30 minutes of fun, and some other things...

I did 30 minutes today on the 20" in my apartment parking lot. I did very well with the mounting, however having come back to familiar territory and riding, i got to realize something strange. My range has not extended very much, at least not on the flat. I'm pretty sure the loooong run i've done at the park a few times is close to double the longest run i've done here at home, but there are a few major things at play there at the park:

1) Smoother terrain, less paranoia
2) Downhill
3) I do well on sidewalks...
It helps me pay attention to the right things.

Once i realized i was getting on my uni 2/3 of the time without much struggle i decided i'd up the wheel back to the 24". I gave that a spin for a while, and it wasn't too bad at all. I did a few long stretches, and headed off to work.

Another thing i realized when trying freemounting after those few weeks of bad weather, i did unlearn something. I was getting the feel of a true static mount on the 21st of last month. That and pedaling out of it with poor foot placement. Those two things have been lacking lately :-/. Oh well, i was getting kinda bored doing the same things over and over on the 20. I've noticed a couple things help my learning progress: Change in practice routine, and a couple days off. Taking time off is what caused this unlearning, so i figured a change in routine would be wise. Location had already been changed, so this would be a perfect excuse to swap the wheel out, right ?
----------------
The other thing -

On a personal level, things have been rough lately money-wise... Obviously. This, in turn causes additional stresses at home. Which causes a whole list of things:

1) Insomnia
2) Depression
3) Drinking
4) Lack of motivation
5) Seizures

All of these things are inter-related. Mind you, when i say drinking, i do not mean to say that i am an alcoholic. I have a seizure disorder for which i take medicine. In times of stress, my seizures are more frequent, so i take more medicine. The more frequent my seizures are, the worse the insomnia gets. Which means i would drink more frequently to help get to sleep. The additional medicine plus the additional alcohol is hard on my liver. My depression and lack of motivation are caused solely by my lack of ability to do anything to advance myself from my current life-rut. I have no way of moving forward, and that causes me to be hesitant to involve myself in other essential parts of my life.

However, i am currently either going through an early-life crisis or i have figured out a way to stop the viscous cycle. No more liver damage, drinking, insomnia... And although this "miracle cure" is not going to make me rich, and therefore it won't alleviate all of my life's problems, it should certainly help with a lot of other things that cause my disappointment with my life as it is now.

What is this miracle cure, you ask ? Well it is not one thing. It is sort of a ritual. A method of self-discipline. Imagine this: If you did not have the self-discipline to vacuum your carpet every day (even though for some reason you *really* wanted to), but you do have the self-control to not eat a pint of ben&jerry's every night... EARN the ben&jerry's you know ? Give yourself an excuse to munch the ben&jerrys by vacuuming the floor. That's the gist of it.

Alright i'm done babbling... and my fish tank just sneezed, so i'm gonna go look at that...

13.25 practice
395 money

I love this weather

Well i did another 15 minutes today. I traversed to the top of the hill, and about 15 feet past the crest on the flat. Turned around and rode halfway around the track. My god this rocks. I know i could be going so much farther on the 24, but NOT UNTIL I CAN FREEMOUNT 100% dammit. So basically today was much like yesterday, only a bit better. I'll be uni-ing this weekend too, so my knees will be killing me next week. :)

12.75 practice
395 money

Not like riding a bike AT ALL

funny thing about unicycling... it seems you get better the more you don't do it. It's been over 2 weeks now, right, and i did GREAT today. I'm now able to go uphill. Period. Just like that. I couldn't do it before, and now i can. That, and i did the same "super-long run" as i did last time, only i did it farther and multiple times. Improved freemounting, improved distance, hills... omg i feel super. Oh and i did all this in 15 minutes.

12.5 practice
395 money