Can You See the Sunset? » unicycle http://www.canyouseethesunset.com Music & More Since 2005 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:02:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Part 13 (and other stuff) http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-13-and-other-stuff/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-13-and-other-stuff/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:49:48 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2352 (Read more...)]]> Unicycles. I’m getting pretty decent at freemounting and can ride away from probably 75% of ‘em. You might be excited about that, but I am. Last Friday I rode at least 700 feet before dismounting (on the one that I actually measured) and most likely more than that and even rode (with a few pauses, of course) down the block and back, probably somewhere over a 1/2 mile total. If any of you are thinking about learning to unicycle, here’s a tip:

Keeping your weight on the pedals might seem like it give you more control and, at first, it might, but once you learn to put most of your weight on the seat, your legs will thank you for it. Now to perfect a figure eight in both directions, learn to idle and hop, and ride off-road and then I’ll be making some progress. Really, I’ve only ridden about an hour over the past 4-5 days (if that) so progress comes slowly but I’ve got other things going on as well.

Wifey’s been having mild contractions all day and for parts of the past few days so she’s currently being checked out at the doc’s office. Me, I’m waiting at home, watching the Cubs, and drinking a little bourbon. If by some wacky happening she doesn’t go into labor before next Tuesday, she’ll be induced then. We’ll see. Until then, I’m waiting…

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-13-and-other-stuff/feed/ 1 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Part 12 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-12/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-12/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:14:02 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2344 (Read more...)]]> It’s just like riding a bicycle… only different. Really, after a full week of not riding at all, I was able to freemount on my second attempt and I was also able to ride 455 feet after freemounting on Sunday. Either way I’ve really only spent about 7 total hours in the saddle practicing and learning so the more I do it, the better I’ll get. However, I can only imagine that with a new baby entering our lives in the next few weeks these updates might get a little more infrequent. I’ll still post some pictures of me on the unicycle as soon as I get someone to take a few.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-12/feed/ 0 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Part 11 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-11/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-11/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:50:08 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2339 (Read more...)]]> Yeah, even though it’s been about a month since I started trying to ride, I haven’t ridden my unicycle since last Saturday. My hip has been feeling better but I’ve also been stretching a bunch too. I’m not sure if it’s really fucked up or if I’m just getting old and pushing too hard. Either way, I’ll be back trying to ride the beast tomorrow so more updates will certainly be forthcoming. In the meantime:

MP3 | cLOUDDEAD – Physics Of A Unicycle Ten

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-part-11/feed/ 1 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Days 18 – 22 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-days-18-22/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-days-18-22/#comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:14:15 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2331 (Read more...)]]> As of today I’ve been attempting to ride a unicycle for three weeks and aside from the fact that my left hip hurts like hell (and, no, I didn’t fall) I think it’s going pretty well. Monday I tried to pry the stripped out crank arm from the unicycle with no success. Tuesday I got the crank arm off with a crank puller but didn’t have time to get any practice in. Wednesday, Thursday, and today I was working on freemounting the right way with the pedals horizontal. The key is keeping your weight on the seat and not on the pedals. I also managed to add a few feet to my longest ride and I’m up to about 350 feet. Did I mention that it has been raining all damn week? That’s made practicing a bit of pain as well. Still, it’s pretty awesome to be able to freemount and then actually ride away.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-days-18-22/feed/ 1 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Day 15, 16, & 17 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-15-16-17/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-15-16-17/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:22:25 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2327 (Read more...)]]> With a left pedal that really wants to fall off and my new cranks in the mail, I spent most of the 30 minutes I practiced on Friday trying to freemount on the unicycle. I got up on the unicycle without assistance maybe a half dozen times, but without any sort of consistency. I did (however) even with the wobbly left pedal ride about 340 feet. I think that officially makes me a unicyclist now.

Yesterday I didn’t do any riding mostly because it was raining all morning but I did practice today (with a glued on left pedal) for another 30 minutes or so. I got a few rides of some length in, but again spent almost the entire session working on freemounting. It was only going OK but I felt like something clicked and that I was starting to “get it” during the last 5 minutes or so. If only I had a pedal that didn’t fall off.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-15-16-17/feed/ 0 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Day 14 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-14/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-14/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:35:17 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2324 (Read more...)]]> I (again) practiced riding the unicycle during my lunch break but spent most of the time riding with my left pedal wobbling about with light drizzle falling from the sky. Even so I only about 20 minutes but did manage on awesome ride of somewhere around 230 feet or so. I even got some claps from a father & son that were biking on the nearby skate ramps. They actually stopped over and asked me about unicycling. They (remarkably) thought it looked pretty cool. I also got up via a standard freemount twice. Between that and the 230 foot ride, I had a short but super awesome day of practice.

Even so, the wifey basically hates the fact that I’m learning to ride a unicycle. In fact, I was talking about unicycling to her today and she said, “When are you going to learn to juggle,” even though she fully knows I’m never going to learn to juggle. Juggling is for clowns. At this point, I’ll just blame it on the pregnancy.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-14/feed/ 2 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Day 12 & 13 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-12-13/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-12-13/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:37:50 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2322 (Read more...)]]> It seems that I’m going to need to purchase some new cranks for my unicycle as the JB Weld job that I did on Monday held up for slightly less than 1 hour of riding. Somehow I had higher hopes. Anyhow, I did about 35 minutes of riding on Tuesday after work after tightening the cranks, facing the wheel forward, and raising the seat a bit. I did pretty well and managed a long ride of somewhere in the neighborhood of 85 feet or so which included a left turn in the driveway.

I also practiced for about 30 minutes during my lunch break today and, aside from having a tendency to swerve left, had my best day of unicycle riding yet. I was consistently riding at least 50 feet nearly every time and 3 rides longer than 155 feet. I (gasp!) almost feel like I can actually ride this contraption. I think I need another round of JB Weld tonight to hold this thing together until my new cranks arrive.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-12-13/feed/ 0 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Day 8, 9, 10, & 11 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-8-9-10-11/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-8-9-10-11/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:46:07 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2317 (Read more...)]]> Friday I only spent about 5 minutes on the unicycle after work, but that’s fine with me. A little break might serve my bruised left ankle/lower leg well (see photo). I did manage to ride for about 30 minutes on Saturday morning before heading up to the Two Brothers For The Love Of Hops beer fest. I can fairly consistently now go at least about 20 feet on just about every ride and even made it almost around the turn in the driveway as well. Maybe 50 feet or so.

I did no riding on Sunday.

Today, I got in about 20 minutes of practice during my lunch break but just didn’t feel all that good or that I made any progress. Part of the issue might have been that just as I started practice I noticed that my right pedal was crooked and seemed to be coming loose from the crank. That’s exactly what it was: the thread where the pedal attaches into the crank arm was pretty much totally stripped. If my temporary solution of cleaning out the metal shavings and applying some JB Weld to the inside doesn’t work, I’ll be out of action until I can get some new crank arms. This is probably my punishment for not buying a new unicycle, huh?

Something like that. It just so happens that the doofus I bought the unicycle from had put the wheel on backwards and (thus) with every pedal I was loosening the pedals and stripping the cranks. Let’s just hope my fix works.

]]> http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-8-9-10-11/feed/ 0 Learning to ride a Unicycle: Day 7 http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-7/ http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/article/learning-to-ride-a-unicycle-day-7/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:36:37 +0000 Eric http://beta.canyouseethesunset.com/?p=2314 (Read more...)]]> So it turns out that when I lowered the seat just a little bit, controlling this damn unicycle contraption became a whole lot easier. I figured this out during the 30 minutes of practice I got in during my lunch break. I managed to at least (fairly) consistently get rides of 15-25 feet and even managed to bust out a ride of about 50 feet!

I also noticed that starting well is crucial and that a little rock back at the start to position my body with a bit of a forward lean generally yielded better results than any other starting position. With any luck (and more practice) I think I might actually get the hang of this. I did also get about 10 minutes of riding in after work in between jogging around the backyard holding the kiddo’s hand.

Slowly but surely…

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