Unicycle progression

hey guys, i have been ridding for long time but i can now ride down my street (at least 100m) i can rid off curbs, ride up and over bumps and i am very close at bunny hop but i still cant mount lol. anyone got n e tips?

Hey pitman. How was your trip to Spain?

About mounting - I found that learning on grass helped me to get the correct feel of pedal pressure. There was more resistance to the wheel slipping away from under me . I couldn't do a full freemount, it just helped me learn one aspect of the technique

I don't know what the mount I learnt is called, but I'll describe it as best I can.

Place one pedal facing you, 45 degrees to the ground. In my case, I make the left pedal face me. My right foot is dominant. Place seat into crotch area firmly. Make sure there is no pressure on any manly bits (for most guys, this is an instinctive step). Whilst keeping pressure on the seat, push yourself forwards, and place right foot on pedal. Your left foot should be at a constant pressure, so that the wheel does not move.

Just after you push yourself up, you will start falling forward. This is your cue to start peddling.

To summarise the main things that helped me
1) Maintain weight on seat.
2) Do not try to "idle". Just start peddling as you fall forward
3) Grass helped me to get used to the pedal pressure required to keep the wheel still. Once you feel the correct pressure, go back to a hard surface.

I haven’t learnt from a teacher as such, so there may be better and easier ways of learning. Best of luck learning. It feels great to consistently freemount, and know that you don’t not need a wall to ride.

[EDIT]
I just tried it outside again. a few more points:
1) I hold the seat with my left hand. when I "fall" forward, I let go go and flail my arms.
2) the wheel moves forward a bit when I mount.
3) I mount straight over the wheel. I starting trying to mount a little from the side. this made things far more difficult in the "falling forward" part of the mount.

Hope that makes some sense. best of luck, and let us know when you get it!

That explanation of freemounting is great, thanks for posting it. That very day I'd been thinking 'hmm, how would I go about learning to freemount? I'll have to do a search and hope something comes up'. And I got home and there it was

Not tried it yet, been too busy working on my steering. Which is coming along apace. The other day I went 50 meters which included 2 corners

i tried muni for the first time yesterday. i can wholeheartedly recomend at least a 24inch tire, with alot of tread. i was using a 20incher, with a street tire.

i was riding down a dirt track used for mountain biking. it was that steep that alot of people wouldnt try it on a regular bike

i got some nice runs down, but it all ended after i hit my ankle and groin *very* hard, all at once.

cheers, pete

*yay*

i just did 100 'back n forths' idoling on my uni whee!

super happy.. am gona start trying to juggle 3 balls on it soon

Thats great! I'm off to try some unihoki this or next week. there is a club upcountry that is pestering the 4 Cape Town unicyclists to get a team going here. If we get round to it, hopefully other unicyclists with come out from the woodwork.

Oh, and unicycle basketball is fun, especially if you can pick up the ball without dismounting.

mmm, picking up a basketball, never thought of that. might give it a go since i can already pick up a bottle

also, just got 8 catches of 3ball while idoling. it makes it soooo much harder

Woo, I can ride about 40 metres

Does anyone know anything about ladies cycling shorts?

I was thinking i could wear them under trousers

Pooh.

I bent my axel/hub today. noticed a wobble, nothing was loose, but the cranks were off 180degree angle. good thing is I have an excuse to upgrade my uni

Bad thing is I have to pay for it

At least it lasted till the end of level 3.

End of Level 3 eh WOFT? that aint too shabby

I broke my elbow at the weekend (not unicycling tho) so no more unicycling for me for a while

Ja, I'm getting there slowly:).

K, Sorry to hear about your elbow! How did you break it, and how long do you have to rest it for? Best of luck for a speedy recovery .

So, my twisted axle resulted in me upgrading to a qu-ax 20 cross. More money would result in a better unicycle. Alas, I lack more money ...



Note the flames on the frame

got a 20" nimbus trials uni ordred for christmas and am sitting by the door waiting for it to arrive, so should be getting back into unicycleing again soon after learning to go along many years ago

I'm going no where with mine had a bus knock me off you should see the state of it.

Jem wear the shorts they'l made a huge difference to long rides plus you've not got the extra bits to go numb(Thinks shorts may be too tight? Hmm)

i saw my unicycle in the garage the other day... i left it there a year and a half ago.... ... wonder how i'd be now after so much time out of practice.

try

might have a go tomorrow maybe .. when i have time but its bloody cold out.

last time i played i was at level 5 but could do some of level 6 too ... was getting mostly into street riding.
i got good at 180 crank stalls on a ledge and 180 hop off... or crank stall to 180 off and ride out backwards... but i some how think that will need a lot of practice these days.

Tried a little bit of easy muni today with a mate - Most fun I have had on 1 wheel! Speed was not the goal, so my 20" wheel was great. rain cut our session short though.

If you havn't tried Muni - GO TRY IT!

How are the rest of you getting on? PK - did you dust off your uni?