| Beginner Tips |
| THESE ARE TIPS BASED PURELY ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. IF THEY DO NOT WORK FOR YOU, I AM NOT TO BLAME. THESE ARE SUGGESTIONS.. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT SO DO WHAT YOU LIKE IF IT WORKS. Miscellaneous Tips: 1) If you are falling, turn in that direction. (I've explained turning below.) 2) Don't be afraid to fall off. This fear greatly increases the time it takes you to learn to ride. 3) Concentrate. Find an object in the distance to focus on. By staring at this "focus point" you are less apt to become distracted. 4) When falling or jumping off of your unicycle, try to catch the seat. It usually hits the ground the hardest. 5) Flail your arms and keep them out, like when kids pretend they are airplanes. Waving your arms around when you turn is a great way to keep your balance. But don't just wave your arms. Example: if you are going and you start to lean to the left, put your arms out to the right. 6) When learning to go over semi-large bumps, keep your weight off the seat (or hop :D). You can ride over them by putting all your weight on the pedals and standing on the pedals, while keeping your behind off the seat. You must do this because if you just ry to ride over them, the wheel of your uni will get caught on the bump, but your seat will keep going. This usually results in a fall. Take my word for it. 7) When you start to go off drops higher than curbs, etc., stand on the pedals and hold the seat. 8) I have fallen a bunch of times due to shoe laces. Sometimes, if they are too long, they wrap around your crank and/or pedal. When this happens, you fall off. I had this happen once and I didn't even feel it, that is, until I was on the ground, trying to untie myself. So, tuck your shoelaces into your shoes if they are at all long, or better yet, double-double-double-double-double knot them.. Learning To Go: Start by pedalling by a wall or railing while holding on to it. See if you can go without holding on to the railing/wall. Once you can go for semi long distances, it's time to learn to turn. To learn how to mount a unicycle using a wall, click here. Learning To Turn: Once you know how to go, turning is a snap. Simply swivel your body and unicycle the way you want to go. Also, when turning, avoid leaning to the side at all cost. It is very hard to recover from if you don't fall right away. *Note: If you are an advanced unicyclist, there is a turning technique that involves leaning. Lean slightly towards the direction you want to turn. SLIGHTLY. If you lean too much, you will just fall over. This technique looks better than the above technique, but I recommend swivelling to turn sharply or in small spaces. Click Here to see a video of a circular 180 degree turn. Getting On or "Mounting": There are two ways to get on a uni: using a wall or not using a wall. Not using a wall. Using your preferred foot, make the crank go almost horizontal, but make sure it is below the centre of your wheel. Then, push down slightly on the pedal while jumping up and putting your other foot on the remaining pedal. Click Here to see a video of this procedure. Click on this to learn how to get on using a wall. Winter Riding: Watch out for ice. Up here in the Great White North, I have ended up on my keister more than once due to ice. If there is no way to avoid the ice or if you want to ride on it, I recommend the following things: Do not lean to turn. This will result in spontaneous keisteral (new word) bruising. Don't do anything like hopping either. If you land a little off, it will again result in a spontaneous keisteral bruising. When trying to ride on snow, I recommend using a uni with a nice knobby tire. I can barely move on snow with my stock street tire. I slip down hills in the winter. I stop pedalling, but my uni has a mind of its own. It keeps going. If this has ever happened to you, you too, know it feels weird. (I recommend the Kenda K-Rad tire for an overall good 20" tire. See a review here.) Hopping: Hopping is one of those things that is hard at the beginning (or it was for me) but once you learn, it is the most useful of all the unicycle skills you can learn, IMHO. Hopping is just hopping with the unicycle attached. The easiest way I can explain it is jumping while holding onto the seat. Holding onto the seat makes sure that the uni comes along for the ride, because anyone can jump without a uni. And always make sure that the pedals are horzontal to the ground when you are hopping. For extra height, you can hop with the seat out in front and pull the uni up. You can do the same with the seat under you in the normal position, but you CAN get a lot more height seat out. I can't do seat out hopping very well so don't be discouraged. I can hop almost a foot and a half in the air, but I've heard of guys hopping twice that easily, so the potential is amazing. |
 |
| Navigation |