Thanks! So far I’ve only done some riding, turning, and idling (two practice sessions). I was starting to practice free mounting today, but realized I can’t even mount my regular unicycle using the method I was planning to use (one pedal straight down). I need to get that down on the short unicycle before I give it a try on the giraffe. I like the 5ft because dismounting isn’t too jarring. 7ft seems extreme! What interesting things are there to do on a giraffe? I’d like to get my juggling down while idling. Then I could pass to another giraffe (eventually).
Interesting things to do on a giraffe?
Here’s what I’ve seen done:
Forward
Backward
Idling
One footed idling
Can Can dance move (Tom Miller idling one footed and kicking the other foot up in the air)
Jump rope
Ride in tight circles
Juggling
Hop down into a half pipe (Josh Caudwell)
Jousting
Ride underwater with scuba gear (John Foss’s website)
Carry people
Play a musical instrument
Acrobatic stunts like the Bertini’s act
Ride on a high wire (Tom Miller)
Pedal with your hands
Ride upside down pedaling with hands (Mell Hall)
Funnel a beer held by someone you are carrying while juggling (It’s true!)
Standard freemount
Running freemount (Pole vault)
Personally I’d like to make an obstacle course and ride it for youtube purposes. Maybe sometime late this year…
I just got a nimbus x freestyle uni and I am really impressed how easy it is to get around on and idle. My trials uni feels so sluggish now.
I am up to 7 uni now so I guess it counts as obsession. 
I have a trials, a freestyle, a 29er, a 36er and I picked up 3 club unis to loan out. I got the club unis in the hopes of doing some clinics to drum up interest and eventually start a unicycling clib in the area.
I went on a midnight muni ride using moonlight. Just gravel trails, but it was awesome.
Cool list! Thanks! I think I’ll try some of those things but not all, but they’re all interesting. With some practice this morning I was able to free mount six times! I need more practice to be able to do it every time but now it’s about once every 3-5 tries. I also made some progress on frontspins.
I love my Nimbus X! I was playing basketball on my trials for a while and the X is way better for that. Much more nimble! What do you use the 29er vs. 36er. Is the 29er a muni?
Waaalrus,
You’re already freemounting it!!! I’m jealous of your mad skills… I’ve spent 3 occasions trying it and the giraffe just mocks me. I’m also impressed with the frontspins. I’ve actually been having dreams I can front spin and back spin even though I can’t yet. I’m just starting to work towards it.
Yesterday I:
Practiced idling, full rotation idling (is that what you called it?), and backwards riding on my 5 footer. For the parade I also practiced my exercise I came up with - forward, stop, half rev backwards, forward one full pedal, stop, half rev backwards (ends up being the other foot), forward one full pedal, etc…
yUNIkoner,
I can relate. I actually love my Torker CX because it’s so nimble. I also have 7 uni’s - that’s a good start! And I’ve also thought of trying to start a club. I take it you like it.
I have been using the 36er a bit more because it is newer and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. I’m getting more confident on it. Especially since i switched back to longer cranks. The 29er is a muni but I will ride it around town as well because I have much more control on it. The 29er is still my favorite but it is fun to feel the speed and the smooth ride of the 36.
I spent about an hour and a half practicing before I could do it once. The day before I spent time getting used to mounting my regular 20" in a similar way (one pedal all the way down). It usually takes me longer to do learn things than most people so either my time spent playing basketball and riding muni is paying off or there’s some other factor involved. Your exercise sounds interesting. I think I’ll give that a try once my mounts are pretty solid and I have idling down.
Here are my couple of tips for budding giraffe riders:
- It took me a while to figure this out, but I found wearing an old pair of basketball shoes helps a lot with the repeated high falls/jumps you have when you're starting out, especially with bad knees like mine. I normally wear skate-style shoes.
- At first when I fell I would leap off the giraffe to the ground. I think it's usually better to ride the giraffe to the ground as much as possible since the descent is slower.
Today I:
Did a rolling mount on my giraffe!
Thanks for the info! I’ve considered putting my 100mm cranks on my 26" muni and see how well that worked on the street but my pedal is stuck so I can’t pull the crank off.
I got nothing but mad props for anybody who can free mount a giraffe. My hat is off to you all!
Nice job uniMD! I liked the song as well.
Waaalrus, you make me sick. I’m vomiting as I type this. Just kidding.
Seriously though, I am impressed. Anyone who has tried to learn giraffe freemounting knows it is not easy. In fact, I decided to quit trying to learn to freemount mine for the 4th of July parade and instead just spend as much time in the saddle as possible. I do have the goal of being able to freemount it in some fashion before winter. I consider it so difficult that it will be one of my best accomplishments (for fun stuff) if I succeed. Out of curiosity, how tall are you Waaalrus? I suspect it might be a tad easier for taller people. That’s my excuse anyway!
Yesterday I asked my neighbor if I could borrow his 4-wheeler for the parade and he said yes. My wife will ride it behind me and my cohort for 2 reasons. First, I want a barrier between us and the people behind us so we have ample room to ride in circles when desired. Second, I wanted a mobile giraffe mounting assistant which I created and put on the front of the 4-wheeler. That way, I have a purpose built pole behind me at all times in case I dismount and need to get back on the giraffe. After testing it I was happy to note it is the easiest way yet to mount my giraffe. I built the pole high enough that Tom Miller could use it to mount his 8 foot giraffe. After the parade I’ll probably post a picture of it. I’d do it now but I disassembled it and returned the 4-wheeler to my neighbor without taking a picture.
I’m 5’8" (and a bit stocky). That’s a little shorter than average in the US. I can just barely reach the pedal directly on my 5ft giraffe and it’s a good amount of work pushing up to the seat from a static mount. Yesterday I found it was easier doing rolling mounts vs. static mounts because my legs were tired (I’m resting them today). I had some trouble getting the rolling mount again at first until I remembered to jump up in an arc and let the pedal come under my foot (vs. jumping at the pedal). My leaping ability is fairly decent for a short white guy so that may have helped me out a bit. Free mounting the giraffe is definitely one of the most fun things I’ve done on a unicycle!
Today I ordered my first unicycle.
nice one ping! what type is it? 
Torker Unistar LX Unicycle, 24". I am kind of worried about putting it together though.
On Sunday I had my first serious attempt at riding a bush trail! I rode about 2.5km (1.5 miles?) one way and was that worn out I only rode about a third of the way back! I had that much fun that I bought an off-road tyre to replace the original road tyre - muni here we come…
This morning I managed to get up a 40mm (wow gasp!! ) curb for the first time. Did it a few times to make sure. My big achievement of late…
Still can’t idle, go backwards or hop but can now stop and start so making progress of sorts. Far too hot though, even at 7o’clock. 
Cheers
Ping, it’s a piece of cake to put Uni together. I you need help people here will jump in to help. Don’t be afraid to ask.
The most important thing is knowing which is right and left side.
The seat posts slot in the frame is the back, and the sticker is the front.
So now that you have front and back, you know left and right. Make sure the left pedal (it will be marked and/or have sticker) goes on the left side. Right pedal on the right side.
The rest is just fitting parts.
Seat goes on pointing forward and tada one unicycle.
On a 24" a good starting point for the seat height is about your navel or a little lower with the uni sitting on its wheel and standing up next to you.
Tada! One uni with the saddle roughly adjusted. Seat clamp should be good and tight since you seat hits the ground and it will shift to one side or the other if not nice and tight.
If you get confused or not sure of something ask here, or get advice from local bike shop.
But it’s really pretty easy if you just take your time and follow directions.
Today I managed to idle ~12-14 times with my right foot, and I hoped 5-6 times in a row before falling off. Still working on going backwards. Didn’t make any progress with that, but it’s making my idling better. Started working on a side mount putting my weight on the left pedal and holding the seat to the side. I’m hoping that becomes comfortable enough that throwing my leg over is an easy next step. The right pedal felt way more awkward.
Today I pulled off a 1-footed idle for the first time for about ~15 seconds! Super stoked for that! It’s way easier than I expected too