Thanks for the good thoughts, I’m strictly riding an EUC now. At least I can play 18 holes in under two hours!
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I’m posting just to keep the thread relevant. All of you 50 years and older riders whether you have been riding for years or just starting take this opportunity to share your experiences, ask a question or offer advise.
This age group is a very important segment of our community let’s keep this thread alive and a resource for those of us in this age group.
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Here’s something I don’t know many mention in riding a unicycle.
The “escape reflex”.
This is important because it keeps you away from injury.
Also, I’m not a “fully padded up and just go for it” type of rider. Any you guys?
This escape reflex/spider sense works three ways for me:
1.) If my “eyes” see that I am about to do something that doesn’t match my physical readiness or familiarity. Jump off.
2.) If my “mind” all of a sudden draws a blank, when I am riding through an obstacle or ready to turn or even during idle. Jump off!!
3.) When I am riding and fully in synch with “down” pedaling and the “back pressure” simultaneously, but all of a sudden lose back pressure or feel a drop or rise that I did not anticipate. Jump off!!!
Let me clarify, the “jump off” is not a decision I make. My body already does it. I’m on my feet and my unicycle is on the ground in an instant.
Is it just me?
…slam
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well the fact is : when you are older you are not bold anymore so you are sometimes overcautious. It is important to ride with younger riders who help you challenge obstacles (and yes I am over padded so the guys have a nickname for me : “robocop”! the other thing that helps me is the practice of “Aïkido” falls )
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As long as you don’t have a bad fall that forces you to eat baby food afterwards you’re doing well. I’m sure you’re making Murphy proud that you’re still out there riding.
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Oh, that’s hilarious. I’ve wondered a couple times whether I’m a candidate for a Darwin Award. I hope not.
On the other hand, I’m not sure there’s much difference between the protein shakes I drink and baby food. Some people’s kids….
John
I think I found my current limit of endurance on my KH36 - 110mm.
I really love riding this unicycle but I had to ask my wife to pick me up from the station for the last leg of my last ride.
After 100km -800m elev ride (first time) last Sunday and 4 X 15km rides (660m elev) during the week (commute to work Mon Wed Fri), I cycled 90km (850m elev) this past Sunday.
So for 8 days, the total was 280km and 2300m elev.
After some scraps (knee from upd) and niggley knee pains at the end of 90km, I was very happy to not feel any aches or pains the next day.
The early start (alarm at 3.30am) was needed to cycle 4km to the Redfern station to catch train to Seven Hills station to start ride at 6am.
With an hour lunch midway, and many 10 min rest stops (was so tired on the last 30km) I finished the ride at 5pm at Westmead station.
Then got train back to Redfern, where I could not mentally/physically get on the unicycle to ride home. (First time)
That was after napping on the 30min train ride.
Turning 56 in March next year. Been a happy year this year.
I am so inspired and in awe of the amazing 7600km ride by Becky98 across European Divide!
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So I saw this thread a while back and was a little reluctant to post, as I wasn’t sure what to say…
I am now 53, and while I am glad that most Muni races have at least a 30+ or 40+ category, as it’s just hard to compete with the young riders at the very top level (e.g. Timo), and I was also pleased that Unicon has a 50+ category, I don’t otherwise feel my age much at all, especially with respect to unicycling. I ride my 36" around the city or my freewheel muni while most other (often younger) people wouldn’t be adventurous enough to ride a normal unicycle.
After recovering from my 3rd ACL surgery last year (freeride skiing and freeride mountain biking) – I went to Unicon in Grenoble with a torn ACL and placed top 3 in Muni DH, XC and cyclecross in 50+ age category – this year I started learning freewheel. That is a real (ly fun) challenge, and you must be prepared to fall hard and to fail (a few rides in the beginning where I almost wasn’t able to mount again after being exhausted and frustrated from falling so much). But the freewheel is fun! See Freewheel
Learning more new skills: After quite a few years of Muni, in Spring 2023 I started doing freestyle for the first time and have really learned a lot and really enjoyed the challenge and learning process. I competed in the German individual freestyle nationals last month in the 25+ category, and the other riders were better than me mostly because they’ve been doing freestyle for 3+ years. But I’m improving:
- My one-foot wheel walk is getting pretty solid (https://youtu.be/4EqXyw4F5mQ)
- I can do wheel hopping (https://youtu.be/5dWg12tOCJM)
- and landed my first few 180 unispins (https://youtu.be/M7HQcQ1uMuo)
- and can ride drag seat for a few meters (https://youtu.be/ljsWsXoG61Y)
→ and by Unicon I’m hoping be able to do 180 unispin, hop-on-wheel-pedals, drag seat with pickup, stand-up ww/kosh-kosh and gliding (and dream of stand up coasting, but I will have to see if I have the time to invest).
And I’m also getting back into trials: At the French nationals in October I managed 2 1/2 pallets and some stuff I didn’t think I could do – and that was basically doing trials “cold” after 2 years off with my knee injury. I’m also hoping to learn “big” SIF hopping and manage 3+ pallets by Unicon… (yes I know the young guys jump 5, 6 or 7 pallets).
Despite the obvious difference at the elite level (i.e. Olympic athletes), I think I see unicycling quite different, as the skill and practice frequently make more of a difference than age. Plus, there aren’t many other sports where at 53 I can ride with some of the top athletes in the world and still sort of “keep up”. After the French Nationals in October I did a Muni DH ride with 6 top riders, Timo (top 3 male Muni rider), Anne-Marie from Naturns (top 3 female Muni rider), Leonie (i think the best junior female DH rider), Ben Soya (top 3 male Muni rider) and Martin L. and Lena F. (both better than me), and although I watched a lot as they rode crazy hard stuff in wet slippery conditions (I only rode those sections where I estimated <5% falling as it was very wet and slippery), I can still do a ride on the same trail with them! Try getting on the field over 50 with pro football/basketball/tennis/hockey players…
For me the main differences compared to when I was 25/30 are recovery times after hard workouts and more injury recovery time. OK, yes, for extreme DH or trial I do take less risk than in the past. But that doesn’t mean I’m not trying new things and still learning.
I guess I could describe that like this: On muni rides with some younger rider whose objective skill level is less than mine, when we then get to a hard obstacle like a big drop, then the younger rider will often try maybe 5 times and crash every time, while I will estimate my success, and if it’s less than say 80% success, then I will pass. Of course, I also think I am also usually better at estimating my success rate… So I try many hard obstacles just above my level, don’t crash very often and learn continually and thus improve.
But with the combination of
- muni riding for cardiovascular fitness (my resting heart rate is about 41-42 bpm)
- freestyle for my core back/stomach and coordination
- and weight training
→ I feel super fit. And I feel my age matters little.
I totally recommend not only unicycling but trying a new discipline: while admitting it’s not possible to attain the levels of younger elite riders, Muni as well as both trials and freestyle unicycling are really fun to learn! I suppose trails is probably the first discipline to have a hard age limit, as at some point the high stress of sudden power movements is maybe not good for the joints (or if your back can’t take the jolt of jumping off 2 pallets). But both Muni and freestyle should be good for many more years.
Physical activity is obviously great for fitness and staying healthy but also learning new skills is great!
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Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my journey into unicycling, which started last year at age 59. Last fall I was stuck in NYC for three months and somehow rediscovered a unicycle in the basement that I had bought a decade ago and never really used. I don’t know what clicked, but I decided to ride for 1/2 hour every day to see what would happen.
The learning process turned out to be really fun and a great challenge. There’s something satisfying about seeing a bit of progress almost every practice session. Fast forward to summer, and I found myself back in Brooklyn, riding the uni all over the place. Super fun to notice the improvement in my riding.
I still have a lot to learn. Right now, I can only really ride forward and that’s about it. No tricks, no hops. But winter is coming, and that could be a good time to start working on other skills.
Also, a few months ago, I started riding a 29er. Initially, it seemed enormous, almost daunting. But now, I’m pretty comfortable on it and can freemount 90% of the time. It’s an amazing feeling, really. Aside from basic uni skills, my next goal is to try a 36er, hopefully sometime next year.
I’m lucky to have a few great places to ride around here (upstate NY). There’s a decent size park nearby, and a rail-to-trail trail that’s just perfect for a unicycle (and no cars!). But my favorite ride is a 3.5-mile trip into our little town to grab a coffee (and usually a doughnut). It’s a perfect challenge for me, the baristas are nice, and I enjoy the sugar/caffeine buzz on the way home.
For me, riding a unicycle has been an incredible journey, super fun, challenging and rewarding.
Happy riding!
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Now here is my story.
I started at the age of 40 when I bought my first unicycle at a discount store (Hofer in Austria). After weeks of trying to learn in the garage I finally was able to ride for some ten meters and right then the unicycle broke. So I bought my first qu-ax 20". I am still not able to do more then simple riding and some minimal hopping.
Now I own 11 unicycles (including a giraffe, a home made ultimate, a uni with a custom built single blade frame and a Schlumpf). In spite of not beeing a top athlete I participated in Unicon 20 in Grenoble and had a lot of fun. In the last months or so I use my 26" uni mostly for commuting from train station to work (9km round trip 3 times a week) and all short trips in town but I hope to get more active again.
I will be riding as long as my body allows.
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Great to read your story and thanks for helping to keep the thread going.
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Thanks Bug72 for starting this thread, getting us all talking about what it’s like for us older folks to be out there riding. I’m 61, and started unicycling in the late 1970s. From my early days of riding it didn’t take long for find a local unicycle club and be connected with the larger unicycling community within my first year of riding. I was exposed to people doing the skill levels, my local club putting on the (USA) National Unicycle Meet the following year, and generally a great immersion into the sport as it existed in the early 80s.
I was present for the formation of the International Unicycling Federation (mid-80s) and was fortunate enough to attend all of the early Unicons (followed by all of the ones after that). In the early 80s, the two main areas of competition at these things were Track and what we now call Freestyle. Aside from a few other events, everything else was added over the years. I really enjoyed Track, which is racing on 24" wheels with 125mm (or longer) cranks. It was pretty safe to pedal as fast as you possibly could, because you could still run out of most dismounts. I did very well on the track in those days, and even had the Guinness record for 100 meters, set in 1987 at 13.71 sec. (it’s a lot faster now).
I was also very into Freestyle, as that was the other main discipline, and learned lots of the tricks of the day. Mostly fairly primitive by today’s standards; it’s amazing how quickly “cutting edge” becomes “boring old stuff”. 
I rode Muni as “a thing” since 1981 and helped to popularize it. And I got even more deeply into it after moving to California in the mid-90s; my previous homes of Michigan and Long Island were relatively flat. Not that you need mounts to do Muni! But they make for more athletic challenges as well as nice scenery. When I discovered the trails around the Sacramento area I realized I had to host an off-road event, which was the first Muni Weekend (1996).
What’s all this got to do with getting older? Background, I guess. High expectations. While training for a week-long stage race called Ride the Lobster in 2007, my shoelace wrapped up on my Coker at 15mph and my shoelace didn’t break; my collar bone did. This caused me to miss the Muni Weekend that year, as well as consider my mortality. In the ensuing years, I became more and more averse to pedaling at really high revs.
I don’t know exactly when that started, but all of a sudden I couldn’t just zip down the track at 240-or-so RPM. I still had a great acceleration technique, but once I got up to a certain speed, a little red light would turn on in my brain, like a governor on an engine. This made Track racing less fun for me, and I still struggle with that little red light. On the 36er, which is my main ride in recent years, I’m comfortable up to around 14mph (22.5 kph). I can go faster than that, but usually only do at the bottom of a hill; I feel more confident when there’s a little more resistance. Also going downhill I’m not nearly as confident as I once was; I end up going down fairly slow.
I can still do the basic Freestyle tricks I used to do, but the higher-end ones have a lot of rust on them. I wish I had a gym to spend time in. That is one of my goals for retirement; to find an indoor practice space and get a program going in there.
I’ve managed to make it to every Unicon, and hope to send some of my unicycle collection to Unicon 21 in Minnesota as part of a history display. One of those will be my old 24" Miyata, which I’m pretty sure is the only unicycle that’s been to every Unicon. I broke the axle on it at Unicon 18 in Spain (IUF Slalom practice) but found a replacement hub and took it to Korea and Grenoble.
Some rules I go by:
- Wear a helmet. Your brain is worth it. I’ve fallen on my head approximately once in 44 years of unicycling; still a good rule. My worst head hit was riding my bike (to work); a pole shadow fell directly in line with a speed bump and my hands bounced off the handlebars. Those things are dangerous!
- I also recommend gloves and knee/shin protection for most other forms of riding. For Road, I ride with bare knees but for dirt my knees are always covered
- Practice regularly. If you don’t use it you’ll lose it. You won’t forget to ride (in my experience) but the finer skills will atrophy and die if left alone for too long
- Mix it up: Practice (or play) different things
- Practice emergency dismounts! In Road riding, I seldom UPD because I generally keep space around me and the pavement is mostly predictable. But nobody’s perfect; stuff happens and if your body/reflexes aren’t ready, the results can be worse than they should have been
- Never stop. Ride within your limits, but keep it up; it will help hold back the effects of time on your body and mind
- Have fun! If it’s not fun, you might need to make some changes to your unicycling activity. Unicycling is supposed to be fun. Even if you’re trying to finish a Marathon race without a dismount. In that type of situation it’s just a “fun later” type of thing…
At Unicon VI in 1992, I announced to the Japanese team (via IUF Founder Jack Halpern as translator) that I had a goal of riding a unicycle on my 100th birthday. It may be a mistake to mention that here, though it won’t be the first time. I know a bunch of you are older than me, so go for it. It’s not a race, I’d rather age much slower! But it’s been at the back of my mind since then, as something I’m going to do if I possibly can. This means I will work to stay healthy, to keep my mind active, and not loose my unicycling skills during the next 40 years or so.
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Thanks John, for all of your past contributions as well as your continued support to this community. My hope is that this thread continues and is a resource for our older riding community.
I’m not one for outdoor winter riding but I’m hoping to do a little indoor training to keep my skills up this afternoon to start my new year off.
Good luck to all in 2024
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I didn’t see your age in the post? I started just shy of 60. I’m now 65. My longest ride has been 23 miles. My most common rides are around 7 miles. It has changed my life. I had back problems and unicycling has helped greatly (exercising the core muscles). I just hope I can keep from the bad crashes.
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Some are talking about practicing falling. How do you do that exactly? To me that seems like a posibility to get additional injuries. I just fall the way I fall, and it’s different every time. If I include skiing and snowboarding, I’ve probably fallen more than most.
I broke my arm one year ago and there really wasn’t time for any kung fu stuff. Bam! - before I knew it, I was on the ground with a broken arm. 3 fractures in the ball that goes into the shoulder - I narrowly escaped surgery, and I can still feel it one year after. This was by far my worst physical unicycle injury, and it hurt almost as much as that one time someone called me a ‘clown’. The wheel stopped so sudden that the hub (flange) broke also.
I learned to ride at 45, and now I’m 59.
Unicycling has been great. Lot’s of fun, travels, and some new friends. I even met John Foss once.
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There is two options to do so, I have trained two ways.
- The first one is to go quite fast and jump off. It works only with small wheels though. On bigger wheels it gets dangerous.
- The second method is martial arts, especially judo, but many others could work. It is really effective for the front falls, since you learn to roll instead of face planting (only works on front falls, for the others you should have basically no speed anyway, so it is not too dangerous).
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I agree with two of your points:
#1 I can’t figure out how to learn to fall, all of my bad upds happen in the blink of an eye . I don’t have to the skills or the guts to learn how to fall.
#2 it does hurt when people call you a clown. I got that remark new years eve, ouch!
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I get the clown thing a bit. To be honest I don’t really mind it too much. Indeed with very young kids it is kind of fun. They do not always mean it in a mean way, almost like, “Are you a clown? [cool!]”
To be honest, it sounds like a fun career. Maybe I should have been a clown? 
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No: Aïkido falls are much better (you tend to roll over)
I try this every time I fall but do not always succeed (depends which way you fall) but it helps a lot because this practice is based on relaxed body
I used to think that too, but if you think about it the amount of talent it takes to be successful as a clown on a unicycle is huge, so now I just say Thanks if I get that remark
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