What was your "First Post"?

phil · March 11, 2003, 4:09pm

Reading Dave’s comments about never really giving an introduction made me look back for my first post on rec.sport.unicycling (oh yes, I used the newsgroup back then…). It was really quite a strange read…

Originally posted by Phil Himsworth, back in January 2002…
After seeing a friend unicycle to lectures last year, the next door neighbour occasionally tottering around on one, and then finally seeing one in a shop at the end of last year, I have gone and done it, and bought a nice shiny unicycle. The rest of my family and friends think I’m mad, but I’ve been wobbling around for three weeks now and I’m still thinking ‘why didn’t I do this ages ago?!’

I’m in a phenomenally good mood as I’ve just managed to unicycle most of the way back from a friend’s house, just over a mile, without being run over / falling into any ditches / crashing horribly etcetera. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for unicycling! Damn this ‘work’ malarkey!

I started off indoors for a week; we’ve got a quite big living room so I after many tyre marks on the walls and one pedal indentation in the table leg I could go up and down indoors; then I risked the neighbours thinking me odd and took it outside. It’s great, not only as a new skill but as a conversation piece - I know many more of my neighbours now than I did before, because people are a lot more talkative if you’ve got a unicycle! In fact every person I’ve met on the way back tonight has commented; great fun.

The plan is to be able to juggle on a unicycle… I can do the first okay, and I’m working on the second. Here’s hoping it’s not raining tomorrow!

The last bit I thought particularly nice… juggling on a unicycle. I can juggle on a unicycle, but that fell off “the plan” a long time ago, to be replaced with all these great things you can do on a unicycle that I’d never even thought about.

Then, of course, my second post the morning after…

Can anyone else find their “first post”? It’s interesting to see how your aims have changed since then…

Phil

AccordNSX · March 11, 2003, 4:36pm

Oddly enough I think I remember your first post.

JJuggle · March 11, 2003, 4:39pm

Truth be told I didn’t know about Unicycle.com at the time and they didn’t have Schwinns then anyway. My first uni had been a Schwinn and I wanted another. I had been “out of unicycling” since about 1981.

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

john_childs · March 11, 2003, 4:55pm

As far as I can find on Google, this is my first post:

Quite a strange introduction to the group. What must they have been thinking? Who is this weirdo looking for a bunk mate.

I had been lurking for quite a while before that. I still find that first post to be a little odd.

But it does bring back nice memories of the mailing list back when the post volume was a lot lower.

Scott_Stephens · March 11, 2003, 8:42pm

Ive changed quite a bit.

uni57 · March 11, 2003, 10:13pm

I was compelled to make my first post after being blown away by the mUNIac video www.muniac.tk (I just intended to lurk – sorry everybody for the change in plans). The mUNIac video drew inspiration from the equally amazing film Koyaanisqatsi. And thus it inspired my first post and my eventual sig line.

And then I immediately embarked upon highly technical issues and self-deprecation…

Originally posted by uni57
[B]Many people have warned of the perils of shoelaces getting caught. As a new rider, I thank you for the warning! Falling with an ankle bound to the crank sounds like it would cause nightmares as well as pain (no? then imagine if it happened to both feet at the same time… yikes!). And you wouldn’t call that a UPD – I don’t think that it’s technically a dismount if you are still attached to the unicycle.

Anyway, I recently discovered why my shoelaces sometimes become untied. I was unknowingly tying a granny knot (go ahead, laugh). Basically, a shoelace is tied like a square knot – you know, right over left, left over right (or the opposite). The second part, of course, is done with loops. Any other this-over-that combination is unstable and will come loose.

So, please make sure you are tying a proper knot (then double knot and tuck in). I can’t be the only one doing it wrong. And the moral of the story is that it’s never too late to learn new things. At age 37, I’ve finally learned how to tie my shoelaces AND I’ve almost learned to ride a unicycle.

uni57 (Dave) [/B]

I know, I know. It’s very technical.

And THEN… (isn’t this so exciting???) I started my very own first thread: Does leg armor fully protect calf agaist steel-pinned pedals?

And it’s been downhill ever since. Except that today I was complimented by John Foss and the legendary Klaas Bil. I mean, the legendary… the… Well, anyway, it’s here.

Where’s Your Other Wheel,
uni57 (Dave)

andrew_carter · March 11, 2003, 10:26pm

My first post was actually also my first thread. When searching for my first post I just discovered I’m on my 965th post. I’m fast approaching the big 1000 :). So here’s the post…