So I’m 11 and I have been unicycling for about 4 years now, and I am capable of doing any basic trick and more. lately I’ve been working on wheelwalking, and I want to know what the best way to learn is. help?
I am still kind of learning and not that good at it yet but I found this video pretty helpful:
lean back, face sliiightly uphill, or try some carpet. find a pole, wheel walk around it, and then go straight out from the pole when you feel comfy and see how far you can make it.
If you fall forward, lean back more. If you fall back, you leaned too far back. CONTROL YOUR SPEED. and practice getting into and out of it, while you’re practicing learning it : )
I’m still working on it myself, longest so far is about 30 feet.
ok, well I can now get about 8 or 9 heel to toes after one day of practice and I am aiming to be able to get my feet back on the pedal
You learned that incredibly fast! it took me months to get wheelwalking consistent.
Nonetheless, the main thing I suggest to people is not to rely on holding onto something apart from when you first start and need to get a feel for the new stance.
Well I was consistintly doing it for about 3 hours.
my butt hurt afterward 
From Rachel Sindelar’s video, I got the idea of starting my wheel walks from a one-footed idle instead of from a regular forward ride.
Once I had tried it a few times, I discovered that if I took my first step when my wheel was in its forward-most position, the average number of steps I was able to take afterwards increased a lot, seemingly because this sort of start put my body weight in just the right position above the wheel. I was then able to apply this breakthrough to wheel walks started while riding forward with both feet.
Oh well, once my skill improves, this breakthrough will probably become irrelevant, so maybe it’s only a breakthrough for me, and only temporarily, but I thought I’d share it anyway, just in case anyone happens to be at the same point in his or her wheel walking studies.
If you haven’t taken a devastating fall to your butt, you need to lean back more. Also, if you are able to, experimenting with different shoe-tire combinations can be useful, particularly if you can get 10ft or so.
Yes, I know this is an old thread, but it maybe useful to others.
No falls yet while wheel walking. You’re probably right that that means I am being too conservative, but at least I do lean back more than before. I can go about 10 feet on a good run.
I’ve tried walking different wheel sizes (20, 24, 29), but not different shoes. Tomorrow I’ll give that a shot.
It took me forever to learn it and I’m still not great. But I’m an old man.
Yeah, it does take a while, but if your practice sessions are frequent and short, the learning process is a lot less time-consuming. I have found this to be even more true with wheel walking than with other skills, for some reason.
What size do you normally use?
The bigger wheel sizes are easier, but the only time you are likely to want to wheel walk is when on a 20" or maybe a 24", because a 29er in a parade or performance is just too big. Also, the gnarly xc tires that most people run on 29ers are harder to wheel walk on, but there is significantly more room for your feet.
Normally a 20. I have heard that wheel walking on a larger wheel is easier, but for me that’s not the case yet, probably because a 20 is what I’m used to, and also because I’m still going pretty short distances, so the greater stability of a larger wheel is wasted on me, at least for wheel walking!
A week ago, I managed a few wheel walks of 30+ steps, and had still never had such a fall, so it doesn’t seem to be an absolute necessity for learning to wheel walk.
Today, though, I did fall, but I think it was mostly because of the rain. Just in case it isn’t obvious, wheel walking and moisture do not mix well! Normally I would know better, but due to travel, work and recent weather, I hadn’t been able to ride and was in a hurry to make up for it.
Oh well, by this afternoon the ground was dry, and I managed to get out again for a few minutes. Wheel walking seems like it could become its own sport, somewhat independent from unicycling.