Aching knees and physical exhaustion.

[XWonka]

I think i may have to give up Unis. I hurt all over

I find that my knees are aching like never before. Sometimes it's hard to stand up and even walk. I'm really worn out all the time. I'm really not in good shape to begin with so i'm thinking that i'll pass the more i work at it.

I've only been on a Uni for two weeks now. Has anyone else experienced this?

[treepotato]

GIVE UP UNICYCLING R U ILL???

don't worry it's coz yr bodys just getting used 2 the differmnt muscles that unicycling exercises after couple of months yr'll get used 2 it

[foolish]

Listen to treepotato.

Almost everone gets hurt learning and it can be really tiring. As treepotato said, it is because your muscles aren't used to moving in this particular way. Stick with it and don't get disheartened!

If it really hurts, take frequent breaks but DONT GIVE UP!

Happy learning

[GILD]

Originally posted by XWonka
I think i may have to give up Unis. I hurt all over

I find that my knees are aching like never before. Sometimes it's hard to stand up and even walk.

...and do consider professional advice if it doesn't get any better soon

[hole-in-my-shoe]

Check that your seat is at the right height. Having your seat set too low can lead to significant knee pain. You want it so that your leg is almost, but not quite, straight when in the pedal-down position.

Do not, I repeat, *do not* give up. :-)

In article <XWonka.niqvn@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
XWonka.niqvn@timelimit.unicyclist.com (XWonka) wrote:

>
> I think i may have to give up Unis. I hurt all over
>
> I find that my knees are aching like never before. Sometimes it's hard
> to stand up and even walk. I'm really worn out all the time. I'm really
> not in good shape to begin with so i'm thinking that i'll pass the more
> i work at it.
>
> I've only been on a Uni for two weeks now. Has anyone else experienced
> this?
>
>
> --
> XWonka - Flailing Unicyclist

If you've only been on a uni for a couple of weeks, maybe the muscles you
use for unicycling are just strengthening up. Your knees need a lot of
strength for unicycling. Maybe you should practise less and do some knee
exercises.


Liam

[jagur]

no doubt that hardcore uni-riding causes sore muscles in the beginning,but i do think that certain types of unicycling are bad on the knees.

[Mandell]

I heartily agree with hole-in-my-shoe. Check the seat post.

I was having extreme pain in my knees until I got my longer seat post and was able to put the seat at the right hight. Now when I ride hard, I only feel a little burn in my thighs (like I do when riding my bicycle).

-Mandell

[XWonka]

I did raise the saddle higher it fels a bit better. What is the appropriate height?

[Rowan]

Whatever feels best for you. I prefer a high seat which keeps my legs fairly straight. The only problem with this is it compromises your hopping ability. When your seat is at maximum height it has the tendency to throw you off when you hit a small bump if the pedal is at it's lowest point. I read somewhere that you should put the seat to where your leg is straight and then lower it about 3 cm. For my Mountain unicycle I ride with it lower than I would prefer but that allows me to jump up bigger obstacles and stand up for rougher terrain. On a road unicycle I reckon have the seat up as high as you can comfortably ride. On my old unicycle it had a short seatpost and I had an extra seatpost welded to the end of it to allow a decent height. It was good for me but it annoyed people who wanted to try to learn on my Unicycle because it wouldn't go down any further than the weld and not everyones legs are as long as mine. I suggest if anyone is welding an extra length of seatpost on that they should first cut the original seatpost down considerably so that there is still room to adjust the post after the welding is done.

[foolish]

Why weld the seatpost??? First of all, like you said, it is difficult to get any great variation in height, and secondly wouldn't it be much weaker??? I'd advise just buying a longer seatpost

http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=272

or even this....

http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=262

Actually i like that one! great invention.

[cjd]

I have bad knees, and I actually find unicycling somewhat theraputic. It tends to tighten up the muscles that hold the kneecap in place, without needlessly banging things around.

I've been learning to idle lately, and if my seat isn't high enough the thigh on my "down" leg doesn't work the next day. Reminds me of when I took fencing in college.

[Rowan]

I agree with you Cjd in that Unicycling is relatively low impact unless you are falling off all the time from great heights. Running and tramping is far harder on the knees than Unicycling since riding a wheel is a smoother movement.

Originally posted by foolish
Why weld the seatpost??? First of all, like you said, it is difficult to get any great variation in height, and secondly wouldn't it be much weaker??? I'd advise just buying a longer seatpost

For the price of the suggestions you made I could probably buy a new unicycle. In New Zealand Unicycle parts are relatively scarce. There are very few Unicycle models to choose from. I asked all the bike stores in my area about Unicycles and only one shop said they could order me one. I had to accept whatever I was given, there was no selection process and seat post length was not an option. To import a US $15 seatpost would cost me approximately $US $78.29 to ship to New Zealand. By the the time GST and the importing fee is paid it would be an expensive peice of metal. At the time I was not aware of Unicycle.com's existence and I was not connected to the internet. It was far easier and cheaper for me to go to my friends house and ask his dads opinion. He welded a length of seatpost on for free. Strength was not an issue and the weld is still there to this day, never cracked or anything. The only problem is the bulge where the weld is which I didn't completely file down since I thought it would compromise the strength of the weld. I am not suggesting anyone goes out of their way to buy short posts and weld them, but if anyone does get stuck with a short post that they would like to grow, I am offering them advice with the advantage of hindsight, I would suggest thinking about the position of the weld so that its relatively high up, allowing maximum adjustment potential. Luckily for me and other New Zealand Unicyclists Peter Bier is trying to get something started which will offer more choices to NZ consumers.