10-15 hours of practice gets you where, now ?

Fantastic. you're riding better than me, and I've had a lot more than 6
hours practice. But I've been practicing in 10-minute intervals when I
have a short break at work.

I've been trying to freemount in my basement over xmas break, doing
longer sessions, and I'm not getting it. Achingly close, but no
improvement. I can land about 10% of my attempts.

How do you keep the back pedal from going down when you mount?

Do you jump with both feet?

David


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McNerdius;1159601 wrote:
Not to be a retard, but i read everywhere "typically, it takes 10-15
hours of practice to learn to unicycle" But what does that mean ?
Level 1 skills ? 5 revs ? I mean... 10-15 years is an equally
(in-)valid estimate, if you know what i mean.

Seriously though, i'm at 8.5 hours right now and i'm just curious as to
what the average joe has achieved at the end of that magical 10-15
hours.

Hey Nerd, from my website, specifically at
http://www.xs4all.nl/~klaasbil/agelearn_short.htm , you can download a
spreadsheet in which you can enter some personal data like age, gender,
wheelsize etc, and it will give you an estimate of the time required for
you to learn and ride 50 m (which is one of the three requirements for
level 1). This is based on the statistics for over 60 people.


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McNerdius;1159601 wrote:
Not to be a retard, but i read everywhere "typically, it takes 10-15
hours of practice to learn to unicycle" But what does that mean ?
Level 1 skills ? 5 revs ? I mean... 10-15 years is an equally
(in-)valid estimate, if you know what i mean.

Seriously though, i'm at 8.5 hours right now and i'm just curious as to
what the average joe has achieved at the end of that magical 10-15
hours.



When I was learning, especially in the first few days, it was helpful
to not practice more than about 30 minutes. Once you get tired, there
are diminishing returns. I was able to ride pretty well after about 3
weeks.

--tom


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TimeTraveller

As a learner myself I am in no position to offer you the sort of advice
that more experienced riders have at their fingertips - but since you
asked......

Clearly, there's lots of advice on the forums about mounting - pedal
positions, weight off pedals until on board etc - and I followed that.
But even as a learner I can add an interpretation....

Basically speaking, in the free mount position standing, say, on the
road with the unicycle in front of me I understood that I should put one
foot on a pedal. My dominant foot is left so this was on the pedal. From
here, with the saddle under me, I know I should 'spring' upwards to
contact the other pedal with my opposite foot. Whichever technique -
this is all well documented and videoed stuff.

Before trying to 'spring' I do something that I have not heard
discussed. I try and stop focusing on any one particular item. I kind of
perceive my whole body, or my body as a whole, at the very point of
launching myself. I am not targeting with my mind any one particular
foot or knee etc.

Clearly, I have to get all the body parts in the right place and
coordinated into a flowing motion - but I try not to be overly
distracted by one particular part. For example, in free mounting I
decide to get into position on the road ready for 'springing' up. Then I
launch my whole body into the air somewhere approximately where it
should end up - because I have thought, 'get your body to that
position'. I don't necessarily think, 'Keep your mind on that foot and
watch were it is going'. In this process when free mounting I kind of
'wake up' at the point where I am no longer on the ground - but might be
in a better position to place feet, arms, legs etc where they need to
go.

Yup! there's so much stuff out there on free mounting and I am a mere
beginner. If you are not numb by now - why not!! Of course, I realise
this is likely to be of no use to you - but as a student I wrote a
thesis on the principals of Physiological Psycho-dynamics that seemed to
be appropriately echoed in the trials and tribulations of free mounting
a unicycle.


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monocyclism;1160752 wrote:
As a learner myself I am in no position to offer you the sort of advice
that more experienced riders have at their fingertips

Don't make yourself smaller than you are. I think that for beginners,
other beginner's advice is at least as useful as the advice from more
experienced riders. One reason is that beginners are more able to word
an advice as explicitly as needed, while experienced riders tend to skip
steps they take for granted. Another reason is that what is good for an
experienced rider is not always the best for beginners. E.g. experienced
riders often emphasise to look ahead, not down. I'm not sure this is
good advice. I am an experienced rider myself now, and indeed my balance
does get worse when looking down. However, I remember that when I was
learning, it actually -helped -me to look down so that in addition to
tactile (feeling) clues, I could get visual clues about what the wheel
was doing. Now, looking down may not be helpful for -every- beginner,
and it may (just may) be disadvantageous in the long run, but I refrain
from telling beginners that looking down is bad.

All I want to say is: beginner's advice is very useful!


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i appreciated monos input! i also admire you for taking up a sport when
everyone else ur age is just meeting for lunch. inspires me as i plan
to be doing this at 60 and beyond.


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Let's see....

Averaging 10mph for 10-15 hours, umm...

It gets me to my aunt's house.


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skrobo;1159627 wrote:
it*'*s plateau...


fify


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hobo_chuck;1160980 wrote:
Let's see....

Averaging 10mph for 10-15 hours, umm...

It gets me to my aunt's house.


ouch... that hurts just thinkin about it.


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'progress-journal-bloggamajiggy' (mcnerdius.blogspot.com)
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TimeTraveler;1160631 wrote:
I've been trying to freemount in my basement over xmas break, doing
longer sessions, and I'm not getting it. Achingly close, but no
improvement. I can land about 10% of my attempts.

How do you keep the back pedal from going down when you mount?

Do you jump with both feet?

To do a static mount (a regular freemount) you can hold the back pedal
back by pushing your weight forward into the seat, and you relax your
back leg a bit so it doesn't kick the wheel backward. It can take a
while to train your leg to respond how you want it to, but once it
behaves itself it will hold the wheel steady for plenty of time to get
your other foot on.

If it seems like it never wants to stay still and always goes backwards
(the pedal threatening your shin), you can try a rollback mount instead,
which is what I used to do when I started. You go half a revolution
backwards before going forwards. Grab the front/top pedal and pull it
backwards with your foot... it somehow seems safer to approach it that
way since it starts going that way when you get on.

10-15 hours practise gets you started! By that time you will know if
you want to continue or not, and like the others said you should know
the basics. I would say 1-20 hours for the basics- cos people are so
diverse, but in the young age group I teach I would estimate most of the
students would fit into the 5-15 hour bracket. If you have persevered
for 15 hours then you would expect to see progress at least. Some people
may never learn to ride despite having spent many hours trying.


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