Tonight I went to juggling class with my unicycle (I cleared it with the coach first). I got several comments wheeling the unicycle from the bus stop to the gym and I felt like a poser. Because yes, I was just wheeling it, but I am sure everyone thought I could ride it. However, soon enough I will not be a fraud, for lo*, I think I have done something that can be called unicycling. I brought my unicycle to juggling, which was an awesome place to do it bc 2 of the members can unicycle (one amazingly, and one just pretty well) (even though I swear that is not what they said when I was asking about uni brands)and they gave me a lot of tips, such as the supports are there for side to side balance, so if you are not falling side to side, balance yourself by pedaling. Also, look ahead. And, pedal slowly instead of picking up speed as you get going. The other good tip was to pedal smoothly, which I thought I had been trying to do but when I tried consciously I got much better. Actually they inflated my tire a bit more too. As I said, it was a good place to learn.
And the gymnasium floor is wonderful. I fell over and over all splayed out but it wasn't scary to do because the floor is laminated wood and will not scrape me up.
So yeah, by holding onto some one's shoulder as I got the pedaling going, and then having them walk away, I can pedal for several feet. Well. It is hard to say how far I am going but if you judge by how far away I land from where the person stopped walking, it is quite far.** Also if you go by me doing about 3 rotations of the 24" wheel, that seems like it is 6 feet. It takes about 1 second.*** So, still not "real" unicycling but everyone said I was very good for a beginner.
And, wow, I like doing things alone because I can focus (I had to put on my ipod to keep from the jugglers talking to me continuously) but I managed to unicycle off and on for 2 hrs, vs. my usual 40 minutes.
*yeah, it's a word or something. No, I can't define it. II can add it to my serenity list of hard words to tattoo on my body. "what does that word mean?" people will ask, and I will tell them, "I don't know!" however I have forgotten the other words. let's see- how about lo, carboniferous, and molecule? Although it is really bothering me that I don't know what molecules are so I will most likely look it up.
**relative to yesterday's distance of most of 1 rotation and then pitching forward to my death. (that is not a real unit of distance)
***Or, 4mph. Yeah, mathin' it up, tearin' it up. Right. Did I already explain about ridin' dirty? Because I did.
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