Frustrated

1. Shoes: what is your perferred type (flat sole, runners, barefeet,
etc)?
2. My centre of balance is very much on my left, how can I
correct/compensate for this (or do I need to)?
3. Did anyone else take a long time to learn, or was it pretty fast?
4. Any other advice for someone who is starting out is greatly
appreciated.

1. I use runners shoes because I am a runner. Barefoot can be painfull
and is no way to learn. The only other things I have tried are hiking
boots and sandals. Runners shoes are by far the best shoes for
unicycling that I have tried.

2. This may be partially due to the slope of the road if you are riding
on the right side of the road then you will lean to the left and visa
versa. Try riding in a parking lot and see if that helps. No matter
what, if you ride alot, this will work itself out.

3. It took me 3 days to learn. This may sound quick at first, but I
probably averaged 9 hours a day of trying for these three days. I have
also been an avid bicyclist for many years and ride a couple thousand
miles every year. I have a friend who is also a cyclist that I am
trying to teach. After about 20 minutes he was able to push off of
something and ride for 10 feet. Some people take months to learn, so
don't worry about it.

4. The best way to get better is to ride more. Use your uni to
commute. All this time on the uni will help you to have a better feel
for it and will also help your balance. Your riding will be cleaner and
new skills will come faster.

Good luck

-Forrest

--
RangerForrest - Isolated Unicyclist
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I would expect about 10 hours of practice time to learn... that seems
about average.

There are plenty of threads for beginners on this board... but in
general the tips are as follows:

-Keep looking up and ahead instead of down at your feet.
-Weight on the seat not the pedals.
-If you get frustrated, spend less time over more days: say an hour a
day for a week instead of 5 hours a day for two days.

Keep working on it and it won't be long before your up and rolling.

Good luck

--
rabbidous

The Great Rabbidous has spoken. Muah ha ha haaaaaaaaaa.
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no worries, it took me me an hour or two a night for an entire month for
me to learn. but it has been WELL worth it, so dont give up.

-Grant

--
tennisgh22 - Learning to muni

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
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I'm very new too. I've been at it about a month now anywhere from 15
minutes to an hour a day, almost every day. I'm only able to ride about
25 - 30 meters AT BEST. So far I've still got a positive attitude and
try to fight it off when I feel frustration creep in.

I've been wearing running shoes, tightly laced and my feet feel very
secure this way.

I too tend to turn in rather large and uncontrolled left had circles.
I'm not worried about it. I'm just trying to get some distance and feel
bettter about my balance.

I had a significant breakthrough in distance when I started keeping my
head up and my focus well ahead.

Good Luck and keep with it. You'll be awsome one day SOON.

--
underdog - level 0.5 rider

I feel a lot more like I do now than I did when I got here.
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underdog said:

I too tend to turn in rather large and uncontrolled left had circles.
I'm not worried about it. I'm just trying to get some distance and feel
bettter about my balance.

Try pushing just a little bit harder with your right foot. Let me
know if that straightens you out.

Ken

I ride in slick shoes. I learned in runners, but I think that the slick
bottom makes moving our foot around on the pedals easier, and I am very
picky about my foot pedal position. I found it is also nice to have a
somewhat flexible shoe for one-footing and other things so I can really
feel the fork through my shoe. I bought red converse specifically so
people would watch my feet while I ride. In retrospect I would have
gotten hightops, or something that protects my ankle a bit more from the
crank, which would have been nice learning spins and turning
backwards.

As others have mentioned you want to keep your weight in the seat when
you ride, one of the keys to learning then becomes having a comfortable
seat. I got really sore when I was learning and it slowed me down alot,
so I would recommend getting a nice seat in the long term. If you are
looking for a quick fix, you can partially inflate a bike tire tube,
smaller the better, and tape it on in some way that protects it from
crashes. It is definately worth the effort.

Two years ago I was clanking around campus using two hockey sticks for
balance (for the better part of a month!) and now I am making some
progress one-footed wheel walking and hopping on the wheel. So yeah, you
will be doing awesome stuff in no time.

Make sure your seat's on straight and practice!

Zia

--
zia - Unicycling Addict

Why would you need two feet, if you only have one wheel?
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I had I guess normal plastic pedals, and my shoes have decent tread on
the bottom. This was ok till they got wet. I have another pair of shoes
that I guess are basketball shoes, they're not smooth flat, but theres
hardly any tread on them, they slips off the plastic pedals. So I got
pedals with pins, now they stay better, although i'm getting shin guards
sometime.

When I first started, I rode next to a fence that was sturdy and at a
good height to hold on to. The video said sit up straight, look ahead of
you, and weight on seat. I tried to resist the urge to just take off,
which leaves you falling more than your on the unicycle. Maybe practice
these basics before you practice riding without assistance for awhile.
When you do go for it, try not to always bail when your falling, one of
the important things to learn is to adjust and kind of catch yourself.

Andrew

--
KJ-52 - unicycler

Originally posted by Logan_A.
Note this e-mail is baKsed oJn -a sto5ry a2nd mIay bSe fictKional oEr
conWtain fictiLonal elements. This should also not have been read by any
younger riders.

Can you find the hidden message?

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K.r.i.s.s.y said:

1. Shoes: what is your perferred type (flat sole, runners, barefeet,
etc)?

I wouldn't recommend barefeet, it seems to be an Australian
unicyclists thing though. You should obviously have some grip on the
pedal. Otherwise in my opinion it doesn't really matter much.

Quoted message said:

2. My centre of balance is very much on my left, how can I
correct/compensate for this (or do I need to)?

Your seat should be aligned.
Does your tyre have a centre ridge? That's not good.

Quoted message said:

3. Did anyone else take a long time to learn, or was it pretty fast?

Shameless plug number 1:
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/agelearn_short.htm>.

Quoted message said:

4. Any other advice for someone who is starting out is greatly
appreciated.

Shameless plug number 2:
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/uni_beginners.htm>. Check out the Word
document.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
Clearly a system of 1/14 and 1/16 is not decimal - Mikefule on the English weight system