Nice job on these videos! It really does fill a gap for muni riders.
Street and Flatland folks have the Eli Brill Unicycle School and Chris Huriwai’s UniQuest series, but all I can think of for muni is Kris Holm’s Essential Guide ebook. Which has good descriptions and photos, but a much wider focus, no video, and costs $$.
I don’t know what you have planned for the next videos, but anybody who absorbs the content in these first three would definitely be past the “basics”!
Thank you! It’s been a long time planning these in the back of my mind, so it’s good to see that they do the job I intended.
There is going to be one on setup (which I mostly have to film yet). One on braking, one on equipment (which are mostly done and only missing some final editing work).
After that, I may make some more, but I don’t really have a timeline and a concept for them. There are absolutely still some things that I would like to cover, but I don’t know how to package them yet. I’ll probably make a thread to ask people for topics as well, I’m sure there are a few things that people would like some ideas on, that I haven’t thought about yet.
Now that I have started on this whole “talking in videos” journey, there are a few “non tutorial” videos that I’d like to make, which still would fit in that channel:
Essentially just showing a bit of a view into unicycle “cultures”. I don’t know if I will get those done, when I’m at events or rides, I’m currently way too busy riding and don’t want to take away from that.
I’ll freely admit that my perspective will be distorted from often having very good riders around me.
But I think looking at the amount of actual training that would be required to get the skills I covered, that’s still part of the basics to me. Obviously at a lower level than the 1.5m drops or 50cm high rolling hops in the video (which after a long consideration I decided to use as demonstration, because the technique is just a lot more visible).
I think the great thing about Mountain unicycling is that you can have fun on all levels, getting out into nature on a unicycle is fun in itself. So in one sense, all you need to learn to enjoy Muni is riding, and I would say having fun is most important. Coming more from trials/street/flat riding, it’s what has drawn me to mountain unicycling, even if I have an off day and ride terribly, I can easily just pull myself back and enjoy moving in nature.
On the other side, to me it was fairly noticeable that many Muni riders never really practice, which I think is holding them back. That was also a reason for me to make these videos, to remind people that you can at least partially break down Mountain unicycling into practiceable skills. Riding just for fun you will likely improve a bit every time you ride, but if someone wants to progress fast (and get through some skill plateaus), some focussed practice is the way to go.
Next video is out and it’s about equipment:
My thougts on everything from protective gear, wheelsize, clothing to what I have in my backpack.
Still not 100% sure if the topics and depth I chose for this one are useful, but there you go. If you think anything deserves more detail, please let me know, maybe I’ll integrate it into the setup video. 
(To find all the tutorials in the first post click: here )
really great videos! I like the way you teach …
a question about the body position when going downhill: I noticed lot of riders tend to ride “defensively” that is their body is trying to be vertical and the torso being rather “uphill” but I ride differently : I borrowed a technique from skiing my torso being forward downhill and my foot trying to control the way the pedals go up behind me.
thus I rareky skid but this is psychologically difficult when the slope is steep.
what do you think?
The way I look at it, there are two components to your position on the unicycle: The shape of your body and where your point of balance tends to be. I’m not 100% sure if I understand the position you are describing correctly.
Either way, I think it’s very normal for most riders to be a bit defensive with their point of balance, especially once the hills get very steep, I’d much rather slide out than go over the front. Sliding out also becomes much less of an issue when you are good at using the brake and you can apply constant braking force, but especially on a long steep hill, I still think it is a better idea to try and make sure that if you fall, you are falling of the back. On shorter steep sections or more gentle downhills, you can be a bit more forward with the point of balance, since if you get hung up on an obstacle, you can still accelerate to regain balance or if you don’t manage to do that, you don’t fall as far.
When thinking about body position, I think that a lot of riders tend to be a bit too upright in their upper body on rough downhills. Being upright allows you to be more maneuverable, but if you are not actually maneuvering around stuff so much, but instead just ride over them more or less straight on, a bit of a forward lean makes it easier to stay on. (You can still tend to have your point of balance a bit further back, while leaning a bit forward from the hip, which I think is the most “defensive” position.)
not necessarily: being forward helps you roll Aïkido-wise. I roll forward in most of my falls. The real drawback is that it is psychologically challenging to bend you torso downwards (but this is what many people do while skiing and I borrowed the technique from ski practice)
The problem, specifically on steep downhills is, that falling forward adds height to the fall. A meter of extra fall height is quite a lot of extra energy and forces on you. Falling of the back, it’s the opposite, you hit the ground earlier and have no extra falling height. In flatter terrain or uphill, falling forward is not such a problem of course.
I did a lot of parkour/martial arts rolls when I was riding street, but for Muni, I like to avoid them. Too many rocks that are potentially in the way and can seriously hurt you. I do them when possible and/or necessary, but I don’t need to take a chance on something hitting my spine if I can avoid it.
Hmm… I think you’re right… I’ll have to reconsider the way I ride!
Great videos. Really enjoying them!
A bit in a video on how to fall ‘safely’ and the technique to it might be useful…
Next video is out, this one is about braking, or more specifically using the brake:
Starting with setup, going over your first steps getting acquainted with it, using it as a drag brake and all the way to using it to come to a quick stop without getting thrown off the front. On the way I’ll also explain why it is so much better than using your legs.
(To find all the tutorials in the first post click: here )
Always excited when another video drops!
Hey Finn,
I just finished watching your videos and I think they’re excellent.
Great teaching tools that will be referenced a lot.
Keep 'em coming.
Outstanding. The scene transitions are better than ever in this latest video. Like, where you walk into the scene at about 4 minutes, or ride in just after 5 minutes or so. Really liked how that felt for the flow.
Thanks! I got a lot more consistent with delivering my lines to camera in the previous ones, so I could start to add in a few of those extra touches on this one. (I did however need to edit out a few breathing sounds, pushing up that hill got exhausting after a few times…)
Thanks!
The series living on as a bit of a knowledge base is the goal. The sarcastic twist on my reason for starting this is that I got so tired of typing out the same answers all the time, so I made videos that I can now give as a quick reference.
Finn, I think your video series is excellent! Thanks for putting in the effort to create them.
I am the main editor of the Dutch unicycling newsletter Eenwielernieuws, and in the upcoming edition we will feature and promote the Unicycling Basics channel. If you’re interested in getting a copy, I need your e-mail address.
BTW, are you planning more than just muni tutorials? I noticed that the name of the channel, i.e. Unicycle Basics, seems wider than just muni.
I left that door open for myself, so that the channel can be branched out if I want to. Muni was where I saw the biggest gap and it’s also what I’m most focussed on (and best) in my own riding currently, so it is where I’ll continue for the more forseable future.
I think for flatland and freestyle, there is already a decent amount of good content (but more is obviously better). Trials still has a fairly big gap open that could be filled, I do have some ideas on highjump that maybe could become a video in the future.
There really is also an open invitation for other people, if anyone wants to make instructional videos on unicycle topics, but doesn’t know where to start, feel free to message me. I can easily imagine giving someone editing and script writing support and using the channel as a platform for them too. I have a vision for the style and quality of video, which we’d have to talk about, but that vision is not restricted to me as a host or Muni as the discipline.
Next video is out, this time about Setup:
(To find all the tutorials in the first post click: here )
It’s been a while, but I’m back with a video containing 6 Tips to improve your riding:
This one is a bit of a compilation of ideas that I wanted to cover, but they didn’t really fit anywhere else. Please let me know if you like this style of video, or should I stick to more focussed tutorials in the future? This is something I wanted to try out, because there will always be some random ideas not worth a full video around and it might also help to give me some idea on what people would want to see more on. There are two more “tutorial style videos” coming up, I’ll probably start filming for those tomorrow:
(To find all the tutorials in the first post click: here )
Thanks so much for producing these videos.
I think you give each tip the right amount of explanation and detail.
I ride mostly road riding on a 36” but am finding your videos useful too.
I have a KH29” I that I use to practice your tips so I can transfer to riding with the 36”.
Really excellent, well put together reference, videos.
This is awesome! I am still struggling with mounting, but the first video gave me some useful hints on what i should focus on:+1:
