I don’t know. In a sense, I wasn’t really a rider until I could freemount with a library book tucked under my arm AND roll and smoke a cigarette on the one-mile trek to the library without dismounting, deliver the book, AND roll and smoke another cigarette on the way home without dismounting. Two miles pretty much completely disconnected from thinking about unicycling with no dismounts. Does that make me a rider? Maybe.
Or, I could say I wasn’t really a rider until I could freemount with my seven year old daughter on my shoulders and ride around the block and dismount gracefully with the unicycle in front. My daughter is still alive and uninjured but she’s 28 now and I don’t think I could tote her anymore. Does that mean I’m no longer a rider?
No. A few turns of the pedals and thinking, “hey, I can ride this thing,” is adequate in my book. Vague is OK here.
This has to do with the meaning that OTHERS derive when they hear you say, “I can ride a unicycle.” You are communicating and your words have meaning. Can I say to others “I can drive a car” if all I’ve ever done is pull forward 15 feet in the driveway? *
This is a DIFFERENT question and it has to do with when you said to yourself, “I can ride a unicycle.” This is a personal issue that does not involve communicating to others, so it is up to you when you say (to yourself) or realize, “hey, I can really ride this thing!”
These two cases can potentially produce two very different answers. My earlier post addresses the first case. Greg, I think you and many others are addressing the second case.
= 15 feet is about three pedal revolutions on a 20"
Actually, with a soft tire on a 20", I think that pi deflates to exactly 3 (making three pedal rotations exactly 15 feet).
Actually, it all depends on your point of view. To me they were the same question as I would NOT be able to honestly tell other people that I “could ride a unicycle” until I was satisfied that I REALLY COULD. I would definitely qualify that statement with “But I need help getting on”, if appropriate.
By the way - does deflating pi reduce the calorie content?
>
> I’d like some input on when you felt you passed the point of “learning
> to unicycle” and could honestly tell people “I can ride a unicycle”.
Two different points: I could ride as soon as I could point it in the
direction I wanted to go in and ride say 50 metres with a controller shallow
turn.
As far as my workmates were concerned, I could ride as soon as they
accidentally discovered the unicycle was in the post.
This is going to sound really pesimistic, but my fealing is that I would not say somewone can ride until they can get on without help and be confident that they will not fall off while they are on the relatively smooth and level. I canot imagine somebody getting so tired in these circumstances that they canot continue
until then, you are learning
Now, if this definition is correct, it will take me a long time to learn to ride an ultimate unicycle!
Oh, gee, then because I was really tired after my recent 31+ mile ride, I still haven’t learned to ride a unicycle. Darn and other delete able profanities. :o
i officially declared my self a “unicyclist” when i could ride home from the beer store 2 miles with a 24 of bottled beer and not have any casualties.
i can on occasion be seen commuting across the Toronto down town core on my 26er sipping on a tall americano and/or talking on my cell phone. i get the most attention while riding to work passing the financial district while sipping on my cafe and calling the studio to say i will be late cause i have been stopped by one to many SUV driving suburbanites who wanna know “is that hard?”
seriosly though i think if you make an effort to ride as much as possble every week you are a member in good standing in my book regardless of your skill level.
I also consider myself a unicyclist, I can freemount & ride for as long as I want though I’m still having problems w/ dismounting w/ the uni in front. I can do U turns and figure 8s on the driveway & I’ve logged so much mileage I’ve worn out my first tire to the thread. My second tire now is about half way bald.
:o