Having ridden others’ 6’ DM giraffes, idling on either foot and going
forwards and (not very far but) backwards, I ordered one for myself about 6
weeks ago.
I vowed to only ever freemount it, knowing that doing so would mean I
wouldn’t ride it for some time after it arrived.
This week:
Tuesday:
One 6’ DM Giraffe arrives.
I take it with me to the Tunbridge Wells Juggling Club and spend about an
hour (in total) trying unsuccessfully to freemount it - getting into the
saddle once or twice but then falling off.
Wednesday:
One hour at local park, more attempts. Same story, get into the saddle (more
frequently than the day before) but can’t ride out of it.
Thursday:
Another hour at the park sees the closest attempt yet. Got on, semi-idled,
fell off.
Friday:
Adverse weather, wet (only one dry spot near the football pavilion), windy,
sun in my eyes, bruises on bruises from the previous days, left
hip/knee/foot hurting. Right foot also uncomfortable. Frustrated by the same
mistakes (notably not leaning forwards enough) but soldiered on.
45 minutes of practise.
The day’s final attempt saw me getting on, falling backwards a bit, riding
backwards a little to compensate, and only staying on by grabbing the
pavilion which I rode backwards into. Satisfied with the semi-freemount I
rode around the park a bit and gracefully dismounted, unicycle in front.
Saturday:
15 minutes into the practice I nailed it - a neat freemount from which I
idled then rode away. Got a cheer from the junior footballers the other side
of the park.
I fell off minutes later trying to adjust the position of my feet on the
pedals.
I came back to the same spot, 5 minutes later I was back on so I rode around
a bit before going home for tea to celebrate.
A little later on I returned to the park - 3 more freemounts including one
outside the park on the very short trip home which I managed at the first
attempt.
It’s getting easier.
I would like to thank unicycling.org’s “Mounting a Giraffe Unicycle” page
(Paul Makepeace, Doug Borngasser, Damion Yates and Beirne Konarski) and Greg
Harper for his excellent tips (which I found in previous threads with Google
Groups) and for inspiration. Three one-hour practice sessions before you
started nailing 50% of the mounts, Greg! It took me four hours just to get
one.
That’s it. Sorry for the long post.
Andrew “Happy Bunny on Large Giraffe” Feldhaus
0xADF