Last week, I had my first unicycle practice session.
Although I was able to crank a few times and stay up for 5 seconds, I was far from having
any sort of real control over the unicycle.
Still, I rode it enough where you guys were able to see what I was doing wrong.
More than a few subscribers on YouTube and Facebook gave me advice.
The three tips I saw multiple times were.
“Lower the seat” “Look straight ahead”
“Ride with no hands”
Today I went out, determined to try all of these things.
I dropped the saddle and dealt with the extra brake hose.
I pointed my GoPro down so that it would still capture the unicycle while looking straight
ahead.
I also committed to using no hands, which really messed with my mind at first.
After a little practice though, something happened.
I started to get the freaking hang of it.
I could turn, I could make corrections, and I could pretty much ride wherever I wanted—for
some time at least.
I wasn’t consistent, and I certainly was not relaxed, but I was riding
my unicycle.
I was pretty excited, and feeling a sense of accomplishment I haven’t felt in years,
but rather than basking in the glory of learning something new, I got right down to business.
First, I needed to learn how to make sharper turns.
Wide turns came naturally right from the start, but anything beyond that made me fall immediately.
After today’s practice session I’m a little better at this.
Second, I started trying to mount the unicycle with no support.
This has been killing me since day 1.
If I could only learn this, it would be way easier to practice since I wouldn’t need
to keep returning to a wall or a fence over and over.
I’d love some tips on this, but I think it might come naturally once I get more comfortable
staying up.
The third thing I started trying was riding off road.
The hard packed path took a couple of tries but really wasn’t a problem.
The grass, on the other hand, was pretty mushy and difficult to balance on.
I can stay up fairly well, but steering is still difficult for me.
I also learned something about cycling.
As
someone who just learned to stay up on a unicycle, my entire body is tense and I overcompensate
for everything.
Just riding around in a circle is totally exhausting.
If you’re a new mountain biker and can barely make it through one section, all I can say
is that I feel you.
Experience and time in the saddle will cure this automatically.
When I start to feel relaxed and confident on this thing, I’m bringing it straight
to Virginia Key park to train on the novice trails.
From there, I’ll probably start jumping off of crap.
Next time I practice, I’m determined to get the hang of mounting the unicycle and
mastering tight turns, left and right.
Until then, thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.