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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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