I was a late starter ten years ago at age 54. Not really the sporty type but I was a good long distance runner in my youth because I was very light and efficient though not powerful. I had remained reasonably fit though a little overweight.
One day I saw a unicycle at a garage sale for ten dollars and remembered a childhood vision of riding a unicycle. It still surprises me today how I managed to learn on that little unicycle.
Part of me wanted to prove something to myself, having been a weak and not very coordinated person when I was young. I guess my childhood vision was an expression of wanting to do something that required some kind of advanced physical capability.
The summer night when I finally got how to ride stands among the most satisfying moments on my life. I felt somewhat similar when I learned to juggle in my thirties but unicycling is the āpiece de resistanceā.
Iām kind of somewhere in between the third and fourth categories. Keen cyclist but fallen out of the habit (except for utility use), very keen runner, once competitive but age has done that side of thing no favours, and discovered kickbiking in the last 4 years which has been a tremendous complement to running. I already had a uni in the garage from an impulse buy a few years ago and when I ended up going off sick with mental health issues I thought havong the time to practice and maybe give me something different to focus on would work for some alternative therapy. Sadly after 4 months of little progress I fell off sideways and whacked my knee three weeks ago. Itās still turnip sized and running is out of the question (needless to say I have tried!). Seriously thought of putting up my Indy Freestyle up for sale to stop me doing this to myself again but I still have a bit of an itch to try again. Mind you, Iām not the best co-ordinated of persons so I maybe am on a losing game .
Donāt give up yet! Sideways falls seem unusual to me, and you may have just been unlucky to do that and end up injured. The whole learning process seems to result in falling off less (until you choose to try a harder skill or unicycle, when it may be ārinse and repeatā, but by then you know how to recover a fall better - and most are forward run-offs). I started off with no particular protection, but I do now have enduro style mtb kneepads (mine zip on, and I wear them over my trousers unless itās hot) - theyāve saved my kneecaps a number of times, and have padding on the sides too. They seem a worthwhile cost and hassle in comparison with the frustration of injury. (hmmm, thatās said, when I just nip up the street to work I only chuck a helmet on, so Iāll feel really silly now if I injure my knees doing that!)
I was pretty sure I was getting a 27.5ā muni for Christmas and I wanted to be able to freemount it. I practiced mounting my 24ā 4-5 times a week for a few months, racking up about 2000 mounts. I had progressed to where I was getting 80+% success each evening.
Then, in the span of a week and a half, I fell 3 times. I caught the front foot under the front pedal on the way up. That rolled the wheel backward. The rear foot was already behind me and the front foot was caught. The uni shot backward, I went horizontal, and landed like a sack of potatoes on my garage floor, each time on my right rib cage.
I didnāt break anything, but after the 3rd time, my rib cage was really p*****d. I couldnāt take a full breath or sleep well on my right side for weeks. Worst of all, I was now afraid to attempt mounting.
A week after the last fall, I received a shiny new uni under the Christmas tree. It was 55Ā° and sunny, and there wasnāt any way I wasnāt going to ride it, but it has been assisted launches. I keep a 19ā at work (rode today, in fact) but Iām doing assisted launches on that, too.
Iām working thru the mounting issues, practicing a slower mount with something nearby I can grab if I need it. I studies uniMyraās EXCELLENT mounting video dozens of times in slow motion. Iāll get it.
Hi Craigandlyn,
Not sure where I should put my age on this forum. Iāll be turning 56 in March.
Just flying back from Hong Kong on a family holiday with wife and two sons.
We brought a KH29 and two 24" Unicycles.
Iām happy to have Unicycle Hill climbed three peaks.
Tai Mo Shan (960m elevation gain)
Victoria Peak (480m elev gain)
Fei Ngo Shan (510m elev gain)
I started at age 58, after my young daughter learned to unicycle and got quite good. I figured if she could do it, maybe I could too. I bought a 20" and it took me two years to be able to ride at all. Then I got quite good at free mounting. Then I switched to a 24", and now to a KH 27 1/2". I couldnāt figure out how to free mount it, but then finally succeeded by applying the brake when I hopped on, and then release the brake and ride off. I can now do it almost every time, at least heading downhill or on the flat (uphill Iām pretty terrible on freemounting). Iām now age 63.
I am careful always, always to be fully padded: helmet, wrists, elbows, knees, and a U.S. football hip pad secured in the place on my hip where I always hit when I fall. Just when I think Iām not going to fall anymore, I then splat, and Iām so grateful as I fall that I have my pads; it hurts, but I donāt have a year of recovery from a broken wrist/knee/head/hip.
Itās a great activity for my age. It takes my mind off my problems; itās hard to worry about other things when I could splat at any moment.
It keeps me in shape. Every day, I do 3 1/4 miles on the hilly roads in front of my house. With the hills, itās really hard work to make it up the hills with the bigger 27 1/2 wheel, which is great for fitness; I canāt slack off.
I hope I can keep doing this for a long time.
Hey Jeng,
Iām guessing you are struggling with the so called ātraditional free mountā. Pedals at 3 and 9 oāclock. You step, leap, land and go in one āperfect actionā.
Right?
Congrats and respect for your determination in getting where you are! Your perseverance has certainly paid off. Do you get to ride with your daughter much? I started 5 yrs ago when I was 41 but I hope Iām still riding strong when I am in my 60ās. I know many people do!
Hereās one for some old schoolers (50+ and 60+): Nathan and I rode an event sponsored by a local bike shop called the Ultimate Alleycat. Competing against bikes, we rode 78km with 990m of climbing, getting 12 of 17 sites for second place overall! (Tied, but we got three bonus points for riding fixies).
How diplomatic of them - clearly trying to avoid saying ābonus points for having lost a wheelā
What size is your wheel btw?
Also you say in your article āUsing Schlumpfs is too much like work for meā - Iād be interested to hear a bit more about why that is, and whether there would be a different non-geared unicycle you could have used for this instead.
I did a lot of Schlupmf riding training for Ride the Lobster, and then of course in the race itself. What I found is that even after many hours on the setup, I always have to maintain a higher level of concentration, can never truly relax. The lever arm pressure and the drivetrain slop, combined with higher speeds, make it not as fun for me.
I like that I can put more force into pedaling, but that force comes out as pressure on the frame to rotate forwards. Youāre always having to counteract that pressure; it becomes fairly intuitive but itās always there. And sometimes when youāve gotten out of your normal riding posture it feels like the thing is fighting you. I once took a high-speed crash because I sneezed.
The second mount, which heās labeled a ālow energy mountā, is what I usually do. Is there a standard name for it?
Itās not quite a static mount (which is the first one he demos), since the pedals move as part of the mount.
IIUC what people usually call a ārolling mountā usually has a couple full steps as part of the mount, not just a quarter-rev-roll-forward as this one does.
So is it a ālittle rolling mountā? A ācheaterās static mountā? Something else?
Iāve never seen a name for it. I personally donāt make very sharp distinctions between types of mounts anyway, so Iād probably say itās a variation of a static mount with the crank not starting perfectly horizontal to get some extra momentum into it.
In my nomenclature itās broadly:
Rollback: unicycle moves backward under the rider more than the rider moving forward onto the unicycle.
Static: Rider moves forward onto the unicycle more than the unicycle moves backwards under the rider.
Rolling: Momentum from walking/running is used in the mount.
Jump: both feet leave the ground before a foot is placed onto the pedal.
Inbetween those, there are all sorts of variations that I personally see no point in giving a dedicated name.
How encouraging and supportive this topic has become!
I started unicycling in 2003 as something of a personal challenge and this year, Iāll be 63. Iāve got my starter uni, a Sun 24, followed by a Nimbus 29er, a 36-er, and most recently, a Nimbus II - back to a 24, again. Any of them is a quirky way to get around but I love it! Typically, I ride on quieter roads and around town. I canāt figure out my mileage to any level of precision other than I wore down the tires to the point of baldness on the Sun and on the 29-er in 20 and 17 years, respectively. Goals for this year are to idle and jump with the new Nimbus 24.
Iām racing around to 58 and am loving my unicycling. I usually ride +/-20ks in about 90 minutes along the local beachfront promenade.
After years of dipping in and out, I got serious about my riding after an MRI on my spine revealed a collapsed disc. The surgeon was keen on surgery, I was less keen, so he told me to undertake some intensive core exercise, and the rest is history.
This snapshot is pretty average for my ridingā¦ I ride a KH 26er
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