I am one of the lucky guys: one day my girlfriend asked me to look for a unicycle so that she could lean too and a week after I was starting to teach her the unicycle basics on a 19er a gentle guy gave me for free.
It was in March, and since, at every single session (every 1-2 weeks) I see her making some progress.
Last session was the 10-12th one and she managed to ride her 19er for about 17.5 meters (11 wheel revolutions) and a lot of times between 12 and 15 meters (on her own, much more if I hold her hand)
I think she is close to the magic moment where she can ride 50 meters without interrupting the ride for an unknown reason.
My long term goal is to give her a 26" muni and ride on trails with her.
Please tell your own experience with your GF/BF, how it went, how long it took, what the learning strategy was, what your story is since he/she can ride with you and what it changed in your life since your other half can share your passion.
I met my girl on Tinder and she wanted to learn to ride. I gave her some instruction for an hour or so.
The next time she rode (2 months later) she was able to ride across a tennis court.
The third time she rode (2 months after the second time) she could ride around the perimeter of three basketball courts 5 times without stopping and landed about 5 free mounts. She learnt a lot quicker than I did.
Cool! One of my single friends was adamant that riding a unicycle was a deterrent to meeting women, but after telling him that people think it’s cool now, he posted a pic on Tinder of himself on a unicycle as an “experiment”, and he got more attention afterwards. Now he’s been on a few dates with the same girl from Tinder, and apparently she’s expressed an interest in learning to ride.
After 20 years of marriage, I finally got my wife to try few days ago. We’ll see where it goes. I kind of doubt she’ll really want to learn to ride as it involves physical exertion and sweating, but if she does, I’ll be here to encourage and support her, but I’m not going to push it. There’s a reason why we’ve been happily married for 20 years, and I’d like to keep it that way!
Many men on this forum list the possibility of their wives/girlfriends leaving them as the main reason for not acquiring additional unicycles, while others mention unicycling as an activity that keeps their families together (united?). In such cases, though, there are always kids involved.
I taught my girlfriend to ride when we were both 15, she learnt rather quickly as she was really determined to prove me she could ride it. We’ve now made many friends in the community, and we both enjoy spending time (as much on as off the unicycle) with them at conventions and events. Stella has also been an amazing co-organizer for our different events (Unicon, CMQs, shows, workshops, …) and is now part of the board of directors of our nonprofit organization.
Unicycling has definitively been a great opportunity for us to spend more time together, as well as a pretext to travel and discover new countries. Couldn’t be happier!
My wife is scared of heights but accepted to give it a try on my 20" uni. As she is not much of an adventurer and not into sports at all, it was the usual first session (20 minutes without much success).
A good friend of mine got his wife a 20 and she can ride. However, I do not have the details of the progression (just that I am happy for him & wish the same for myself ).
The funniest thing is: we were in vacation with my best-friend and his wife and discussion at lunch ended up with his wife saying that she would like to try to ride eventually on a 20 (he usually ride a 24/26 and she is too short/afraid to try on them). Still have to do a follow-up on that but who knows…
Great! This is exactly what I’m willing to and why i’m glad my gf decided to give it a serious try.
Indeed it started with a kind of deal: she wanted us to travel in Scotland.
I said “ok, we go ther if you can ride an unicycle”
I wasn’t expecting she takes my words, but she did.
This is an open door for the future, soon she’ll be able to ride her 19er then more serious things will be possible a bit latter, like riding together on trails with two 26ers wich means a lot of places to discover and a lot of moments to share doing the same stuff.
I tried to get my fiance into it, but after a few tries she’s given up. She’s a nurse with ER experience, and as soon as she gets on the uni her mind starts flashcarding through various head injuries she could experience. On the plus side, she’s very supportive of my unicycling addiction (even though she says I’m cheating on my unis with her )
My ex-wife learned to ride, the friend that introduced us was in our university’s unicycle club, and she started learning after visiting him. Imagine my joy when after we started dating I mentioned my obsession and she told me she already had seen me in the club, and she could ride a little. She doesn’t ride anymore, between knee injuries and having kids, but I think she still has her uni.
Now when people ask me where my other wheel is, I’m only half-joking when I say I lost it in the divorce
I taught my SO to juggle during our first holiday together, in 1998.
After we bought a house together, in 1999, I started teaching her to unicycle on the patio. I bought her a unicycle and she made some progress during her few practice sessions, getting up to 2 or 3 wheel revolutions.
A few weeks after we were married, in 2000, she broke her wrist while ice skating. That was it for unicycling for a while. She refused to get on her unicycle for fear of injury.
In 2006 our 4yo daughter asked for a unicycle for her birthday. In 2007 our 3yo son asked for a unicycle. By mid-2008 my wife had seen another unicycling family and had come to like the idea of all 4 of us being able to ride together. She started trying again.
She still doesn’t ride much. The kids are solid riders. They’ve both been out on rides of several miles with me. Our daughter has become a competent hockey player and our son is making good progress at hockey. My wife enjoys coming along occasionally and riding round the hall, though she won’t pick up a hockey stick. She can ride the length of the sports hall, but not reliably. Sometimes she can steer. She’ll probably never come out on a unicycle ride with the rest of us, but she enjoys what little she does.
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