New Guy...Tired of falling



R

rswiegert

Guest
Greetings all

I'm a San Antonio pal of "Kenny" in this forum, and I'm new to this.

I bought a 20" TORKER off of Kenny last year, in hopes of learning to
ride a Uni to improve my balance for MTB riding/racing.

Kenny can mouch that I'm a pretty good "hammerhead" on the MTB, but it's
a year later, and after off-and-on attempts, I still can't get up and
moving on my Uni. In fact, I just got in from the back yard, where I use
the fence as a guide.

Any help from you guys would be great. My goal: is to get a Knobby-tired
Yuni and ride around the neighborhood, run errands, and ride trails!

Thanks,


Rick
San Antonio, TX:D


--
rswiegert
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i found riding on the concrete is way easier thasn in the grass when
learing. a very skight downhill spole helps too. And if you have old
ski poles- use them when you are learning and get off bvalance you can
correct yourself. lastly, sit up straight and dont try to flail your
arms.

What type of mtb racing do you do?


--
DK - level 11 unicyclist
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My friend who got me started with uni gave me this pointer:

RAILING

I seemed to learn fairly quickly on a nearby flat, paved path with long
railing. The railing helped get me additional time upright and
pedaling. I think you might learn quicker with more time in the saddle
and believe that a railing helps.


--
trailguy - uni is great
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Practice.

youl get it.

Take it a little at a time.Set goals:"im not stopping until i get to
that crack"Im not stopping until i can go 'this' far".and so on.

Dont stop until youv accomplished somthing.


Good luck!:D


--
forrestunifreak - Im Lame!

I live in my own little world.
But thats okay.they know me here.
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You did not say how many hours total you have spent.

I would say, practice on the sidewalk, way easier than grass/dirt.

I disagree with the previous posters, use a garbage can, car, mailbox,
whatever to mount, then let go and try and ride. Don't give up!!

FLAIL your arms as much as you want. This definitely helps to keep
balance, sit up straight as much as you can!

I am 40. I learned over labor day weekend. Within about 2 weeks I
could go about 150 ft and within a month, I made it around the block,
yes with UPDs, but still around the block. It has been 3 months now,
and I go for about three 6 mile rides a week. I have a 24 torker and a
Coker.
b


--
n9jcv
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I would just like to say welcome to the unicycle world, we all went
throught it and so do you, but its nice having you here:D


--
brockfisher05 - trials unicyclist

check out my gallery at :
http://gallery.vanuni.com/thumbnails.php?album=6

check out my website at www.vanuni.com

Add me to your msn at [email protected]
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n9jcv wrote:
> *I disagree with the previous posters, use a garbage can, car,
> mailbox, whatever to mount, then let go and try and ride. Don't give
> up!!
>
> FLAIL your arms as much as you want. This definitely helps to keep
> balance, sit up straight as much as you can!
> *

Some people can't learn like that. I used a railing. How much can you
flail your arms in one second or less? If you fall right off, over and
over again, then you will not spend much time practicing riding. You
will practice picking up the unicycle and climbing on. But we all learn
differently. A slow learner (like me) should probably use a railing.

Good luck, Rick. This is how we all started. Some of us are lucky and
the rest of us take time to learn.


--
Dave Lowell - _

Member of the
'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)

-"People who quote themselves are lame"- - Dave Lowell

-"You like this friend of yours, which is why you shove him/her into the
mud puddle."- - James_Potter, describing the true meaning of friendship
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There's some handy stuff you may find helpfull on mine and Andrew
Carter's website: www.unicycle.2ya.com
It's got tips on basic riding/learning how to ride, and then when you
get better some more advanced stuff.


--
munimanpete - a unicycle boy

*www.muniman.2ya.com* - -freshly updated-

*www.unicycle.2ya.com*
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Hey Rick.
Glad to see you're asking advice from the "all-knowing Gods of
unicycling":) Let me know when we can get together and I'll give you
some lessons. Now that you're ready to commit, I'll let you borrow one
of my other unis. I've got an extra 24x3 Muni that is loaned out at the
moment, but I should be getting it back after Christmas. I've also got a
28" with 170 cranks that may fit your lanky body a little better than
that 20" you've got right now.
As Pete said, check out www.unicycle.2ya.com, there's some really good
tutorials there


--
Krashin'Kenny - Crash Tested

If you ain't crashing, you ain't going fast enough!!!!!!!!!!!

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On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:02:14 -0600, "rswiegert" wrote:

>Any help from you guys would be great.


You could go to <http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/uni_beginners.htm>.
Towards the bottom of the page are two links. One is to a Word
document "Learning to unicycle", it is essentially the same as appears
on the website that munimanpete referred to. The other is a link to a
page predicting how long it will take you to learn riding, depending
on your age etc. That's meant as encouragement.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
"Deflating pi does not reduce calories, it just concentrates them. - billham"
 
Krashin'Kenny wrote:
> *Hey Rick.
> Glad to see you're asking advice from the "all-knowing Gods of
> unicycling":) Let me know when we can get together and I'll give you
> some lessons. Now that you're ready to commit, I'll let you borrow
> one of my other unis. I've got an extra 24x3 Muni that is loaned out
> at the moment, but I should be getting it back after Christmas. I've
> also got a 28" with 170 cranks that may fit your lanky body a little
> better than that 20" you've got right now.
> As Pete said, check out www.unicycle.2ya.com, there's some really
> good tutorials there *





Roger that Kenny...*Knowin' me, I'll buy the 24x3 from you too (give me
motivation to keep at it)!!*... Heh heheheh

Thanks for the info and the insight :D :cool:

I'm taking your advice of stayin gupright, a slight forward lean, and
making sure to "fall to the front". Yeah, I'd like to get together...I
saw Jeff @ Britton's Saturday, and he offered as well.

I've been working at it this weekend, and will do some more today (we're
on half-day schedules through the Holidays :D


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rswiegert
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mango wrote:
> *Tennis courts are handy places for learning too. Its easy to hang on
> to the chain link fences. But dont hang on longer than you have to. ;)
>
>
> You can do it! *




Awesome idea! There's Tennis Courts near where I work!

Thanks :cool:


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rswiegert
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Enjoy the falls whilst you can. Once you get better ( and you WILL ! ) and
start to do crazy stuff, the falls start to hurt a lot more. :)

Nao
 
Put your weight on the seat and remember to keep it there. Tell yourself
over and over again "keep your weight on the seat."

Look forward a bit, not down at the wheel. Remind yourself to keep your
weight on the seat.

Try to make smooth, round pedal strokes. Remind yourself to keep your
weight on the seat.

Grab onto something convenient and launch out into an open, paved area
and fall. Don't chicken out and step off, ride until you fall. Each time
you fall you learn to make a correction. Each correction you make, the
more your body learns how to handle them. Remind yourself to keep your
weight on the seat.

When you make corrections, you do so by applying extra force to one or
both pedals. This has taken your weight off the seat. Remind yourself to
keep your weight on the seat.


--
harper - Riding a Fat

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

"You go through life and you choose." - Greg Harper

"Sometimes you choose wrong." - Greg Harper

"People who quote themselves are lame." - David Lowell

"I think I just broke my leg." - Greg Harper, 10/9/2004

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