Training journal while learning to unicycle

Riding Advice
43

i don’t read all of what you write… they are far too long. I skim the surface and get a feel for what the post is about at that’s usually about it so I have missed a lot of key points. I do that with most peoples posts though, so nothing personal.

Another ab workout is ‘the flag’. I might have this confused with something else, and i’m not sure it’s not detrimental to the back… but if you can find a pole put your back into it and grab it above your head, then lift your legs horizontal off the ground so you are only attached to the pole. I can do that fairly easily, but I’m not sure if that’s true for everyone. It’s certainly a different feeling and requires a different strength to normal sit ups and so on.

44

Day 6: Flying across Huffman Prairie !!

Today I feel I had another breakthrough!

Swimming

I started the day setting a new personal record for swimming - I managed 3500 meters continuous crawl in 77 minutes - so back to the 22 minutes per km that I had when swimming 2500 meters. My 3000 meters in 57 minutes were obviously faster, but I am going for distance. I was in the pool until about 0845 today and it is supposed to be only from 0700 until 0830. There were still some old ladies in there when I left.

So my long-term goal for the summer, which is swimming 5000 meters in one session (within that 90 minute window) seems possible.

Then, after dinner, I set out to unicycle again. Unicycling in the evening while swimming in the morning was a recipe for disaster last time I did it, on 2 June (4 weeks ago already, my gosh). But things have changed since then. When I am able to balance and ride more, it is not nearly is tiring as when I couldn’t keep my balance and had to hold on to walls, ceiling and everything else. I was using a lot of upper body muscles and straining almost all my tendons and muscles, so I was sore for days afterwards, on top of being exhausted from swimming.

Now I feel much less exhausted, and also I did only one and a half hour of uni training tonight, so I am very curious about how sore I will be tomorrow - hopefully not too much. I don’t plan on going swimming tomorrow morning - it is too late for that - but obviously it is more exciting to go unicycling in the evening than to go swimming in the morning. Variation is good anyway as far as exercise is concerned.

Technicalities

So I measured the unicycle on Sunday evening, and it turned out to have a circumference of a whopping 285 centimeters, which is around what I calculated the first day based on measuring the diameter. This means I need to recalculate my riding distances :slight_smile:

Also, I spent almost an hour fixing up my uni before riding tonight. So I ended up not starting until 22 (10 PM). I am a little disappointed that Roger at UDC UK didn’t tell me that I should have bought either a separate seatpost (http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=673) or an additional rail brakcet (http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=668) for my nightrider, since the T7 handlebar is not detachable - it is basically just an extended version of the KH rail bracket.

So even if I tried to protect it with bubblewrap and such (which worked well in the basement), both the front and back ends of the handlebar were scraped up good when I started riding and it went flying on the pavement.

Today I went to a hardware store and got what I should have had from the beginning - plastic end caps to slide onto 22mm tubes. I also bought a large roll of gaffa tape (strong silver textile tape) which is A LOT more durable than the other kinds of tape I used to attach the bubble wrap.

If I had done what I did today from the beginning, the handlebar would have been unharmed. Then again, if I had not had the handlebar, the seat itself would have been completely banged up. Now the seat is untouched and the handlebar is fine except it will have to be used with those plastic caps from now on. I do also realize of course that even after I get proficient enough to ride safely, I might still UPD, or the uni could simply fall over while standing still, so the handlebar ends would have been banged up sooner or later anyway. In other words, I think I’ve found a good solution now.

I used the gaffa to rearrange and reattach the bubblewrap on top of the plastic caps as buffers - as before, but better positioned and covered in layers of protective gaffa tape.

The only drawback I see (which is potentially very bad) is that the bubble wrap and tape on the front part of the handlebar presents and obstacle to my inner thighs when I UPD forward. This could potentially cause my legs to get stuck in the uni and thus not allow me to land on my feet, which would mean a hard landing on hands and knees, with the uni seat and handlebar somehow mixed in there between my legs. Not a pleasant scenario.

But I’ve managed so far - usually I have to leap a little to the side and then I avoid the handlebar collision. I’ve had a couple of brushes though, that’s how I noticed. So just a little word of caution there to anybody as foolhardy as me, trying to learn to ride a uni on a coker, and not only that, but a coker with a T7 handlebar…

Mounting

Ok, let’s get to the interesting part. I worked out from 22 until about 2340, and I got video of all of it, more or less. I noticed from the very first mount that I had incredibly much more control today than even on Saturday. It felt natural to sit and I felt I could move the uni around, not being wobbly and so on anymore. Of course I had a few UPDs while just standing, leaning or riding slowly along the wall in the beginning, but I didn’t need to much time before I decided to just go for it and try riding.

Also, I am very pleased to notice that I seem to have found the secret of safe balls - pull the bike shorts way up and make sure nothing’s hanging around. When mounting I push the seat up firmly so I know it is well connected to my butt and there is nothing (guess what) in between, and then I kick off/step up. What I have also noticed is that when I am better at this, I won’t even have to do that, since I end up standing on my feet on the pedals once I have mounted, and then I settle down gently. Which means that the well-connected seat while mounting is not needed if the mount is successful - but it is crucial when I for some reason fail to get up and gain my balance. The hard part is of course to stay seated in that case. I’ve jumped up a little and then sat down hard on one ball in the process of UPDing, and that’s not pleasant. But none of that today - another big step forward!

Riding

So I managed to ride longer distances in general. I only failed 1-2 mounts after I got going, so I improved my percentage of successful mounts from Saturday, when it was already above 90% in the actual training period, after the warm-up (when I had lots of failed mounts). Today I didn’t really have many failed mounts during warm-up either :slight_smile:

And I had several UPDs today after just half a revolution or less, but I managed to get a good run of 11 revolutions quite soon. And I had a bunch of shorter ones as well.

But I got so good today that I was almost contemplating not counting runs below 10 revolutions :slight_smile:

What really amazed me was that I was suddenly able to ride fairly smoothly and straight, and not only that, but I was also able to slow down, turn a little and go where I wanted to go. Not always, and I would UPD a lot as well, or run into stuff (I started mounting in different places today, not just the same container wall as before - this was mostly due to needing a longer “runway” - so I also moved my car and my camera to get the “longitudinal view” instead of the “transverse view” of the parking lot and the container, so record my long runs for the first time (on Saturday you would just see me passing in front of the camera, or starting off and disappear).

I even managed to disappear today - as I actually rode around the far corner of the building :slight_smile:

Before I got that far, I had 2-3 runs of 21 revolutions - so a new record from the 20 I managed in the last run on Saturday (when I UPDed big time). And then I had a string of runs between 10 and 20. I started mounting on the other side and ride back towards the camera as well (there was a truck there I could use as a wall) and finally I had one run of 24 revs, one a little bit later of 28 revs (there was one run of 9 revs in between). And then I thought I should call it a night since it would be better to quit while on top - but I know myself well enough to know that I would never quit while on the top if I think I can do even better. And so I did - I managed to get a whopping 30 revolutions on the last run!!! That’s a 50% increase from Saturday :slight_smile:

So, here are the stats (I’ve copied the table from the previous post since I need to update the riding distances based on the confirmed 285 cm circumference of the wheel anyway).

RESULTS OF UNICYCLING SESSIONS

Day 1: Assisted mounting, balance training
3 hours inside. Distance covered: 0

Day 2: Assisted mounting, assisted riding
1,5 hours inside. Distance covered: 0

Day 3: Assisted mounting, assisted “free” riding
2 hours inside. Distance covered: “5 meters”

Day 4: Assisted mounting, riding, some freeriding
3 hours outside. Distance covered: 20-25 meters (record 3 revs - 8-9 meters)

My estimate is that I had 2-3 rides of about 3 revolutions.

Day 5: Assisted mounting, freeriding
3 hours outside. Distance covered: 260 meters (record 20 revs - 57 meters)

I had lots of rides below 5 revolutions, so I am not counting those anymore.
I had the following number of rides of 5 or more revolutions (after I started counting): 5, 4*6, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 20 - total 91 revolutions. That equals

Day 6: Assisted mounting consistently, freeriding reasonably balanced

I had the following rides of 5 or more revs: 25, 46, 8, 29, 210, 211, 12, 13, 216, 17, 3*21, 24, 28, 30 - total 353 revolutions of 285 cm each: 1006 meters total. Hey!

So I rode more than a kilometer today !!! In about 90 minutes !!!

Yes, you may congratulate me now :slight_smile:

45

Woo. Average speed of 0.666 km/h!

It sounds like you’re getting to the point where you can ride any distance. It will probably just hit you at some point… Or at least thats how it happened for me. You’re getting there!

46

Yay :slight_smile:

Thanks for the encouragement and extremely fast response!

:slight_smile: :slight_smile:

That’s how I felt as well. But I have some slight challenges before I can ride “any distance”:

  • Crossing bumps of more than half an inch (1 cm) in the pavement
  • Turning
  • Going uphill or downhill (I actually got about 5 meters up a very slight incline on my record run of 30 revolutions - which is 85 meters by the way - I forgot to write that in the previous post)
  • Stopping and starting safely while riding (I do this a lot anyway, so I just need to learn to do it more controlled)

What I felt was that I managed to go with the flow much more than before. I was able to launch myself more forcefully by leaning forward more when starting out, and get up to a decent speed that I would maintain for up to 20-30 meters of straight smooth riding.

Than I guess I would chicken out and slow down, and then easily lose my balance and sometimes even come to a complete stop, manage to keep going, make small turns around some obstacles, etc.

There was a “fault line” in the pavement with one smooth transition. I would aim for this in the beginning and UPD if I didn’t hit it. After a while I was able to slow down and cross it in a controlled way (it was “downhill”). I tried crossing it once from the other side (“uphill”) and I UPDed instantly. I guess this ridge was about 2 cm high, maximum one inch…

So that’s a challenge for next time.

As I said, my record run tonight was 30 full revolutions, or 85 meters. That compares with my record of 20 full revolutions, or 57 meters on Saturday (2 days ago). Before that, Last Friday (a week and a half ago), my record run was 3 full revolutions, or 8-9 meters. I’d call that good progress :slight_smile:

47

Riding over bumps is a matter of confidence and momentum, keep the wheel spinning and power over the bumps. I guess it’s also some balance practice.

As for turning, this is going to be a challenge on the 36. Start with really small and smooth changes in direction, then build up. Try to not jerk the uni around on turns.

48

Day 7: Flying around on Huffman Prairie - not circling yet…

A good day, put in 2 hours tonight and this is the first time I managed to go unicycling on two consecutive days. My legs, back and some upper arm muscles (the ones I support myself with when mounting) are really tired now so I won’t swim or unicycle tomorrow. Also, I notice that I am straining my hand and wrist muscles from handling the uni and grabbing onto things.

Another real workout I had today was pumping the tyre - twice. I noticed on day 1 (2 June) that the tyre pressure was low and I pumped it up from about 35 PSI (minimum pressure) to 65 PSI (max pressure). This was a month ago, and now I had to pump it again from 35 to 65. I think I also pumped it once in between, probably on day 4 or 5, a week or two ago.

Today I checked the pressure again after riding for 2 hours and it had dropped from 65 PSI to 60 PSI. So I am wondering if this is normal, or if I might have a leak in my inner tube. If so, I am wondering if it might have been there when I bought the uni from UDC UK, or if such small tears might happen just from using the tyre. I wouldn’t think that my learning moves would be any worse than Muni or trials - but then again I don’t know how often people get flats when doing those things.

I managed to leave my notes behind so I cannot calculate my totals (hope to find them tomorrow). But I know I matched my record from yesterday of 30 revolutions, and I also had 29, 28, 24 and 20, plus several in the teens. So I was more consistent than yesterday on longer rides, even though I didn’t get too many in. One thing I did today was ride back towards the camera, not only away from it. I had to try 6 times I think before I managed to go all the way back to the car and the camera from where I started, about 20 revolutions away.

Then at the end I decided to try turning. I had figured out what you wrote below, Eroick, but doing it in practice is a different story. I actually did some turning on my long runs, since I simply had to navigate around the building and avoid some parked cars. But going full circle with a lot smaller turn radius is hard.

I would guess that the parking lot allows a turn radius of about 15 meters if you really go out to the edges. Since I am not able to control it that much, I am down to a radius of closer to 10 meters. That’s a circumference of about 63 meters, or about 22-23 revolutions when riding. If I make a perfect circle like that, I would need to use about 5-6 revolutions to turn 90 degrees.

I wasn’t far from that today, but I was nothing near stable and smooth in doing it. I reduced my speed and thus ended up stalling and jerking, just like I was doing when going too slow straight forward. The turns I manage to do while going “straight” around the corner of the building are much wider and at higher speed. But I need to learn to turn in smaller areas.

So I think I will try to focus more on turning in the coming sessions, in addition to keeping up the “long riding” of course. Now I feel I just need to accumulate riding time in order to stabilize my skills. I already noticed a good progression from yesterday in how I was able to sit down more on the seat and let my legs just pedal smoothly. Of course, that is also a recipe for sudden UPDs as I have less control when I reduce leg pressure on the pedals.

Another thing I want to add is that I managed to climb farther up the hill on the far side of the long runs. These are behind the corner of the building so they are not on video. So I guess I will have to make some shots there later on. However, that is on the front side and I try to stay in the back so less people will see me and laugh… A bunch of kids on small bikes and a kick-bike almost saw me, and I was sure they would have come and gathered around me and basically shut down my practice session if they did.

I don’t feel ready for any publicity yet. But my best friend is coming to see me and work the camera next weekend, so I am working hard now to get my skills up by then :slight_smile:

Finally, I have another piece of good news. I didn’t hurt my balls a single time today while mounting. So I feel I have been able to “sort that out” and thus I won’t mention that again, unless something painful has happened in the course of new learning (I imagine freemounting will require protection, just like my initial assisted mounting attempts on the first day…).

All right, over and out (and I am happy I managed to do the workout earlier today, so I can also go earlier to bed) :slight_smile:

49

Edit signature

PS: I’m updating my signature now since I feel I am basically able to ride once I can ride more than 50 meters - not consistently yet, but at least several times in a session.

Also, I am mostly able to dismount controlled when I lose my balance, kicking the uni out in front of me and grabbing it by the seat. Not always, but enough that I think I should be able to say I can do planned dismounts (PD). So I am marking that as accomplished as well. :slight_smile:

And than makes turning my next project, so it has hereby been marked in bold.

50

Status report and suggested plan for further progress

I’ve just posted this under the “How to learn unicycling?” thread (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1058178) and since I keep a complete journal here I figured it made sense to post this here too:

My cranks are the ones that came with the Nightrider, 152mm - see the specs here at UDC UK:

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=1069

As for training, I’ve spent a total of 16 hours divided among 7 sessions on different days over a period of about 5 weeks. It’s been a week since my last session now, I hope to get out again tonight or tomorrow night.

The two last times I rode I managed to ride up to 85 meters before UPDing (30 revolutions of the 36" wheel) and I also managed almost a half circle when trying to turn - the radius on that parking lot is a bit too small for me, but I think it is good practice in addition to simply riding straight. I’ll have to learn how to turn anyway since I cannot really ride much longer than 85 meters without either going up a slight hill (I got about halfway so far) or turning.

By other option is of course going out on a road to ride longer, but currently that is out of the question since I cannot freemount and I’m nothing near stable so it would be dangerous even on a quiet road, then I’d have to dismount at the slightest sign of a car, and I would also be embarrassed to UPD in front of people.

So I need more practice riding in the parking lot. Probably I should keep riding there until I consistently ride the entire length of it, preferrably also manage to go up the slight hill and up on the road in front of the building, and even turn around so I can just go around and around in the parking lot. Once I am there, I would feel safe enough to get out and go riding somewhere else.

What do you guys think of that plan?

51

Day 8: Maxed out distance record at Huffman Prairie - time to move on?

After posting this afternoon I decided to leave the work I was trying to do for later and get out in the sun :slight_smile:

So I went back to my regular site, this time it was just 630 PM so there were still some people working, and I felt quite awkward in the beginning, until they left. Due to this I didn’t start with the “long runs” as I usually do, I started trying to do turns and even freemounts instead, since then I could stay at the very back of the parking lot where almost nobody could see me.

I did lots of runs (estimating about 10) at around 10-11 revolutions, so around 30 meters, and after going the first 4-5 revolutions straight, I spent the rest trying to make a circle. I got about half way each time, so that means I turned 180 degrees in 5-6 revolutions, or about 15 meters. This gives a turning radius of roughly 5 meters, which is not too bad. However, I was wobbling and shaking and jerking, not able to ride smoothly at all.

Then I went for freemounts since I noticed that my mounting next to the wall were getting really stable - today I would say that I only missed a few at all, no need for warmup, I just nailed the very first mount and went on from there. So I stood in front of the camera trying to do free mounts from different angles, front, back, side, so I can study them later.

I also tried mounting with different feet and hands and different combinations. Not sure if I did all 4 combinations, but I did notice that the by far most stable was when I stepped with my left foot on the pedal, held the seat with the right hand and kicked off with the right foot. Then I was able to hold my balance and once or twice I even managed to ride about half a revolution before UPDing. I don’t know if that counts as doing a free mount? I would say it doesn’t, until I am able to ride out of it. After all, a mount is not very useful if you fall down immediately afterwards…

Then it was time to do longer runs. I moved the car over past the corner of the building, pointed the camera back at my starting position and thus I was able to film about 26 revolutions before I would cycle out of view (past the car) - I probably filmed about the same before as well, but now I was approaching the camera rather than going away from it. I would assume that is a more interesting angle.

And I did well :slight_smile:

Here’s my list of distances covered today (I have now stopped counting anything below 10 revolutions, or about 28-29 meters):

105
115
121
131
141
161
181
201
241
257 (going back from the car to the starting point)
261
305 (this is my old record)
312
326
331
411 (!!!)

So first of all, I was pretty much able to ride at least 10 revolutions every time I started going. I UPDed a few times today as well, mostly/especially when I tried to start from other places than my usual “launch pad” where the ground was not even, so I got stuck in small bumps and grooves.

Second, I managed fairly well to ride both up and down the 2 inch “fault” in the pavement (it is simply where they have added a new layer and not done it all over the parking lot, so this small bump runs all across it). I sure did UPD there a few times, and mostly I would try to hit the “sweet spot” where there was a smooth transition, but I also did manage to not only slow down and wiggle up or down, but finally crossing it at speed - not top speed but a little speed at least.

Third, I upped my max speed to actually above where I was comfortable. I didn’t UPD forward more than a few times, and it wasn’t at top speed, but then I had to run several steps to slow down. If I had UPDed and lost my balance at the same time it could have been bad.

Due to the sun I decided to ride without a T-shirt today, so I had no intentions of falling down. I even dropped the underarm pads and went only with the gloves, wrist and elbow protection, as well as the 661s for the shins/knees. And of course my old bike helmet and the sunglasses, in addition to the cycle shorts. All in all, just suitable for today. I ended up being pretty covered in sweat - I don’t know but if I had been wearing a T-shirt I assume it would have been quite soaked.

When my speed got too high, I would slow down by simply letting my feet go slower, and then I would usually slow down too much because I would slightly lose my balance and fall backwards, often coming to a more or less complete stop, and then I had to lean forwards and pedal back up to speed. Also I would be a lot more unstable sideways at such low speeds. But it was great balance training and I was really “out there” flailing my arms, putting both over to one side and “dragging” myself back on top of the uni and so on. One time I was completely unstable and did some really insane movements, but I did manage to avoid UPDing all the way from the car and back to the starting point, a total of at least 25 revs, perhaps a little more due to all the twists and turns… :slight_smile:

Fourth, given the higher speed and longer distances, I really could feel that I was improving, but at the same time I really noticed how much weight I was putting on my feet - I had to in order to control the uni, since I was out of balance a lot of the time. I tried sitting more down on the seat and just pedal, and it would work sometimes, but what I noticed was that then my speed would just increase, and I would be completely unstable lengthwise, and very often I would UPD forwards almost immediately after “letting go” of the foot pressure on the pedals.

Fifth, I really managed some good maneuvering while riding, avoiding holes in the pavement and once I even zigzagged between two of them very close to the car. I also ran over one of them a couple of other times at speed without trouble, this was not quite as bumpy as the “2 inch fault” but not much less either.

Sixth, I feel I more or less conquered the little hill at the end of the parking lot. My trick today (as I had planned earlier too, but I was too tired by the time I got that far then, plus I wasn’t really able to turn much) was to turn about 40-50 degrees and go more along the hill rather than straight into it. Thus the climb was easier. I still had to really “stand” on the pedals and I slowed down to almost standstill, taking one stride at a time like when you are riding a bike uphill and you push down on one side, then the other, and almost stop in between. I tried 4-5 times like this and successively got a little further each time (these are all the rides at 31-33 revs).

And finally, I got up and could even keep going. The only way to go from there was to follow a rather narrow strip at the top (which required a sharp turn - radius 2 meters - of only 60 degrees, the other way - to get out on the highway, would require an even sharper turn of 120 degrees) which was a parking lot for cars standing at an angle. So it would be about 2 car lengths wide and it want over to the door of my office building.

So I just went for it and when I approached the entrance I veered off to the right, aiming for the grass beside the other side of the building from the first parking lot (so in effect I had turned 90 degrees in total from when I started), and I was just wondering how it would be to try cycling on the grass when I was sent flying over the top because there was a small dump in the pavement just on the edge to the grass (no curb, just a small depression). I first landed on my arms and then I realized I still had so much speed it was better to take a roll than to slide, and I probably would have been better off to take a roll right away - I dived into the grass in any case, so it would have been safe enough.

Well, no harm done and I was just so proud when I rolled the uni back along my track, ending the count at a whopping 41. With a tyre circumference of 2,85 meters that calculates as 117 meters, way above my previous record of about 85 meters :slight_smile:

So I can officially say that I have broken the 100 meter limit now!!! :slight_smile:

Next step would be to do that consistently and not only once. However, that would either require that I manage to turn so I can go in circles, or I have to find another place to ride. So I have to think about that until next time.

I need somewhere reasonably quiet, where I can mount and with a long smooth floor. Parking houses are a good idea, but I am not sure they would give me much more than 100 meters anyway. So I am probably better off finding a quiet road with suitable mounting places at both ends. That would be paradise :slight_smile: The problem here is that such quiet roads would usually be very bumpy as they are not paved often enough… Yes, that is correct, Norway doesn’t have money to pave our roads. Understand it if you can.

Anyway, I am really exhausted and I was also surprised to see that I weighed in at only 83 kgs after this workout. I’ve just drunk 2 liters of water now so that brings me back up to 85, but still I see that I actually have the 70s within reach. Not bad for somebody at 97kgs just 2 months ago. If I can get below 80 by the time I finish this mini-diet (just 8-9 days) by next week, then I will be able to stay below 85 once I start eating again. I have managed to stay below 90 the whole time since I finished the previous diet a month ago, and that is 5 kgs less than my goal for that diet (see my first post, where I wrote that I hoped to be able to stay between 90 and 95 once I was done). If I could reduce my “zone” to the low 80s now then I would really be happy with my progress this summer :slight_smile:

All right, time for bed.

See you all later!

52

Summary of sessions

Just to update my record, here’s the summary of the 8 sessions I have had so far.

RESULTS OF UNICYCLING SESSIONS

Day 1: Assisted mounting attempts, balance training
3 hours inside. Distance covered: 0

Day 2: Assisted mounting, assisted riding
1,5 hours inside. Distance covered: 0

Day 3: Assisted mounting, assisted riding
2 hours inside. Distance covered: “5 meters”

Day 4: Assisted mounting, assisted riding, some freeriding
3 hours outside. Distance covered: 20-25 meters (record 3 revs - 8-9 meters)

Day 5: Assisted mounting, freeriding
3 hours outside. Distance covered: 260 meters (record 20 revs - 57 meters)

Day 6: Consistent assisted mounting, freeriding reasonably balanced
1,5 hours outside. Distance covered: 1006 meters (record 30 revs - 85 meters)

Day 7: Consistent assisted mounting, freeriding reasonably balanced, able to stop and start but usually UPDing, ride halfway a slight uphill
2 hours outside. Distance covered: ~800 meters (I lost my notes - but I know I repeated the record distance of 30 revs - 85 meters)

Day 8: Stable assisted mounting, freemount attempts, freeriding at speed, able to stop and start, maneuver around obstacles, regain balance and ride a slight uphill
2,5 hours outside. Distance covered: 944 revolutions (only counting rides at 10 or more revs) = 2690 meters (record distance 41 revs - 117 meters)

I should also add that except for day 8 I also ran/walked at least the same distance as I rode, going back to the starting point. Today (day 8) I was riding back and forth more of the time, thus being able to ride longer in the same amount of time. I guess I didn’t really start distance riding until the last 1,5 hours. The first hour I was trying to ride in circles (managing half circles) and that added up to about 120 revs out of 944 total, plus I was doing freemounting attempts.

All in all, not bad for a beginner riding a coker :slight_smile:

53

Day 9: Leaving Huffman Prairie

So I followed my own advice and went off searching for bigger opportunities. And boy I don’t regret it :slight_smile:

After some reconnaisance with an online map I remembered some huge parking lots nearby - the biggest one of course belonging to the national trade fair which relocated here from Oslo some years ago. So I drove over there instead of to my work parking lot and set off.

So I am now officially not counting revolutions and measuring distances that way anymore. Lacking a GPS I used the odometer on my car (!) to measure the distance from one end to the other and it was about 450 meters (hard to tell, since the odometer has a resolution of 100 meters). Anyway, I managed to cycle that distance 3 times! And I UPDed at least twice or perhaps 3 times halfway, so that would be at least 200 meters each time.

Also, before I started distance riding I was riding around, finally managing to go full circle and return to where I started from, after some rather longish treks around the parking lot. It was just huge, just what I needed :slight_smile: And not to forget that it had light poles spaced just nicely apart, with curbs close enough that it didn’t pose a problem. I guess one day I might be able to scale those curbs…

And it was really perfect now since everything is closed down for summer, so there was hardly a car there and a nice sun shining on my bare shoulders (yes, I took the chance).

So of course I UPDed really violently for the first time ever, previously I have UPDed about 3-4 times going forward so fast that I had to take a roll, never more than once in a session. This time I did the same, but I also went sideways. I lost control and somehow I didn’t just dismount like I usually do, so I lost my grip on both pedals and just sat there gliding in a nice arc down towards my left, until I suddenly was launched forward. My left wrist protector and the meaty part of the back of the hand took most of the impact, and then I rolled and actually got away without a scratch, much like the other times I’ve rolled.

What I was thinking of yesterday when I took off my T-shirt the first time was that even if it is thin, it is a layer that allows you to slide just a tiny bit, while your skin will more or less stick to the pavement… However, I seem to be rolling fine and in this case there was a little sand as well, as I only noticed an hour later when I called it a day, after riding back and forth the entire lot 3 times plus some half-ways.

I could really feel how my legs were getting tired so it was more difficult to keep control, but actually the mounting and first couple of meters were worst. Once I got going, I could usually keep going even if I lost my balance.

I was even brave enough (or perhaps it was just reflexes) to pedal like crazy a few times when I lost my balance forward, thus going much above my comfort speed, but avoiding a dive like I’ve done at previous sessions. And happily I was able to slow down again as well.

My biggest challenge now is maintaining a constant speed. I was able to sit down a little with more control than yesterday, but that is easy since this parking lot is smooth like a dance floor and wide open, unlike the previous one. But what happens when I try to sit on the seat and just let my feet go with the flow and pedal with a light pressure is that I tend to lean a little forward and thus accelerate. Then I quickly have to lean backwards and use my leg muscles to control the balance while lowering my speed, and usually I am not so good at stopping that until I have more or less come to a halt. I did get a little better though.

Then, along the way from one end to the other, there were about 8-9 speed bumps. Not small ones, they were perhaps 4-5 meters long and the height at the middle was perhaps 30-40 cm. So perfect for me at the current stage. First I UPDed a couple of times when approaching the little hill, but then I got the hang of it. Usually I would slow right down and then get in trouble since I would virtually come to a standstill at the top, but sometimes I managed to just hit it at speed and go over the top reasonably slow, but not totally wiggling and jerking like I do when I stop and have to try to get going again.

Another nice thing I noticed in the end was that I was more and more able to get a clean start (in between all the UPDs and dismounts after half a revolution), just leaning forward and go fairly straight at a nice speed, not too fast and not so slow I would wobble.

So all in all I was out there for 2 hours and I think I was in the saddle at least a quarter of the time, perhaps a third. That’s a huge improvement over previous sessions when it’s been “ride a short distance, then UPD and walk/run back and mount again”, where I would obviously spend a lot less time riding that distance than running/walking it, not to mention all the “down time” in between mounts and rides.

Here I would actually be riding for 4-5 minutes at a time, perhaps even more, I didn’t time myself when going from one end to the other but it might have been more. Hard to estimate time when you’re so focused, I think time seems to slow down so I don’t know…

Estimating my distance covered would be a bit hard, but the longest rides that I mentioned (3450m and 3 or 4200) would be at least 2km straight and then I would guess perhaps 1km more divided between the turns and shorter straight runs. I seems strange though that I would only have gone a little longer than yesterday in that small parking lot, as I was out almost as long today and spending a lot more time in the saddle. Well, who knows.

Anyway, huge fun and now I am totally blasted after two days of hard exercise, so I don’t think I will ride tomorrow or Saturday. Perhaps Sunday.

54

Good, but huh?

Hello!

You’ve a great traning journal, lillestrøm_uni but whats happend to you? Are you tired of unicycling? :wink:

55

Or perhaps he discovered Muni. :wink:

56

Happy New Year - finally an update :slight_smile:

Hi all!

It’s incredible, but it has actually been more than 5 months since I wrote here last. Well, what can I say, fall came with a couple of holidays and too much work, and as I fell behind with my updates here I sort of gave up and put it off for a day I had a lot of time. And since I am bedridden today with serious coughs and a high fever, I have plenty of time to catch up :slight_smile:

And the best way to get going is to start with the summary of what I’ve accomplished so far. This will be part one - of what I have done by the end August.

Day 9 (see previous post): Stable assisted mounting, freemount attempts, freeriding at speed, ride a full circle in a huge parking lot, slight uphill/downhill
2 hours outside. Distance covered: around 3 km (record distance around 450 meters)

Short summary: Able to dismount most of the time. UPDing still almost always forward, usually jumping off forwards and the uni flying behind me - not very safe for the surroundings but fairly safe for me. However, one spectacular UPD caught on tape, where I lost my momentum and stepped off the pedals to fall forward, but I fell sideways and had to take a dive.

New action in August

In August I went on vacation to Croatia and I brought my uni with me (it felt pretty cool to send it as special luggage):

Day 10 (7 August): Riding on a 2m wide sidewalk with a stone wall on one side, fall into water on the other and pedestrian traffic to be negotiated, slight uphill/downhill.
Around 2 hours. Distance covered: around 1,5 km (record distance around 150-200 meters)

I even rode through a sidewalk cafe as the tables were spread around the central path, and it was only about a meter on each side (which is not much when I am up on a coker). And then, while in the middle of this, I lost my momentum and stopped completely, but regained my balance and rode off with a flair!!! Boy was I proud (and relieved that I didn’t crash onto one of the tables where people were eating dinner) :smiley: Some UPDing at other times, usually jumping off forwards and the uni flying behind me - not very safe for others.

Day (session) 11 (12 August morning): Riding on a 2m wide sidewalk with a stone wall on one side, fall into water on the other and pedestrian traffic to be negotiated, slight uphill/downhill
30 minutes. Distance covered: around 1,5 km (record distance around 150-200 meters).

In other words, I rode the same distance in 25% of the time! There were much less pedestrians though.

Day (session) 12 (12 August afternoon): Riding proper uphill/downhill for the first time, small incline and also a steeper one.
Around 2 hours. Distance covered: around 1 km (record distance around 30-40 meters uphill/downhill and 2-300 meters flat).

Also rode once back and forth along an approximately 300m long straight and flat stretch of road afterwards, when I got tired on the hillwork. Lots of traffic on the hilly street (just outside my hotel) so I had to wait a lot before each ride.

Quite a feeling to be able to lean forward to go uphill and backwards to ride downhill. I made the big mistake of starting downhill first, which I later understood was much harder to do than uphill. So a note to everybody - start uphill! I also noticed that I wore out my thighs and knees by having to support myself much more on the pedals when balancing all the time than when I was riding on flat ground.

The thing about the flat and straight stretch of road was that there was only a gate post at one end and a garbage bin on the other side to lean on for assisted mounting (I still cannot freemount). So I had to do the entire stretch when I first got going, otherwise I’d have to walk all the way to one of the ends. Some traffic and waiting, and actually many attempts to get going from the gate post since it was a little too far from the road so I had to “push off” to get up to balance sideways, at the same time as stepping on the pedals to get going forwards. This took some time to coordinate.

Day 13 (13 August): Riding the long straight and flat stretch of road, then downhill for at least 200 meters before I had to dismount (not UPD!!).
Around 1 hour. Distance covered: around 750 m (record distance around 300 meters).

My first time using the uni for practical purposes! I brought a postcard to the post office located at the bottom of the long windy hill, then shopped and walked back up the hill and along the long straight road, then down the other hill to the hotel with the shopping bags on the handlebar of the uni (remember I have a Nightrider with a built-in handlebar (not making it lighter nor easier to turn around with - I still cannot touch it without UPDing).

And it was really sensational to ride down that long windy road, passing several cars on the way, having to ride in a space of down to less than a meter with a parked car on one side and a moving car on the other side, the came in both directions and some were rather impatient, though most were curious and understanding about having to wait for me to find a wider spot to let them pass. I’d call this day a breakthrough for safe (??) riding in public areas.

Day 14 (15 August): Road riding getting really serious! I rode all around the local area, down the hilly road and then up/down a long stretch of road, on the side, with rather heavy traffic of buses and cars passing at 60-80 kph

Around 1 hour. Distance covered: around 2 km (record distance around 500 meters going downhill at record speed).

It’s time for me to get a computer so I can clock my speed and distance covered.

I started again on the same long straight and flat stretch of road, then all the way down the narrow windy street to the post office, then up another road instead of turning back, following that road (which is a longer but straighter road for higher speeds going another way to the hotel).
Lots of traffic on the streets, but I didn’t wait too much - rode along with the traffic (though slower, of course).

As I wrote above, the second part was really exhilarating and actually a bit scary, as I could even feel the wind blasts from tourist buses passing at high speeds. In the end I dismounted and walked down the sidewalk (which was just a meter wide and really bumpy so I couldn’t ride on it without UPDing - potentially into the road).

I was really happy to have accomplished this and also - I guess - happy to manage without getting hurt. I remember thinking several times that the best way to learn how to avoid UPDing at speed is to ride where you simply cannot allow yourself to do it since you will get hurt badly (in my case not so much by falling down but from potentially getting run over by a bus afterwards). My legs were jelly at the end, so I guess I should have stopped sooner. Then again, unicycling is an extreme sport :smiley:

OK, time to relax and then I’ll return with the sequel; “September Chronicles”, later.

PS: I’ve updated my signature now - as I’m able to go uphill/downhill :slight_smile:

57

Unicycling in September

I’ve been travelling quite a lot this fall - in September I spent 3 weeks in Poland and again I brought my uni with me as special luggage. I set off the very first day and rode regularly twice a week for two weeks, until my pedal broke (it was the bearings inside the plastic beginner’s pedals that came with the uni, I guess my weight was taking its toll - even if I had only been doing road and no muni or technical stuff like jumping with it (I need to develop some serious skills, strength and stamina in order to do that with a 9 kg coker anyway, I think).

As I couldn’t easily buy new pedals there, I put the uni away until I got home. Then the weather was much colder and I wasn’t as motivated for uni riding anymore. I did buy new pedals after a several weeks, but by then I had missed additional warm spells when I could have taken it out for a ride, and winter was approaching.

My plan this summer was to find an indoor parking house or something like this to ride in during the winter, but so far I’ve been bogged down in work and travelling so there’s been no time or indeed energy to sort out those things.

And that’s the sad truth, I’ve lapsed with the training and regained most of the weight I lost in May. :frowning: Oh well, there’s a new spring now with new opportunities :slight_smile:

Here’s an overview of the uniriding I did in September before my pedal broke:

Day 15 (1 September): Road riding in the relatively quiet residential streets nearby. Also some sidewalk exercise and first attempt at negotiating curbs.

Around 30 minutes. Distance covered: around 1 km (record distance around 50-60 meters).

Day 16 (3 September): Road riding as transportation to get to a gym where I played basketball for about 90 minutes before cycling back.

Around 1 hour (30 mins back and forth - then about 90 minutes basketball in between). Distance covered: around 2 km (record distance around 100 meters).

In other words, I had a real workout this day! I rode on narrow sidewalks and encountered cobblestones and small curbs several places, a few successfully, but most led to instant UPDs. As I improved significantly over the next two days on these skills, I am now updating my signature to indicate that I’m able to ride over curbs and uneven ground (though I probably still have much to learn before I can try MUni).

Day 17 (5 September): Road riding to the gym again, but returning right away as there was nobody there that time.

Around 1 hour. Distance covered: around 2 km (record distance around 150 meters).

Managed the cobblestones much better, rode fairly fast down a narrow sidewalk with a slight decline. Met pedestrians and managed to stop/start and/or dismount gracefully. Used walls or gates along the sidewalk to mount. Also, I successfully dodged low tree branches several times, ducking with my upper body while compensating with my lower body so I kept my speed and bearing until I could sit up straight again. I was very proud to manage this :slight_smile:

Also, I was really getting better at turning, being able to choose different paths on parts of the sidewalk that was very wide to get around old ladies and other obstacles. Also, I managed to reduce my turn radius for a 90 degree turn significantly, so I was able to turn road corners where necessary.

And finally, on the way back I approached a large intersection with a four-lane road (that is, in my definition, a road with two lanes in each direction) and a grass strip divider between then to increase the width additionally. On the way there I had used the pedestrian crossing as on the two previous days. But the traffic was relatively sparse so I decided to make a run for it across the entire intersection. The cars were driving around 80 kph there and I could see almost enough to both sides that I could expect to be able to cross before an approaching car would reach the intersection.

However, this obviously would require a prompt and well-timed start and of course no UPDing in the middle of the intersection.

I went for it after waiting about 10 minutes for the right moment, and I shot through the intersection and down the road I was following with a great feeling of accomplishment :smiley:

Day 18 (10 September): Road riding to the gym, until the pedal broke when I was almost there.

Around 1 hour. Distance covered: around 1 km (record distance around 2-300 meters).

This day I managed to turn a specific corner with a sharp turn around a big column next to a driveway where the ground was smooth but inclined first down, then up, and also slanted down to the left. I can hardly describe the joy of managing this!

So I was really “on a roll” when the pedal broke. It happened when I was going down into a little depression in the sidewalk (about 2 meters long) with relatively smooth sides, and I heard a metallic sound when I stepped on it to get up and out of it. I just had enough time to wonder what that was before the right pedal fell off about 3-4 meters later.

Fortunately (!) this happened when I was riding smoothly and slowly and I was also in the position with the right pedal down and the left pedal up, so I could follow through with the left foot and dismount elegantly, given the circumstances. I was of course immediately thinking about previous situations where a pedal failure would have had catastrophical consequences.

In other words - the equipment must be checked and dimensioned for the wear and tear. So I learned several lessons over these days, and now I am just wondering how much of the innate balancing skill I will lose from not unicycling for several months.

I do hope it is a bit like “learning to ride a bike” or “learning to swim” - in fact I expect it to be like this - but obviously I will also have to excercise my core muscles and my stamina and my balance before and while I begin unicycling again in the spring/summer.

Can’t wait! I feel motivated again by writing here, it feels really good as I’ve felt a bad conscience for disappearing like I did, all of a sudden. Then again, I have seen that the activity in the main thread (How to learn unicycling? - How to learn unicycling ?) feel significantly this fall, so I guess I’m not the only one getting soaked up by work after the summer vacations.

All right, back to bed (well, I am actually in bed while writing this) to nurture my pneumonia (I am starting to fear this is what it is, at least it is a really bad case of the flu) and get better.

See you all around, and thanks for reading my diary!!

58

Dieting again

Well, I have to admit that I didn’t manage to follow up on this. In addition to the unicycle riding I’ve already posted about, I did a little running, basketball (not much more than what I posted about, if any) and swimming - a pitiful 3 - three - sessions covering 1000, 2000 and 2500 m respectively.

Add to this a lot of good food, beer and wine - I’m basically back to my old eating habits, plus that I feel ill during Christmas and didn’t do my daily routine of morning exercise since Christmas Eve, and you’ve got me pretty much back where I started at the beginning of May.

I weighed in at 94 kgs on my friend’s Wii on Friday, up 11 kgs from 2 June when I weighed myself there last time (83 kgs). That was down from 97 kgs at the beginning of May (so I am not quite as heavy now as I was then, but if you give or take a couple of kgs due to the measurement accuracy, my clothes and how much I ate before I weighed myself, then I am more or less back where I was.

So, now I am starting a new diet. I won’t do it for as long as I did in May (about 24-25 days and losing 11-12 kgs in that time) - my first goal now is to do it until next week, when I have a business trip and then I will eat lunch and dinner there. Then I hope to continue for another week at the end of the month. If I succeed in losing 5 kgs by the end of January I’ll be very satisfied.

Round that off to 4 and I’m down at an even 90 kgs (or 200 lbs for those in the US). That would be a nice starting point for February.

But, of course, weight loss makes no sense without exercise, both in order to keep the muscles from withering and making sure it is actually the fat that disappears, but also in order to feel healthy and last, but not, least - to stay slimmer, and not go back up. I think the lack of exercise this fall is at least as much to blame as my increased eating.

So, I am aiming to take up swimming again, at least once a week, which is what I tried in the fall but I couldn’t get up in the morning - the swimming is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 0630 to 0730 at a local school, so I can go there before work (like the others). One of the other guys there actually run there from home, and then he runs back (or to his office, I am not sure). That way he warms up before swimming, as he says. Pretty tough to go out running at 0600 in Norway in the winter, if you ask me.

I’m not aiming that high, but if I can do the following, I will be happy:

  • Daily morning exercise
  • Swim at least once a week (except when travelling, which was also a reason why I couldn't get a good routine for the swimming this fall)
  • Go out for a walk twice a week or so
  • Get out hiking or skiing at least one weekend in February (January is already fully booked)

All right, I’ll keep posting here about my progress with the diet and the exercise. And then I’ll also see, of course, when I can get back in the unicycle saddle. My feeling is that it won’t be until late spring when I can do it outside, though…

59

Monday 12 January

Weighed in at 91 kgs this morning. Now I think I stabilised my weight, yesterday I was still emptying my intestines and drinking lots of fluids. So this is now my “dry weight” that I can refer to when I keep dieting. My similar reference weight in May was 93 kgs.

I will try to post here every day about the progress. Still didn’t do the morning excercise, don’t feel completely restored yet. Will try to go early to bed and then see if I can get up at 0530 tomorrow morning and go swimming before work. Obviously, if I manage to do that and I feel fine with the exercise, then I could really boost my metabolism and burn fat while doing the diet.

So far today I feel fine, haven’t really been very hungry. I feel it of course, but I keep drinking the mixture and additional water, like I did yesterday, always keeping the stomach full, as far as possible.

The weather is also better now, it’s around 5-6 degrees outside and it didn’t rain today, even if it was grey all day. So, all in all, a nice Monday :slight_smile:

60

Tuesday 13 January

Still 91 kgs, but I think the needle was a little on the low side today, as opposed to yesterday when I probably rounded a little bit down. I only read off my weight in whole kgs since the scale is analog and the scale is not that accurate.

But I’d like to think that my first half kg is gone already :wink: - when I’ve taken this diet before I’ve lost around half a kg per day (first time in September 2006 it was 3-4 kgs in 8-10 days, second time in May 2008 it was 10-12 kgs in 24-25 days).

All right, off to work…

61

Wednesday 14 January

90 kgs today, or even a little under :slight_smile:

I slept for almost 11 hours, so I probably lost a lot of water during the night. But still, it seems like I am on track for the 0,5 kg per day weight loss. Feeling fine, haven’t really been hungry and at a long meeting at work yesterday I was the one who kept a clear head since my blood sugar level is constant with this diet, while for the others it went down after breakfast and then up again after lunch, then down again before dinner. This is also how I feel on regular days - so it is really important to eat more often (or use this diet) to stay alert all day.

PS: I also dreamt about eating a big meal tonight… hehe

62

Friday 16 January

I was up to 91 kgs again last morning, I think this could be because I had some soup Wednesday evening - not more calories than the diet drink but it contained some salt which retained more water in my body, and I also drank a portion of protein powder - last time I dieted I lost significant muscle mass as well as fat since I only took in carbohydrates during the three week period of the diet. So I will try to compensate this time by taking in some proteins as well.

Today I weighed in at just under 90 kgs, so I expect to get down to 89 during the weekend. Will be interesting to see if that holds. I guess I’ll be happy even if I lose 2 kgs this week - 3 kgs is pretty tough after all. Then again I am going to diet for 8 days, so of course I am hoping for 3 kgs.

Have a nice day!

PS: The weather has turned really cold (minus 6 now) but I am sleeping a lot and feeling like I am finally getting back to 100% restitution after my bronchitis that lasted more than 3 weeks since I started coughing on Christmas Eve, and I am also feeling better in my back and in other parts of my body that got small infections due to the decreased immune system during my illness. So I am hoping to take up my morning exercise soon, and that will help burning calories of course. I did do quite a lot of exercise last May, obviously it is much harder to lose weight when dieting if you’re not moving your body at all… So far this year I’ve been working long days at work and mostly sleeping when I’m not working. Not healthy.