Finally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was a good day for me. I got up at 6 AM, did my regular routine
of 50 push-ups and 600 crunches/situps, then jogged slowly to the
outdoor pool which opened for the season today (it's been more or less
warm for a couple of weeks, but on our National Day 17 May it was
snowing in the morning...).
Currently the weather is just lovely, so it was a warm morning and the
water didn't even feel cold when I jumped in, partly because I was
already breaking a little sweat, and partly because it was simply warm
weather (the water itself is probably the same temperature as
always...).
Anyway, I ran about 2,5km to get there, then I swam 2500 meters in 67
minutes, and then I walked back the 2,5km to my house. I got back about
a quarter to nine, two hours after I left (the morning swimming at the
pool is from 7 AM until 830 AM). Then I was rather exhausted so I took
it slowly getting a shower and so on. And then I had the first "meal"
of the day, drinking half a liter of the "diet juice" that I've
explained earlier. Exercising in the morning wiht just drinking lots of
water is hopefully helping me to burn lots of fat.
Then I went to work around 11 (lazy day, I know - but I expect to get
there sooner as the swimming becomes more of a routine). And since I
didn't get the famous UCD package on Friday, I called Tollpost Globe
again to double check that they got my internet order for the delivery
this afternoon. And of course they didn't get it, but they had a truck
going to where I live so they could deliver - but only in the
afternoon. So it was a short day at work, I got back at 330 PM to pick
up the package.
Of course I immediately set about to open it, but then I remembered
that I had another errand that I had to do first. I might tell you
about that later ;-)
I got back around 530 PM and then started to unpack and assemble my new
coker (the Nimbus Nightrider in case you didn't already read my
ramblings about it). I filmed the entire sequence and I have to say
that my first thought when I put the seatpost into the frame was "that
is HUGE, how will I manage to get on that..." and I was thinking that
perhaps I had made a mistake after all.
But that doesn't show on the film
Then I was ready to get on for the first time around 730, or so I
thought. It quickly turned out that the seatpost was too long and had
to be cut. So I opened my new Qu-Ax toolkit and found the ingenious
toolpost cutter tool. After some work I had a shorter seatpost and then
it turned out that there was some small pieces from the cut, or
something like that, which made it almost impossible to get the
seatpost back into the frame. I finally succeeded and made a first few
attempts to get on the uni.
What I did was lean against the wall, climb onto the lowest pedal
(crank at 6 o'clock) with my right foot, and then swing my left foot
over the seat to sit down.
Already at that point the bonus of having a coker was clear - with my
height I was able to reach the ceiling of the basement room I had
chosen for my practice (ironically this is where the bikes are stored,
so I had to move them out of the way before I started) - and not only,
but also some pipes going conveniently across just where I was starting
my practice, so I had something nice to grab hold of.
Just after doing this first attempt I remembered that I wanted to put
some bubblewrap around the nice purple handlebar to protect it. So I
managed to scratch it up on my very first try...
But then I set about to fix that. Using the packaging bubble wrap from
the other items in the package, and liberal amounts of packing tape, I
securely fastened nice "pillows" around the front and back handlebar.
My original plan was to simply take off the handlebar while I was
practicing, but it turned out to be integrated with the seat/seatpost
attachment. Probably I could have bought a similar piece without an
attached handlebar. But I didn't.
And as it turned out, the handlebar made it much easier to learn, so I
would actually recommend it strongly.
With the handlebar properly wrapped, and also myself, I tried again to
get on and found that I had to cut down the seatpost even more. So I
realised that unicycling is a lot about patience, not only when you are
trying to ride, but even before you get that far...
With the second adjustment of the seat I felt much better about it.
Still getting "over the top" is of course very high on a coker. In the
beginning I could only try once or twice on each leg (I turned around
to alternate) because I got so tired in the other leg from trying to
jump up. I managed almost sometimes. Gradually I was getting better,
and the big breakthrough came when I realised that it was not about
jumping, but about standing and pushing down on the pedal. Of course
this is a basic principle that I have already read about many times,
but I didn't remember that when I was down there trying.
In between the mounting tries, I climbed up a couple of times to feel
the balance. I could use my arms and upper body strength to keep from
UPDs while holding on to the pipes and leaning against the wall, so I
was able to get a little feel of it. But I decided it was pretty
hopeless to climb up that way, and I couldn't even do it every time, so
I decided I simply had to learn how to mount in order to be able to get
on the bloody thing so I could actually start learning how to balance
and ride...
So I did "thousands" of mounting tries, and I got steadily better,
until I actially got to the top, but lost my balance immediately. Then
I was able to wobble about for 1/2 a second before UPDing so I was
making progress. Finally I was even brave enough to give full throttle
and go over the top to let the uni crash down between my legs. Actually
it didn't even do that many times, since I held it with my hand. Not
that it mattered, since it was nicely padded in all the right places.
And so was I
I was wearing high basketball shoes with flexible soles and covering
the ancles, then the sixsixone leg armour up to the knees, a
suspensorium (I quickly learned that this was necessary, and remembered
the laments of other males in the How to learn Uniycling thread -
luckily I used to do karate so I had one lying around) under my shorts,
then rough leather work gloves that I got cheaply from a hardware store
to cover my fingertips, inside wrist protectors, with a long padding
covering my underarm up to the elbow pads. And of course a bike
helmet.
I'd say that the most useful safety equipment I used today was not
stuff I bought especially for the unicycle, but stuff I already had -
the helmet allowed me to rest my head against the ceiling posts and
pipes, the underarm padding was crucial as I could lean my entire
underarm against the wall rather than just the hand, and the leather
gloves protected my fingers.I realised when looking at the wrist
protectors that they didn't in any way protect the fingers, and I
remembered augustdreamt telling that the fingertips of her gloves were
worn away. Hence the tough work gloves. And, of course, the
suspensorium...
Now, this is not to say that it was not important with the new gear.
Especially the wrist protectors were very useful in addition to the
gloves, as I could lean on the metal bar of the wrist protectors to
take a lot of the weight. So my fingers were not touching the wall that
hard, more for adjustments, since I leaned my underarm and wrist for
most of the weight.
Also, being all padded up I was not afraid to fall down or hit
something, so I could just give it all I had and get up there. I'd
certainly say that this is the most important lesson to take away from
today's exercise.
So I was working on the mount. I decided that I would not call it quits
until I succeeded. I also realised that trying to get up on the coker
and stay there while just supporting myself on the wall would be more
than I had managed to do when already up on the coker, as I had tried a
couple of times to leave the safety of the pipes and go the 2 meters
over to the beam by just leaning on the wall, and immediately UPDing.
So I added 2+2 and decided it was time to try mounting next to the beam
or pipes, so I could grab hold of them when I got up. Of course this was
more difficult at first, since I was losing my focus on getting balanced
before trying to grab.
But it was also good, since I started looking up and forward instead of
down at the pedals and my feet.
And then I succeeded
First when mounting with my left foot on the
pedal and jumping with my right foot onto the other pedal - this was
easiest because I jumped with the foot closest to the wall (don't know
why but it just seemed obvious, perhaps I was leaning in a little), and
thus I was facing the pipes and had something easy to hold on to. I
could do this several times and almost got to the point where I could
say I had that one clinched.
The other way, jumping with my left foot with my right on the pedal was
harder - I tried many more times this way but finally I managed it -
just once - and leaned on the beam (there was nothing to hold on to,
but I could lean on it, supporting myself with the hand on something in
front rather than to the side, and thus stopping my self from falling
forwards (I would avoid falling backwards by leaning forwards enough to
"fall" that way).
The last thing I said before doing it was "this is NOT that difficult",
and I was very happy getting up there to stay, and then I said to the
camera that I felt like Neo and I quoted him by saying "There is no
spoon", immediately before UPDing again
That is also when I discovered that this magic moment had not been
caught on tape (memory stick, that is), since the battery had run out.
So I headed up to my apartment to get the other battery, and then
happily started recording again. I didn't bother to ration the film,
since I had a new big memstick and enough battery to last the rest of
the training (or so I thought).
So the camera caught a lot of mounting tries, but not the more exciting
things that happened thereafter, as the second battery also died on me.
What happened was that I got tired of the mounting attempts going right
to the beam, and instead went up to the left and the pipes, since I was
able to do that fairly easy and regularly. From there, once I was up, I
was able to move around a little, holding on to the pipes and then
holding on to the wall and ceiling to go from the pipes to the post -
which I had not been able to do previously.
What I noticed was that the mounting tries - trying to find the point
of balance from jumping up (you could call it a standing or stationary
or basic mount, assisted by a wall) - helped my sense of balance so it
was easier to sit and feel the balance after that.
I remembered the advice from blot to BurnerDave about sitting down on
the seat, so I tried doing that instead of having the weight on my
legs. I also tried just sitting still, keeping my back straight, just
like you would do for balance training or yoga or something like that.
I actually had some practice on that earlier, since my friend bought a
Nintendo Wii Fitness board, where a lot of the action is about balance,
and you always have to start by standing completely still and trying to
get your center of mass exactly in the center, not forwards/backwards
or right/left.
All of this was just to get myself used to the concept of sitting up on
the coker. I didn't feel the height was a problem after getting up on it
- it was only a practical issue of the actual getting up...
I remembered also the advice that you just need time to get your
muscles used to the different sensations of balance and control that
you need on a uni. And then I tried moving around a little more. I
tried moving past the beam, into the wide open part of the basement
that I had never thought I would venture already on the first evening.
The ceiling was the same height, but there were no more beams or
pipes... The room was not that big, the "wide open spaces" were perhaps
3-4 meters to the far wall.
And on the second or third try I actually managed to reach that far
wall (!) by supporting myself on the wall (to my left) and the ceiling.
I also tried, briefly, in between, to support myself only on the
ceiling, figuring that if I could support myself less and less, I would
suddenly be freeriding. Also, using the ceiling has the big advantage
over the wall that you are actually sitting straight, not leaning
over.
First time I tried just the ceiling I fell forward almost immediately.
But the next time I was more careful and had more control, and I was
able to get back to the wall instead of stretching my limits too far.
But I got to the far wall a couple of times, and there was a window
sill and some more pipes (this was by the door outside, where I had
brought in my coker earlier, after assembling it), that helped me turn
around and head back. On the second or third try I managed to get all
the way there and back, and boy was I proud
Even if I had had the camera rolling then, it wouldn't have recorded
that, since I had aimed it at the space between the pipes and the beam,
where I thought the main action would be (and it was, but the real
excitement was of course venturing outside that aread of safety).
After this I kept doing balance training in the "safe zone" and I
especially noticed that by holding on to the pipes I was able to
practice idling and rolling back and forth even longer than that,
keeping my head in the same place but leaning my upper body far back or
far forward in order to keep my hips and the seat above the wheel. In
other words, learning how to maintain balance even if the wheel is
running a little ahead or behind.
Here I was remembering the advice that you are not supposed to get
above the wheel, you are supposed to get the wheel under you, in order
to keep your balance. Of course, that requires being able to move the
wheel to where you want it...
But I really felt how my control over the wheel improved, and I felt
like I was more in control and "manhandling" the uni more than it
bossed me around.
Again, wearing full "body armour" made me feel very safe and thus able
to "jump into things" without holding back.
OK; I had to split my post in two parts.
To be continued; See the conclusions in the next part...
--
lillestrøm_uni
My 'training journal'
(
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1025788).
My todo list (augustdreamt™): Assisted mount-ride-idle / Ride / PD /
Turn / Idle / Hops / Curbs / Uneven ground / 'Mount / Rolling mount /
Jump mount' (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRW7ePkZ_8E) / Side mount /
Kick-up mount
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