Trying to WEEN myself off the wall

Well, first, a 26" tire is rather large for learning on, most people
learn on about a 20", but that doesn't mean you can't learn on it, it
just might be harder.

How to get off the wall huh? The main way is "practice makes perfect".
Everytime you try you'll get better at it and in time you'll be able to
ride farther and farther distances.

You might want to try going to a wall with something you can hang onto,
then practice riding along it and letting go for as far as you can, then
steadying yourself with your hand.

As for falling to the right, I would guess it is caused by the fact that
you are probably (I'm just guessing) right handed, so you hold your seat
with your left hand, and lean on the whall with your right. So you are
used to having a support on your right side because you lean on the
wall. Try holding the seat with your right hand or no hands at all and
steadying yourself on the wall with your left hand. 🙂

Good luck.

--
ethilien - I got my KH24 (boy is it huge!)
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You have become wall dependent and probably developed a slight lean
towards the left side.

I was having the same problem when I first started learning to idle.
Continually tapped the railing in my case when it was on the right side
and would just fall over when the railing was on the left side.

What you really need to do is cold turkey yourself away from the wall.
You'll have trouble at first, but you'll get past it rather quickly.

Good luck!

--
One on one - Hooked on a fun fix!

"I don't care who you are, that's funny!" Larry the Cable Guy
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Definitely get rid of the wall. I was even trying to ride along a wall
until it ended, and then go out into open space, but I couldn't get past
the psychological barrier and fell off at the end of the wall every
time. So I started pedalling away from a wall, falling off backwards
several times in one day, but the next day I could do it.

--
digigal1 - You call this middle age??

Omni for Uni and Uni for Omni!
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i say once you can comfortably ride along side a wall, get rid of it. in
my opinion, the wall should only be used to give you the feeling of what
riding is like. it sorta introduces your muscles to the movements of
unicycling. anyways, once you are comfortable with riding alongside the
wall, switch to a pole. it seems you may have developed a lean, or a
tendency to use the wall as support. Use a poll to mount, and then just
ride away from it. Hopefully this will help break the mind barrier of
needing to lean. if not, ignore this entire post :p

-grant

--
tennisgh22 - I worship my kh24

The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a
capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety
labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
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When I learned, I mounted using 2 chairs facing opposite directions so I
could hold on to the backs. This was better for me because when there
was 2 objects to hold on to, I stopped leaning all the way to my one
side.

--
litldude2 - Spencer
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Unicycles are funny machines that sometimes misbehave. I bought a 26
Nimbus with the same tire for my son a couple months ago and it had the
infamous lean to the right. If you are just learning to ride you may not
recognize a problem that could be fixed by a little tweaking of the
wheel or tire pressure. Do try to find another unicycle to test ride and
by all means head straight out from that wall into the abyss. Good Luck

--
muddycycle - Nonchalance

"What can possiby mystify a madman?"
Hegira: Greg Bear
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I agree with digigal1. If you can ride that far, just go for it!
Freemounting might not come to you yet, so it's still ok to use the wall
to help you get on (you'll have to learn that soon though 🙂). Find an
open space where you have lots of room to accomodate the initial lack of
control. Start from a sturdy object, and see how far you can go.

--
Sipid Malapropism
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You should have abandoned the wall a long time ago.

I don't think weening is your best option. Go into the middle of an
empty parking lot somewere, and ride. Focus on the space ahead of you.

Also, you let the unicycle fall out form underneath you. It sounds like
you're giving up on the ride. If you stay on the uni, and keep pedaling,
there's almost nothing that can knock you off. You'll fall on your hands
a few times, but wear gloves,a nd it will make you a better rider.

--
sockmonster - One Wheeled Warrior

Funny how in this forum, no one thinks it's weird if someone says, "I
tacoed my giraffe..."
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I started with trashcans and used them to tap on. Then I narrowed it to
one can at the beginning to mount with then I just went for and got
better and better.

--
PopeSamXVI - Resident Hogwasher/Hornswaggler

Karol Jozef Wojtyla Forever!

I really am the president of my own fan club. www.samhunterfanclub.tk
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I started with a bike rack outside my dorm, and a stepladder at my
parents house... I never really used the wall (oh yeah, I did, inside
the dorms! That was fun!) Just go for it, it'll help dampen the bad
habits. G'luck!

--
evil-nick - Living in Balance

Never kick a unicyclist in the groin... it will only make them grow
stronger...

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All that wall practice has given you the reflexes you need for
fore-and-aft balance, so everything from the waist down is pretty well
trained. But you haven't even started to train your upper body.

Lateral balance comes from waiving your arms and twisting your torso.
If you're riding forwards all you have to do to keep from falling to
your left is to twist your hips (and the wheel) to point to the left and
let the forward movement bring the tire back under you again.
Unfortunately, all that wall time has given you a totally inapropriate
set of reflexes for doing this, so now you have to unlearn the urge to
tap the wall and start to learn the twist.

Can you find a pivoting bar stool or piano stool somewhere? Sit on it,
hold your arms out to the side, and learn to twist the seat. Try to
impart as much spin as possible. If the bearings are really good it
won't work, but most pivoting stools aren't precision devices and have
lots of friction. Learn to work that friction by giving a slow wind-up
in the opposite direction with your shoulders and arms, then use a wild
swing of your arms to snap the stool around with your hips. This is
pretty close to how you're going to be steering the unicycle.

Play around with the height of your arms, and so forth. You'll find
that doing the recovery swing with your hands near your waist is more
efficient than keeping them wide out to the side. No need to wear a
helmet or pads for this training unless you're a real spaz or there is a
lot of beer involved. Spend a week away from the unicycle and wire
these reflexes in until you don't even think about them anymore.

Then go cold turkey. Only use the support for the mount. lean forward
until you start to fall, then go. Remember to flail your arms. Hum the
tune to Star Wars if it helps distract your brain. Analyze why you are
falling and do something about it. You're really close so this
shouldn't take much time. A month at the most.

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

I was standing in the park wondering why frisbees get bigger as they get
closer. Then it hit me.
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Interesting suggestions cyberbellum, I'm curious to know if anyone has
used these successfully. Could be a helpful learning tool.

--
One on one - Hooked on fun fix

"I don't care who you are, that's funny!" Larry the Cable Guy
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One on one said:

*Interesting suggestions cyberbellum, I'm curious to know if anyone
has used these successfully. Could be a helpful learning tool. *

I'm a slow learner and learned off a wall. I didn't use the method I
described but in hindsight I wish I had.

The stool idea is just an adaptation of a semi-famous ski coach's
training philosophy. He didn't believe in regular weight training,
instead he devised some very targeted gym excercises that built
appropriate ski reflexes as they built muscle. On-the-ski training was
to integrating those specific muscle memories.

The "wax-on, wax-off" school of thought.

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

I was standing in the park wondering why frisbees get bigger as they get
closer. Then it hit me.
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One on one said:

*Interesting suggestions cyberbellum, I'm curious to know if anyone
has used these successfully. Could be a helpful learning tool. *

I'm a slow learner and learned off a wall. I didn't use the method I
described but in hindsight I wish I had.

The stool idea is just an adaptation of a semi-famous ski coach's
training philosophy. He didn't believe in regular weight training,
instead he devised some very targeted gym excercises that built
appropriate ski reflexes as they built muscle. On-the-ski training was
to integrating those specific muscle memories. (The "wax-on, wax-off"
school of thought.) If I remember correctly his skiiers did fairly well
at the Olympics.

I had some further thoughts regarding the piano-stool excercise. It
would be good to integrate those spins with some sight reflexes. You
might devise a game where a friend walks around the stool trying to get
out of your line of sight. If you lose visual contact he wings a tennis
ball (or a wrench 😉 ) at you. In other words, make it fun.

(Note - the wrench idea was a joke in the new Dodge Ball movie. I
wasn't serious.)

--
cyberbellum - Level 1.0 rider!

I was standing in the park wondering why frisbees get bigger as they get
closer. Then it hit me.
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just keep at it, you'll keep getting farther and farther from the wall,
and, before you know it, you'll be riding unnasisted!

--
gasmaster - level 4 unicyclist

Real men only need 1 wheel.
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First and formost, a hearty and gigantic THANK YOU to all the cool
unicyclers who answered this post about how to get off the wall riding
habit!
And, to follow up--it worked!!!
I have been weened away from the wall! And the encouragements, advices
and good ideas offered through this posting were really, really helpful,
and much appreciated.🙂 🙂
It took a while, but one day I just had it with fences and walls and I
found a small clearing with really hard dirt (I'm not sure how to
describe it, gravelly dirt) which did not deem as foreboding as the
pavement. I mounted using a tree, and proceeded to try and try and try,
not getting much further than 10 feet at the most.
Then, it happened--I gritted my teeth, I growled, I charged ahead--and
magic! I rode 50 excellent feet!
A great moment!
Of course I had to endure a large number of sloppy ten foot starts, but
low and behold, another 50 FEET was behind me. Soon, I was averaging
some pretty nice 30 foot excursions. I then moved to pavement, and it
got even better.
The funny thing is that once I go near a wall, I really start to stink
it up again. It really is true about using the wall--one can get so
dependent on it that you reach a limit--and riding without the wall is
such a totally different experience.
That said--I am still far from good. I fall a lot, and when I do get the
Muni to go, I am really really wobbley--I see now how that 26 inch, 3
inch wide knobbly tire is one really hard poney to tame--but each time I
go for a spin, it just gets better and better.
Now if I ever learn to freemount and idle, I'll be in uni-heaven!
Thanks again to everyone for the advice!
Cheers,
Steve

--
dogbowl - New Unicyclist--I keep falling down

"Got an urge, got a surge, and it's out of control now. Uncontrollable
urge I want to tell you all about it." --DEVO
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Sweet 😄

Nice job on learning to ride without the wall, and good luck on the rest
of you uniiing 🙂

--
ethilien - Unicycling DCC

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