Failure to learn to unicycle



johnfoss wrote:

> About walking:
> Walking is indeed complicated. Talk to anyone trying to program a
> machine to do it. Most machines that walk have much larger feet than
> the human equivalent.

Or more feet, yeah.

> When talking of learning to ride a unicycle, we generally assume a
> person who already walks. The balance part of walking is almost the
> same, if not exactly the same as what you use when unicycling. The
> learning part is converting your feet from walking to turning pedals.
>
> Walkers have the advantage of two feet. This makes it easy to stop
> without idling. We can't.

Can so. Can hop, can (maybe someday) stand still, or, as they say, stillstand.

> Having two feet also makes it possible to
> change directions much faster, and do a few other things we can't
> compete with on unicycles. Example: ever tried playing basketball on a
> unicycle against people on feet?

Gymnastics, footbag, under-the-leg juggling tricks....
 
ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
> *
> Stop. Remember, we ALL pick our battles. *


True. I don't want everyone to ride, it would take away a lot of the
fun for me since I like unicycling's uniqueness.

But the key thing is to know that the possibility exists to do it.
Everyone doesn't have to ride a unicycle. It's the defeatist attitude
that bothers me. I seen it many times with other hobbies and or sports.
But with uni, it seems so impossible that it quickly separates the "I'd
be willing to try it" from the "No way!" people. It pretty quickly
reveals a life philosophy about willingness to be challenged.

How can you say "I could never do that" about something you've never
tried? My point is made by the posts in this thread. We have to look
for people who have tried to ride but can't. And most of these people
who haven't learned, we seem to question if they really gave it a good
effort. Most people can ride a uni, what makes them say "I can't"?

Unicycling gives a person a chance to step out and challenge themselves,
physically and mentally. Probably more mentally. The beauty of
unicycling is the rewards are so great. For the rider via personal
growth and accomplishments and from the great responses from the
spectators.

Bill


--
billham

"Watch out for those widow makers!" What I said to chirokid a few
minutes before a widow maker (dead tree) landed on his unicycle
immediately after an UPD.
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Aparently some people never learn to ride. If you check on ebay you will
find unicycles for sale that the owner CLAINS were never riden as he was
unable to learn to ride.

As for walking versus riding. Two feet prety well takes care of
tipping sideways. A big help. Having a piveting foot and toes out in
front helps a lot with not falling forward.

Im my opinion that makes walking much easier. :confused:


--
1wheel
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Everyone who unicycles should have a go at stilts (not the hand and foot
kiind, but the foot and knee kind. I've done diablo (chinese yoyo) on
32" stilts, and it's interesting. Every motion involved in walking is
magnified. It really teaches you that all walking is falling and
catching. I knew a guy who alked a set of 8' stilts (head 14' off the
ground :eek: ), and he told me the strides were over 6' long, and it was
basically falling, and eventually putting another foot in front to catch
yourself. As for hopping, I meat a trials biker who could hop
immediately on my uni on his first try, but still can't ride.


--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
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billham wrote:
> * It's the defeatist attitude that bothers me. I seen it many times
> with other hobbies and or sports. But with uni, it seems so
> impossible that it quickly separates the "I'd be willing to try it"
> from the "No way!" people. It pretty quickly reveals a life
> philosophy about willingness to be challenged.
> How can you say "I could never do that" about something you've never
> tried?
> Bill *

Unicycling teaches us (again) the "can do" attitude.
My point is don't "look down" on the pessimist it is just their nature
(which has it's own set of benefits and values).

Too often we "brag" about being able to ride (while others can't).
And it also seems that too often, I hear people exclaim "I could never
do that!"
One guy said, "You're a better man than me!" and I almost responded,
"Yes, I know."

Let there be losers, pessimists, poor, procrastinators, perfectionists,
politicians, and police (Ok, I took that one P too far :) )

Not everyone needs to have a "positive attitude."
That would just allow more people to get in our way ;)


--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
http://www.ChangingLINKS.com
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One of my friends first learned to ride on a crappy red unicycle with no
more than a board with leather on it for a seat. The wheel was all
messed up too so it would roll about two inches when you stopped
peddling, and the tire was solid rubber. It took him about 5 months for
him to learn on it. If there was an award for the worst unicycle in the
world my friends unicycle would win 1st place.

Sorry I don't have a pic.


--
Mike_Foote - Violinist and Unicyclist

Long live unicycling
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I TOO AM A FAILED UNICYCLIST!!! BUT I AM TAKING ON THE POWERS ON
UNICYCLE IN MORE THAN ONE WAY!! THE GODS OF UNICYCLE WOULDN'T LET ME
BECOME A FULLY FLEDGED UNI LEGEND, SO I AM FIGHTING THE DARK POWERS OF
UNICYCLEDOM BY FIGHTING THEM HERE!! ON THE INTERENT!! ITS YOUR
DISTRICT, BUT ITS MY WORLD!!!


--
Grogboy - wankspanner

------------------------------------------------
with great power comes great responsibility.
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1wheel wrote:
> Apparently some people never learn to ride. If you check on eBay you
> will find unicycles for sale that the owner CLAINS were never ridden
> as he was unable to learn to ride.

Doesn't say anything about how many times it hit the asphalt, though.
 
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