We really have you hooked don’t we? There’s no going back now. You have crossed over to the dark side. 
You are ahead of where I was. I didn’t get my second unicycle for several months after I started riding. Now I have 6. Haven’t bought a new one in almost a year. Hmm. It might be about time for a new uni. Christmas is coming up …
Heads weigh b/t 10-20lbs (mine probably around 25lbs since my brain is so huge). So when you tilt your head forward (i.e. look at the ground) you’re throwing your balance off and putting unnecessary stress on muscles that are having to compensate for this movement.
With that in mind, I still look down while trying new tricks =P.
Gild, if I can get to that point before Christmas, y’all hear me scream 
Not only that drop but right across the street is a car lot with railroad ties along side the road. He-he, I foresee a lot of fun when I get to that point in my abilities. That 20" is going to get a good workout.
Wheel Rider, yes, hooked indeed
It honestly wasn’t intentional, but when I mentioned to her that most of the people suggested a 20", she kept telling me to get it. I refused to save some money. Well, when she finally called my by my full name and said just go order it, I said “yes’m…anything else?”
Now I just need to get a good camera to take some short video clips of me learning! I need to figure out a way to say that to my wife so that she won’t know that I am hinting! Maybe when I go back to work.
Keep using both my unis, and I will have to change my username!
Hopefully, that will be a scream of joy and not a scream of pain. When riding down a drop, remember to shift your weight to your legs/feet. If you do a drop with your weight on the seat … well, that really hurts. 
Plus, you will do a butt bounce that will be followed by an awkward UPD.
Video files
When you have some video files to post, use http://www.putfile.com/myfiles
It’s a free service for hosting video.
BTW, You’re making great progress on the uni!
And after that, still keep remembering that 3" drop, and how daunting that was, while you jump down a 5 feet high flight of stairs.
Great news again 
I went 50 ft three different times already today on the 20".
I could have gone further, but again, ran out of real estate. There is about 15 more ft behind me that I can start from. Not much support there, but if I can go 50 ft, I should be able to go the extra 15 ft.
Any way, just excited and wanted to share my improvement
Erant, if some of these older and wiser guys do that, then that might get me interested in doing something like that. However, at this age of my life, I have no desire to try that
Some of those injuries from my youth seem to have caught up with me and I am only 52 now. Maybe I’m not moving fast enough, eh?
I love you patmoore… thanks for the links
Re: Yabba-dabba-doo
In message <oldfatboy.1vf7ex@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
oldfatboy <oldfatboy@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes
>
>Great news again
>I went 50 ft three different times already today on the 20".
>I could have gone further, but again, ran out of real estate. There is
>about 15 more ft behind me that I can start from. Not much support
>there, but if I can go 50 ft, I should be able to go the extra 15 ft.
>Any way, just excited and wanted to share my improvement
Great stuff. I was there a couple of months ago. Started in April aged
51, on a 24". After not making much progress I got a 20" DaBomb from
Ebay and within a week was riding it across the school playground. I
used crutches to help me start, left over from when the wife broke her
leg twenty years ago. They gave me the confidence to go fast enough to
be able to ride, then after a while I mounted with their help, set off,
dropped them and carried on for fifty feet. So, my first unassisted ride
was quite a long one! What an amazing feeling! Afterwards we opened a
bottle of champagne to celebrate.
From there it took almost no time to get up to 200 m, now I can keep
riding for a mile or more without a UPD on a good day. I was out at dawn
this morning, did a couple of miles before breakfast. A lovely time of
day, no cars and just a couple of dog walkers for company.
The next target is to freemount, it’s not going well at the moment but
I’ll get there.
Martin E Phillips nb Boden, Splatt Bridge
http://www.g4cio.demon.co.uk martin/at/g4cio/dot/demon/dot/co/dot/uk
Homebrewing, black pudding, boats, morris dancing, ham radio and more!
The Gloucester-Sharpness canal page http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk
Thanks Martin.
I need to get to the tennis court or somewhere and fast. I am running out of real estate and about come to a stop on the improvement.
One nice thing here is that the temps are cooling off so I can spend more time outside.
I was hoping to be riding within one month of getting the uni, so I got some work to do yet. My first time on a uni was Aug 24th, so I have just over a week to improve a lot. It is getting more enjoyable and now that the lamp-post isn’t such a big deal (in fact it is now my goal each time), I can do a lot of back and forth
Freemounting??? Well, sometime in the future I will start that along with stopping, turning, etc. Whatever it takes cuz there’s a 36" wheel for me somewhere
Re: Re: Yabba-dabba-doo
Great progress Martin! The kind folks on this forum gave me some invaluable advice for learning to freemount and I’ll share my experience here. I guess I was 57 the first time I did it successfully.
First of all, I find it much easier to freemount my 20" than my 28" because the seat height is higher on the latter.
I gather there are two basic methods: One involves a quick backpedal and then a sudden reversal of direction. I’ve done it but prefer the less violent approach that is described below:
Read this carefully and think it through step by step.
Sit astride the saddle with full weight on it. Put the pedals in position where the rear one is slightly below horizontal and the front one slightly above. Rest your foot on the rear pedal but don’t apply any pressure on it!! Rock forward with your weight essentially all on the seat and quickly place your other foot on the forward pedal. You’ll be balanced briefly on the seat with very little weight on the pedals. Begin pedalling and you’re off and rolling! The first time you do it you’ll feel you’ve hit a major milestone (and you have!).
The more experienced folks here can dissect what I’ve written and probably explain it better but this should give you a start.
Let me know how you make out.
Pat
Re: Re: Re: Yabba-dabba-doo
[QUOTE]
[i] I guess I was 57 the first time I did it successfully.
I love old farts
Ride on !!!
Re: Yabba-dabba-doo
In message <patmoore.1vl4dp@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
patmoore <patmoore@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes
>
>Martin Phillips wrote:
>> *
>>
>> The next target is to freemount, it’s not going well at the moment
>> but
>> I’ll get there.
>>
>> Martin/
>> *
>
>
>Great progress Martin! The kind folks on this forum gave me some
>invaluable advice for learning to freemount and I’ll share my experience
>here.
>
>First of all, I find it much easier to freemount my 20" than my 28"
>because the seat height is higher on the latter.
Yes, I’m trying on the 20". The thought of leaping up the extra two
inches on the 24" is too much!
>I gather there are two basic methods: One involves a quick backpedal
>and then a sudden reversal of direction. I’ve done it but prefer the
>less violent approach that is described below:
>
>Read this carefully and think it through step by step.
>
>Sit astride the saddle with full weight on it. Put the pedals in
>position where the rear one is slightly below horizontal and the front
>one slightly above. Rest your foot on the rear pedal but don’t apply
>any pressure on it!! Rock forward with your weight essentially all on
>the seat and quickly place your other foot on the forward pedal. You’ll
>be balanced briefly on the seat with very little weight on the pedals.
>Begin pedalling and you’re off and rolling! The first time you do it
>you’ll feel you’ve hit a major milestone (and you have!).
That’s what I’m trying. I started with the backpedal method, but found
it impossible to kick the pedal back enough to get far enough past the
dead spot to go. I’m trying the “static wheel” mount now, although it’s
said to be (and feels) easier to have it rolling forwards a bit to
start. There’s so much to get right in one movement - getting a foot
onto the front pedal, getting it on in the right position, getting the
weight on top of the saddle, starting to pedal, not having too much
weight on the back pedal, not falling off…
Tried deconstructing the moves a bit tonight with the aim of getting
some parts of it right before pulling it all together. Modicum of
success achieved but a way to go…
Thanks for the encouragement!
Martin E Phillips nb Boden, Splatt Bridge
http://www.g4cio.demon.co.uk martin/at/g4cio/dot/demon/dot/co/dot/uk
Homebrewing, black pudding, boats, morris dancing, ham radio and more!
The Gloucester-Sharpness canal page http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk
So far today, I have gone 65 ft twice on the 24"!
May be very slow learning, but I am getting there.
Right now, the 24" is more comfortable than the 20" . I can’t figure that out other than I’m not pedalling as fast on the 24" ??
I was talking to my son last night and he bought a LX 20 " about a week ago. I think he may already be past me in the learning.
Break is over, time to get back out on the wheel.
Old Boy, you’ve got it made now. Are you limited to 65 feet by 1) lack of space? or 2) tired legs?
If 1) then find a bigger space,
If 2) then keep riding. Your legs will get stronger and used to the constant motion. You will get better at resting your weight on the seat and your legs will be more relaxed.
If 3) then maybe you need a more comfortable seat.
Oh, wait, number 3 comes after you have been riding non-stop for 20 to 30 minutes. 
Keep turning that wheel.
Lack of space
The lamppost isn’t a fear any more, it is now the goal
I took a look at the tennis court a couple of days ago (Friday) and I see why people aren’t using it. It is busted up pretty bad. So, I am looking for another place that is close to home. For now, I will just keep going back and forth on the sidewalk till I can get out and find a nice spot.
I will do it
congrats on the progress
like wheelrider said, u’ve got it made now
just focus on getting your rides as smooth as possible and keep your weight on the seat and u’ll be ready for longer rides when u find the ‘real estate’
a 24" (with stock cranks - normally 150mm) feels ‘smoother’ to ride than a 20
the Constant Footspeed Hypothesis notwithstanding
it may be related to your height
people over 6ft quite often find the 24 to be more comfortable
and don’t dismiss the ‘roll-back’ mount too quickly
it is a bit trickier than the static but it does help u get used to the basic movement u’ll need in order to idle
something u’ll want to learn before too very long
most important right now is to learn a freemount, any freemount
if u decide to go for the static, go for it
just try n spend some time working on the roll-back
it’s time well spent
Re: Yabba-dabba-doo
In message <oldfatboy.1vn1tq@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
oldfatboy <oldfatboy@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes
>
>Lack of space
>The lamppost isn’t a fear any more, it is now the goal
>I took a look at the tennis court a couple of days ago (Friday) and I
>see why people aren’t using it. It is busted up pretty bad. So, I am
>looking for another place that is close to home. For now, I will just
>keep going back and forth on the sidewalk till I can get out and find a
>nice spot.
>I will do it
I found moving onto a playing field a good move - it feels difficult at
first cycling on grass, but one soon gets used to it and it helps a lot
with helping you to ride over the irregularities in the surface without
worry.
Martin E Phillips nb Boden, Splatt Bridge
http://www.g4cio.demon.co.uk martin/at/g4cio/dot/demon/dot/co/dot/uk
Homebrewing, black pudding, boats, morris dancing, ham radio and more!
The Gloucester-Sharpness canal page http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk
Thanks Gild and Martin.
Yes, I need to start learning a free-mount. I do a (sort of) roll-back mount while holding onto a pole. That is my primary mount. However, yesterday I started using a curb-mount. Is that the correct term?
I fell a couple of times, but also made it a few times (on the 20").
There is either a grass soccer field or softball field by the the tennis court. It/they should be a lot smoother than my lawn. I will have to take the b*ke over there today and check them out. Besides the busted-up concrete tennis court, there are also benches lined up against the fence. I was hoping to ride along the fence and use it for support when needed. Every now and then I get pretty wobbly. Almost looks like I’m doing the twist
What I am doing now in my learning is when I start to go forward, I just tell myself to “just walk over there”. That seems to help the mental part of it (at least while I am learning).
Time to ride
i like to think of that as an ‘assisted roll-back mount’
u’ll find that u’re able to use less and less of the pole as time goes by
untill one day…
yeah, ‘curb mount’ is a nice name for the ‘assisted static mount’