Did you overestimate or underestimate the difficulty of unicycling?

I underestimated. I thought that people only rode forwards, then I got
into it and found there was so much more to be done, and that having the
balace to ride forwards didn't mean having the skills to do anything
else. Sometimes it's discouraging but then I look at other peopl doing
stuff and I figure I can do it too.

--
PopeSamXVI - Resident Hogwasher/Hornswaggler

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i underestimated, partly because of those helpful peeple at
unicycle.com, tho. they said that i would be riding after about 10 hours
of hard work. NOT. i did the math, and it actually took me about 21
hours. ya, their guess was just a -little- off.

--
gasmaster - level 4 unicyclist

Real men only need 1 wheel.
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i way overestimated

I thought it would be unpossible

It took 10 hours

(with some of those hours being drunk)

--
Sofa - you - pee - dee

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I may have been one of the few who didn't really consider how hard/easy
it would be. It was different to what I expected. Most people I have let
try to ride my unis have underestimated the difficulty. A lot of the
people who over estimate it won't even try.

--
one wheeled stallion - Guerilla Unicyclist

OWS

"I'm going to be polite in this whole message except for here.

Idiot." - John Foss

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one wheeled stallion said:

*I may have been one of the few who didn't really consider how
hard/easy it would be.*

I'm in this category. I taught myself because I saw someone riding and
was intrigued enough to learn. I had no expectations. I just figured if
that guy could do it, then so could I.

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Well, they gotta tell you something.
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My expectations were fairly accurate for learning to ride.

However I overestimated the difficulty of a lot of freestyle skills. I
am proggressing much faster than i thought i ever would which is a good
thing. I think i underestimated the difficulty of coasting though...

--
nickvb123 - Freestyler

"He jumped off that with his one wheeled bike"
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very kewl question
🙂

when i first saw someone ride a giraffe unicycle at the juggling club
i'd literally just joined in Johannesburg, i looked from him to the guy
doing 5 clubs and wondered what i'd gotten myself into and why did these
people let me in?

the thought of riding a unicycle was firmly in the realm of 'yeah,
right!'
once i'd fallen off it and hurt my behind-bone (can't spell coccyx
2nite), i didn't really want to bother to learn

once i'd eventually bought a uni and comitted myself to learning how to
ride, it still seemed more difficult than i imagined

it was probably the ale-hours that helped me stick with it

underestimate, despite thinking it was impossible

--
GILD - Waffle-[censored] (ocfopgm)

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I thought it was going to be hard, and it was.

I remember 15 years earlier, my friend had one in his garage and I tried
it. It seemed impossible. So when I decided to learn for real, I knew it
wasn't going to be easy.

My non-unicycling friends will never understand this, but learning to
ride a unicycle for the fist time was one of my most rewarding
experiences.

--
mscalisi - Not such a newbie anymore
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I underestimated. It was almost impossible to just sit on it at first.
But I thought since I spent $100, at least I can practice for the
average time (10 - 20 hours) and if I didn't get anywhere, I could sell
it. Thank God I got it in about 16 hours, because unicycling feels so
good that just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

--
digigal1 - You call this middle age??

Omni for Uni and Uni for Omni!
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i didnt overestimate, or underestemate, i knew it would be a challenge,
but if i kept at it, i was sure to make progress, in my first hour at my
friends house, i rode his uni 5 feet, by the end of 3 hrs, i could go
about 30 feet, it felt real good.

--
c.critch - omg, I lost a wheel!!!

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I underestimated the difficulty. In the past I've been able to do most
new activities without much difficulty. NOw, every new trick seems to
start with the same impossibility, not that I've learned many tricks. I
figured that I'd be riding forward within 1 or 2 hours. Backwards and
idling another couple of hours. Jumping onto picnic tables soon there
after.

It is possible that my sense of time has changed as I've gotten older
and now have family responsiblities.

Before the family responsibilities, I could get home from work, and do
what ever new activity for the next 2-3 hours, Saturdays and Sundays
would allow me all day practice if I wanted to. Doing this, I would get
good, fast, or at least it seems so.

So, maybe, unicyling isn't as difficult to me as I perceive it to be.
But my perception is, that I've underestimated the difficulty of it all.

--
One on one - Hooked on fun fix

"I don't care who you are, that's funny!" Larry the Cable Guy
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I underestimated. I figured if I practiced a half an hour a day for two
weeks I'd be able to ride the length of my driveway. It took closer to
six weeks.

--
underdog - level 1 rider

toast is god's way of saying 'eat more butter'
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I definitely overestimated it. While I waited for my money to grow so
that I could buy a unicycle I read a lot about unicycling on the
internet, and heard that it would take two or three weeks to learn. I
thought it would take at least three weeks because I'm not the kind of
person that learns new things really fast.
I got the unicycle and started practising. I practised every day for
about one or two hours and found that it wasn't as hard as I thought.
After one and a half weeks I could unicycle on flat ground as long as I
wanted without falling.

--
Orange - Crazy cat

"Now, let's see if you can ride that thing." ..."Well, do it then!"
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Umm, took eight hours in the saddle before I competent to ride forward,
now less than a year down the road I am almost level 4.

The problem is that with this poll - It won't include those that start
and never learnt since they found it damn near impossible.

I bought a unicycle from someone who tried to learn and couldnt manage
it. The reason I bought the darn uni was that it was an ancient unusual
looking thing!

So I believe that the poll should lean more towards UNDERESTIMATE.

--
fontiminal - Level 3.9 Rider

- - - -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/USS-Soclater/
- - - -
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It depends so much on the individual. My 11 year old kid
was wheeling around like a knee-pumping maniac in 3-4 hours elapsed
saddle time, probably less. I'm 62, and it took me about 8-10 hours,
but that included learning the Coker which is so wonderful that the
24 incher doesn't get used much (WOW...what a difference between the
two for a beginner!). Actually, when you're learning...an hour of
saddle time is a LOT when you accummulate it 15 seconds at a time.
It is VERY satisfying tho, to stick with it and actually go a couple
blocks without jumping off. Next stop....East Coast!

"Sipid Malapropism" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

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A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the
results, please visit http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/34150
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Question: Did you overestimate or underestimate the difficulty?

- Overestimate
- Underestimate
- Neither, expectations fairly accurate
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After chatting to a bunch of my friends about unicycling, I've found
that most of them either underestimate or overestimate how hard it is to
unicycle. Those in the first group essentially think that you can just
sit on it, pedal fast, and go. Their counterparts, on the other hand,
are convinced that even getting on it practically means imminent
death.

Prior to getting my uni, I definitely underestimated the difficulty, and
was in for a surprise when I started learning!

I suppose for the purpose of consistency, let's say that "difficulty"
just refers to riding in a straight line.

Sipid Malapropism said:

*for the purpose of consistency, let's say that "difficulty" just
refers to riding in a straight line. *

My answer is a mix of all three. At first, I got on and found that I
couldn't ride, and got the feeling that perhaps I had underestimated the
difficulty of the task ahead. Having learned how to ride, I now feel
that I had overestimated the difficulty, because riding straight
forwards is so easy- theres nothing to it! So my answer is basicly a
matter of perspective, it depends on when you ask me the question.

I'd also agree that the difficulty varies between individuals. I know
people who really struggle to learn, and theres this one Bike rider guy
in town, who tried it once for about 10 mins and could ride 20 metres.
He asked how to turn, and I said "ride for a couple of weeks" and he
promptly got on and rode around a corner. The next time I saw him, he
tried again and still seemed like a natural, going about 30 meters
pretty smoothly. Sorry if that was OT.

--
Rowan - _________

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