You guys ever unicycle when you're bummed out or stressed?

General
1

Hey guys. Hope everyone’s doing well.

My 36er riding skill is still doing okay, but I’ve hopped back on the 26" to finish up some training of the bunny hop skill. My commute on the 26" has gone up a few levels after riding the big wheel. I use to be afraid of going around on the 26er in areas of moderate to high traffic, but now it’s much better and more fun. However, on the 36er, since I can’t idle nearly as easily and it rolls faster than the 26", it’s harder to deal with it in the traffic area.

Anyhow, life’s been a stressful and I had some nights where it felt like I was suffocating. I was REALLY down. So there were two nights where I went out around 10 PM when there are barely any cars and rode around on both unicycles (one on each night). Family thought I was crazy for going out at night on a unicycle of all things, but I just had to get out.

It was great. The quiet night air rushing past me, everything looked different at night, like a post apocalyptic kind of feel. Like everything is gone except me. And I keep riding and riding in the dark. The only light is from a rare car or sometimes the street lamp and a bit from the moon if the clouds weren’t covering it. I rode all over the campus of my old school, rode into the city to places I’ve never been to. It felt so surreal. In the daytime it looks so different sometimes, with all the cars, trash, people. It’s quiet enough at night where I can almost hear my heart beat. I UPD’ed once, looked around, no one was there to give a crap and so I didn’t either, good fun!

“When did life become so complicating?” I would think to myself. I wish life can be as easy going as this.

There would be many days when I was bummed out and the neat thing about unicycling is that, before I know it, all of my concentration goes into it and I forget my stress and for those few hours, I am able to have fun and do something that I can physically feel as compare to the crappy desk work that I had inside.

I think during the summer, I might be crazy enough to try riding around at 2-3 AM, see how that feels :smiley:
I’d imagine the people that are out that late would think they were losing their mind as I ride by on my giant green unicycle in the middle of the night!

2

One of the things I really like about unicycling is how fast the world vanishes when I get in the saddle. Work? Gone. The jerk who cut me off on the way home? Gone. Mid-life ennui? Gone. Woorying about how I’m going to justify my next unicycle purchase. OK, that one is still there. :slight_smile:

It’s a pretty amazing thing to give you an escape from life, that’s for sure. :sunglasses:

3

Fully agreed with you.
Everything much better and easier during/after unicycling.
For me it is like stress relief treatment.
Moreover, when my wife seeing me in bad mood she is telling: “May be you will go for unicycling ride?” and I coming back home after ride like a different person.
Sometime it is just commuting around town but it constantly makes me feel better.

4

I am totally with you on this, I am always thinking and focused on work to the point of not being able to unwind or get a good nights sleep but when I get on the unicycle it all slowly goes away, I try to go for a ride every night with my dogs to unwind a bit. I tried riding my bicycle to unwind but it doesn’t work. The think the unicycle takes just enough focus to take your mind off of life’s stresses

5

Nate, glad you found a way to alleviate your stress. Stress is a killer. A few years ago I decided I was no good at managing stress and so my only option was to eliminate it. I removed the more stressful aspects of my life and became a minimalist.

I’m also encouraged by these posts becasue I like the times when I’m able to fully focus on one thing and let the problems of daily life fall away from me. I can hardly wait until I can ride my uni unassisted and begin to experience what you are talking about.

6

Exactly!

I’ve never enjoyed riding on a bike as I have on a unicycle. 15 minute on a bike and I want to go home. Pure personal feelings there, nothing wrong with riding a bike, I guess I was just a unicycle person way before I bought a unicycle.

You saying that makes me wish we could all do a long city night ride together. How bleeping fun would that be? I am so serious about that 3 in the morning ride!

Very smart wife you got there. Relieves the stress and gives you exercise. Can’t beat that! She should join you if she can. Best thing about having a significant other is sharing stuff that you enjoy.

7

I’m lucky enough to be living a fairly stress-free life right now, but yes unicycling is a great stress relief, no matter what kind of riding! Sometimes I just go out on the front and idle a bit (STILL Can’t do it fully!) and come in with a smile on :smiley:

I also ride at night a lot, but that’s mostly because I’m a night owl anyway. I love it, as you said my town is a different place at night, however my town is post-apocalyptically (is that a word?) empty even in the day :smiley:

8

When unicycling, especially Muni, I find it hard to think about anything BUT unicycling and enjoying nature.

Afterwards I get that fatigue-high and feel good about myself because I did something healthy.

9

What better way to end a stressful week than with an hour’s uni-hockey? I count my weeks by number of days to hockey! I can have a really really bad week, but my hour of bashing a ball about, while on a unicycle greatly reduces the carry-over of work stress into the weekend family life.

Jerry

10

Yes she is. She know how to deal with me :smiley:
She was learning but process is very slow. Will continue this year (Picture of us riding)

11

This is a very insightful post.

It’s well documented that people who read too much facebook feel depressed. Why? Because in general facebook posts are about the happy moments of other peoples’ lives, isolated from the rest of life. For the most part people just put the good stuff on there, as they should, otherwise we wouldn’t want to look at it.

The downside is that the facebook consumer feels like everyone has a better life then they do.

I have a great job that pays really well. It also takes it’s toll on me 24x7. Why else would I be on my work computer at 0530 in the morning?

I can’t tell you how many times my wife, who initially thought I was crazy for buying a CX20 Torker at 53, tells me to go out for a ride. She knows (better than I) that the ride will transform my stress-induced growl into a happy face upon my return.

When I’m in that mode I make up all kinds of excuses not to get out. It’s cloudy. It’s cold. It rained yesterday. I’m tired. In most cases, after barking at her to mind her own business, I end up in the saddle. It doesn’t take long for the endorphins to kick in and I’m a changed chump.

I’m an early riser and most of my rides (by count, not mileage) are in the early morning. I have ridden in the evening AFTER the commute and I do agree, it is probably more meditative than the morning rides, where the challenges of the day have not piled on yet.

Thanks for taking your facebook face off. Everyone has sh*t, and we all know you can’t polish a terd. We are just fortunate enough to have a skill that provides relief from the daily grind.

12

Adventure novels are all full of action in faraway places, but a good poet can find a whole universe in a flower, an acorn or a noise in the street.

At the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious, I will say that a unicycle can help you make similar transformations. A stretch of pavement with a few bumps on it that you would never have noticed can suddenly become a place of danger and opportunity. As a unicyclist, you will become intensely aware of every detail of that piece of ground, even if you don’t fall on it, and you will often find that places and objects you had known about for years suddenly become exotic and fascinating. That loading dock, that picnic table, that flight of stairs…

13

could not imagine anything better after a hard workday than municycling some wonderful XC-trails in the wood.

14

Yup! I find riding my uni helps to keep me sane. It’s a real mood changer i.e. it changes my mood from bad to good. I don’t usually unicycle on work days but I look forward to my days off and then I have fun on my uni.

I read somewhere that with unicycling there is a constant feeling of success which causes the rider to feel good. My latest challenge is learning to ride my unicycle with handle bars on and I’m really enjoying it.

I’m really enjoying reading this thread. I’m encouraged by everybody sharing about their blues. So I’m not the only who finds work stressful lol!

15

What a great photo! You’re a lucky guy!

16

That is indeed the best description I ever read!

17

I tell people that I get recess twice a day. Recess was my best subject in school, and I still get recharged from playtime. My morning and after work unicycle commute removes any bumming out or stressing I may have going on. Although I must say that I also get stress relief if I run, bike, swim, or go to the gym. I believe excercise to be natures Valium. But my rides across Seattle everyday before and after work allow me to slow down a bit and just enjoy the city, and gives me a way to get ready for work, and a way to leave it behind me before I get home, an important part of my own personal stress managment. My wife is a huge advocate for my unicycling due to it’s effect on our lives together. That helps when I need $$ for a new ride. Besides, what girl can resist a one wheeled stud like us?

18

Right on Nate for being so candid. Life can be pretty bumpy, that’s for sure. I too find much-needed escape and rejuvenation from riding. An hour or two on the uni does more to reduce my stress than anything else I’ve ever tried. Plus it’s more fun. And cheaper. Would you rather pay Freud to ask “and how did zat make you feel?”… or take the cash and buy a shiny new Kris Holm (or Triton or Nimbus) and spend those hours dialing it in on your local trail?!? Easy choice.**

** (No therapists were harmed during the making of this opinion. And if that works for you - more power to ya!).

19

I have been riding since I was 10, and it really is the best stress relief I’ve got. Day and night are two different beasts, but both can really be quite soothing.

In the day there may be people around. I don’t get many hecklers, mostly just smiles in passing. I think it has a lot to do with what you are projecting. I like to ride with a big dumb smile, and it tends to put people at ease and they find themselves smiling too. Everyone ends up feeling a bit better.

At night it can be so quiet, with cool air and warm street lights. Occasionally you get the best interactions with people. I was out one winter night on my 36er and saw a guy struggling to get his car out of his driveway. He swore he was hallucinating some guy riding up on a giant unicycle, dismounting, and giving his car the little push that got him on his way.

20

I totally agree with all of you. That’s the reason I got hooked on it :smiley: