Thanks John!
I think learning to ride with the assistance of a wall is a fine idea,
however, what I’ve found over the years is that many beginners don’t
have easy access to a “good” wall to use while learning. Obviously, a
“good” wall is one that has a paved surface adjacent to it.
As you know the key to learning to ride the unicycle as quickly as
possible is practice. I’ve also found that if a student has to travel
down the street, across town or wherever to get to that “good” wall,
practice no longer is convenient. The student’s practice often becomes
too infrequent. This hinders his/her ability to learn quickly which
often equates to the student giving up and not learning at all. This
becomes even more of a problem when the student is a youngster who needs
his mom or dad to transport him to that place of practice.
I’ve found that to learn as quickly as possible the student really needs
to spend approximately 30 minutes per day practicing. For most students
this is only possible when practice is convenient. When the student
only needs a curb or platform and his/her unicycle they can almost
always go right out their front door and do it. There are no excuses!
I believe this is one of the reasons the method I prescribe in my
booklet, the “ride away from the curb” method, has been as successful as
it has in getting so many students riding and enjoying this wonderful
sport as quickly as possible.
I also like the “ride away from the curb” method because it helps the
student transition to free mounting much more quickly. When using a
wall, the student will learn to ride the unicycle but the wall does not
teach them to mount the unicycle, which the curb method does. One of
the frustrations I see with most students, even with the curb method,
comes when they reach a point when they can ride 50 feet or more. Every
time they fall off they have to walk back to the curb, platform or wall
to re-mount. This problem is amplified when the student is riding
several hundred feet. It is for this reason; I like my students to
learn free mounting as quickly as possible. The wall method does not
help them in this area.
When a student of mine progresses to the point where he/she is riding a
good distance I immediately start the transition to free mounting. I’ll
have the student keep a small, quarter sized rock in their pocket. When
a student has a good ride of 50 feet or more, I have them turn around,
place the rock behind the wheel of their unicycle to keep the unicycle
from rolling backwards as they mount it, then “rock” free mount and ride
back towards their curb or platform. The student is able to perform
this “rock” free mount almost immediately which is enormous in boosting
confidence and allowing more riding time and less walking time which
helps the student learn even quicker.
Once the student is riding well, I’ll have them practice normal free
mounting, which, as you can imagine, is picked up almost immediately.
The student is then free to ride anywhere his/her heart desires; true
liberation for a beginning unicyclist.
In closing I’d like to ad that it is not my desire to make an issue out
of which method of teaching is better than another. The issue, which is
the reason I wrote and sell my book is all about the fact that John and
I and so many others are using our knowledge and experience to “spread
the word” about this wonderful sport to help others learn to ride. If
we continue to work diligently, who knows maybe unicycling will become
an Olympic sport. Wouldn’t that be cool?
www.ridetheunicycle.com
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unipsychler - Ride The Unicycle ~ A Crash Course!
Just Ride It!
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