Hi everybody,
I can ride a little, just learnt a simple free mount and cannot dismount ‘gracefully’ after years of Unicycling!!! But I simply love unicycling and am totally awed by the expertise of so many unicyclists combining raw power, grace, immense skill and above all - courage.
I have been using Unicycling as a metaphor for many things over the years in teaching and writing - for it communicates brilliantly. Entrepreneurship, Start-up Strategy, Financial Inclusion simulation and lately Business Enterprise Management are concepts that I work with and readily respond to Unicycle arguments.
Do check one of my unicycle based Management Posts below. It deals with strategic business concepts from a Unicycle perspective ( no one does not have to be able to ride to get the drift !!)
Looking for suggestions from you. I have seen the vast amount of videos and other materials available. I believe using Unicycles in education and training as a metaphor will bring the magic of Unicycling to more people. what do you think?
Meanwhile Happy Unicycling and stay safe wherever you are.
I assume you mean a graceful dismount off the back of the unicycle. I don’t remember ever practicing that skill. As a beginner, I didn’t know how to do it, and later on, I started doing it. Learning a graceful rear dismount was, for me, a byproduct of practicing other skills: riding into a sudden stop, static mounting, and idling. What is common to all these skills is getting the unicycle in front of you, getting your center of gravity behind the hub. I think the sudden stop is the easiest of these skills to practice. Adapting to the sudden stop is pretty straightforward; lean back during the deceleration (if you don’t, then you will UPD off the front). A graceful dismount off the back is kind of the opposite of a static mount. If you practice enough static mounts, you will dismount off the back during your many failed attempts. And while idling, it is necessary to get the unicycle in front of you prior to reversing direction. I suspect you don’t even need to be good at any of these three techniques in order to learn a graceful dismount off the back. Just practicing them will expose you to the physics necessary to make the graceful rear dismount happen. Keep practicing!
I assume you mean a graceful dismount off the back of the unicycle. I don’t remember ever practicing that skill. As a beginner, I didn’t know how to do it, and later on, I started doing it. Learning a graceful rear dismount was, for me, a byproduct of practicing other skills: riding into a sudden stop, static mounting, and idling. What is common to all these skills is getting the unicycle in front of you, getting your center of gravity behind the hub. I think the sudden stop is the easiest of these skills to practice. Adapting to the sudden stop is pretty straightforward; lean back during the deceleration (if you don’t, then you will UPD off the front). A graceful dismount off the back is kind of the opposite of a static mount. If you practice enough static mounts, you will dismount off the back during your many failed attempts. And while idling, it is necessary to get the unicycle in front of you prior to reversing direction. I suspect you don’t even need to be good at any of these three techniques in order to learn a graceful dismount off the back. Just practicing them will expose you to the physics necessary to make the graceful rear dismount happen. Keep practicing!
I assume you mean a graceful dismount off the back of the unicycle. I don’t remember ever practicing that skill. As a beginner, I didn’t know how to do it, and later on, I started doing it. Learning a graceful rear dismount was, for me, a byproduct of practicing other skills: riding into a sudden stop, static mounting, and idling. What is common to all these skills is getting the unicycle in front of you, getting your center of gravity behind the hub. I think the sudden stop is the easiest of these skills to practice. Adapting to the sudden stop is pretty straightforward; lean back during the deceleration (if you don’t, then you will UPD off the front). A graceful dismount off the back is kind of the opposite of a static mount. If you practice enough static mounts, you will dismount off the back during your many failed attempts. And while idling, it is necessary to get the unicycle in front of you prior to reversing direction. I suspect you don’t even need to be good at any of these three techniques in order to learn a graceful dismount off the back. Just practicing them will expose you to the physics necessary to make the graceful rear dismount happen. Keep practicing!
I assume you mean a graceful dismount off the back of the unicycle. I don’t remember ever practicing that skill. As a beginner, I didn’t know how to do it, and later on, I started doing it. Learning a graceful rear dismount was, for me, a byproduct of practicing other skills: riding into a sudden stop, static mounting, and idling. What is common to all these skills is getting the unicycle in front of you, getting your center of gravity behind the hub. I think the sudden stop is the easiest of these skills to practice. Adapting to the sudden stop is pretty straightforward; lean back during the deceleration (if you don’t, then you will UPD off the front). A graceful dismount off the back is kind of the opposite of a static mount. If you practice enough static mounts, you will dismount off the back during your many failed attempts. And while idling, it is necessary to get the unicycle in front of you prior to reversing direction. I suspect you don’t even need to be good at any of these three techniques in order to learn a graceful dismount off the back. Just practicing them will expose you to the physics necessary to make the graceful rear dismount happen. Keep practicing!
Well there are 2 distinct people who end up riding a unicycle:
The “special people” who tried something when they were 8 years old. While hundreds of other kids failed, they found they “could do it” and be able to do it easily. They are unique but don’t make the best unicycle teachers. They also unwittingly perpetuate the “magic” of unicycling.
The “insane/stubborn” people who tried something even though they “believed” it was impossible. Keep trying. Keep fighting. Do some internet research. Try this. Try that. Then “hey” it works. This is either attributable to “mental brute force” or an “undying quest for knowledge”.
I think I fall into the 2nd category, as I was never able to ride when young. Only at a later age with brittle bones and ligaments, but with a mature sense of determination and belief in technique was I able to conquer the unicycle. As an engineer/scientist, it gives me a great sense of power to be able to stick my middle finger up at the forces of gravity and physics that render unicycle as impossible. The science tells you it’s all in the balance and gyroscopic dynamics, but “nope” it’s all in the pedal and human feedback and control. Our mind and body is quicker than gravity.
This is as philosphical as I get on this subject, which usually tends to send me on a tangent to air my gripes.
I don’t see unicycle riding as so much of a “unique” skill that should be marketed as a selling tool.
It is an activity that I believe anyone can do. We “unicycle riders” who can “do it” just need to do a better job of observing what we do and articulate and teach others.
I like this – the scientist in you looks at the physics and thinks the model is pretty complex and difficult (which it is), but the engineer in you looks at it as a control problem and gets a solution which works anyway Fair enough you don’t really know how it gets a solution, but throw enough data at it and your neural-network will learn (that seems to be the approach in AI nowadays anyway ;o) )
