One hand holding seat

DJack said:

I am relatively new to unicycling. For some reason I do all of my riding
with both hands free for balance. Obviously this limits me when it
comes to technical stuff and getting better. Pretty much the only
riding I have done is on trails. Whenever I come to an obstacle, I
basically stand up and put all of my weight on my pedals. I want to
learn to ride with one hand on my seat so that I can un-weight my
unicycle when getting past obstacles. I can do it, but it just doesn't
feel comfortable.

Do you pretty much always have a hand on your seat when you are riding?
What is the best way to get comfortable doing that? I guess I will just
try to start riding that way all of the time to make it feel more
natural. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

You just need more practice. Eventually you won't even need your arms
to ride forward and do a slight turn. By that time you will definitely
be able to hold onto the handle.

When I was learning backwards riding, I had the opposite problem. I had
to have 1 hand on the handle or else I just couldn't ride backwards.
But now I can. Just practice, you'll definitely get it once your riding
is more solid.

--
Monocyclist
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Monocyclist said:

You just need more practice. Eventually you won't even need your arms to
ride forward and do a slight turn. By that time you will definitely be
able to hold onto the handle.

Agreed.

My first year or so of riding Muni was done hands-free. I didn't
always need to use both arms to balance, but I just found it
comfortable. After riding more and more technical, steep terrain, I
found I really needed to pull up on the handle to make it down drops
and steep hills.

You'll get accustomed to using the handle out of sheer necessity, if
nothing else. It'll give you the ability to put more pressure on the
pedals (great for going up or down hills) and keep the seat underneath
you (over bumps and drops).

In the meantime, practice. As an intermediate goal, try riding with
your arms folded in front of you, or holding your hands behind your
back.

--
maestro8

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
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I think some people have better balance than others and therefore need
to wave the arms around more than others. But from my experience, the
best way to learn riding with one hand on your seat handle (or crossed
or behind your back) is to practice. First on the flat and then on the
not so flat.

Cathy

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cathwood

Say no to unicycle genre discrimination! - MrBoogiejuice

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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Generally when I MUni, I'm more worried about being off the pedals than
on. When I'm riding, I usually grab the handle and pull up, to stick me
to the unicycle.

That said, what everyone else said is quite right - it's all practice,
and I'm sure you'll find that the more you ride, the more you realize
just how much of this sport is practice.

--
flyer
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