getting paid to uni.

wow, an ems. you picked THE premeire occupation for precariously
sitting atop a single wheel. the ambulance is never more than a hollar
away. i wish i had an ambulance to follow me around in the parking
lots.

when i'm teaching people i tell them, "look where you want to go." i'm
not the only person who lives by that. start with very gentle turns by
simply looking 10-15 degrees to either direction. but don't try to
turn, a uni is like a segway scooter, it will go where you want it to
if you don't think about it (btw, that only applies to flatland riding,
trials take more coaxing then veiwing). the key to turning will be to
be good at riding straight and to be in control of the uni. once you
can look at a turn and do it, try riding and rotating your shoulders
very slightly using them similar to bike handle bars.
i hope that made some sense, but as you know from your freemounting,
the only real answer is practice. i just started wearing a visor or
bandana when i ride and it cuts down the sweat if i'm not doing
anything intense.

--
joshuni

president of the norml uni sect
"canadaneesses (ka-nA-dan-E-cez) are cool, if you think otherwise then
go sit on a trout and spin. when you reach the tail, the ride is
over." -me 'cause FHM took a shot at the homies. (canada, please give
me citizenship to your fine country)
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Just an aside -- when you're unicycling on the clock, what are you
*supposed* to be doing? 🙂 There are lots of jobs that have actual
downtime with nothing to fill it, though most have that annoying stuff
you're supposed to do when nothing else is going on. Like when I was a
driver for Dominos Pizza, fold boxes or slice veggies.

I got paid to unicycle today too, one of my rare professional shows!
Happy Earth Day, Modesto, CA! Come see me next month, in Modesto again,
at the Modesto Cycling Festival May 20th.

Anyway, turning. The two basic ways involve action-reaction, which
means basically moving your arms one way to make your body & wheel turn
the other way, and leaning turns, which are like a bike or airplane.
Action-reaction is what people usually learn first. Practice going in
specific directions rather than wherever. Don't practice too much to
one side. If you get better at one direction than the other, working on
the "bad" direction will help you detect where you're having problems.

I remember having early goals of turning around within the curbs of the
street, then in circles, then later being able to turn around on the
sidewalk. Apply similar goals to your practice space.

--
johnfoss

John Foss
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
-----------------------------------------------

"The worst thing you can do on a unicycle when you land is stop dead."
-- Kris Holm, world's expert on high-consequence unicycling
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At the company I work for we do lots of "posting" when posting, we have
to be in a general area ready to respond. That being said, we don't
have to actively do anything except be ready. We have substations with
tv and beds and whatnot that we post at as well as just general areas
for quick response.

Working 24 hour shifts has its advantages, lots of downtime is one of
these. I've been at work for 13 hours today, done two medical
transfers and two emergencies. Each call takes an hour on average, but
we do a lot of driving around inbetween. I'd rather practice at night
because its around 100 degrees during the day here.

Was just working on freemounts when some lady decided to od on
demerol......sheesh people let me practice already.

--
bigsamm
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Hah, my friend (a non-rider) is an EMT and always complaining of the
boring downtime. I'm telling him about you via text message: "I found
an EMT who uni's during downtime. You should be cool like him."

--
Carolyn
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Whoops, submitted before the substatial comment:
I'm working on turning too. My method is riding in alleys (little
traffic and wide) and doing crazy wide turns while waving my arms
around trying to figure out what's making me turn. Shockingly, its
working! I'm slowly getting the turns tighter and tighter (with less
arm flailing). 😄

--
Carolyn
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bigsamm said:

I work in ems and am practicing at work inbetween calls.

Maybe a few months ago, there was a thread in Just Conversation about
an EMS doctor who practiced unicycling in his 'off' time (when he was
on call) but let it interfere with his work. A complaint was filed
against him for a less prompt response due to his uni'ing. So, be
careful!

Can anyone link to the thread?

I'm employed by Americorps (like Peacecorps, but domestic) and my hours
are pretty flexible. They enourage us to clock in at least 3 hours a
week of "spiritual/reflective" time. Naturally, my spiritual activity
of choice is Muni! So I guess I sort of get paid to unicycle. (I
actually just get free rent, a food allowance, and college loan
vouchers).

--
hell-on-wheel

On the other hand, you have different fingers. - Steven Wright
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ems is my second favorite store i get my unicycling telemark and rock
climbing gear there or is ems not eastern mountian sports

--
skianduniaddict

number1 under 15 skiier in the united states
ski sugarloaf uni bradbury
my cat bob ate four kids😉
i regret the day i threw a snowball at randy johnson
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skianduniaddict said:

ems is my second favorite store i get my unicycling telemark and rock
climbing gear there or is ems not eastern mountian sports

Do you even read the prior posts?! Why would 'Eastern Mountain Sports'
have to respond to medical transfers two emergencies? Why would the
employees at 'Eastern Mountain Sports' have to be in a general area
ready to respond? Lastly, how the heck would anyone have a 24 hour
shift at 'Eastern Mountain Sports' and why would 'Eastern Mountain
Sports' have beds for employees?

Learn to read.

EMS stands for Emergency Medical Services (or something like that).

--
Eroick

'The Unicyclopedia!' (http://unicyclopedia.org/)
Help us make it better!

'My Gallery' (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eroick/)
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he did say

skianduniaddict said:

or is ems not eastern mountian sports

but it was hard to catch because of the lack of punctuation.

--
Fuego

morons everywhere said:

Get off my Property before you sue me!

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bigsamm said:

Was just working on freemounts when some lady decided to od on
demerol......sheesh people let me practice already.

so i've been watching this thread for the post, "hey you ass, that lady
was my mother, and she didn't od on purpose, she was just trying to get
high." but you did leave me somewhat anxious, did she make it to the
hospital? what is demerol?...wait, n/m, i don't care that much. how
is your freemount going? can you get them consistantly now?

--
joshuni

president of the norml uni sect
"canadaneesses (ka-nA-dan-E-cez) are cool, if you think otherwise then
go sit on a trout and spin. when you reach the tail, the ride is
over." -me 'cause FHM took a shot at the homies. (canada, please give
me citizenship to your fine country)
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heh, her kids are too young to read 8P. demerol is a pain killer, not
too strong, but she took quite a bit. no biggie tho because too much
of it makes you puke a lot, and she did. she is fine, we took her to
the hospital.

E.M.S, emergency medical services 8P personell generally have sort of a
brutal honesty. i find that most people appriciate this. i dont try
to baby people, because when someone does something dumb, generally
they know it. and when something sad happens, you do your best to cope
with it, else it tears you apart.

the freemounts are going good, i can get up on the uni just about every
time now. im having a hard time getting used to keeping my weight off
the pedals. and my uni is having a hard time when i keep my weight on
the pedals. my poor savage seems to have the cranks bent slightly
inward, although i did get most of the warpage out of the rim.

im very wobbly when i start out because of the weight being in the
wrong place. at least i think i know what im doing wrong. i can get
on the freemount, but only make it a few cranks before my wobbly turns
into a upd.
every once in a while i get it right, or keep it together long enough
to get my ass settled. on another note i got some microfiber underwear
today, with sculpted "junk" pouch. badass on the uni. like
underarmor underwear. they are made by jockey and it says..."scuptured
pouch" on the package. they were 7$ us for the single pair, but they
sure do keep my bits where they belong when im on the uni.

i got some major chaffage today as i was working on a ranch for a
couple hours, then riding my dualsport motorcycle on the same ranch for
a couple hours. crashed the bike with a buddy on the back on the
ranch. put the pieces back on the bike at the ranch. and rode home
from the ranch.

i followed this up with some uni practice, and got to watch my wife
ride her bike, i just taught her to ride a bicycle a couple days ago,
so im proud. bought her a mongoose womens mountain bike with front and
rear suspention. she likes it. anywho...im chafed after all that, so
the new undies are feeling good. i could barely walk before i put them
on. highly reccomended.

--
bigsamm
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ooooohhhh, i want some undies with a sculptured pouch. this is not
usually the case, but i think you're main problem is your uni. have
you given anymore thought as to what type you want to get? well,
goodluck with that. i'm totally jealous of your wife btw, i wish i
could ride 2 wheels 🙁

--
joshuni

president of the norml uni sect
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Right now I'm pretty set on getting the torker 24" muni dx. Seems
sturdy with the splined hubs. I'm less interested in phat tricks and
more interested in offroad. Having done neither the 24" seems like a
reasonable compromise and the price is fairly liveable.

I just tried to ride a lil more but my seat is causing a lot of
discomfort. Suck.

--
bigsamm
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