To the Lads out there: I am just about 3 hours into unicycling. URGENTLY need some uni help in order to keep the family jewels intact. Here’s my situation: · My starter uni is a 24-inch Torker DX. · The seat post adjusted so that at the bottom of the pedal stroke my leg is only partially bent while sitting squarely on the seat. · I am practicing on my back porch… it happens to be about 40 feet long and has what amounts to a wooden handrail. With that rail on one side of me I have chairs placed along the other side of my intended path. Works okay. · For the last 20 minutes before quitting I tried to sit wayyyy forward on the seat to see if that will help. I think that position is less excruciating but I’ve already mashed enough to where I had to call it quits for the day. My seat (it is stock) seems to have a pronounced “U” shape to it. I could probably live without the front part of the U for now though I know that I will need that handle later for hopping and such. Probably would not want to cut off the front of the seat now that I think about it because the handle comes in handy for catching the unicycle when I lose balance.
I have more time available to ride today (perhaps I am overstating my ability when I say “ride”) and yet here I am at the computer because of nut compression. First noticed the pain yesterday and put on my old padded mountain biking shorts. Some improvement. Still mashing the ‘nad especially right side. That is my starter leg for getting on the uni.
Don't sit on 'em! Position them carefully out in front of where you place your weight on the seat. With a little practise you'll do this without thinking about it.
If you still have trouble you may need to invest in a more comfortable seat like 'the KH saddle.' (http://tinyurl.com/6xyaf)
* My seat (it is stock) seems to have a pronounced “U” shape to it. I could probably live without the front part of the U jh *
sit up as straight as you can. the front of the seat is not the problem, though most people think it is. the more you ride, the more you will naturally sit up and on the back of the seat. I find that the back of the seat is a bigger problem is has too much of a slope.
And off course I will give some usefull hint: make sure you have a comfortable pair of trousers. Especially the crotch (?) on which you sit with your whole weight. When this is a big thick thing, not any seat will give comfort. And when your pants don't fit to well in riding position, your nut will suffer a lot to.
When you are getting on, push the seat way behind you, through your legs, (and not way just far enough) then pull it forward. This brings everything to the front and out of the way.
Just pull them up. If you wear loose pants and can't really do it well, wait until nobody is watching and just move them forward and up as far as possible.
u-turn, are you talking about the bike shorts with the padding (shaped like a unicycle saddle) on the crotch area? are those useful for non-distance uni rides? (trials, muni, freestlye) i've always wondered about that.
*This would make a good addition to unicycle.2ya.com, wouldn't it?*
Yeah, definitely! hahahaha that made me laugh soo hard. But something like that might turn out useful to beginners. Maybe you should make it a bit more professional looking, though....
part of the learning process(at least for the males) is to learn to tuck yer nuts forward/up as you mount. it eventually becomes habitual (which can be a bit embarassing in mixed company when you catch yourself in the middle of it) but you can deal with that later.
*wouldn't this be a good addition to unicycle.2ya.com? *
hmmmmm.....I'll have to ask Andrew about that one, but your right, maybe such a diagram would be helpful, Im sure many male beginners would find it usefull, and female beginners, well they can just laugh at our disadvantage.......
i have too much free time, so i made a diagram Ohh...That's why they call them the family jewels. 🙂 Good one, I didn't pick up on that until you mentioned it. I think this topic should be covered in our site. Do you agree Peter?
Although I can't exactly ride yet, I did however tried to practice free mounting in the garden when there were too many people outside (i'd rather not have others watch me kill myself repeatedly) and what i've concluded from my attempts at free mounting is every other time, I land on my nuts and i have to take a few minutes break, and for the times I didn't break my nuts, I either had the uni slid out from under me, or the pedal rips into my shin lol. But every once in a while, I'm able jump on and do a static mount and promptly fall forward again because I have not yet mastered the riding part yet /sigh
I think that diagram would make an awesome t-shirt 😉
The "nut conundrum" is a big one, I'm still having problems with it after a year, but I'm getting used to it... Anothe reason why I muni, in the woods, there's less chance of being seen adjusting the jewels... riding downtown... let's just say I'm adopting kids... 😉
-- evil-nick - Living in Balance
Never kick a unicyclist in the groin... it will only make them grow stronger...
when I started to learn (a never ending process) I had that problem with family jewels. So I took a radical measure .... just wear karate protection the size is important because they must not be too large (nor too small:p ). then having no more problem due to crushing where it hurts I could concentrate on learning.
then one day I took these protections off and started riding and then I did not hurt these anymore ....
