No Progress to report!



Krashin'Kenny wrote:
> *Remember, everybody else is riding those LITTLE
> unicycles. It may take you a little longer on the
> Coker ;) *

Kenny, I know that. This is one of those instances where
bigger isn't always better ;) . It still doesn't stop me
feeling like I'm going nowhere. The length of the
carport (about 3 pedal pushes on the coker) just doesn't
do it for me.

cyberbellum wrote:
> *Cool.
>
> (dons a black berret, puts on sunglasses and does the two-
> handed beat-generation snap)
>
> Way cool. *

Tim, post a video of yourself doing that, please. Then I
promise to post a video of myself in my tight blue jeans
rolling out the door once I get that right on the coker.
Just be prepared for a LONG wait.

Jayne

--
Jayne ZA - Learning to ride on a Coker

Being a statistician means never having to say you're certain

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Jayne ZA wrote:
> * Tim, post a video of yourself doing that, please. Then I
> promise to post a video of myself in my tight blue jeans
> rolling out the door once I get that right on the coker.
> Just be prepared for a LONG wait.
>
> *

Finding a song with the right beat for beginning Coker
riding was a fun project. The original song used the words
"red blue jeans," so you can skip the "tight" if you like.
The original Gene Vincent lyics are about a teen-ager:

>
> BE-BOP-A-LULA
>
> Well be-bop-a-lula she's my baby, Be-bop-a-lula I don't
> mean maybe. Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby Be-bop-a-lula I
> don't mean maybe Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby love, My baby
> love, my baby love.
>
> Well she's the girl in the red blue jeans. She's the queen
> of all the teens. She's the one that I know She's the one
> that loves me so.
>
> Say be-bop-a-lula she's my baby, Be-bop-a-lula I don't
> mean maybe. Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby Be-bop-a-lula I
> don't mean maybe Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby love, My baby
> love, my baby love.
>
> Well she's the one that gots that beat. She's the one with
> the flyin' feet. She's the one that walks around the
> store. She's the one that gets more more more.
>
> Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby, Be-bop-a-lula I don't mean
> maybe. Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby Be-bop-a-lula I don't
> mean maybe Be-bop-a-lula she's my baby love, My baby love,
> my baby love.
>

The Elvis and Jerry Lee duet was recorded when they were
both older men. Their version speaks of a woman of
experience. Since you've got a couple of kids and are trying
to learn on a Coker I figured that would suit you better. It
was also a bit slower and had better rythm. Too bad I
couldn't find a mp3 stream with the duet. It exists in a .rm
version if you want to look for it.

As for a video, well that will have to wait. I have a pair
of Ray-Bans and could probably borrow a black berret from my
niece, but I don't have easy access to a video camera.

For what it's worth, my sense of futility was strongest just
before I succeeded.

Tim

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
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Jayne ZA wrote:
> *What I can't get over is just how tired I am. I feel like
> I'm back at the beginning and starting to learn all over
> again. Am I just a big fat unfit lump or is this common?*
I think it's because of the fight-or-flight thing making
your all muscles try to help, when you really relax it's
much less work. The first time I got out of my drive-way, I
had to stop at less than a quarter mile (.4km) because I had
a heart rate of 190+. And that was with a 24 inch. Now I can
Coker more than 10 miles (16km) at an average of about 9
miles an hour and hardly notice my pulse.

Fat? We haven't seen pictures, but I doubt it - you wouldn't
be learning on a Coker if you were. :cool: Unfit? For riding
a unicycle, nobody starts out with the _skills_ you're
learning. Not unfit, unskilled, but fixing that. :) Lump?
Lumps are on the couch, eating greasy potato chips, and
watching the tele, not riding unicycles.:D

--
brian.slater - Nellfurtiti, the Wonder Cat

Brian C. Slater
AKA: Snoopy

Ok, I am now officially in my normal state of -advanced- confusion.
Don't try to confuse me, it won't make any difference.

"To not decide is to decide" - undecided
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I can give you any advice but i know how you feel i went
through a stage of not learning anything then i nailed a
crank grab and it's kept getting beta and beta!!!! Ben

--
thinuniking - we met a tree hugger(he rode a bike

MUNI MILITIA now in the uk!
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cyberbellum wrote:
> *Finding a song with the right beat for beginning Coker
> riding was a fun project. The original song used the words
> "red blue jeans," so you can skip the "tight" if you like.
> The original Gene Vincent lyics are about a teen-ager:
> <snip of song lyrics> The Elvis and Jerry Lee duet was
> recorded when they were both older men. Their version
> speaks of a woman of experience. Since you've got a couple
> of kids and are trying to learn on a Coker I figured that
> would suit you better.*

Tim, I feel the need to mention that I am 34, so 5 years
short of being 13 for the third time. I am, despite being a
mother of two, in good enough shape that my clothes are only
tight when I want them to be ;). I actually already possess
the required pair of jeans. They are, however, designed to
be worn with boots and are consequently a bit flared at the
bottom. Guess I'll have to tuck them into my socks or
something. BTW - what are "red blue jeans"?

Other than that, thanks everybody for all the suggestions
and good thoughts. I know that my progress is not likely to
be linear. I've already noticed that I'll "stick" at a point
for what seems like ages. Then, almost without noticing
(sometimes other people will have to point it out to me, or
point out that I'm just marking time) I'll make this huge
(for me) leap of progress.

My favourite post thus far:

Scott Kurland, RMT wrote:
> *Hell, to the extent that I set the standard, you're
> kicking the standard's butt.*

Jayne

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Jayne ZA wrote:
> * BTW - what are "red blue jeans"? *

Blue jeans that are red, of course.

Chin up, Jayne - at this rate you'll be "rolling out that
door" in style before winter sets in for real. I was about
where you are in 16 hours and I was on a 20" unicycle so
you're well ahead of the curve.

By the way, what are winters like down there? Here in DC it
just hit 32 degC, with the usual 80 percent humidity. In a
couple of months it will be over 40. With 90 percent
humidity. I may have to modify my set of pads. Fully suited
up I'm getting sweat in my eyes within 10 minutes. I miss
winter already.

--
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Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
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Jayne ZA wrote:
> * I know that my progress is not likely to be linear. I've
> already noticed that I'll "stick" at a point for what
> seems like ages. Then, almost without noticing
> (sometimes other people will have to point it out to me,
> or point out that I'm just marking time) I'll make this
> huge (for me) leap of progress. *

Neurologically what is going on is that you are over-
stimulating your muscles. By now you've developed the right
reflexes, but they are being smothered by all the crude
attempts at unicycling reflexes that your body tried at
first. All that neural activity sort of paralyzes the
muscles. Now the challenge is to let your body forget all
the crappy stuff.

I found that just putting the damn thing away for a week or
two resulted in significant progress. My theory is that the
nervous system tags the good reflexes for reinforcement and
the bad reflexes are tagged for removal, but it takes time
for body's maintenance workers to get around to actually
doing the reinforcement and removal tasks.

After a couple of weeks off I found that the "bad" reflexes
had almost faded away, but the "good" ones were almost as
strong. It felt a bit rusty at first, but once I got going
my riding was much smoother and my reactions surer. All that
guilt about taking time off for nothing!

I guess what I'm saying is that you've already done the
hard, pioneering work. Those reflexes are in there, and your
body won't forget them. You've already mastered that wheel.
It's just a matter of time before your body will let you
express what you know.

And yeah, I think you're kicking butt too!

--
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Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
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cyberbellum wrote:
> *By the way, what are winters like down there? Here in DC
> it just hit 32 degC, with the usual 80 percent humidity.
> In a couple of months it will be over 40. With 90 percent
> humidity. I may have to modify my set of pads. Fully
> suited up I'm getting sweat in my eyes within 10 minutes.
> I miss winter already. *

Have you ever been to Edmonton, Canada, in Summer? A
colleague says that is pretty much our winter, we just have
less rain.:D

Basically our highveld winters are dry and not too cold, at
least as far as most people are concerned. Personally, I
freeze! We do get some sub-zero temperatures, but most of
those are in the middle of the night when you don't really
notice them. If the weather is really cold our midday high
will be in single figures, otherwise we can get up to
between 15 and 20 degC. In summer we get afternoon
thunderstorms and temperatures can get up to 35 degC and
above. We don't have the humidity problem, being so far
inland, but we can still be feeling those temperatures at 10
- 11 o'clock at night.

Jayne

--
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(better late than never, I hope) You mentioned that you can
do pretty well if you borrow a shoulder. Is that shoulder
always on the same side of you? If so, you might have
developed a slight lean to one side that is causing some of
your troubles. Try riding with the shoulder on the other
side, and switch back and forth. Hopefully when you ride
unassisted, your body will pick the middle ground, and you
will be balanced.

When I learned to ride, all my supports were on my right
side. It took me much longer to learn to turn left than to
turn right, and I still have an urge to ride off-center
occassionally.

--
wentz - Heh, Albatross is sorta blah, eh?

Avatar inspired by 'this thread' (http://tinyurl.com/2kmun) and 'this
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wentz wrote:
> [BIs that shoulder always on the same side of you?[/B]

Nope. I am boringly diligent about changing sides. Even if I
am in the middle of an open parking lot I swap feet (when
mounting) and support location (also when mounting, I can't
freemount yet) regularly.

I just need more practice and less cowardice.

Jayne

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wentz wrote:
> * When I learned to ride, all my supports were on my right
> side. It took me much longer to learn to turn left than
> to turn right, and I still have an urge to ride off-
> center occassionally. *

Hmmm... That explains a lot. I learned asymetrically, and
turning right is still much harder.

I found that it was partly to do with how I had my feet on
the pedals. As a cyclist I'm used to having the pedal
spindle under the balls of my feet for long rides, and a bit
forward of that for sprinting, so I'm very careful to place
my feet just so on the pedals. But when I slap my foot onto
a pedal in a freemount it's easiest when the pedal winds up
under my arch. So my static foot (almost always left) is
placed carefuly with the spindle under the balls of my feet,
and my dynamic foot winds up pedaling with the spindle under
my arch. This asymmetry in my foot position has an effect
similar to a twisted seat. Now I put my static foot on near
the arch and live with a sub-optimal pedaling position for
both feet.

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