okay. so i hadn’t ridden at all in about a week and tonight i get bored and go play on my pallet stacks in the garage. Second try i made a seat out 4 stack no problem. i then proceeded to ride a 20-ish foot long all the way a few times(it’s about 3.5 inches wide, fat side of some 2x4s) i also made the 4 stack seat out a few more times with a few almost but not quite type try and serveral successful attempts.
my question is thus: does anyone else find that taken time off (a week, a few days, a month?) help their riding? i didn’t really expect to be able to do these things as i couldn’t the last few times i had ridden. now i’m surprised and pleased why myself.
I never deliberately take time off from uni, but when I do so accidentally, I am often pleasantly surprised by what happens when I get back to it. Sometimes, I actually seem improve during the break. The best break length seems to be about four days: beyond that, it can take half an hour or so to get some of my skills, especially coasting back up to shape.
I have noticed the same thing with juggling; sometimes I barely juggle at all for months, but I don’t lose my skill at all, and sometimes I improve.
I think the main reason for seeing slight improvement is that sometimes your muscles forget bad habits during the break, while remembering the good habits.
This happened to me when I was learning how to ride.After many unsuccessful attempts I took a 6-month(too long) break.When I got back on I was riding after my first session…
And I got much better at the wheel-walk after a week of not trying but lost it again after a couple of weeks off.
I’ve also noticed this happening a lot when riding flatland (BMX). I always figured it was completely in your head. You haven’t ridden for a while so you forget that you haven’t quite been able to do the trick but what jsm said makes a lot of sense too,
“sometimes your muscles forget bad habits during the break, while remembering the good habits.”
Same thing happened to me early in the learning phase. A surgery had me off the uni for a month and when I got back on I could ride better than I ever had.
I had been tryin to get my sidehop to 30 inches for a month now and just last night after takin a 3 day break because of all the frekin rain I got on my uni and did it 2nd try I mean 30 inches isnt much but it is big to me. so yeah i think a break can be good sometimes
When you ride a lot, it literally tears your muscles apart a small amount. While you rest, the muscles are rebuilt stronger and more effective. I noticed this as well just last week. I took a 5 day break and went to the beach. When I came back I was unicycling better in the wind and rain than I was in the dry weather.