Learning Journal

[UniTographer]

Originally Posted by Alucard

UniTographer

You are blazin' a trail Way to go! even idling now eh

LOL for some definition of "idling"

I put in a mile and a quarter of "real" riding today, turning left and right, straights and small slopes. All at the end of my street, so it's still not quite "real." I haven't convinced myself that I'm quite ready to commute to work yet but I think I'm close.

My best run was 0.45 miles sans UPD, averaging about 0.15.

Today I realized I was turning left by making very small adjustments with my hips, gripping the seat. I corrected that by leaning instead, and left felt very natural. Right is coming along. Also, I can turn left 180 degrees inside of 3m about 80% of the time now.

My performance tracking chart looks awful, though, since I've switched from just riding around the circle to actually trying to ride more natural conditions. I haven't been keeping track of longest run sans UPD since converting to my bike computer's measurements instead of pedals, so the data's also been sparse recently...

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/5...hart120615.png

[Jigywigy]

Thanks for the welcome.

Jyngles, it is good to hear there is somebody so close. We should get together sometime, but only after I get some distance under my belt. I still need to learn to free mount. My goal is to get a 29 incher (then a 36) and ride the Eastern Trail (from Kittery to Sout Portland). Distance riding is my goal. The trail - old railroad - runs near our house.

Today I found a couple things help with BOS:

1) If I sit a little more foward on the seat, switching between bum out of seat to bum in seat is smoother. If I sit too far back, when I remember to BOS the weight would cause the uni to tilt a little farther back then I wanted and I would almost stall.

2) The more tired I am the easier it is to keep BOS. My legs just give up and work mostly on peddling.

I made it pass the tree, as my daughter and I call it. To avoid ending up on youtube during the early learning stages, I only ride in a cementary. The place is empy, but has nice paved roads. The tree is at a point where there is a slight rise. I always UPD here as my thighs are usually screaming in pain and the rise throws me off balance. Today I made it significanly farther and with no pain! There is light at the end of the tunnel. BTW, the cementary is boring for my daughter as it is too easy for her.

I talked my son (7) into trying it on his uni and he made a couple revolutions with assistance. But he likes his scooter that shoots sparks out the back better than his 16 inch uni.

Jigywigy

[LoneReaction]

Originally Posted by Jigywigy

My goal is to get a 29 incher (then a 36) and ride the Eastern Trail (from Kittery to Sout Portland). Distance riding is my goal. The trail - old railroad - runs near our house.

Hmm, if you are going to get the 29" just for the purpose of a stepping stone for the 36", I think it would be a waste of money! (Of course unless you're keeping the 29" for other purposes later).

36" is not as scary as it seems, you just need to spend the first 30minutes or so trying to get used to the size, pushing yourself off a wall or railing and get used to riding it. If you can ride a 24" you can ride a 36" too!

[ununicyclic]

Hello

I'm currently working on wearing a hole in the basement floor as I try to learn to idle. I can manage 2-3 rocks before I lose control. My big problem at the moment is trying not to support myself against the wall once I am underway - I find I push myself away, overbalance the other way, and lean back to the wall to compensate or I just lean to far away from the wall and overbalance.

I'm currently finding having the saddle as high as possible and trying to support my weight on the 'upper leg' side of the saddle, along with keeping my arms up at shoulder level and bent forward (kind of looking like a crabs claws,) seems to work well.

[Jigywigy]

Originally Posted by LoneReaction

Hmm, if you are going to get the 29" just for the purpose of a stepping stone for the 36", I think it would be a waste of money! (Of course unless you're keeping the 29" for other purposes later).

36" is not as scary as it seems, you just need to spend the first 30minutes or so trying to get used to the size, pushing yourself off a wall or railing and get used to riding it. If you can ride a 24" you can ride a 36" too!

Good point. But I want to make a jump to the 29 for riding on the packed dirt trail by our house and riding with my daughter. If I am comfortable with the 29 I will go for the 36 for road riding.

Also, the more unicycles I have the better. My duaghter was riding my 24 this afternoon - she usually rides a 20. When I get the 29 she can side the 24 - then maybe a 29 for her also. The 7 year old on the 16 will get the 20 - and so on.

Jigywigy

[Davey]

Hi UniTographer

Where in Philly are you. I ride from South Philly to Voorhees NJ a couple of times a week. I have been looking for someone else to ride with

Since September i have gone from not being able to ride to riding as far as i want. The last 5 months have been spent in New Zealand riding Muni so looking for someone that wants to ride Muni up the Wissahickon

[jyngles]

I am trying to learn how to ride backwards, it has been the most difficult task yet. I can free-mount, idle, and bounce a bit, but backwards is a chore. Can not seem to get it to click. I am still not perfect with long distance riding and still have consistency and stability issues. How do I know if I am trying to learn to much to quick?

[Davey]

Hi jyngles

Just keep at it. Mix things up all the time. I have been having the same issues with riding backwards but some days i can ride only one or 2 revolutions but others about 6 - 8. It is like when you were trying to learn to ride forwards it will click one day

Regarding the trying to much. As long as your brain is still working and you can practice a bit of everything that you are doing then you are not learning to much. But make sure that you can own the skill's you have before you try to take on new ones

Carry on riding

[jyngles]

Thanks Davey for the input and support. I need that type of motivation.

I guess that is what I question, am I owning the skills that I have learned skillfully. Also the first time that I ever got on a uni was in Feb. of this year, so, I maybe putting to much pressure on myself. I, too, some days can only get 1 and a 1/2 revolutions and others I can get 5 or 6 tops. I practice everything all the time with the exception of distance riding. When I do practice I am constantly having UPD's. Is this normal for my stage of learning?

[toracyclist]

Back to riding after 2 and a half week break. (Hurt my knee 2 and a half weeks ago). Used some plastic $5 knee guards until I get my 661s. No decline even after my break. Getting better at free mounting.

[toracyclist]

Why does unicycling cause you to be dripping with sweat even after 10 minutes???

[ununicyclic]

OK, so after another week of trying to idle I have developed a few more ideas. All the guides to idling that I have found basically state that you need to rock back and forth whilst holding on to a support and then wean yourself of holding the support; I think this rather misses the minutiae of the required posture, focus and psychology. Here are my current thoughts:

Practice. A lot.

The saddle needs to be as high as is comfortable. Shoes need to be done up nice and tight to top feet slipping around in them.

Sit right back in the saddle and position weight toward the 'upper' leg. Lean the unicycle slightly back and the upper body slightly forward, almost beginning to feel scrunched up.

Turn the unicycle slightly toward the 'lower' leg.

Find something interesting ahead to focus on and concentrate on this. If initial balance can't be found, focus on something on the opposite side to which you are tending to fall and then revert to the straight ahead focus once balance is found.

If initial balance still can't be found, go for trying to idle without support anyway.

Position arms to initially curl round in front, but inevitably move them to keep balance once under way.

Count out the pedal strokes/rocks, listening to the sound of the unicycle moving back and forth, and try to keep a steady rhythm.

Keep trying to rock back and forth even as balance is lost.

If you are falling to one side try to shift focus in the opposite direction to the fall, reverting to focusing ahead if control is regained.

Using a small wheel may be easier than using a larger unicycle - it is certainly easier to fall off when it goes horribly wrong!

Practice. A lot.


I am getting an odd twinge on the upper leg side as I fall in that direction. I /think/ it is as a result if my upper body moving toward the fall, but the lower body and unicycle being tilted the other way. I can currently twist the unicycle in the opposite direction to the fall to get out of this, but this then over-compensates, my visual focus is messed up, and I fall in the opposite direction (toward the lower leg side) which I am not so good at recovering from.

[UniTographer]

Originally Posted by Davey

Hi UniTographer

Where in Philly are you. I ride from South Philly to Voorhees NJ a couple of times a week. I have been looking for someone else to ride with

Since September i have gone from not being able to ride to riding as far as i want. The last 5 months have been spent in New Zealand riding Muni so looking for someone that wants to ride Muni up the Wissahickon

I'm just outside of Jenkintown, a few minutes north of the north edge of Philly. But I'm downtown daily, courtesy SEPTA.

I have a ways to go before Muni-ing the trails around forbidden drive (used to do that on a two-wheeler a decade ago; loved it) but I'm up for it when I get to that point...

[Sanne.Kj]

Originally Posted by UniTographer

On one of the narrow end turns this morning, I almost lost my balance - and caught it again by idling! Once. So my maximum idle count is now 1.

Nice! You have to begin somewhere, and 1 should not be too hard to succeed with again - or maybe you can make the double number next time

Best regards,
Sanne

[jyngles]

Very successful day today, practiced for about 45 minutes and I reached about 30 feet going backwards, the furthest distance so far. It seems to be clicking a little better. I am feeling a little more comfortable with it, still a bit shaky and not perfectly stable, but I am doing it. I seem to be consistent with going about 6 to 10 feet with going 20 to 30 feet from time to time. Very happy with my progress today...