Learning Journal

[Spectro]

So as I said earlier here's a little report of today progress. So far I practiced for 'bout 4 hours in total.

I didn't bother trying to idle or similar stuff today, i just wanted to go straight to riding (little change doesn't hurt, does it ? ). It was surprisingly easier but few times I was too confident pedals hit me into the right calf and after the fall (video 1:35) I have pretty funny bruise on my knee. First thing I'm gonna do after i get money from work is buy a pair of KH shin guards .
Lot's of time I was able to ride to the first sewer cover and 2 times even twice as much (to the second sewer cover ). Almost half the time I start to turn to left for some unknown (at least for me) reason, so can you help me pls how to correct this?

I tried to ride twice without holding the saddle but I feel really uncomfortable that way and .... well i hate the sound of uni hitting the ground. Falls are pretty common so far but usually just jump of and everything''s ok. Now my goal is to be able to ride at least a little in one and half week cuz I'd really like to bring uni to camp on 18th.

Here are some pics of my "training ground" . The crack on the second pic is pretty bad to ride through but this is the best place I found so far.


And here's the promised video (editing is pretty bad, sry. I was in a hurry to upload it ). I'm looking forward to your feedback. Compilation of falls is currently being edited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8HrxQ7McgQ&

[Nurse Ben]

Slow down a bit, you're racing the wheel and it's beating you

But seriously, you need to slow your cadence and ride with the wheel.

Another common problem with new riders is they "push" the pedals down, versus "spin" the pedals around. Spinning is very important to learn as this is the only way you can minimize the side to side jerking/swinging.

The goal is for the unicycle wheel to track straight while you pedal.

Also try to relax your gut, come off the seat a bit, think of how you would pedal a bike, they are related ya know

After another year or so you'll be rocking it on the trails!

[Nurse Ben]

@Alucard:

The side to side "swinging" is your biggest problem, to work on that you need to open up your stance and allow your knees to float out. Also, think about spinning the cranks vs pushing down on the pedals. Spinning is more of a biker thing, but it's the same idea, to be smooth through the entire pedal stroke.

You also might want to raise your seat, esp for road riding, 10-15 degree knee bend at full "flat foot" extension, which will make you more efficient and might reduce the side to side swing.

You're also doing a little upper body swinging, so try to quiet your upper body by placing one or both hands on the grab handle.

More miles in the saddle will fix most everything

[Alucard]

Hey Spectro Well Done You . geez, it took me many, many months to get to that point.
Nurse Ben Thanks for the advice. I get what you mean about pushing down on the cranks, does' spinning' em take a long time to learn? I'm not too bad at holding on with my left hand. Which is weird cos I'm right handed, but prefer to use my left hand to brake with. Now, knees, do I just point them outwards to the sides a bit?
Boy, I can't wait for the rain to stop so that I can try all these ideas.
If any of these ideas work, I'd be so chuffed. I feel i can be a beter rider, just didn't know how to go about it.

Yep, more miles in the saddle.

Thanks again guys.

[knoxuni]

Once i got over pushing the pedals VS spinning it makes a world of difference! With my 26 with 137s for street you stand on them for a few strokes and then spin away

[Alucard]

Hi knoxuni
So I'll know when I have suceeded in spinning? I'll feel the difference?
Does it take long to learn? This is a whole new ball of wax

[knoxuni]

Ya you will know! it will be super smooth. it all depends how fast of a learner you are.

[Alucard]

Cor! Quick reply!
I'm not a quick learner, but hey ho I'm prepared to do miles in the saddle.


cheers

[knoxuni]

thats dead correct! its all about practice!

[TopHatPlus]

Hey Alucard, great video and nice riding. As stated you are forcing it to much, i had some issues like this when i first started riding my new 26" Muni with the 3" wide tire, so as stated i had to relax completely into the saddle, one thing i have done to help keel my riding smoothly is practice riding really slowly, and not really peddling but floating my around in a perfect smooth motion, you could even count it, like 1..2..3..1..2..3.. and that could be one flu revolution. i have been trying to ride skinny, and riding with 6" of the edge of a side walk as slowly as possible, the easiest way to stay in control and upright was to be intensely smooth.

Try riding slowly, and keeping your left hand on the handle (loosely) you may also find that slightly angling your feet outwear will pull your knees outward more. Time in the saddle will smoothen everything out! Glad to see your significant other working to keep up =D

Hey spectro, for your current progress i would not worry to much about holding the seat, yes i love holding the handle while i ride, but when you are learning just work more on balance, use the handle when your ready to attack something, also have to tried using your left hand to hold the handle? i use my right hand for hopping and drops but i cruise with my left hand?

[Spectro]

THP i tried releasing the handle but it's like i'm loosing lot of control. i know this mostly psychological problem but i feel like the ground will literally slap in the face when i try that. As of the matter of left hand, nope, i haven't tried that yet, i'm right handed and there's not much dexterity in my left hand. Same goes for my left leg, today when i tried idling on right leg it was ok and i can idle for 'bout 2-3 secs before i must grab the fence again, for the left leg it's different story, i can barely do back and forth once. I hope this will change with the practice.

As for my today training it was total torture. It was like 37C outside. I guess in previous 3 days when i was holding the handle i was kinda pushing me up and thus standing too much on the pedals. Today i tried to sit on sadle as much as possible. At the start i was barely able to do one rotation of pedals but after quite some time i did few okay (imho) rides. This time it wasn't like start-go faster-faster -fall of. .. it was more like start - go a bit faster - "whoops i'm going too fast let's slow down" - go a bit faster - slow again - fall after some time. ... as of distance it was up to the best ride from that video from yesterday.

So far i'm pretty happy 'bout my progress, bruise on right knee is healing, left knee is in one of those neoprene bandages, and right calf still hurts a bit after it was hit by pedal yesterday. ... but i'm really excited and can't wait for tommorow, it's so much fun.

[Alucard]

Gotcha THP

I've never thought about going slow, I just have one speed. I'll give that a try, though I think I'd actually wobble even more

[Young at heart]

Connecticut is not mountainous, but it is not flat either. Every where I go is up or down hill. How do you go up? Do you get a bit off the seat and pull the handle if is steep? How about going down? I don't have a brake yet and I find going down harder than up. I have been trying to spin and hold the handle, but the going up and down seems to keep me wobbly. Thanks for any input and the videos are great.

[UniTographer]

Originally Posted by Young at heart

Connecticut is not mountainous, but it is not flat either. Every where I go is up or down hill. How do you go up? Do you get a bit off the seat and pull the handle if is steep? How about going down? I don't have a brake yet and I find going down harder than up. I have been trying to spin and hold the handle, but the going up and down seems to keep me wobbly. Thanks for any input and the videos are great.

I find up harder than down!

Uphill: I lean in to the hill. It took me a while to get this; it feels like I'm going to lean right off the uni. But you pedal to keep up, and it works (albeit a bit jerkily for me still).

Downhill: I lean back. All of my early learning was downhill so I got this one early, starting by using my legs too much, and eventually getting my weight back on the saddle. Going slightly downhill, my feet slow the pace of the tire on the *upswing* (back side of the tire). To me, this feels much more natural than uphill -- but as I said, it mirrors the terrain I've traveled on the most.

I hope that's what other people do too, but probably not

[Alucard]

Hi gang.
I lean into the climb also and lean back going down. Though my climbs aren't very steep, still learning.
BTW...spinning, do I have to be out of the seat all of the time or am I getting too confused?