12/31/08
YAY. i feel like a real man now. Buaha. I freemounted today after about 30 minutes of exercises, and about 10-15 tries. Super. I'm doing a rollback mount for now, and as i get more and more comfy with it, i'll work my way into the static mount. Now that i can freemount, i'm going to make sure i can do it about 20% of the time, and start going to the park to use the track/trail thingy they have there to get my endurance/distance up. The lot at my apartment is a bit too much to deal with to master Weight-On-Seat concepts. oh and i'm doing stretches to help my knees too.
time spent: 10.25 hours
money spent: 395
TURNING ?
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Labels:
unicycle
122808
hrm, i spent 1.25 hours today messing around much like yesterday (on the 24). I swapped out the pedals though and had different/better luck as could be expected. My pinned pedals are wider. I had good luck going up hills. I'd do 200m stints uphill, about 150 downhill. My uphill was better because my cadence is consistent. With downhill though, i let myself fly when i could but the fast cadence would kill me (6" cranks)... Then when rough terrain came, i'd power through it but getting back in a groove was not an option.
I'm handling the rough terrain well enough that i'm tempted to put shorter cranks on... but....
I practiced controlled turns. I can do some sorta tight turns... hah... like a 2m radius... IF my surroundings call for it. But turning around in the parking lot merely because i want to ? No way. I made 1/5 left turns, on about a 20m radius. And 0/5 right turns. All of these being 180's that i'm able to ride out of. Not good. Oh well though, this was a first try. I'm certain practicing all of this on the 20 will help. If i have problems on the 20 with the 5's i'll put the 6's on the 20 and the 5's on the 24 to see what that's like for speed-riding.
The killer gooch symptoms combined with sore knees/legs are telling me to take it easy-ish for a couple days. That and i'll be putting the 20" wheel back on to practice turning and mounting so that i can do more than just practice, ya know ?
time spent - 9.75 hours
$ spent - 395
hrm, i spent 1.25 hours today messing around much like yesterday (on the 24). I swapped out the pedals though and had different/better luck as could be expected. My pinned pedals are wider. I had good luck going up hills. I'd do 200m stints uphill, about 150 downhill. My uphill was better because my cadence is consistent. With downhill though, i let myself fly when i could but the fast cadence would kill me (6" cranks)... Then when rough terrain came, i'd power through it but getting back in a groove was not an option.
I'm handling the rough terrain well enough that i'm tempted to put shorter cranks on... but....
I practiced controlled turns. I can do some sorta tight turns... hah... like a 2m radius... IF my surroundings call for it. But turning around in the parking lot merely because i want to ? No way. I made 1/5 left turns, on about a 20m radius. And 0/5 right turns. All of these being 180's that i'm able to ride out of. Not good. Oh well though, this was a first try. I'm certain practicing all of this on the 20 will help. If i have problems on the 20 with the 5's i'll put the 6's on the 20 and the 5's on the 24 to see what that's like for speed-riding.
The killer gooch symptoms combined with sore knees/legs are telling me to take it easy-ish for a couple days. That and i'll be putting the 20" wheel back on to practice turning and mounting so that i can do more than just practice, ya know ?
time spent - 9.75 hours
$ spent - 395
yayers
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Labels:
unicycle
just did the 24 last night for a half hour. Had the slick pedals on, which i don't like much. They're too narrow, and some psychological stuff too. Went 200m (According to the computer - seemed like more) several times, and i'll need to be setting my next goal. The night's "step forward" was weight-in-seat. I was able to FLY for the first time, just by leaving my weight in the seat and letting it happen. In the past, it'd been very easy for me to feel out of control, purely from the extra speed acquired by doing it right. But that changed last night. I forced myself to just GO. Still feels scary, but i know i'm in control. What keeps screwing me over now though is foot placement. Ordered some quick release post clamps...
Money Spent - 385
Time Spent - 8.5 hours
Avg Dist - 75m
Max Dist - 200m
Money Spent - 385
Time Spent - 8.5 hours
Avg Dist - 75m
Max Dist - 200m
Mmmmmmmmmmmkay
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Well then... I did some clever stuff today. Had the 20 and the 24 out, just like yesterday. But this time, it was SUPER nice out. I also moved my car to the corner of the lot so instead of starting from the middle of the lot and working my way to the end, i'd be working from one end of the lot to the other. That's probably about 350m or so. The max i did today (i think) was about 190m, though. Not bad though... I mean yesterday, i was doing 50-100, with a max of about 120. Today was 80-150 with a max of 190... Could've had a bit to do with the terrain, but who cares, i'll still do better tomorrow, ya know ? I also did some vids to review which should be cool. Welp i'm gonna keep this one simple i think... Might do some more riding later on... I'm bored as hell and night riding is fun.
But for now the totals:
8 hours practice
345 spent
But for now the totals:
8 hours practice
345 spent
once again...
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Labels:
unicycle
12/25
MMkay... It's a better day today... not much snow on the lot, and a bit warmer to boot. Went 100m on the 24 today. Several times. One direction is limited to 100m-ish by the size of the lot, the other was psuedo-limited by a combo of fatigue and a load of slush (aka mental block). The lot-limited direction is the same direction that i was originally going - the uneven, downhill, left sloping one. I powered through the slope with hardly any problem today for some reason, and decided that since i was having less problem going straight, i'd try turning. It worked. So i turned and went around the lot to the end of it in that direction. Several times. Mind you, it's a right turn. My tendency is to the left, as is the lot's slope. YAY !
The other direction is uphill, ever so slightly. It's a lot more flat, however there is still more snow over there, as well as more onlookers. But i was still able to go a good 100m. Also went 50m+ well over half of my tries. Fewer short runs this time, but i had myself needing to really push the wheel to get going. That could have just been the uphill runs, i'm not sure. I think a part of the problem i was having last night was not side-to-side balance or speed, but rather Q-Factor/foot placement. I was at the point on the 20 (with the 6" cranks anyhoo) that i didnt need to worry so much about foot placement... but on the 24, i guess i'm not there yet.
Tossed on the 20" after the initial hour on the 24 and had a good time on it. It was cool to be able to push myself through stuff i would not have attempted on the 20, had i not first done it on the 24. Large patches of ice were the only thing i couldn't find myself to try. Tiny bump -> UPD -> break ass... didn't sound too appealing to me. I was able to get a 100m run in on it... it was super.
TIME SPENT: 7.25
MONEY SPENT: 345
THIS WAS POSTED ON THE 26th, HOWEVER IT DOCUMENTS THE 25TH AS MY INTERNET WAS DOWN. YAY.
MMkay... It's a better day today... not much snow on the lot, and a bit warmer to boot. Went 100m on the 24 today. Several times. One direction is limited to 100m-ish by the size of the lot, the other was psuedo-limited by a combo of fatigue and a load of slush (aka mental block). The lot-limited direction is the same direction that i was originally going - the uneven, downhill, left sloping one. I powered through the slope with hardly any problem today for some reason, and decided that since i was having less problem going straight, i'd try turning. It worked. So i turned and went around the lot to the end of it in that direction. Several times. Mind you, it's a right turn. My tendency is to the left, as is the lot's slope. YAY !
The other direction is uphill, ever so slightly. It's a lot more flat, however there is still more snow over there, as well as more onlookers. But i was still able to go a good 100m. Also went 50m+ well over half of my tries. Fewer short runs this time, but i had myself needing to really push the wheel to get going. That could have just been the uphill runs, i'm not sure. I think a part of the problem i was having last night was not side-to-side balance or speed, but rather Q-Factor/foot placement. I was at the point on the 20 (with the 6" cranks anyhoo) that i didnt need to worry so much about foot placement... but on the 24, i guess i'm not there yet.
Tossed on the 20" after the initial hour on the 24 and had a good time on it. It was cool to be able to push myself through stuff i would not have attempted on the 20, had i not first done it on the 24. Large patches of ice were the only thing i couldn't find myself to try. Tiny bump -> UPD -> break ass... didn't sound too appealing to me. I was able to get a 100m run in on it... it was super.
TIME SPENT: 7.25
MONEY SPENT: 345
THIS WAS POSTED ON THE 26th, HOWEVER IT DOCUMENTS THE 25TH AS MY INTERNET WAS DOWN. YAY.
testing... 1...2...3... anyone out there ?
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Labels:
unicycle
12/24
'nets been down a while. It's been wicked cold too... I've had an hour of practice over the last few days on the 20" with 5" cranks. This has been on eneven, slightly snowy terrain (however it is reasonable, and a good representation of the sidewalks). As such, i've been having only so-so progress. Also, i've found out that my distance estimations have been way off. The farthest i've gone has been about 75m. Those trips, however, have been cut short not by UPDs, but by the length of my parking lot. I've been having one problem in particular over this last hour of practice... The lot slants to the left, so when i start trying to correct i find i sometimes have to compensate a WHOLE LOT for the slant. If i correct it by momentarily putting weight on the pedals and slowing down a bit, using my hips to get the wheel straight and starting over, i'm fine. However, i've been trying to keep my weight on the seat. In order to go straight while keeping the weight on the seat, i'm moving my hips, upper body, arms, etc in whatever ways i need to in order to correct. Let's say i point my hips to the right. That will correct the direction, sure. But then i have to keep riding like that. If i make an attempt to "sync up" my upper and lower body, i find i will be traveling in yet another direction and start all over, or worse yet, UPD. If i do not attempt to sync up my body, riding is akward and lopsided... and i soon upd. Needless to say, i certainly need to practice these things on more flat ground. I'm also gonna toss the 24" on and see how it acts on the odd terrain.
later on - got in 30 min on the 24" ... and i gotta say, i love unicycling. I was certainly more comfortable on top of the 24/6 combo than the 20/5... ALTHOUGH, i had shorter runs - 40m or so tops. The same problem described above [pointing my hips (or whatever) away from the direction i'm tending, then finding i need to maintain that position even after my direction is corrected] was much more frequent, and i think it might have to do with either my side to side balance, or my speed. Weight on seat, anyone ?
Overall, it's sad to say that aside from the 1.5 hour experience i've gotten these last few days, i haven't seen any measurable advances. I'm going 50-75 m more often, but still have my share of false starts and short runs.
TIME SPENT: 5.75
MONEY SPENT: 345
---------------------------------------------------------
'nets been down a while. It's been wicked cold too... I've had an hour of practice over the last few days on the 20" with 5" cranks. This has been on eneven, slightly snowy terrain (however it is reasonable, and a good representation of the sidewalks). As such, i've been having only so-so progress. Also, i've found out that my distance estimations have been way off. The farthest i've gone has been about 75m. Those trips, however, have been cut short not by UPDs, but by the length of my parking lot. I've been having one problem in particular over this last hour of practice... The lot slants to the left, so when i start trying to correct i find i sometimes have to compensate a WHOLE LOT for the slant. If i correct it by momentarily putting weight on the pedals and slowing down a bit, using my hips to get the wheel straight and starting over, i'm fine. However, i've been trying to keep my weight on the seat. In order to go straight while keeping the weight on the seat, i'm moving my hips, upper body, arms, etc in whatever ways i need to in order to correct. Let's say i point my hips to the right. That will correct the direction, sure. But then i have to keep riding like that. If i make an attempt to "sync up" my upper and lower body, i find i will be traveling in yet another direction and start all over, or worse yet, UPD. If i do not attempt to sync up my body, riding is akward and lopsided... and i soon upd. Needless to say, i certainly need to practice these things on more flat ground. I'm also gonna toss the 24" on and see how it acts on the odd terrain.
later on - got in 30 min on the 24" ... and i gotta say, i love unicycling. I was certainly more comfortable on top of the 24/6 combo than the 20/5... ALTHOUGH, i had shorter runs - 40m or so tops. The same problem described above [pointing my hips (or whatever) away from the direction i'm tending, then finding i need to maintain that position even after my direction is corrected] was much more frequent, and i think it might have to do with either my side to side balance, or my speed. Weight on seat, anyone ?
Overall, it's sad to say that aside from the 1.5 hour experience i've gotten these last few days, i haven't seen any measurable advances. I'm going 50-75 m more often, but still have my share of false starts and short runs.
TIME SPENT: 5.75
MONEY SPENT: 345
---------------------------------------------------------
dang
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Labels:
unicycle
Tried my shorter cranks today... a few times anyways. Only went like 5-20 feet though... Don't feel the same control at all. I'm going to adjust my seat and whatnot, and i hope that'll do it. I'm not going to be pessimistic about it right now, because i'm not trying it on level terrain. If i were able to try it on flat terrain i'd know a whole lot more than i do right now. I'll keep trying though, and i know i will get better opporitunities over the next week, which is supposed to be quite decent out, albeit a tad windy.
Yay ! 0°, NO WIND !!!
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Labels:
unicycle
i got 30 min tonight, last minute and all. the wind died down and i was able to find a ski-mask at wallys so i decided i'd brave the now snowier terrain of my apartment's parking lot. The tennis court is now useless you see, covered with ice and snow... and so damn small. I'll use it in the future for learning new skills where flat terrain is needed, considering my apartment's lot is by no means flat. Until then, i will use my apartment's lot, along with a HUGE FLAT EMPTY lot that is empty, considering the lot's associated real estate is (and has been for some time) empty. Currently though, it is too snowy.
Anyhoo i did something like 2-300 feet or so. ON CRAP TERRAIN. I went fairly straight too, which was cool. Most of the time was spent trying to freemount though. No luck. I also tried the back-dismount a couple times, but when i fell on my ass for no other reason than the amount of ice on the ground, i decided that the dismount was not the thing to practice this time.
Sunday will almost certainly not be good for uni-ing, nor will monday. However, it looks as if the five days following will be. YAY. I hope to have landed the mount and the dismount to some degree of consistency by the time my christmas vacation is over. Holy cow man... this sport is so satisfying.
total practice time: 4.25 hrs
Anyhoo i did something like 2-300 feet or so. ON CRAP TERRAIN. I went fairly straight too, which was cool. Most of the time was spent trying to freemount though. No luck. I also tried the back-dismount a couple times, but when i fell on my ass for no other reason than the amount of ice on the ground, i decided that the dismount was not the thing to practice this time.
Sunday will almost certainly not be good for uni-ing, nor will monday. However, it looks as if the five days following will be. YAY. I hope to have landed the mount and the dismount to some degree of consistency by the time my christmas vacation is over. Holy cow man... this sport is so satisfying.
total practice time: 4.25 hrs
A bit more fun
I had a touch more fun last night... about 15 minutes or so. Went some pretty decent distances, 20-100ft, 40ft average. All this on snowy, uneven, parking lot terrain. The lot slopes downhill to my left... left being the direction i tend to anyway, so it was fairly tough y'know. The feeling of the open parking lot ROCKED. Only thing that sucked was the slope the cars and the snow... hah. Oh and it was pitch dark too. Overall though it was still better than the tennis court. I just cannot FREAKING WAIT until spring man.
Anyways i started practicing on freemounting and back-dismounting. I got a feel for them, albeit was not successful. Sort of like when i was practicing to ride on the 24... I'm able to get my foot on the left pedal every time i try. I can get a half-stroke back or forward in either direction after the foot is placed 50% of the time. However, i've not pedaled out of one yet. A good part of the reason for this is that i'm still pulling the uni under me instead of hopping onto the uni. However, i am confident that as i do it more and more, it will become more and more of a hop-up than a pull-under. As far as back-dismounting goes, i didn't get to try that nearly as much: maybe 5 times. I was nearly successful with my final attempt. I slowed down and stepped off correctly, but i was so sure i was going to fail i didn't bother to grab for the uni. Hah.
Don't think i'll be practicing today as it is a bit nippy (8°) which wouldn't be so bad if not for the wind... 10-20mph. I'd do 20 below if there were no wind... but i do not like wind.
On a side note, Everyone go buy a "vacuum pot" coffee maker. I want to get one for xmas. That and a new grinder... i like coffee.
Anyways i started practicing on freemounting and back-dismounting. I got a feel for them, albeit was not successful. Sort of like when i was practicing to ride on the 24... I'm able to get my foot on the left pedal every time i try. I can get a half-stroke back or forward in either direction after the foot is placed 50% of the time. However, i've not pedaled out of one yet. A good part of the reason for this is that i'm still pulling the uni under me instead of hopping onto the uni. However, i am confident that as i do it more and more, it will become more and more of a hop-up than a pull-under. As far as back-dismounting goes, i didn't get to try that nearly as much: maybe 5 times. I was nearly successful with my final attempt. I slowed down and stepped off correctly, but i was so sure i was going to fail i didn't bother to grab for the uni. Hah.
Don't think i'll be practicing today as it is a bit nippy (8°) which wouldn't be so bad if not for the wind... 10-20mph. I'd do 20 below if there were no wind... but i do not like wind.
On a side note, Everyone go buy a "vacuum pot" coffee maker. I want to get one for xmas. That and a new grinder... i like coffee.
Crapola
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Labels:
unicycle
Yayers again. Yesterday (the 18th) I did the 60-stroke max-tennis-court run. On my 2nd try. And there were alot of obstacle-type things. Made me feel real awesome. And i went about 100ft+ on a sidewalk... I think i'm gonna be done worrying about distance and straightness for now. I gotta work on my mounting skills. I'm going to start on curb-mounting, work my way to a free mount.
total practice time: 3.5 hours
and money spent ? Well... when i bought the crank puller (to put the longer cranks on, at the same time that i put the 20" wheel on) i had done some pricing online. $30 to get one shipped, and i'd have it in a weeks' time. I decided to check local bike shops. I ended up getting one (a different type) in town for $15. That was about 10 days ago. Then yesterday, UPS knocks on my door... hands me a box from Unicycle.com. Hmm... i didn't order anything ? It was the crank puller i was pricing. Hmm... odd. I emailed them and i guess somehow it slipped through the cracks. So i called my payment in and everything... Get up this morning, check my email... They replied to me: They GAVE me the crank puller...... WOW. I mean, they made that decision AFTER i'd already called in my payment info, ya know ? Gooooood shit man.
total practice time: 3.5 hours
and money spent ? Well... when i bought the crank puller (to put the longer cranks on, at the same time that i put the 20" wheel on) i had done some pricing online. $30 to get one shipped, and i'd have it in a weeks' time. I decided to check local bike shops. I ended up getting one (a different type) in town for $15. That was about 10 days ago. Then yesterday, UPS knocks on my door... hands me a box from Unicycle.com. Hmm... i didn't order anything ? It was the crank puller i was pricing. Hmm... odd. I emailed them and i guess somehow it slipped through the cracks. So i called my payment in and everything... Get up this morning, check my email... They replied to me: They GAVE me the crank puller...... WOW. I mean, they made that decision AFTER i'd already called in my payment info, ya know ? Gooooood shit man.
Yaaaaaaaaaay
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I didn't have to work today and it was nice.... well 20° ... but NO wind. So i doubled up my clothes and grabbed the uni. I was going for 2 hours but only made it to about 1.25. This was mainly due to the cold air doing strange asthma-like things to my lungs.
Anyways, i ramble. I did phenomenally well, again. After the 3-4 days or so it's been, i'm surprised... hopped on and right off the bat i was doing BETTER than my last practice session. Last time, i was too paranoid to try uni-ing away from the fence. Also, i've been noticing that i've been doing better with the fence on my right than with the fence on the left. Soooooo... just practice more with the fence on the left, right ? No. My first instinct was to practice with the fence on the right till i didn't need the fence at all. After all, why practice with the fence on the "uncomfortable" side when the goal is to eliminate the fence, right ?
Lemme back up... I think at least a little bit of what helped me so much was the snow. Slowed me down a bit. But after a while, as i did more and more laps, something cool started happening. The snow packing up under the uni started creating little obstacles for me to... either drive over and develop that skill, or avoid and develop that skill. Avoiding them involved uni-ing farther away from the fence. Far enough to where i couldn't reach it, and the "Side of the fence" issue became moot. To an extent. I no longer needed the fence, but i also discovered the reason for the fence issue. I'd been veering to the left. SHARP. If i just uni and don't worry about straight lines, it's about a 15-20 foot radius. Seems bad.
I gave up the fence, and just pushed off from the fence and went. 16 times. An average of 18 strokes per run. Keeping in mind the max the run could be would be about 20-25, that's not bad. I had only 2 failed-starts, with 2 and 3 strokes. Everything else was 10+ as i recall. My max run was 29, that was a fluke though, as it was basically a perfect quarter-circle... I also did a 28. Anyway though, the breakthrough in this session was not length, clearly. It was independence. And i can't go very much farther than i am now in this tennis court. The max run i could do would be maybe 45 or 50 and i'm pretty sure it'll be a few more sessions before i can do that. If i'm near the fence i tend to use it. If i'm not near the fence, it's harder to go straight. Midway down the court, is, of course, the net... which for a newbie is somewhat of a tight squeeze. So i need to:
1) Travel towards the net away from the fence, going straight.
2) Veer towards the fence just enough to avoid the net.
3) Veer back away from the fence... if i go straight after this, who cares.
Actually... that could give me about 60, if i veer left after the net.
After doing my "norm" practice for a good clean hour, i was going to give up but on my way down to the car i saw a looooooooooooooong straightaway that i was going to practice in. Messed around trying to freemount for about 5 minutes before i got pissy. Then i wanted to see how far i could go... feel like a REAL pro, ya know ? But it was uphill... or downhill, however you look at it. I could go about 4-5 strokes uphill, and could barely even mount downhill. I think this area was a bit more slick than where i'd been before too.
OK...
totals: practice time : 3 hours
dough spendage : $340
calories burned: priceless
my cursor disappeared in blogger's editor, and my wife's almost home and the place is a mess and i'm not supposed to be home so i think i'll go clean now see ya hee hee
Anyways, i ramble. I did phenomenally well, again. After the 3-4 days or so it's been, i'm surprised... hopped on and right off the bat i was doing BETTER than my last practice session. Last time, i was too paranoid to try uni-ing away from the fence. Also, i've been noticing that i've been doing better with the fence on my right than with the fence on the left. Soooooo... just practice more with the fence on the left, right ? No. My first instinct was to practice with the fence on the right till i didn't need the fence at all. After all, why practice with the fence on the "uncomfortable" side when the goal is to eliminate the fence, right ?
Lemme back up... I think at least a little bit of what helped me so much was the snow. Slowed me down a bit. But after a while, as i did more and more laps, something cool started happening. The snow packing up under the uni started creating little obstacles for me to... either drive over and develop that skill, or avoid and develop that skill. Avoiding them involved uni-ing farther away from the fence. Far enough to where i couldn't reach it, and the "Side of the fence" issue became moot. To an extent. I no longer needed the fence, but i also discovered the reason for the fence issue. I'd been veering to the left. SHARP. If i just uni and don't worry about straight lines, it's about a 15-20 foot radius. Seems bad.
I gave up the fence, and just pushed off from the fence and went. 16 times. An average of 18 strokes per run. Keeping in mind the max the run could be would be about 20-25, that's not bad. I had only 2 failed-starts, with 2 and 3 strokes. Everything else was 10+ as i recall. My max run was 29, that was a fluke though, as it was basically a perfect quarter-circle... I also did a 28. Anyway though, the breakthrough in this session was not length, clearly. It was independence. And i can't go very much farther than i am now in this tennis court. The max run i could do would be maybe 45 or 50 and i'm pretty sure it'll be a few more sessions before i can do that. If i'm near the fence i tend to use it. If i'm not near the fence, it's harder to go straight. Midway down the court, is, of course, the net... which for a newbie is somewhat of a tight squeeze. So i need to:
1) Travel towards the net away from the fence, going straight.
2) Veer towards the fence just enough to avoid the net.
3) Veer back away from the fence... if i go straight after this, who cares.
Actually... that could give me about 60, if i veer left after the net.
After doing my "norm" practice for a good clean hour, i was going to give up but on my way down to the car i saw a looooooooooooooong straightaway that i was going to practice in. Messed around trying to freemount for about 5 minutes before i got pissy. Then i wanted to see how far i could go... feel like a REAL pro, ya know ? But it was uphill... or downhill, however you look at it. I could go about 4-5 strokes uphill, and could barely even mount downhill. I think this area was a bit more slick than where i'd been before too.
OK...
totals: practice time : 3 hours
dough spendage : $340
calories burned: priceless
my cursor disappeared in blogger's editor, and my wife's almost home and the place is a mess and i'm not supposed to be home so i think i'll go clean now see ya hee hee
Oh yeah
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Labels:
unicycle
Hrmm i almost forgot, i'll be tallying how much i spend on uni stuff. Eventually it'll all pay off. So far, it's $330. That amounts to 4 months of commute time to and from work. Seems like alot... but uhhhhh no, really, it's not... Particularily considering i live only 2.5 miles from work. I'm not learning this merely for commute, but for exercise and enjoyment as well. But whatever, i like playing with numbers. :)
I've been playing around indoors and not getting anywhere... just not enough room. I've also been having a noise on the left side of my uni... i think it's a pedal not staying tight, but there are times where the noise is happening and the pedal doesn't seem loose. I've seated the cranks well with grease and torqued them to 40... along with doing my best with the bearing caps. still clicking once a rev when the left crank's at about 12:00-9:00.
I've dont my searching and messing and just can't figure it owt.
I've been playing around indoors and not getting anywhere... just not enough room. I've also been having a noise on the left side of my uni... i think it's a pedal not staying tight, but there are times where the noise is happening and the pedal doesn't seem loose. I've seated the cranks well with grease and torqued them to 40... along with doing my best with the bearing caps. still clicking once a rev when the left crank's at about 12:00-9:00.
I've dont my searching and messing and just can't figure it owt.
Havent given up on the uni, it's just cold
This will be redundant for some of you, but i want to put all
the facts in one place for my own reference. BTW... i LOVE the
font consolas. people complain that it's ugly without smoothing.
But so what ? turn on font smoothing dumbass.
I had a wonderful time on day three of my new unicycle practice.
Prior to installing the 20" wheel on my uni i had oh about...
10-15 hours of practice on my 24". 1/3 of that over the course
of the prior 2 years, the remaining 2/3 over the prior 3 months.
Now then, i've installed the 20" and since then put in 2 hours of practice
over 3 days. BEFORE installing the 20" i could do- 0 revs unassisted, 5ish
with a fence. AFTER installing the 20" [along with the longer
cranks from the 24, and better pedals to eliminate my
heel-to-crank problems] i am going on average 8 revs unassisted,
unlimited with assistance. not much i know but it rocks, i have
made measurable progress each day of practice. My max run has
been 36 revs which is (according to the math) 90 feetish,
probably more like 40-50 due to wobble and the fact that im
doing this at a tennis court, and assuming it's "normal",
that's only 78 feet.
[no that's not bad math... i'm using 'rev'
to describe what is really a half-rev...
i can't think of a better term. i keep a
tally of how many times a foot gets to
the 12:00 position... a rev... if you
have a better term... im all ears]
Wobble ? Oh yeah... wobble. i'm still putting way too much
weight on the pedals. But my balance is improving. I know
this because the 2nd time i did the 36-run i was for some
reason tending toward the fence around the court. I was
doing the stupidest strangest things with my body in order
to avoid touching the fence... but i kept going strong.
Seriously, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that
i reached the corner... I'm not ready for the turning yet.
Both of my 36 runs were done intentionally trying to go slow.
I was forced to deal with balance issues more directly.
I think that's what i'm going to do from now on... maybe a
*bit* faster than those 2 runs, but i need to *feel* it.
I ramble, but this'll be copied and pasted to notepad so i
can read it years from now and giggle.
Hrmm... oddly enough there's only one thing i can think of
that i haven't mentioned. I can almost always mount, and
just go. I know it sounds lame but shit it means alot to me
that i don't have to hang on to the fence for those first
2-3 pedals. i've understood that the fence is ultimately
the enemy and that's been enforced by y'all [especially
you, zogola.] i just mount... go 8 strokes, tap the fence,
go 4 strokes, tap, go 20, etc. I'll be working on just
mounting at a curb and going at it that way soon enough.
Oh and i'm not worrying much about shorts vs pants, foot-on-pedal position, posture, where im looking, anything. On the other hand... if i try to practice at home in my hall, i'm SOL. Odd eh ?
I just hope riding a uni is like riding a bike... cuz it's
so goddamn cold out here in the winter i'll only have 1-2
times a week to practice this winter.
the facts in one place for my own reference. BTW... i LOVE the
font consolas. people complain that it's ugly without smoothing.
But so what ? turn on font smoothing dumbass.
I had a wonderful time on day three of my new unicycle practice.
Prior to installing the 20" wheel on my uni i had oh about...
10-15 hours of practice on my 24". 1/3 of that over the course
of the prior 2 years, the remaining 2/3 over the prior 3 months.
Now then, i've installed the 20" and since then put in 2 hours of practice
over 3 days. BEFORE installing the 20" i could do- 0 revs unassisted, 5ish
with a fence. AFTER installing the 20" [along with the longer
cranks from the 24, and better pedals to eliminate my
heel-to-crank problems] i am going on average 8 revs unassisted,
unlimited with assistance. not much i know but it rocks, i have
made measurable progress each day of practice. My max run has
been 36 revs which is (according to the math) 90 feetish,
probably more like 40-50 due to wobble and the fact that im
doing this at a tennis court, and assuming it's "normal",
that's only 78 feet.
[no that's not bad math... i'm using 'rev'
to describe what is really a half-rev...
i can't think of a better term. i keep a
tally of how many times a foot gets to
the 12:00 position... a rev... if you
have a better term... im all ears]
Wobble ? Oh yeah... wobble. i'm still putting way too much
weight on the pedals. But my balance is improving. I know
this because the 2nd time i did the 36-run i was for some
reason tending toward the fence around the court. I was
doing the stupidest strangest things with my body in order
to avoid touching the fence... but i kept going strong.
Seriously, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that
i reached the corner... I'm not ready for the turning yet.
Both of my 36 runs were done intentionally trying to go slow.
I was forced to deal with balance issues more directly.
I think that's what i'm going to do from now on... maybe a
*bit* faster than those 2 runs, but i need to *feel* it.
I ramble, but this'll be copied and pasted to notepad so i
can read it years from now and giggle.
Hrmm... oddly enough there's only one thing i can think of
that i haven't mentioned. I can almost always mount, and
just go. I know it sounds lame but shit it means alot to me
that i don't have to hang on to the fence for those first
2-3 pedals. i've understood that the fence is ultimately
the enemy and that's been enforced by y'all [especially
you, zogola.] i just mount... go 8 strokes, tap the fence,
go 4 strokes, tap, go 20, etc. I'll be working on just
mounting at a curb and going at it that way soon enough.
Oh and i'm not worrying much about shorts vs pants, foot-on-pedal position, posture, where im looking, anything. On the other hand... if i try to practice at home in my hall, i'm SOL. Odd eh ?
I just hope riding a uni is like riding a bike... cuz it's
so goddamn cold out here in the winter i'll only have 1-2
times a week to practice this winter.
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