Sports & Fitness Learn to unicycle Parramatta

Great stuff... Btw it's not just you. I sometimes have days where I simply cannot freemount after multiple attempts. Just something is just not right... and sometimes I get it first go and it feels great.

Anyway, not to worry.
And my idling...still totally crap.
And... since its so dark even at 6pm I'm no longer going on Fridays to Parramatta.
Bring back daylight savings.....

 

Have you considered going to Hornsby on Thursdays? They are under lights until 9pm.

North Shore Unicycling

Leila is just so helpful and the kids are amazing.

I can't get to either these days so it's just me and Coach Youtube.

And yes, don't worry. Just practice!

After my terrible efforts at muni, I have gone back to basics. I put longer 150mm cranks on my 24" uni and almost every day practice 1 to 2 hours of only mounting, idling, hopping, drops, off road and tight turns. Most failures come just from brain fade and being distracted, especially under pressure, so I go looking for tight and rough pathways to practice, like this in St Ives




also idling and hopping on slopes and tight turning uphill corners, like this in Ermington





Leaning is slow progress, often 2 steps forward and 1 (maybe 2) steps back. But hey, I'm old so that's normal.

Of course it's getting dark after work... so that means handling riding at night, at least under street lights. Soon I'll have to do my uni before work, not easy in winter when it's bloody cold at 7am.

150mm cranks are useless for any distance (I had 125mm before) but help slow things down for mounting and idling, and are more forgiving if the peddles are not in the best position. Something for you to consider.

Sorry about the life story, but I'm sure you are leaning faster than me and I hope this helps keep up the motivation.

 

I like that St Ives path, looks like a good one. And for me... I couldn't handle those corners at Ermington.

And of you are doing 1-2 hours of practice a day... that's heaps!

Re: riding at night... i'm doing that going home after work. My streets going home are very quiet. Usually in 1.5km I may only encounter 2 moving vehicles. (But more at the roundabouts).

Re: Hornsby... I may have to join them...

 

I've only managed to complete the Ermington path once for the full length and back. That's either riding around the corners or stopping and hopping to turn. There are other great little challenges around that area.

Another great small ride, but very challenging, is St Ives Wildflower gardens. I completed the main track last weekend for the first time, huge hills, but can't do the small track it's just too tight and tricky.

What a way to commute, love it !

 

I might need to have a look at St Ives

 

No daylight after work anymore.... So let's ride at night!

Unicycle Night Ride



At Lane Cove National Park, no street lights, really dark. Only about half the length today, it's slow and rather different. I'll try for the whole 10km soon.

 

@TwoDogs... Wednesday?

 

Saw that event and am interested as these are great skills to learn, but it's a long way to go and the last event was a fizzer as the track was just not for beginners. I saw your Facebook post and the rather inadequate reply, not that helpful. Google does a street view of some of the Lofus tracks and they look mostly just dirt paths, not goat trails like at Hornsby, which is challenging but do-able. However, I'm not sure which tracks Laila will use.

So, still undecided. You ?

 

I'm planning to go... it would be good for me to ride with unicyclists because daylight savings is over, I've stopped going Friday nights. And it would be nice to go down to the other side of Sydney anyway. Going off videos I think I was riding similar difficulty tracks at Newnes. I'm not going to ride anything very technical though. I have a fear of falling still. On firetrail at Newnes there seemed to generally be some relatively smooth track to ride through and I avoided many rocks and big potholes by just choosing to take a smoother line. By the way, a week ago I did a "beautiful" fall off my biggest (26") unicycle while mounting.... it seriously resembled a belly flop into a pool. Luckily or unluckily it was on grass. The bad thing was it was around 30 minutes after breakfast so my breakfast wasn't feeling so happy!

Ps. Riding down drops of around 20cm is going successfully for me now. As long as both sides of the drop are smooth

 

Wow, and with a fear of falling too! I'm nowhere near that height, but my tyre is also showing damage from too much hopping with pressure a bit low. How have you managed not to damage your 26" with those drops?

 

I'm not a heavy *******? (Though you aren't either). I keep the pressure up quite high too.

 

It was a fantastic day and a very worthwhile ride. Great to meet up with you again. I put some videos on the FB link, but this is my highlight of the day on Youtube.

And the Strava map



Next time, maybe I'll see you with a new KH 29" muni?

 

Hello!!! Well, the mountain unicycling event was a month ago. In that time since I've made very good progress in normal riding!
* I can (somewhat) pivot on a spot, Yay!
* I can ride up a lot of hills quite happily, Yay!
* I've been practising riding slowly* and
* I can ride, stand on the pedals, then ride again. Yay!

Current development points:
*I still can't go super slow... I'm still slightly faster than normal walking pace on a 20" uni. I want to be able to go at a slow walking pace on a 20" uni.
* I want to be able to ride, stop, hop a few times and ride again. (I think this will come very soon since I can now ride, stand on the pedals and ride again). I can hop fine too. So I just want to put he full sequence together.
* I have been practising idling... (it's still not good enough )

Anyway, last weekend was a volleyball tournament in Newcastle. I brought my favourite unicycle with me for practising. I asked my teammates if they want to try. Well, it turns out, one of my teammates could ride it! She went to school in Japan and all elementary kids in Japan pretty much learn to ride. She got on. She was a bit wobbly at first... but in a matter of moments she was riding really well. So she did quite a bit of riding. How awesome!!!

 

@Gockie - when do they teach you to juggle?

 

Maybe I have to learn to do that.
Interesting note. I was practising idling and going backwards just outside Chatswood station 2 weeks ago (while waiting for a train) and a random guy stops. We chatted. Turns out he can ride... and extremely well. He had around 20 years unicycling experience, he used to perform at kids parties. He mounted my unicycle like it was nothing, very elegantly first time (I'm not mounting anywhere near as beautifully!), and he showed me his 1 footed idling (Tip: he said learning to idle with one foot on a pedal is preferable to 2?), riding one footed and wheel walking (He tried but then said he couldn't properly do it in the shoes he was wearing). There might have been other skills too... but that is very impressive from a random guy. And... he doesn't have a unicycle at the moment either! He suggested the 24" is a good size, and recommended using a super slick tire. Who knew?

 

Do these uni cycles come with training wheels?

As an 8 year old I remember having training wheels when I learnt to ride a bike ( about a year after learning to drive).

Training wheels make it so much easier.

 

Fences are your unicycle training wheels.

 

Who needs barriers when you have fences?

Generally not but you could be well served by an apprenticeship or a degree.

 

I was riding around my local area today (Omg. .. end of Autumn but it's t-shirt weather!)
A lady stops and gets out of her car. "Can I talk with you?".
Yep. She asks me if I heard of the "Parramatta unicycling club".
Omg...
Anyway, she's a local lady, originally Swiss. She's maybe 65-70yo. Turns out she's a unicyclist!!!!!
She rarely rides but she might start to turn up at the Parramatta club on Fridays. @TwoDogs, sounds like you spoke with her during a ride at Lane Cove National Park!

So she lives a couple of streets away from me.
And she plays volin in an orchestra. She had gone off from a rehersal and was coming back home when she saw me. Oh, and she has a slackline too. She has "better balance than most people". What a lady.....

Oh; and I think she's the first real person I've seen do a "wheel grab" mount. So I tried it myself. Not too bad!!! I tried it out on the street... nailed it first go

 

I think her name was Lily, that must have been 6 months ago. so glad she found you. Perhaps may start riding again? Must be experienced rider as I recall she rode as a young person in Switzerland. What is a wheel grab mount?