wrong way to learn?

I feel like I was pretty much on track in the hallway; whats a
reasonable estimate for how long it will take to be able to balance in
the open? five hours of practice?

EDIT: additionally, which would be better, five hours in one day, or
one hour a day for five days?

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Well 5 hours in one day might tire you out, depends on your endurance
(and your stubbornness, I suppose). I personally like to do an hour a
day.

--
dudewithasock

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(http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44950)
officially ended.
😎

iridemymuni said:

yeah but see the thing is the tree knows theres a tape recorder there
and wont fall down.

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It depends, within the 5 hours in one day; Are you getting tired? Do you
get frustrated and not take breaks? If so, go to 1 hour a day for 5
days.

If you can go 5 hours of practice without getting all frustrated and
tired, then continue with that.

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I havent been frustrated yet; I've decided the best way to pace myself
is to keep trying until my shirt is soaked from sweat all the way to
the hem on the bottom. in other words, not a square inch of the shirt
left dry :-D Its a workout, thats for sure. I'm still a little
concerned about venturing out without the wall; the seats gonna get all
messed up, since i dont want to put a sock on it...

I was just curious if five hours in one day, assuming i could do it,
would be as effective as the hour a day. i guess its a hard call, hunh?

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Sgaterboy said:

EDIT: additionally, which would be better, five hours in one day, or
one hour a day for five days?

I learnt to ride about a month and a half ago, so here you have some
fresh tips:
* yes, 1h-1.5h a day is better than 5h in one day.
* start daily training with repeating the easy stuff from the day
before
I my case this was really crucial.
* And in general don't try to hurry things up -- sometimes a new
skill
needs to be properly laid out in your mind. If you'r failing with
something,
why not stop it and switch to another skill and return to the
first, the
next day. But don't get discouraged! You can learn it! 🙂
* Is your hallway long enough? if not try to find something (wall,
fence, etc)
which has at least 25 meters, preferably longer and practice
there.

enjoy your learning!
/J

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I actually don't know. If you do five hours a day, take half an hour
breaks to drink/eat something and watch TV or use the Internet or read
or whatever while the food digests...congrats on the having
learnt!(another topic) Now you need to free mount...quarter turn
backwards, weight on the seat...etc. also works holding on to a
wall(also) For more deatailed instructions, see 'UDC.'
(http://www.unicycle.com/faq1.asp)
P.S. The dude in the picture isn't wearing shin guards. I think you
should.

--
Andy912912

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substitute my own!(Adam, Mythbuster)I now ride for Christ(though I
always did, now I'm in that group) but I still need my daily dose of
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I am just past this stage, and I only got there by going to the local
school early in the morning, and using their playground- smooth with a
wall. Definately, take a step out and just ride out into the oblivion-
you fail, but learn one thing from every UPD, and it will come.

I also started by doing half an hour at a time, but now I do hour a
day- figured it was double the learning time- but I am soaked right
through then!

Simon

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when i first started i did about 4 hours a day for 2 days. i could ride
about 30metres or so and turn slighty. i pretty much just did it until
my shirt was weighing me down with sweat. i find once you get
frustrated you lose concentration and its pretty much pointless to keep
riding. i say do it for as long as you can without getting frustrated.
if you get tired take an hour break and then keep going.

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when i first started i did about 4 hours a day for 2 days. i could ride
about 30metres or so and turn slighty. i pretty much just did it until
my shirt was weighing me down with sweat. i find once you get
frustrated you lose concentration and its pretty much pointless to keep
riding. i say do it for as long as you can without getting frustrated.
if you get tired take an hour break and then keep going.

--
tomtrevor

'A GALLERY!!'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/?g2_itemId=196944)
'KEEPIN' IT WHEEL' (www.mediahug.com/bikes)
So, what are you wearing?
If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the
others here for?
'g' (http://www.google.com.au/)'o' (http://www.google.com.br/)'o'
(http://www.google.co.uk/)'g' (http://www.google.com.ni/)'l'
(http://www.google.to/)'i' (http://www.google.ch/)'n'
(http://www.google.com.mt/)'g' (http://www.google.com.na/)'s'
(http://www.google.rw/)'!'
(http://www.google.com.do/)'t'
(http://mediahug.com/bikes/?page_id=26)o'm'
(http://www.funnyjunk.com/)'s 'r'
(http://www.tlb.org/park-all.lowbw.mpg)'a'
(http://www.burntfaceman.com/)n'd'
(http://tinyurl.com/c1as)'o'
(http://www.cheese.com)m 'l'
(http://www.mediahug.com/bikes/)i'n'
(http://www.mediahug.com/almax/)k'a'
(http://www.bakedbeans.com)'g'
(http://www.joecartoon.com/)e's'
(http://www.break.com/)
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tomtrevor said:

when i first started i did about 4 hours a day for 2 days. i could ride
about 30metres or so and turn slighty. i pretty much just did it until
my shirt was weighing me down with sweat. i find once you get
frustrated you lose concentration and its pretty much pointless to keep
riding. i say do it for as long as you can without getting frustrated.
if you get tired take an hour break and then keep going.

how'd you improve after the original two days? was it quickly uphill,
or pretty steady progression?

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Sgaterboy said:

additionally, which would be better, five hours in one day, or one hour
a day for five days?

Learning anything, especially a motor skill like unicycling, is about
opening pathways and synapses in the brain that execute the skill. This
literally means growing pathways between cells in the brain. That is
why the young learn faster, because their brains are still developing
and are more supple and tuned to learning. Much of this development
happens at night when we rest our brains.

So definitley 10 minutes, half an hour, or an hour a day is better than
an extended spell, as it gives the brain chance to make the physical
changes required to achieve what you have been trying that day.

You can often practise something one day and then try it again the next
morning and find that overnight, as if by magic, youv'e become better
at it. Of course it isn't magic at all, it's the learning process, and
a few more connections in the brain that you didn't have the day
before.

Andy

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at my house we have these big huge garbage cans, so i got my unicycle
got up and then tried to go as far as i could. i think it will hurt you
if you try to use a wall as a crutch. just get up and then go for it,
you will only get like half a revolution and slowly but surely you will
get farther and farther, try putting a stick or something where you
fell off to see how far you went. your saddle will get beat up a lot,
but it shouldn't do anything unfixable (duct-tape). and wear wrist
guards, i didn't but they would have helped a lot, most times you just
drop the uni and land on your feet. hope this helps.

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zfreak220 said:

i think it will hurt you if you try to use a wall as a crutch. just get
up and then go for it, you will only get like half a revolution and
slowly but surely you will get farther and farther, try putting a stick
or something where you fell off to see how far you went. your saddle
will get beat up a lot, but it shouldn't do anything unfixable
(duct-tape). and wear wrist guards, i didn't but they would have helped
a lot, most times you just drop the uni and land on your feet. hope
this helps.

zfreak220 said:

I used a 90 ft. rail and whent back and forth until I could
consistently ride the whole length.
I would find a rail, fence or wall and do the same. I concur w/ the
wrist guards though.
Then move to a gym floor, school playground, or empty parkinglot and
work on large circles and figure 8's until you get diameters within 5
yards or so then take it to the sidewalks and then to school.🙂

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speaking of school, within about a month of learning, i rode(2.5ish
miles) my uni to school on the last day.

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More advice, it would've worked for me(every skateboarder should know
this one, but they don't) after putting your unicycle together, use the
"butt pad!" Tie a cheap-o pillow you don't mind ripping open to
pieces...until you land on your feet in almost every UPD! I doubt it,
but it would've worked for me.

🙄 I said (typed) nothing!!!

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Need for (low) speed!Level Bored!Plain Crazy!I reject your reality and
substitute my own!(Adam, Mythbuster)I now ride for Christ(though I
always did, now I'm in that group) but I still need my daily dose of
(low) speed!
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what i did and it works well is find a hall (or two cars next to each
other) and ride in between em and then when you come the end start to
ride off.

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Sgaterboy said:

I feel like I was pretty much on track in the hallway; whats a
reasonable estimate for how long it will take to be able to balance in
the open? five hours of practice?

EDIT: additionally, which would be better, five hours in one day, or
one hour a day for five days?

Sgaterboy, there is some information right for you on my website:

Tips for learning to ride, freemount, idle etc:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/uni_beginners.htm
(Specifically the pdf download towards the bottom)

How long will it take to learn:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/agelearn_short.htm

How much time per day is better?
http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/agelearn.htm
(That's just the long version of the above, it basically says: shorter
per day is better in that it requires less training time - but worse
in that you spend more calendar time).

Practicing on carpet: don't do it unless you want something difficult.
Most carpets have some direction in the taft (weave) and this pushes
your wheel to one side. As a beginner: practice on a smooth semi-hard
surface, a gym floor is ideal. Do not practice on grass.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
"I'm slowly but surely stealing Wales and bringing it back to my house on the wheel, frame and cranks of my muni. - phil"

well... I put in about three days with one hour a day practice since my
last post. . . today i rode for twelve minutes nonstop - no upds! I
got five freemounts, and even fished my cell phone out of my pocket and
had a 2:37 minute conversation while on the unicycle and traveling down
the street. time to perfect freemounting , idling, and riding
backwards. thanks for all your kind words, encouragement, and advice!!!

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