Wolfgang Stroessner
1998-07-17, 11:09 AM
Mick wrote:
> As a relative newcomer to this newsgroup, I can't help noticing how quiet it
> seems to be. Most days, there are maybe two or three new postings, and
> sometimes none at all.
Yes, that's true. And then at least one of these 2 or 3 postings a day may be
spam mails as well.
> With the number of unicyclists around the world, there seem to be three
> possible conclusions:
>
> 1. My browser is somehow set up wrongly, so I'm not seeing a lot of the new
> messages.
Probably not.
> 2. There is another relevant newsgroup somewhere which gets more postings to
> do with unicycling (e.g one of the juggling/circus arts groups). If anyone
> knows of an more active alternative to this one, please let me know.
Not to my knowledge.
> 3. All the unicyclists are out riding all the time and don't have time to sit
> in front of pc's for hours on end!
That may be the point, but probably it isn't (see below).
> Any comments?
Some time ago (one or two years) this group was quite busy with 15 to 20
postings a day. But there have been very few new people to this group since
then. So lots of topics discussed then are through now and most participants
know all the arguments that have been sent forth and back.
Another thing is that lots of unicyclists know each other in person or at least
by private mail. If asking a question and knowing whom to ask, I do it by a
private message. Other may do it this way as well.
Then we have an excellent FAQ now (available at
http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/faq.html). The consequence is that many
questions that used to be discussed at this group are no longer discussed but
simply checked at the FAQ.
Last but not least, people (including me) are becoming lazy and don't keep on
responding on every request as some did in the early days of this group. This
may be related to the fact that the internet is becoming quite a normal thing
these days, and the amount of emails each one has to answer is growing each day.
The enthusiasm of the early days is gone.
> Indicentally, my idling's improving (my record is now 12 complete cycles
> i.e. 12 backward/forward pairs), but I'm still finding it very difficult to
> stop turning to my left on each stroke (I idle with the left foot down).
> Any advice on this would be welcome.
Some suggestions:
1. Try to put all your weight to the seat, not to the legs.
2. Look straight forward, not to the floor. Especially try to sit upright, don't
bend your back.
3. The upper foot (the right one in your case) is not doing anything. All the
work is done by the lower (left) one. When getting used to it, idling is
identical to idling one foot, with the exception that the upper foot is not
placed at the fork or anywhere else, but on the pedal. But it is not used and
there's no (and this means no) weight or force on it.
4. Learning to idle is quite a lot of work. Don't let yourself becomming
discouraged, but go on trying. When seeing some good unicyclists idling quite
easy while talking, reading, juggling, unbuttoning their shirt or doing
anything else, then it's hard to believe how much work it took to get there.
But I ensure you, it takes weeks and weeks of practicing.
Best regards,
Wolfgang
\\\|///
| ~ ~ |
(- 0 0 -) +----------oOOo-(_)-oOOo--------------------------------+
| |
| Wolfgang Stroessner |
| |
| Director of the International Unicycling Federation | eMail:
| Stroess@Mathematik.HU-Berlin.DE |
| http://spectrum.mathematik.hu-berlin.de/~stroess | Oooo. |
+---------.oooO-----( )--------------------------------+ ( ) ) / \ ( (_/ \_)
> As a relative newcomer to this newsgroup, I can't help noticing how quiet it
> seems to be. Most days, there are maybe two or three new postings, and
> sometimes none at all.
Yes, that's true. And then at least one of these 2 or 3 postings a day may be
spam mails as well.
> With the number of unicyclists around the world, there seem to be three
> possible conclusions:
>
> 1. My browser is somehow set up wrongly, so I'm not seeing a lot of the new
> messages.
Probably not.
> 2. There is another relevant newsgroup somewhere which gets more postings to
> do with unicycling (e.g one of the juggling/circus arts groups). If anyone
> knows of an more active alternative to this one, please let me know.
Not to my knowledge.
> 3. All the unicyclists are out riding all the time and don't have time to sit
> in front of pc's for hours on end!
That may be the point, but probably it isn't (see below).
> Any comments?
Some time ago (one or two years) this group was quite busy with 15 to 20
postings a day. But there have been very few new people to this group since
then. So lots of topics discussed then are through now and most participants
know all the arguments that have been sent forth and back.
Another thing is that lots of unicyclists know each other in person or at least
by private mail. If asking a question and knowing whom to ask, I do it by a
private message. Other may do it this way as well.
Then we have an excellent FAQ now (available at
http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/faq.html). The consequence is that many
questions that used to be discussed at this group are no longer discussed but
simply checked at the FAQ.
Last but not least, people (including me) are becoming lazy and don't keep on
responding on every request as some did in the early days of this group. This
may be related to the fact that the internet is becoming quite a normal thing
these days, and the amount of emails each one has to answer is growing each day.
The enthusiasm of the early days is gone.
> Indicentally, my idling's improving (my record is now 12 complete cycles
> i.e. 12 backward/forward pairs), but I'm still finding it very difficult to
> stop turning to my left on each stroke (I idle with the left foot down).
> Any advice on this would be welcome.
Some suggestions:
1. Try to put all your weight to the seat, not to the legs.
2. Look straight forward, not to the floor. Especially try to sit upright, don't
bend your back.
3. The upper foot (the right one in your case) is not doing anything. All the
work is done by the lower (left) one. When getting used to it, idling is
identical to idling one foot, with the exception that the upper foot is not
placed at the fork or anywhere else, but on the pedal. But it is not used and
there's no (and this means no) weight or force on it.
4. Learning to idle is quite a lot of work. Don't let yourself becomming
discouraged, but go on trying. When seeing some good unicyclists idling quite
easy while talking, reading, juggling, unbuttoning their shirt or doing
anything else, then it's hard to believe how much work it took to get there.
But I ensure you, it takes weeks and weeks of practicing.
Best regards,
Wolfgang
\\\|///
| ~ ~ |
(- 0 0 -) +----------oOOo-(_)-oOOo--------------------------------+
| |
| Wolfgang Stroessner |
| |
| Director of the International Unicycling Federation | eMail:
| Stroess@Mathematik.HU-Berlin.DE |
| http://spectrum.mathematik.hu-berlin.de/~stroess | Oooo. |
+---------.oooO-----( )--------------------------------+ ( ) ) / \ ( (_/ \_)