Hopping in the Driveway

I spent some time in the driveway this afternoon hopping on my 20" uni.
I lowered my seat an inch or so to help give me some more room to spring up.
I should post some pictures soon to show my progress.

But I should probably take a break from hopping for a while. My inner thighs feel bruised and are a bit chaffed. I guess that just comes with the territory. I need to toughen up.

Syd's Uno and Fun in the Sun

About a week ago I ordered Sydney a new unicycle. It's actually almost identical to her current one, but it has an alloy rim instead of steel. Her rim wasn't straight and steel is harder to true. Plus this new one has a better tire for pavement, where she normally rides. You could say this is a birthday gift, but I don't need a birthday to keep my own kid interested in my passion!

Here are some pics:


It feels like it's slightly better quality than her first uni. Syd seems to like it.



I had fun with my 20" uni also. For the winter, I had messed around with it in the very limited space in my basement. It was good to bring it out in the sunshine. It's a bit easier to hop around on than my 24" muni. Hopefully I can learn some skills more easily on the 20 and then apply those to my muni riding.
Amy took a few pics of me. Not the most impressive, but I was just warming up. And the season has just begun. ;P

I practiced some rolling hops too. For my non-uni readers, that's riding straight at an object and hopping it. Just like a bunny hop on a bike. On a uni, everything's a bit more difficult, but without a freewheel your cranks aren't always in a good position when it's time to hop. For now at least, that means only a portion of my attempts are even possible. Well I managed to do a few rolling hops over 4". It's a start!

I also rode around the block on my 20" while Sydney rode her new 16". Our speeds matched more nicely than on my 24".
Later Kyle wanted to ride his 24" geared mountain bike around the block and asked me to join him. I rode my 24" uni, mostly in high gear and our speeds matched quite well, at about 9 mph. Though it was a very casual ride for him. We ended up riding outside our neighborhood and rode 2.7 miles.

It was a nice first day of spring.

Koxx-One Black Domina II

I've been wanting to play around more on my uni and try to learn some more skills. Buying a 20" wheeled uni crossed my mind every once in a while.

I saw a great sale on Koxx-One (K1) unis, so I picked one.
The Koxx-One Black Domina II:

Camouflage seat. A must have for all uni riders.


A 20" wheel uni is generally used in flatland, street, and trials.

- Flatland or flat is basically performing tricks on flat ground.
- Street focuses on performing tricks on a variety of urban obstacles like curbs, ledges, stairs and hand rails.
- Trials focuses on trying to overcome various obstacles such as ledges, gaps, and skinnies.

I don't plan on concentrating on any of these styles but I'd like to learn certain skills from each: improved hops, riding SIF (seat in front), still stands, skinnies, wheel walking, gliding, crank flips, 180 and 360 unispins, and more.
Some skills might help me ride my 24" muni through more technical trails, and some might just add some flare to my ride. That's the theory anyway.

Skinny Beam

I planned on riding this morning at Tryon, but I woke up with a sore lower back from yesterday's ride. I definitely could have ridden, but I knew I would fatigue very early. No fun.

A few months ago I had put together a "skinny" made from a 4x4" beam. I never really rode it. I started with a 2x4 lying flat on the ground and thought I'd progress to riding the 4x4. But I guess the combination of low success with the 2x4, my inability to get up on the 4x4, and my desire to do other riding, kept me from trying it.
So tonight I screwed a few 2x4's to the side of the 4x4 to make it wider. I can ride up onto it using some flat 2x6's as steps.


As I get more comfortable and consistent, I'll remove the 2x4's one at a time until I can easily ride the 4x4 alone.

Unicycling Anniversary

Today was my one year anniversary of first riding a unicycle.
I celebrated by riding my first learner unicycle. I forgot how smooth a street tire is.

Also, over the past few weeks I've been practicing riding backwards.

Here's a little video I made for the occasion:

Lefty

Tonight I practiced free mounting with my left foot on first. At first it was awkward, kind of like throwing a ball with your non-dominant arm. It's awkward. Not wanting to fall on my back (which happened randomly once when I first learned free mounting), I wimped out and practiced in the grass a few times. Then I did it on the driveway. It only took about five minutes to become successful about 75% of the time! My current skill level and right-foot free mounting ability must help.

Also, over the past week I've been trying to idle with my left foot down. A week ago it felt impossible. But now I think I'm getting the hang of it. I can do five rocks fairly regularly, and my record is seven.

100 Idles

Documenting my idling:

Evening Progress

Tonight I rode around the block with Syd. She made it the entire way with no UPD!
It's 0.6 miles around. Nice job Syd!

Also, I've been practicing my idling lately and tonight I got to 100 rocks!!
My leg on the lower pedal was killing me at the end, and so I stopped right at 100.
Hopefully I'll learn to ease up on that leg.

Starting to Idle

I've been practicing idling a bit over the past few weeks. Something started to click over the past few days. I probably only average 2 or 3 rocks back and forth, but I did the most tonight. How much is that? Seven.

New Railing

Last weekend I built a new railing for the kids to practice with. Actually, I'm finding myself using it to learn idling and riding backwards. Not much progress for me yet. Sydney used the railing today and made some good progress. I think she got a few full rotations several times.

January Thaw

I've been itching to get out to the trails, but despite the warmer days we've been having, I suspected the trails would not be muni-friendly. Kyle and I walked some trails this morning and confirmed it. Still, I might give it a try tomorrow if I get a chance.



So in the meantime I took advantage of the dry street and driveway. Nothing too exciting, but it was good to have some fun in the sun. I continue to practice my hops. 8" is my highest. I'm not sure I can get much higher without changing my technique.

I took some video with my new GoPro Hero HD camera, just to test it out. I'll have to post more about my camera in the future.

Cold Laps

This afternoon I snowblowed the driveway and a path around the house. Then I rode around a bunch of times. It was cold out there. 12°F (-11°C). My fingers were frozen after snowblowing. After riding a lap or two and getting my heart pumping, I started warming up pretty quick. My fingers thawed. Damn that hurts!
I practice some hopping too.
I wish it was spring. I miss dirt and warmth.

Hopping in the Garage

Tonight I practiced some hopping in the garage. This time of year it's dark and cold outside in the evenings, and often windy and wet. The garage solves most of those problems.
This is the first time I've practiced hopping since the back of my knee bothered me. I didn't feel any problems even without wearing a knee support, but I kept my session to about 20 minutes.
I didn't do any particularly great hopping, but hopefully by spring time hopping will be second nature.

Hopping a 2x6

Tonight I concentrated on hopping. I started out by hopping imaginary gaps I made by drawing on the driveway. Once I felt good with that, I start hopping over small pieces of wood.

I ended with hopping over a 2x6 board. I think I could go higher. Maybe tomorrow.
Oh, and I seem to have acquired some fanboys.

Hopping 180°

This isn't too exciting, but the camera was handy. Here's a video of me turning around by hopping. I haven't been practicing hopping much, but these little hops aren't too difficult.

Parallel Bars

Tonight I made some parallel bars to help Sydney practice unicycling. I used some old railings.
They're a bit too flexible, but it seems to be working ok. She was able to pedal around once with no hands. If nothing else, she seems to be gaining confidence.

Getting Technical

I thought I'd work harder on idling, but I haven't been practicing that much. I find myself coming to a standstill much more often, and occasionally I do a single small backwards rock. So maybe that will evolve into idling?

In the meantime I started riding over a 2x10 laid flat on the driveway. Usually I try to ride the length of it. It's not particularly impressive, but it seems like a good place to start for riding on things like walls, benches, and railings. Ha!

I've also started hopping. Occasionally when I'm in the mood I just hop several times and try to keep riding. Again, no big deal, but you gotta start somewhere.

Idling

I've started learning how to idle.
So far I've been practicing by holding on to two chair backs.

Yesterday I started and today I practiced more and felt more comfortable.
My longest idle was probably only forward-back-forward-back... but it's a start.