Thanks! I haven’t tried idling 1 footed yet. I’ll have to give that a shot! I just started to practice coasting.
I seem to be progressing faster on my left foot even though it’s my weaker side, probably because I not only learned to ride 1 footed on my right, I learned how to learn 1 footed (if that makes sense). Yes, the impossibility of the skills/tricks is what I like about unicycling (and juggling). It’s an excellent exercise in patience, especially for someone as clumsy and uncoordinated as I am! Even if it seems like no progress is being made there are small changes in the muscles and small changes in the brain as the patterns are laid down and there’s a dialectic between the two processes.
I’d love to see video when you are able to juggle while riding backwards! I’ve never seen anybody do that.
Anton,
I’m sure you could pick up the one footed idling pretty quick. It’s not as bad as one might think. Obviously I don’t have it mastered but the main breakthrough came in one night. That’s by far the fastest any significant skill has come to me.
Today I:
Idled 1 footed 40 times after holding onto a ladder then letting go.
I attempted to go from forward riding directly into 1 footed idling. MISTAKE!
Apparantly that is more advanced than idling then transitioning to 1 footed idling.
Today I managed to land a few 180 unispins. By landing I mean landing on the pedals and then losing my balance right away, so not a legit “landing”, but close! I’m pretty excited about it, it’s something I didn’t think I wanted to learn, but of course I was wrong
Thats heaps good I reckon if you practice a bit more today you will land them good, Once I landed them on the pedals and fell off about 10 minutes later I landed them on the crank and hopped away.
I’m hoping to shoot some video this afternoon if the weather holds and I’ll see what I can do with juggling while riding backwards. My previous best is 10 catches but I’m hoping my hands-behind-back practice has been paying off. Yesterday I went 9 revolutions riding with my hands behind my back. Yesterday I also idled 1 footed 32 times. I was able to transition to idling 1 footed from riding 1 footed right off the bat. I haven’t tried going from idling to 1 footed idling. Are you trying to go from regular riding to 1 footed idling or 1 footed riding to 1 footed idling?
Yesterday was the first time I landed a 180 unispin starting with the seat backwards. That feels weird!
How do you get started? I tried hanging onto something, took my foot off then tried to start idling. I couldn’t even get started It was weird. All you guys are doing it, I must do it too
Yesterday eveningI sent a money order out for a used Unicycle I bought from
someone on these forums - I’m hoping it gets here by my birthday which is one
week from today.
Are you trying to go right into idling? Bold! Here’s a little something I wrote up for learning regular 1 footed riding when it was fresh in my mind. Many ways to do it and all of them are right!
Riding a Unicycle 1 Footed
This is my refined technique for learning to ride a unicycle using one foot. It’s not the only technique, but one that worked for me. In particular, I am clumsy and uncoordinated so when learning a new trick it helps me to break it into simpler components which I can attack with massive repetition.
This assumes you are trying to ride 1 footed with your right foot. Reverse the directions if you are doing trying left. If you cannot ride slow, steady, and straight you may want to practice this and get it down before you continue.
Phase 1
Start by riding normally at a slow and steady rate with arms outstretched for balance in a comfortable position of your choosing. Put your right palm down on the seat in front with your right arm straight but not locked. As you ride put pressure on the seat and then when your left pedal is at the top pull your right off up off the pedal while pushing down on the left. This should result in a UPD. Did you fall? Or just step off onto the ground? Frontwards or backwards? Get used to this! The goal at this stage is to fall straight forwards or backwards and to step off onto the ground and not fall completely. Experiment with how fast you ride into trying this and how much pressure you exert with your left foot. If you’re going too fast or apply too much pressure you should fall forward. If you’re going too slow or don’t apply enough pressure you should fall backward. The pressure you’re putting on your palm with your right hand is to simulate when you eventually get your foot on the frame. It provides a little stability until you can do that. Keep working on this until you can press the left pedal from the top position to the bottom (half a revolution) while maintaining balanced on the unicycle. But don’t practice this very long! Once you get a little comfortable at this move on to the next phase.
Phase 2
Now you want to get that right foot up on the frame! My frame is square-topped and I find it easiest to get the heel up on it. Practice the same as before, but don’t put your palm down on the seat; hold it out to balance. Try to get your foot all the way up onto the frame when you lift it off the pedal. Work towards being able to get your right foot up on the frame and being able to press down once with the left foot is a controlled way. Once you can do this more often than not move on to the next phase.
Phase 3
All that’s left is getting your left foot all the way around. You may have done this several times already, by accident or on purpose. Take the same approach as before: slow and steady. Try not to push back with your left foot as the pedal is coming up. Let it come up naturally and see if you can get it back to the top. Again, you may want to experiment with how fast you are riding before you lift your right leg and how much pressure you apply with your left. Work on keeping balanced more than trying to get the pedal around. When you work up to being nice and balanced as the left foot comes back to the top try to push down. It may take a while to get even one revolution down. Keep practicing!
I can presently idle 1 footed a little bit. I cannot ride 1 footed at all. I decided 1 footed idling seemed easier than 1 footed riding.
Waaalrus - One time only I attempted to transition from regular forward riding directly into a 1 footed idle. I fell to the gound. I have been successful a few times transitioning from standard idling to 1 footed idling. After I get the idling down I’ll try out your tutorial.
Anton - Here’s the progression that worked for me:
Hold onto something and warm up a few times with a normal idle.
Stop and put your good idling foot in the 6:00 position while still holding on to your support.
Put your other foot on the crown however is most comfortable. I used the ball of my foot.
Practice moving that foot back and forth from the pedal to the crown to get comfortable with that move.
Put your foot on the crown then crash and burn until you can idle 1 footed while holding onto the support. Getting momentum started from the dead spot is tough.
Once you can do this confidently, slowly release your grip on the support and go for it. You’ll probably start off in a jerky fashion then resume normal idling smoothness.
Another exercise is to hold onto a support and practice moving the foot from the pedal to the crown while idling. You’ll have to figure out what part of the cycle is the best for you to lift the foot. For me, it is when the crown foot is in the full forward pedal position. Then the opposite holds true. I move the crown foot to the pedal when that pedal is in the full forward position. I like it like that because I can look down and see the vacant pedal and place my foot on it.
That’s because you are nuts for idling! More power to you! I’m sure you’ll be able to transition to riding regular 1 footed pretty easily. Here’s a video of my 1 footed idling today:
I also recorded some backwards juggling. It looks to be about 15-20 catches. I’m getting better, but I still need a lot of work!
A couple of days ago I was riding along the canal towpath on my 26" Nimbus and overtook a b*cyclist doing wheelies, who then followed me for half an hour until I eventually hit some ice and UPD’d. He used that opportunity to chat to me about my ride
And today, I idled 37 times right foot down. I stopped because my thigh was on fire…I think it’s going to be some time before idling becomes an effective way to stop at traffic lights for me
today I managed to free mount and get about 5 pedals/rotations until I fell off! I got a unicycle for xmas '09, practiced in the hallway from my front door to the kitchen holding the walls. It was only 4 pedals to the kitchen, so since the snow has now gone I thought I’d try outside on the patio.
I must have tried to free mount about 100 times and managed to ride out of it maybe 5 times! It was frustrating but felt awesome when I got it. Its really inconsistent but I’m sure more practice will help!
Welcome aboard. As for freemounting, I think all riders would agree it is more difficult to learn freemounting than it is to learn riding in general. Good advice I read once was to cumulate several miles of riding before even trying to learn the freemount. I took that advice and I’m glad I did. During those several miles you will learn valuable recovery skills that will be needed for freemounting.
For now I recommend setting a goal of being able to ride as long as you want. You mentioned “5 pedal rotations.” Is that your record or were you just referring to inside practice after freemounting?
Glad to see you joining this fantastic little community, Minson. Super G has it right, It’s how I learned and I’m very glad I did. Consistently freemounting can be tricky but with time it becomes second nature.
Today I landed my first 180 unispin! I’ve been working on them for about 2 hours ever day this week and today I nailed it. I have been able to land them consistently since, I’m so proud of myself!
It was weird. All you guys are doing it, I must do it too 
