They have this in common with ordinary roller skates, then ;).
Oh, today (technically, it was yesterday) I road my uni for the first time after a nasty UPD a week ago. So looking forward to go shopping etc. the normal way again.
Still room for improvement, but I think I can finally say that I can idle.
On a 26":
And on a 32":
I had been struggling with it for some time. I found this “stutter step” drill to be useful, probably largely because it was something I could integrate into a morning ride instead of just trying to practice idling in one place: https://youtube.com/shorts/JYr11ymJl6w
Well done. I think your “stutter step” practice is the best way to learn. It requires control to slow down, half rev back, full rev forward, repeat. Helps train you to be comfortable with this motions to slow down while riding to enter into an idle.
Have you tried similar where you ride into an idle with the intention of ‘N half revs’ before continuing. Where you idle for that many half revs before continuing on. For practice you chain them together with an increasing count : 2 half idle, then 3 half idle, then 4, then 5, etc. I did similar for 1 foot riding and it really helped me become comfortable with it and actually control it.
yup! i mix up this drill with doing 2-5 idles between full revs. Also with doing multiple half/full revs to work on going backwards, and with N hops to work on hopping. In all cases it helps practice the transition in/out of the skill like you said, helps “practice clean” (do small manageable pieces cleanly instead of going increasingly wild and out of control trying to do a skill until failure), and integrates well into “riding around”
Ooh I should try that
I am happy to finally be able to type this post.
Back in 2018, I learned to ride a unicycle after two major spine surgeries. I was warned that I would need physical therapy to possibly learn to walk correctly again, and was also warned that contact sports and “running for fun” were no longer recommended.
So, I bought a 20” unicycle to provide a loftier goal than walking correctly, and to hopefully provide an athletic hobby that would not cause me to bend my neck, and would not cause repetitive “jarring” that distance running provides.
After joining this forum, before even learning to ride the 20”, I was bitten by the 36” bug, and I dreamed of riding a 36” unicycle.
After learning to ride the 20”, and then a 24” unicycle, a 27.5” Nimbus Muni entered the picture.
Soon after that, I found a $50 UDC Titan on Craigslist that I learned to ride in 2022, with my first “distance ride” being January 2023. That unicycle was then modified to result in the unicycle shown in the attached photos.
Somewhere along the way, I agreed to ride in the Hotter’N Hell 25 mile race in Wichita Falls, TX. The big race is the Hotter’N Hell 100 (100 miles in 100F heat). My first attempt to finish the 25 mile race was August 26, 2023, and I failed to make it to the finish line. The temperature was 108F that day, and I was well into the afternoon when I decided to accept a ride on the SAG (safety and gear) Wagon, only to learn I had made it 1.5 miles from the finish line.
Fast forward to this past weekend, August 24, 2024, and I am happy to say that I was able to finish the race this year. The temperature was 101F when I finished. In addition to the heat, the day was quite windy. The wind did not pose a problem for the first 9 miles as it was a tailwind from behind us from the left. After passing mile 9, the route made a turn and for the rest of the day we either fought gusty crosswinds or a straight headwind. The photo of my son in his green jersey shows the lack of anything to break the wind for the majority of the ride, until we got closer to the finish line.
Photos of me, my son, and three additional riding partners are attached, in chronological order.
The start line
Somewhere within the first mile, photo captured by a photographer that requested that her photos be shared.
After the hill before the first rest stop, 9 miles into the ride
My son, after the first rest stop
Rest stop #2, at the Air Force base, 19 miles into the ride, with my son and the president of our local unicycle club.
The finish line, and our medals for finishing
Lastly, @Maxence and @toutestbon , I have waited over a year to wear the jersey I wore in the race. You may recognize it.
I was like: “hey, I know this jersey!”
Thanks for buying it!
And… Congratulations for your race!
Well, after knee surgery a couple years ago, I wondered if it would ever be possible… and today I “rode my age”. Aimed for 53km, wound up doing 53 miles in about 11.5 wallclock hours (9.5 hours travel time). Rode my g29er in low gear - I can ride it in high gear for a mile or so at a stretch, but I also had some minor injuries in high gear last month and wanted to be sure I finished today.
Room for improvement for next year
Today I idled my 36er for the first time, and rode it backwards for the first time. Took a bit of getting used to, but less than expected. Was fun!
Oh, and later today I thought why not have a go at juggling on the Ferris wheel. Unfortunately my preferred place for practicing was occupied, so I gave it a quick try at another location. Seems to be perfectly doable
Today was one of those days… Everything I wanted to do didn’t really work out. I hoped that things would finally turn better when unicycling. So I tried to do some muni with my Oregon. Needless to say that this sucked too. In addition to rocky and steep sections that I knew I wouldn‘t be able to ride, I UPD‘d constantly even on more gentle sections that I was able to ride in the past. Every twenty seconds (after every UPD) I was thinking „not today, not me“.
When I got home I was pretty deluded. I wondered whether today should finally be the day to tackle those two steps in front of my door. „Not today, not me“ was my first thought. But since I was padded in all the body armor imaginable, I said „f… it, I‘m gonna try this!“, mounted the Oregon, hopped to the right position, and… did it.
I was pretty sure I was gonna UPD or fall, but it was a smoother experience than expected. Like a rather big (for my standards) drop. So I did it again before riding a short stretch over an area with stones - also something that I wanted to do for a long time but didn‘t have the guts to just „send it“.
So the day wasn‘t a complete waste, after all. And when I stored the fatty I saw the 36er and …gave it a go, too. Despite the higher tire pressure, the ride was even smoother, thanks to the bigger diameter. I repeated the procedure four times before storing the 36er - with a big smile on my face.
That‘s 5 to 10 meters less to walk, every time I leave the house with one of my big unis
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Might I request another illustration?
How comes you think I have an illustration of everything I do on a unicycle?
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Well…
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As chance would have it, I do not only have one, but even two illustrations of me riding down two steps for the first time in my life (on a unicycle, that is):
That is an accurate depiction of what happened. And here comes a detailed illustration of what it felt like:
Hope this helped.
Yesterday I finally managed to cross a stream that has ejected me off my muni for weeks. f-wobble:
Today… I tried some proper muni for the first time!
I’ve been curious about visiting my local MTB park for a while now, and I finally decided to give it a go. We’ve been getting some snow lately which usually has put me off going there, though I figured I would at least give it a try. I packed some necessities and off I went
Now being that I’ve only ever done some basic off-road riding (nothing really involving much camber, roots, rocks, etc.), I found a small beginner circuit to ride around on. The circuit mostly consisted of swoopy turns, a few small dips and crests, a short bridge, and a couple rocky spots to clear. It was… Tough, to say the least My only option wheel-wise right now is the 26x4.8 Maxxis Minion FBR, and the whole time I’m on the swoopy turns I’m wrestling the uni to stay relatively upright and on the circuit. I had a couple falls, but thankfully I didn’t get hurt much. Initially I was riding on 142mm cranks, though I switched them to 170s after a lap or two of the circuit which helped massively
After that, I hopped on a paved trail and explored the park a bit. I was planning on riding a trail, a green rated trail called the “Galloping Goose” that’s about 6.7 miles long. Going off of my experience at the beginner circuit, however, I figured I’d wait until the snow melts and return when I have a skinnier tire to run. I did try to ride the trail for a bit, but the trail was cambered and I could barely stay on the trail… I noped out probably 20 feet in.
I went back on the paved trail and I was going to do some more riding, though I decided to turn around and ride back to the parking area. Turns out, doing a tight U-turn when there’s ice under the snow isn’t a great idea! I lost traction and fell down sideways and landed on my side. And thankfully I was wearing a helmet since my head hit the ground once I fell. Had I not worn a helmet, it probably would’ve been a serious injury as opposed to a largely inconsequential but scary impact… After that, I decided that was enough for today I’m okay, though I think I’ll wait until the conditions are more friendly
Overall, despite the scary fall, I thought it was pretty fun. 99% of my riding so far has been on the road, and this experience at the MTB park kicked my butt… Though everyone has to start somehwere, right? It’ll probably be a couple months until I return, and by then hopefully I’ll have my 650b wheel prepared and see how that goes.
Man, I can so relate to your first muni experience! It‘s a wrestle. But so worth the effort.
On my 20er and 29er I sometimes ride without any protection, or just with the KH gloves (not saying this is a particularly smart way of riding). But when muniing on my 26er fatty or riding on the 36er (or g29er) I go full protection: helmet, gloves, elbow protectors, crash pants, knee/shin
(/calves) protectors. Chances to fall when doing muni are pretty much 100%. They‘re way closer to 0% on the g29er and the 36er, but due to the speed, the consequences can be pretty uncool - no UPDs, only falls beyond a certain speed…
They‘re expensive and not necessarily easy to come by, but studded (fat) tires are such a blessing in winter. Can make unicycling easier than walking… I always felt that winter kinda sucks, ’cause I don‘t have winter hobbies. But this is the first winter I continued to unicycle, and what can I say - no more winter blues for me! I‘m more of the cautious sort in general, and studded tires on the 29er and the fatty make a huge difference. Riding the fatty in the snow has to be best thing one can do in winter time. (yes, no studs needed in the snow, but as you know there‘s sometimes hidden ice under the snow…)
By the way, I started with 165mm cranks. Now riding on 150s.
150mm Cranks on the 29" works for me very well. At the 24"Muni i ride 127 mm and at the 26" Muni i ride also 150 mm cranks. The other Unis I ride shorter cranks than 150 mm.
Ok, this was today on 36" - 100 mm. Finally a new 50 km PR, first time since June. I was just about able to get over 20 km/h by going back and forth on the almost completely flat waterfront for the last 10 km.
Zero UPDs, but there was two undesired dismounts. First one was at ca 13 km in the forest with no streetlighting, the rain obscuring my vision and quite literally less than a second before I rode into a half meter deep washout due to the snow melt I was able to jump of. There was (deep) water on both sides so I couldn’t’ve ridden around.
Second one was at ca 39 km and fairly uneventful in comparison as there was just a car in my way, although it was probably for the best as at around 33 km I started getting some pretty decent cramps in my thighs (funnily only when i slowed down like for hills) probably due to my poor (as in no) nutrition. The dismount kinda stopped the cramps for a while but they came back for the last painfull 5 km.
Probably I will do this again but somewhere a bit flatter and maybe I’ll put the 75 mm cranks back on as with them i could comfortably cruise at 24 km/h on the flats.
Today I rode over a hill in my vicinity, with my 36er on 150mm cranks. The ascent is a good 140m over about 2.4km. That’s not particularly steep at shy of 6% on average, neither is the height gain very impressive. But at my third attempt I managed for the first time to cross the hill without walking a single step, even without making a single rest to catch my breath . I was completely exhausted when reaching the top, but also very satisfied.
I was pretty sure that I could achieve this someday this year, but things evolved a bit faster than I dared to hope for. Guess it’s time to seriously consider mounting somewhat shorter cranks (I have both 145s and 140s, would go with 145s first), even though I was a bit reluctant to do this, with respect to my wrist injury (falling on the hand or wrist would be a pretty bad idea, at the moment). But I’m realising that both my level of confidence when riding the 36er and my fitness are growing, so I can probably risk it anyway.
Well, it wasn’t today, but last Thursday I commuted to work for the first time on my 24"
Congratulations! It is fun, isn’t it? Nothing beats the stares you get when people see you rolling up to work on one wheel.