Unicycling is something that has always been interesting to me. If you are a unicyclist, how did you get started? Were you self-taught?
I was self taught. Roughly six years ago I was bored at my grandparent's house and built some stilts, walked on those for a year before I got bored and decided to go buy a unicycle. Five years later I've invested over $3,000 in the hobby, have seven different unicycles, and travel all over the US competing in unicycle events and riding with other people.
my school borrowed some unicycles from somewhere for kids to ride in a cirque de soleil themed christmas concert (pretty lame, and it sucked). the kids couldn't ride them so they didn't use them. at recess all 50 of us high school kids would flock to the gym and try riding them. well my friend was pretty good at it. at a 30hr famine about a week later, thats all my friend did, and he eventually rode it across the gym. he told his parents that he wanted one for christmas, so they got him one. now he can do it no problemo.
Self taught. Learned on a hard plastic seat and solid (no air) rubber wheel (giving away my age I guess). I learned between two cars I could hold onto with both hands. Eventually just let go and would go a foot or two. Practice, practice. A week of that and I was on my way. Backwards, bunny hops, staying still all came later. Good Luck.
Learning to ride a unicycle is 99% learning and no more than 1% teaching. A experienced rider can give a few tips (at first, go for distance and speed, not balance; count 'steps' from one horizontal pedal position to the next) but it really is all about spending time with a uni and a railing/fence, or later just some open space. And learning is fun and rewarding every time you go out. Give it a try!
I learnt when I borrowed a unicycle from a friend when I was 13. I did not find it easy, but I learnt after hanging on to a few walls. My big revelation was discovering Muni... that happened in 1986 when I went to the kamakaazi run at Mammoth... it was down hill for then on! Unicycling is cool as you are always learning, it is a bit like bike riding. There are lots of types of bikes whether it is road, mountain, trials, BMX.. etc. Well actually when it comes to unicycles there are even a few more... Unicyclists are always up for challenges, and the biggest mind **** I know is one ridden by a good friend of mine. It is a 2 wheeler. Ok... in unicycle terms that means one wheel above the other not in front of each other! So you have this wheel that you are driving with a wheel above it. You are 8 foot in the air and as you pedal forwards the wheel goes back wards... hard? yes.. but this one is more! imagine the left hand crank is driven by the bottom wheel by a chain at a ratio of 1.3 to 1. So it is not even in sysc with the other crank, it is going back wards... or is it forwards! Ok mad, but fun. You never stop learning on a unicycle that is one of great things about them. R
