Family riding

Try getting your future wife on a mountain-bike and have her
go along with you on Muni rides. I'm sure the kidlet could
be strapped on somewhere to the bike or to her. 😄 There's
been only one time when I was able to pass a MTBer, and that
was a kid about 7-8 years old. So unless you're really good,
I think she'd find it to be a relaxed ride with you.

--
unibabyguy - Hunter-riding Municyclist
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paco said:

So how do I balance my love of riding with my love of
family?

The replies so far have focused on combining the two at the
same time. If it works, that is a fine approach. I sometimes
(i.e. not often) go out riding with my kids and/or wife, me
on the uni and they either on their unis (not my wife) or on
their bikes.

But there is enough time in a life to express your love of
riding AND your "love of family" sequentially and to (more
or less) full satisfaction. I speak from experience.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
You have to keep in mind that those of us who post on RSU
are not normal. - John Childs

My wife doesn't have any interest in learning to ride but
since I ride with both our sons she doesn't get upset.

Carl 42 and just learned to "one foot idle"!!

"paco" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is a more serious question (at least, until I start
getting goofy comments! 😄 ), and I'd appreciate any
feedback I can get. A lot of unicyclists on this forum are
younger and aren't married. But then, there are those who
are married. I'm somewhat in between. I'm engaged (I got
engaged over Thanksgiving), and as such, am thinking about
a family, etc. My fiance is a beginning unicyclist, while
I'm an intermediate MUni rider, which means most trails
don't stop me and I do 10 mile offroad rides frequently. I
believe strongly in doing activities as a family and don't
want to abandon my wife and kids every chance I get to go
"play with the boys," yet at the same time, I really love
riding and pushing my unicycling abilities. So how do I
balance my love of riding with my love of family? If it
comes down to my unicycle or my wife, I'll sell the uni,
but I really don't think it should come down to that. How
have you married folk found the balance?

--
paco - Proud owner of 2 opposable thumbs

Sounds exactly like an orthodic support for shoes, only
different. Would this be called a butt-thodic support? or
glutethodic? -S_Wallis
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Or perhaps if you wanted to work on other skills such as wheel-
walking or gliding, you could go to a park or a bike path
where you could Uni and she could Rollerblade.

--
spyder - spyder loves...

There are no stupid questions,
Just stupid people.
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I've set up some trials at home. I keep most of the trials
stuff low so my daughter can do them on a 16" bicycle (she
is 6 yrs old) and I do it on my MUni. Long skinny ramps,
slight up and down ramps, bumps and small steps. I also work
on hopping over and onto the obstacles. Lately I am working
on riding frontwards and backwards on the 9" wide ramp to
make it harder for me. It's taught her a lot about
practising and perseverance. She even tells me to keep
practising sometimes when I fall off. Haven't been able to
get my wife to play with us on the trials yet, bummer.

Sometimes we do a rails to trails ride, my wife and daughter
on bikes and me on the uni. It's a fast ride for me, relaxed
for my wife and a great pace for my daughter.

A few days back they went for a walk and I rode along. I'd
do a few sprints to work on fast pedaling and then ride back
and talk while riding slow. I'd also stop often and work on
a still stand as long as I could (1 - 4 seconds) and do a
stop/go ride while they were walking.

By the way, my daughter is learning to uni, but no interest
from my wife yet.

Bill

--
billham

Direction is everything, distance is secondary.
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Congratulations on your engagement! In my opinion marriage is
underated. Make your wife's comfort and happiness your highest priority
and I can just about guarantee you'll find a way to achieve balance and
joy in your life. Unicycles, motorcycles, boats and hang gliders can be
wonderful sport or recreation, but don't be misled by those who would
have you thinking that they will bring you true happiness in and of
themselves. There will be times when you will be tempted to resent
family for standing in the way of your sport. Be patient and loving and
good things will come back to you plus a lot more than you expected. I
finally have five kids who love unicycling as much as I do and it is
just so wonderful! Even my wife is starting to say she wants to learn
how!🙂

--
elmer - uniimpaired

"Oh, really? How many hours does it have in it?" (My 8 yr. old sons
response to my stating that this was the shortest day of the year.)
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It's not too late to back out. Don't let family stand in the
way of your sport. Unicycles, motorcycles, boats and hang
gliders are wonderful for sport and recreation, and they
will bring you true happiness in and of themselves. Don't
ruin your life, run for it before there is no turning back!

--
Rowan - Bald Unicycler
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Thanks guys for the responses. Elmer: That is exactly the
sentiment I was looking for! You hit it right on the nose.
Now, how do I go about doing that?

Her interest isn't in roller blading or mountain biking. One
of the first things that attracted her to me was my stories
of MUni. She bought a unicycle after I knew her for less
than a month! That's when I knew it was true love.
Unfortunately, she broke her wrist while trying to learn how
to mount, and is in her last semester for her Master's
degree, so hasn't had much time to practice.

And Rowan... I'm not even going to respond 🙄

--
paco - Proud owner of 2 opposable thumbs

Sounds exactly like an orthodic support for shoes, only different. Would
this be called a butt-thodic support? or glutethodic?
-S_Wallis
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Paco,

Congratulations! Really great news, and don't let Rowan
scare you off.

I have to say if it REALLY came down to selling your uni or
keeping your wife, you might have stopped short of finding
that soul mate. Whether they share your passion for a
particular something or not, it's important for partners to
appreciate and honor the big passions of their other halves.
Or as Travolta and Duvall said in "Phenomenon": "you have to
buy her chairs....".

Good luck.

PS: my 10 year old has been riding since age 8, and my wife
has gone to a beginner workshop and is threatening to
get up on her own one-wheel by end of summer.

--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

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You may not be able to ride as much as you used to, but
don't sell the unicycle. There should be room in a
relationship for doing doing things separately once in a
while. If you have kids it will be more difficult, but if
you try you'll work something out. I sometimes used to ride
for an hour or two or so in the evening when my daughter
had gone to sleep, and I don't think my family suffered
from my absence. Now with a baby in the house again there
isn't that much time for that anymore, but kids won't be
that demanding forever.

Take a look at 'this' (tinyurl.com3248fOpen ↗). You may
need to substitute unicycling for beer. 😄

Morten

P.S. Congratulations on the engagement. Good luck. I hope
you live happily ever after.

--
Borges - High impact cerabellum workout

"Getting caught wearing this helmet may result in death by hanging"
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Compromise can be a powerful tool. During your engagement
and until you have kids there should be some time to get her
riding better, maybe well enough to go with you on some
rides(ride, make out, repeat) perhaps wlking the tough
sections. Once the kids come you'll understand why so many
of us pick it up or renew it around 40. You just have to
make them a priority and support your girl. Chances are
she'll try hard to make you happy as well. Figure out
TOGETHER how much time you can devote to your sport when she
can't do it with you and I'll bet she won't resent
it. Finish when you said you would and call her if plans
change. There's actually some excellent advice given
for you by all the others and Rowan had me laughing
pretty hard. I'm not so serious usually in person.:p

--
elmer - uniimpaired

"Oh, really? How many hours does it have in it?" (My 8 yr. old sons
response to my stating that this was the shortest day of the year.)
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paco said:

*Her interest isn't in roller blading or mountain
biking. *

how is she on balloon modelling?

the lady in my life has absolutely no interest in uni'ing
or juggling my thursday night visits to the juggling club
are my 'church' nites she's quite into climbing with me and
even tho we haven't done much of it recently, we enjoy
sharing that

u asked how to balance your family life with your uni-life?
no one can really tell u we can all share the ways we've
reached some kind of balance but u'll have to work out your
own as long as u keep the 'channels of communications' wide
open(paradoxically, this could also mean shutting up from
time to time...), u should be more than fine

--
GILD - Waffle-[censored]

SPACESHIP EARTH

Namaste!
Dave
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paco said:

* One of the first things that attracted her to me was my
stories of MUni. *

So.... Unicycles really are chick magnets! Congratulations
on the engagement. If you have found the right women it will
be the best decision of your life. For me the thing that
brought us together was me being a Black Belt and Instructor
in Martial Arts. My wife had been in martial arts earlier
while in college, and was a very rewarding experience for
her. As time went by we found other common interests like we
could both juggle. We both loved kayaking and many other off
the beaten path sort of things. So when I said I wanted to
learn how to ride a unicycle last year she was completely
supportive and downright excited. She is about 2 hours
practice from riding and freemounting herself. My daughter
turned 3 last week and she got her first unicycle for her
birthday. She probably won't be able to ride anytime soon,
but was she ever excited. It is laying in the livingroom,
and she tries getting on it 5-6 times a day. She asks me to
help her "ride" it at least 2-3 times a day. She is
definitely Daddy's girl.

So don't fret, you can have your cake and eat it too!
Also make sure your fiance has good wrist guards next
time she tries.
🙂

--
bugman - Equilibrium Challenged

"Trying to maintain balance by wild arm and body motions is something
like trying to balance a wet noodle"
Jack Wiley _The_Unicycle_Book_
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Quoted message said:

*So how do I balance my love of riding with my love of
family?*

Become like the 'Dazzling Mills Family'
(dazzlingmills.com)!Open ↗

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--
Rowan - Bald Unicycler
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Paco, you have received lots of great advice. I especially
like elmer's words of wisdom.

I will just add two comments. With you having the desire to
even ask this question, you will do great as a husband and
one day, a father.

Second, If you really want to show her how much she matters
to you. Sell on of your unicycles and take her on an extra
special date with the loot. That will let her know where she
stands, and your uni-time will never intimidate her. (NOTE:
If you only have on Unicycle, don't follow this advice. 😄)

Congratulations!!! A great wife is one of the most wonderful
thing in life. Much greater than any unicycle, or all my
unicyles for that matter. But, a great wife also wants you
to enjoy yourself. When you give 100%, marriage always works
out for good. --chirokid--

--
chirokid

..and a butt that smells like chocolate is good? ? ? ? ? 😄
"Get some Palmers Cocoa Butter Lotion from Boots. If you put it on in
the evening after a ride, you'll be fine to ride the next day. As an
added bonus it smells of chocolate too." JoeMarshall
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chirokid said:

*Second, If you really want to show her how much she
matters to you. Sell on of your unicycles and take her on
an extra special date with the loot. --chirokid-- *

The vultures are circling already.😄 I think this was
similar advice you gave to Jagur before you talked him out
of his SH 29er.:eek:

--
bugman - Equilibrium Challenged

"Trying to maintain balance by wild arm and body motions is something
like trying to balance a wet noodle"
Jack Wiley _The_Unicycle_Book_
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with all this talk of our 'significant others', i thought
putting a face to all the people we're talking about might
be a kewl idea?

this is katy doing what she does best when we juggle at
emmarentia dam (i jest, normally she reads) and the other
picture is us in the studio of the internet radio station
where we met (africam)

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--
GILD - Waffle-[censored]

SPACESHIP EARTH

Namaste!
Dave
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ok, if i cant add two pics in one post...

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--
GILD - Waffle-[censored]

SPACESHIP EARTH

Namaste!
Dave
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MY WIFE JACQUIE STARTED LEARNING TO RIDE IN 1999 (BEFORE WE
WERE MARRIED), BUT NEVER FINISHED. SHE GOT TO THE POINT
WHERE SHE WAS JUST STARTING TO LET GO OF THE WALL.

This seems to be a common pattern. My wife also started to
learn, but did not try it for a long time now. Some others
also mentioned that in their family husband+kids unicycle,
wife started it but did not finish.

Regards, Juergen

--
juergen_brauckmann - Title? What title?
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