It’s good to see that you are making steady progress. I think for most beginners daily spins are more beneficial than the occasional marathon session. Frustrations can be forgotten in the light of a new day. Most, if not all, unicyclists share the common character trait of dogged determination. Persistence and repetition pay huge dividends.
I’ve been working on free mounting and riding a 36" for about 5 weeks now and-- even if it’s just for 15 minutes-- I have been doing it every evening or morning (except for 4 day period following a mounting mishap that sprained my foot). I would say I feel 90% more confident than when I started. I’m not quite completely relaxed, but I’m close. Even better, I can now do a stationary free mount about 70% of the time as opposed to 5% when I began.
Good things happen to he who is patient and forgetful (of previous mistakes and traumas).
I haven’t had even 1 successful free mount yet. I watched a bunch of videos of Japanese kids riding and it looks so easy. I was able to ride away from my wall this afternoon, go out 100’ and return to my wall in one ride. That felt great. The free mount is tricky. I wonder if I’ll learn it on the 36 someday? My goal right now is to ride on our local Rail Trail (paved and empty during the weekday mornings) but I can’t go there until I can free mount. So, step by step
Great progress in learning to ride hap.
Just wanted to remind you, one can’t stress this enough, keep your weight on the seat.
The more you really sit on the unicycle, using your leg only to gently roll the wheel beneath you, the longer you can ride (less exhausting) and the more you learn.
Freemounting may take some while (look for Terry Unigeezers mounting tutorial video), but once you’ve made it it seems to be surprisingly easy.
Welcome aboard, and nice work so far. Don’t be daunted - it will be incremental small steps in the “evolution of balance”. I’m 59, started at 57, ride mostly off-road (inspired as well by UniGeezer and well… everybody here), and have a million miles to go on the rocky road to adequacy. You’ll be there before you know it… probably passing me.
Have been wanting to try for years. Got the youngest off to college this summer and had enough free time to give it a try. After putting the bike together and messing around inside the house trying to get a feel for the balance, I have been practicing outside for about 3-4 weeks now at about 30 minutes a day (60 on weekends).
I can ride fairly reliably about 100 yards but find that it’s much more of a workout than I anticipated. After 100 yards I’m practically falling off through sheer exhaustion – and I’m in decent shape overall.
Trying to work on turning the corner at the front of my house. I tried free mounting and ended up bloodying my shin so I guess I have to do a little more research on that one.
Enjoying it at a lot though, and motivated to keep practicing.
It’s about getting comfortable and confident. Think “heavy on the seat - light on the feet”. Then with experience you should start to quite fighting it (standing on both pedals at the same time).
Thanks. I think that’s good advice. I wouldn’t describe a typical ride right now as relaxed – frantic would be more like it. I do have flashes of relaxation, but then 10 feet further on I’m fighting to stay up.
I was thinking I might need to raise the seat a little or move to a 24" wheel. I’m 6’ tall and using a 20" wheel now.
I found that seat height makes a huge difference, especially when I was first starting out. Even a little bit made a real difference! Just keep playing with the height until you find that ‘sweet’ spot!
keep riding!
Good job on your new adventure. And that looks like a great place to learn to ride with the wide open blacktop. I learned on my gravel driveway, and yearned for a setup like yours.
Thanks so much everyone. I had to work in the city (NYC) all week. Maybe someday I’ll be confident enough to pack my Uni and ride in The Park! I was thinking a lot about posture as I was walking this week. I’m going outside to practice this afternoon. “heavy in the seat, light on the feet”
Hap I’m 50 and I learned to ride when I was 12 and rode everywhere for a couple of years. Since then I haven’t done it and now I’m 50, chubby, out of shape and unable to run. I was thinking about unicycling since I have always missed it and because it’s kind of like running. I had just about talked myself out of it until I read your thread. I’m go ing to buy myself a nimbus 24" muni and get started. Thanks, and thanks to the rest of you folks at or around 50 for the inspiration!
Go for it, I’m having a great time. It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning. I don’t know about other Unicycles but I think I picked a really good one. They are kind of hard to find in the US though. I got mine here Nimbus E-Sport Basketball 24" Unicycles from Dubé Juggling Equipment
In Europe they offer several different wheels for it.
I have been trying to sit heavier and peddle lighter. It’s tricky. I still haven’t gotten a free mount yet. I kind of like my walk back to my starting wall as it gives me a chance to rest. Still, I want to get that mount. It kind of feels like thats really riding a unicycle. Also raised my seat from 195 mm to 219 mm. I might even be able to go a little higher but I don’t have enough post to go up any more. I cut 40 mm off when it arrived. Didn’t need to.
Buuut … remember to pedal in half-revolutions from horizontal to horizontal pedal positions … Pedal straight up and down are dead spots in which you can’t get force on pedals and lose control …