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Sunday, December 13. 2009
Learn how to unicycle in only 1 hour
Actually this is probably only going to take you 45min, but 1h just sounded cooler... So why should you learn to unicycle in the first place?
It's fun. It improves your balance. It's fun! It can be done anywhere. It's cheap. It's a cool Xmas present. You can impress your friends. You could quit your job and go work for a circus. It makes your cycyling rounder. It gives you more feeling for the Wheelie... - oh, did I mention it's fun yet?
So here's how you learn it:
- WHERE: Find a flat place with something to hold on. A fence, a wall or such. It should be straight and a couple of yards long. I choose the wall of an underground parking.
- You should also have an open space you can roll into after hanging on to something. So if there's some room next to the wall that's great.
- Standing firmly on the ground place your butt on the saddle with the unicycle in front of you and put one foot on the pedals in an 8 o'clock position like this:
- As you kick the foot down the unicycle rolls back and the saddle will come up right under you. Hang on to the wall and place your other foot on the pedal.
- Make sure you position both feet evenly and clear away from touching the cranks.
It should look somewhat like this:
- Start to cycle while keeping one hand on the wall. Don't be timid: crank like you mean it from the start aiming for a round movement - one foot after the other. An even speed will help to steady you. So set out to cover 2m (6 feet) of distance from the start. Don't think about "I'll put one foot down, see how it goes and later put the other foot down"- turn those cranks evenly one right after the other!
- Try to give yourself some room and steady yourself on the wall when you need it.
- Stick your hands out and use them for balance.
- Learn to bail out when necessary: if you're about to fall off get the heck away from the bike. You don't want to step on it and twist an ankle. Bail out in a big step unto your feet and don't worry about catching the bike (your crotch will thank you).
- Try again: eyes about 5m ahead and crank it evenly.
- Aim for 1-2m (3-6 feet) of pedaling without touching or try to cover the same short distance with less touching everytime.
- If you can do the wall with no touching after the starting phase - do it another 4 times. Then head for something new.
- Try to cover a distance without a wall. Maybe start at the wall and aim for another one a couple of metres away.
- Leave yourself some room - the goal is to get somewhere - the line is not that important. We'll worry about the steering later...
- Start to bail out later. Trust your feel for balance! You automatically correct imbalances. Allow yourself to swerve - we are not aiming for a steady line just yet. You'll amaze yourself what you can "save" if you just want to keep going.
- Make it your main goal to get to something far away and keep cranking. Remember: steady speed is your friend and will help to keep your balance.
- Get up every time you bailed out. Walk back to the start thinking: "Why not this time? I'll try!"
- Celebrate small victories: the first run with 3 touches, the first 2m without touching, the first crooked line you automatically pulled through... And get back unto it aiming for 5 repeats - the first time could've been a lucky punch, but 5 repeats is no luck anymore!
Very soon you'll find yourself covering quite some distance. If you still need to hang on to the wall to get unto the bike and for the starting metres that's fine. Think about your first run and how far you've come!
Walk away after a particular long or steady run and think about how you are going to top that the next time around.
Tick it off: "Been there, done that. I can unicycle."
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I never thought I could cycle so far after such a short time!!
With that I cleared two season's goal's in 45min. So here's the new list:
Calendar
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September '10 | |||||
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
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