new to Muni, any tips? places to ride SoCal

[kreaky wheel]

Hi all, new the group, and new to Muni.
I used to perform on a schwinn 24" about 20 years ago at a theater. Could ride backwards stop in place and used to bunny hop. Times changed and i put the uni away. The other day I pulled the old schwinn out of the rafters after nearly 20 years of not even looking at it. I rode down my walkway the very first try. Rode it a bit more bailed a few times, but stayed up more than down. I decided I want to get back into it. My schwinn is thrashed. Decided to check out new unis.
Saw a Muni and decided I had to have one. Used to ride MTN bikes alot so thought it looked like a good transition. Bought a 24" torker dx after reading a few favorable reviews.
What a difference. Very glad i bought wrist guards and waited until they arrived, cause i needed um 2 minutes into my first attempt on the torker. Instant face plant. I cut a few inches off the seat post to lower a bit. I took the uni up to a grassy field and was able to ride it a bit. Bailed few more times but did some turns and was able to stop in place for awhile.
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for setting up the Muni for good rider position, seat location tire pressure, and maybe just some general getting started in Muni tips, or could point me in the direction of some info.
Also wondering if there are any groups or clubs in the ventura county area that had rides and maybe rider clinics or something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[skilewis74]

There are a bunch of people around there. Use the map feature at the top right of the page. vivargo, entropy, and muniaddict post here frequently and ride pretty hard core trails. Terry (muniaddict) goes ridding almost every day.

I recomend adding leg (http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=3&subcat=46&cat=Leg+Protection&L2=Safety+Gear&L3=Leg+Protection) and forarm (http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=399) protection to your saftey gear. (I also use a 661 Pro Bomber Riding Shorts (http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=704) but pad, a bit cooler than the one on UDC (http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=704), but w/ my skinny but the hip pads are too far forward. A football girdle would also probably work too.)

Seat hight is mainly about personal prefference. W/ a taller seat I find a bit easier to control the wheel and climb hills. A shorter seat it's easier to hop SI (seat in), pull the seat out for SIF (seat in front), and ride down steep hills at a contorlled speed. Just play around with it untill you find a hieght you like. If you decide to shorten your post more do it only an inch at a time.

I discovered a huge benefit from doing core strengthening exersises. I do a 30 min. circuit of core exersises daily and 30 min on the rest of my body a couple of times a week, focusing mainly on legs. Strengthening my core reduced my UPD's w/ fewer bad landings, this along w/ the leg exercises allowed me to ride more smoothly and for much longer before exhaustion. This turned out to be a very effective use of my time because I am only able to go on long rides on the weekends, and to get similar results in leg strength I'd have to go for a 2 hour ride verses my 1/2 hour routine. I started a thread on this a while ago and the general consensus was that per time spent it would be more worthwile to ride more.

[skilewis74]

Oops! Double post

P.S. Welcome back!:)