learn backwards first, but it makes much more sense to me to learn idling first.
Another thing. I racked up lots of miles of riding before making any progress idling. Same thing with freemounting.
Mark,
The 1 mile club is just something I made up. Sorry there aren’t any actual awards. That would be cool though, wouldn’t it?
I would be proud to be the administrator of a “One Mile Club” award certificate. I could design a nice looking unicycle themed certificate suitable for framing.
I’m fine with that, but I have no authority to make any kind of policy…
not that I think anything that formal is needed.
As far as I’m concerned, a “handsome certificate suitable for framing”
(maybe as a .PDF which people just download) and/or a small round
sticker which you can put on the seat post tube… maybe a larger
one to put on your car as well(?) would all be great.
There’s a running track not far from my house… in a few months
or a year maybe I’ll be able to complete four laps.
Right now, I’m only up to two full crank revolutions.
Hello! I’m 42 and still pretty new myself. Started learning last winter around this time. Tried to ride it about a dozen times. I also stated by holding onto a fence. Rode it yesterday in my basement for a couple hours. Took it to the park today in the lot and managed to actually ride this 24" muni about 80 yards or 13 parking spots, my best to date. 30 miles in 4 hours! Unbeleivable! Glad I found this site.
Congratulations on your accomplishments and welcome to the site! Now you’ve found us, you should find that having fellow unicyclists around for tips and encouragement will really help with your learning. Hopefully…
Not only did I ride 80 yards for the first time, then later I went down the basement and did my first freestanding mount by lowering the seat, putting pedals at 3 and 9 and jumping on, followed by riding across the basement!!! Also figured out it’s dangerously slippery riding in the snow.
