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How long till it clicked for you?


itsme_michael

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Now you can ride, you have a smile on your face until you need to stop. 

 

Just slow down really slowly, this makes you learn how to ride at a low speed, then when nearly at a stand still just take a foot of the plate, and place it down " behind " the plate, not to the side. 

 

Now starting off  is much more awkward, but with time your master it, even just in a straight line on one foot. 

 

Anyway how how I learnt it was to place left leg  on the plate, then sort of push off like you do on a skate board, for two or three hops then the Ninebot was moving forward enough for me to get my foot up and in the plate. 

 

Hope me this helps. 

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I actually found the 9b1 a bit harder to ride at first than others due to the weight. Its about 50% heavier than my other wheel. But once you get used to standing up, it feels more solid once you have the balance. 

The first 3-5 days I was only confident with flat ground. No inclines from the street to sidewalk, and stepped off around people. A few days after that I become more comfortable with inclines, bumps, and the occasional grass ride. 

 

mind you, I was usually practicing for 90 minutes on Saturday and sunday, then taking the week off. Mostly to let the bruises heal on my shins. So 7 days of riding is about 3 weeks or so. Now I am riding more often. 

 

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   Looking back at what I've been doing.  I'm referring to looking back at what I was able to do a few days before.   I'm taking bumps in the road now without notice.  Those exact same bumps almost put me in panic the first day. 

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I've watched numerous videos on the learning to ride - there are many examples of various types of "protection" right on the EUC.  It appears to be strips of some sort of rubber or plastic stripping used during the learning process to protect the finish of the EUC.

 

Probably something available at Home Depot or Lowes...  Any recommendations from people who have utilized this type of stuff?

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/15/2015 at 0:39 PM, itsme_michael said:

Thanks guys - I appreciate the encouragement.  I practiced again for a few minutes this morning (so day 3 I guess), and noticed an improvement from yesterday.  I can go maybe 5-6 feet at this point before veering off course and falling off.  My inner shins are REALLY sore, so I suspect that that, more than anything else, will be the limiting factor in practicing.  I'm considering just wrapping some of the spare padding from the ninebot around my legs.  :)  Anyway, onward and upward.

this is what i was doing (minus wrapping padding around my legs) the first couple days/first hours before @Carlos E Rodriguez emphasized to me, in another thread, the importance of slowing down and stopping properly! yesterday, day 3, i spent about 30-45 mins just going back and forth and practicing stopping right before a certain point - it's greatly increased my confidence - and DECREASED the damage/scuffing to the wheel. in fact, it didn't fall on the ground at all yesterday!

it seems so obvious, now, but for me, who had never stepped on an euc before a few days ago it didn't register as a basic, foundational skill... seems dumb, i know. but knowing that i can slow down quickly and stop at relatively low speeds helps immensely.

also, guiding my wheel around with one foot as much as possible has helped instill the proper 'at ease' or standby stance.

i plan on practicing this simple skill more for the next few days, switching landing legs.

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@itsme_michael Read the thread V5F+Beginner . some more helpful hints.

When I learned. I had to buy some boots. I had some close calls during learning where I almost sprained my ankle so I decided I needed to prevent that. Also the boots gave me a more solid footing and made it easier. Tennis or running shoes where too flexible and made my foot hurt. I don't use the boots anymore. I can ride with my running shoes comfortably after my muscles adapted.

 - Think of it as two legs joint at the top by an horizontal bar(pelvic bone). The legs are attached by a screws(left-right-hip).  If the screws are loose the legs fall left or right at the hip level. Since your legs are on a pivot at the feet then the shifting occurs at the feet level and until your muscles understand the difference, your wheel will feel lose and tipping left or right while you try to balance your upper body like if you where on solid ground and that wont work. So your hips need to learn to lock that shifting . So tighten those hips so the legs cannot shift up and down and the wheel wont be able to tip because you have a stiff bridge connecting your two legs.

 

 

 

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For me it took 3 hours until I could get on, get off and ride around for as long as I wanted, but it still felt dangerous as hell.  And painful on the ankles.  So painful.  I have just passed 5 hours of riding time now and I can ride at full speed or at walking speed, turn at speed or at very low speeds, weave in and out of cones, mount and dismount gracefully and stay on for a full battery charge.  But, it still feels like a novelty device rather than a serious mode of transport. Yeah, I can get to wherever I want to go, but it does not feel safe to be near cars, bikes or to cross busy roads.  It does not feel safe in general.  Riding in strong wind I can do without falling at all, but it feels extra dangerous when a car comes towards me and I sometimes dismount and wait for it to pass.  When I brake hard at speed my wheel wobbles.  I am hoping at some point I will have another click moment where I start to feel safe on this.  The MiniPro felt like a safe mode of transport, no matter what the wind or weather was doing, after just 10 minutes.

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Like Hunka pointed out you have to twist your hips and once I realized that I was off and away.

I was up and away on the 4th try. Maybe 15 minutes. Having done rollerblades, dancing, circus horseback riding, skating, and boxing helped. However I tried but did not learn to ride a standard unicycle. Defeated.

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2 hours ago, RooMiniPro said:

For me it took 3 hours until I could get on, get off and ride around for as long as I wanted, but it still felt dangerous as hell.  And painful on the ankles.  So painful.  I have just passed 5 hours of riding time now and I can ride at full speed or at walking speed, turn at speed or at very low speeds, weave in and out of cones, mount and dismount gracefully and stay on for a full battery charge.  But, it still feels like a novelty device rather than a serious mode of transport. Yeah, I can get to wherever I want to go, but it does not feel safe to be near cars, bikes or to cross busy roads.  It does not feel safe in general.  Riding in strong wind I can do without falling at all, but it feels extra dangerous when a car comes towards me and I sometimes dismount and wait for it to pass.  When I brake hard at speed my wheel wobbles.  I am hoping at some point I will have another click moment where I start to feel safe on this.  The MiniPro felt like a safe mode of transport, no matter what the wind or weather was doing, after just 10 minutes.

The EUC require strong precise control of your hip muscles. Basically the same muscles that you use to balance on one foot. So until they get strong you will have the wobble come specially as you ride longer. 

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3 hours ago, Carlos E Rodriguez said:

The EUC require strong precise control of your hip muscles. Basically the same muscles that you use to balance on one foot. So until they get strong you will have the wobble come specially as you ride longer. 

This is good to know, thanks.

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1 month V5F. I got it in winter so weather started getting crappy. By the time i got home there wasn't much light.

It went much like snowboarding. First week was just trying to get on the wheel, followed by riding a few feet;  lots of hoping off.  Some buyers remorse, maybe should of got the electric skateboard or electric scooter.

This was on a neighborhood, with few cars, so mostly had use of the whole road.

Second week, mostly riding straights w/less falls. Turns still a challenge. Snaking all over the road.

Third week, can start doing laps around the neighborhood. Turns still iffy. Foot hurts.

Fourth week something happened, I was able to ride sidewalks. Fear of getting hit by car probably helped. The big challenge was navigating the curb ramps. Started riding more in neighborhoods and parks. Challenge was passing people and dogs. 

Took it to the big city. Riding around and behind slow people was a challenge. I took challenge that pedestrians have the right of way. It's up to me to navigate them with the least disturbance. A prime directive I've always upheld. Except for trails. When coming up to people, especially dog walkers, I'll let out a "passing left / right" as the signs around here recommends.

 Those trick people do riding one one pedal, did that a lot accidentally. Often on curb push offs inadvertently hit my pedals; *#^% nothing to stand on, commit.

In the city learned to curb drop. Too many people using the ramp. 

 Interacting with cars at curbs and at night. Found best thing is a flashlight with strobe. Most useful for navigating broken glass and finding curb ramps in dark neighborhoods. Altogether about two months from start to city.

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It took me weeks of frustration. I could only practice for about 30 minutes a day because my feet cramped up - I think it's a reaction to feeling there's a balance problem and my feet try to grip, no matter how much I try to stop them. But I found it hard going. I'm not too bad now, but haven't been out much - I can turn and do controlled stops and go a fair distance. I started on an IPS and found it easy to step off and grab the euc when I started to overbalance. I've bought a second hand Ninebot which I've not tried yet (trying to get a foot injury to heal) but it scares me a bit that its handle isn't so easy to grab.

For those who have ridden multiple machines, how much difference is there between models in terms of starting on a new one? Is there a learning curve or is it like bikes - once you can ride it's not too hard to switch to a different machine?

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6 minutes ago, hawkida said:

For those who have ridden multiple machines, how much difference is there between models in terms of starting on a new one? Is there a learning curve or is it like bikes - once you can ride it's not too hard to switch to a different machine?

I think this varies between each person. Certain riding styles make it easier for some than others. I would imagine any confident rider could ride any wheel down the road, but across greater distance and in a comfortable manner is a different story. When I had switched from my original IPS wheel to a Gotway the pain was as bad as it was my first day of learning. I could ride but it rested so close to my ankle compared to the IPS that it hurt and forced me to take breaks.

 

Honestly I missed my IPS the entire time I was learning to ride other wheels because of the comfort. That was until I tried switching back and it is the reverse effect. Because I rode it ove a year thought it is still my go to trick wheel since I have a comfort level on it that only comes from a ton of time on one (1,000+ miles). Also, be careful of going up in speed because you can never go back to a slower wheel. It's a curse.

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Youtube tutorials and this forum greatly reduced my learning time and difficulty, so much so that I wonder if I would have been better served by not watching so many youtube tutorials since spoon-fed learning gave me what to do without a clear understanding of why to do it.

How many of you have this experience? Watch the tutorials while waiting for your wheel to arrive, and then ride it with a clear vision of what you are suppose to look like when riding it. It is a feeling of deja vu.

Interestingly enough I've bought a pair of inline skates because unicycle videos are often paired with skating videos. Youtube must consider unicycles part of the skateboard, inline skate, bicycle, etc... family.

More interestingly, despite spending years on several pairs of hockey skates and inline skates, most of what I taught myself is just plain wrong/dangerous. Even thought we constantly praise kids for being able to learn very quickly, they also learn a lot of things wrong. Kids are focused on outcomes (get down the road) rather than the process (get down the road safely). I think that's why adults take longer to learn the wheel; they actually try to ride the thing properly and ask for criticism/self-criticism.

Hence, the reason I bought inline skates; I'm starting at tutorial 1 and going to 9. I'm learning to skate correctly and there's a lot of stuff that I saw and went, "oops". Typical beginner mistakes.

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5 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

Kids are focused on outcomes (get down the road) rather than the process (get down the road safely).

it's funny - i was going back and forth on my back patio, but got fed up with having to stop at the same distance; so i decided to try my street again. i was able to ride up my street (hill) yesterday a couple of times without stopping, on the sidewalk, and then back down, as well! (it's about 140 yds.) Going down was a bit unnerving, but after practicing controlled stopping the previous day and a bit earlier that same day i knew if things started feeling dicey i could just bring things to a smooth halt. but i did tell myself, 'i'm going to ride up to the corner!'. new goal: ride wheel to park... so i can practice turning in a large, flat area! (sucks living surrounded by hills). i suppose it's a bit like practicing katas in a martial art - learning the correct stances and motions by rote; becoming ingrained so they can be applied automatically.

i swim, as well, and one tip is to imagine you are trying to hold a half-dollar coin between your butt cheeks - not super tight, just enough to secure it - this helps to engage more muscle groups and keep you straight. that seemed to help keep my hips a little more stable/legs even so there wasn't so much dipping left and right.

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30 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

How many of you have this experience? Watch the tutorials while waiting for your wheel to arrive, and then ride it with a clear vision of what you are suppose to look like when riding it. It is a feeling of deja vu.

yeah - except there was a great disparity!

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Aside from just practicing to get more skilled at balance and control, would the more experienced riders here say that the more we ride, the more we strengthen muscles that we normally don't use very much, and this increases stability automatically?

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19 minutes ago, RooMiniPro said:

Aside from just practicing to get more skilled at balance and control, would the more experienced riders here say that the more we ride, the more we strengthen muscles that we normally don't use very much, and this increases stability automatically?

The body definitely adapts/changes.

One example: in the earlier days of this forum I remember there used to be lots of threads on foot pain. Much discussion was made about what caused it, what shoes are best to wear, etc etc.

I think in reality it was nothing to do with shoes or position, it was just a temporary pain/discomfort because of how 'alien' riding these are to the sort of stance/balance we're normally used to. After time, your feet/muscle memory eventually adapt I guess.

I can't even remember the last time I felt that pain. But in the early days it was painful to the extent of having to take breaks. Same with the calf pain some people experience in the beginning.

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