How Long Did it Take You?

[Planemo]

19 hours ago, That Guy said:

7. Ability to feel connected/"integrated" with the wheel - 1000km+/700miles+.

Yeah I'll go along with that too

[Saul]

72% of a 800wh battery on a mcm5 to achieve your criterion in little spurts over two weeks.

[M640x]

I wondered the same thing when I started riding.  I seemed to take more time to pick it up when compared to others.  I started on a KS14S.  Believe it or not after 6 weeks I still couldn't ride very far without having to ditch or fall.  I was very wobbly and lacked any confidence at all.  I seriously started to think it wasn't for me.  I bought a Z10 and mten3 next.  The Z10 provided more stability because of the weight and wide tire which is what I needed.  The Z10 fast forwarded my learning process.  You'd think that the mten3 wouldn't be for beginners.  I took to it like I'd had it for a couple years.  It was just natural.  I could ride it within 5 minutes.  The Z10 and mten3 kept me in this sport.  It wasn't pretty but I could ride them pretty good right away, far better than the KS14S.

As far as being very confident, it wasn't until I had around 700-1000 miles under my belt.  In my case, there seemed to be a unique type of balance zen that happened around then.  Riding started to feel as natural.  I'd just get on it and go and felt "connected".

I just recently started learning to ride backwards.  I was never interested in riding backwards because I can't see behind me but am interested in "idling" and that requires a little portion of backwards riding.  As far as basic non pretty backwards riding, I picked it up in a couple hours.  I was actually amazed at how quickly I picked it up.  I attribute this to the natural balance zen that comes from all the time on the wheel.

My number one tip to everyone who is just starting is this, once you can go and not fall, ride as many miles as time/battery/weather/etc permits and do it as many days a week as possible.  I suggest at least 10 miles a day.  You'll actually feel and see yourself getting better on a daily basis.  That was my mistake.  Once I picked it up and could ride without falling my riding time backed off.  I just figured I'd have to ride a couple years to get better.  Then I went on a group ride. 26 miles of riding with a break half way.  It was the best thing that could have happened.  The amount of riding ability, confidence and comfort I felt after that ride was phenomenal.  I never looked back.  I now try to ride at least 10 miles every day.  If I can't do longer rides because of time/whatever, I practice turns, start stops, backwards, pretty much anything that I feel I need more time with.  There are days that I'll go out in the driveway and just do figure 8's for an hour.  Bottom line is ride as much as possible and one day the "zen" just happens.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Senior Coffee

[Tawpie]

It’s probably because my self awareness is lower than most, but for me there wasn’t a “moment”. Only by reviewing the last 9 months does it sort of sink in… I am a competent rider now. Not an expert, not even advanced. But I am no longer “concerned” about getting on the wheel and going, obstacles and changing road conditions don’t strike fear. Being around people and dogs and bikes isn’t a constant worry about causing someone to get hurt, I know what I’ll do situationally and should be able to pull it off.

So somewhere in the 1500 or so miles there was a threshold crossed, I just didn’t realize it.

Traffic is another story—I just don’t like it and don’t ride with cars. And I still ride under 25… I’m at the age where “what gets broke, stays broke” (@Paulo Mesquita)

[Paulo Mesquita]

9 hours ago, Tawpie said:

It’s probably because my self awareness is lower than most, but for me there wasn’t a “moment”. Only by reviewing the last 9 months does it sort of sink in… I am a competent rider now. Not an expert, not even advanced. But I am no longer “concerned” about getting on the wheel and going, obstacles and changing road conditions don’t strike fear. Being around people and dogs and bikes isn’t a constant worry about causing someone to get hurt, I know what I’ll do situationally and should be able to pull it off.

So somewhere in the 1500 or so miles there was a threshold crossed, I just didn’t realize it.

Traffic is another story—I just don’t like it and don’t ride with cars. And I still ride under 25… I’m at the age where “what gets broke, stays broke” (@Paulo Mesquita)

Yep. I'm on the same page. My average speed is between 25 and 30km/hour on faster and better roads and in the dirty and irregular one ( we have a lot of those in Portugal) it's between 14 and 18 kms/hour. 

I too am comfortable in 95% of unexpected road situations and I also avoid medium and heavy traffic. Its too much stress to be any fun... 😊😊

[FerdinandK]

I started with one day 6m forward/backward on a fence 10x then turn and do the other side 10x. My vehicle told me after day one  3km (so I was on the fence for quite some time)

The next day I started on the fence and then went into the garden, with 2 chairs as a lauching site just heading for the other end. Which (to my surprise) went pretty fine (on grass). I think the earlier you start with imperfections on the ground the better you get used to it. Basically the main issue was to stay fast enough to remain stability, too slow and I needed to step off. 2nd day 10km

On day three I did the same on a camping site where there was a small "tour" to take, probably 100m in total for one round. So I did this in both directions. 3rd day 10km.

This continued until I forced myself to a 60km tour some day and just went for it. The 60km are not important because of the distance (you can go in circles) but to me it was important because of endurance, since I noticed that my position was not optimal, I could fine tune, I started to "carve" a little, since this is a lot easier on my legs.

The more you ride, the faster you learn.

You can step on and step off somewhere, but with people watching, or a car behind you, the motivation to success is a lot stronger.

What I noticed is, that shoes are pretty important, I feel best with a pair of hiking boots, I can but no not like to go with different (weaker) shoes.

Stepping on uphill I find pretty challenging at the moment, also looking straight back when riding forward (especially with the full motorcycle helmet).

 

[yoos]

4 hours ago, FerdinandK said:

looking straight back when riding forward (especially with the full motorcycle helmet).

I noticed that it is much easier to turn your head if you deliberately compensate the move by turning some other body part in the opposite direction. E.g., when I turn my head left I bring my left hand forward to compensate the angular momentum. If you only turn your head without moving anything else, then the left turn of the head will be compensated [by virtue of angular momentum conservation] by a slight right turn of the rest of your body. This will initiate a slight turn of the wheel, changing your trajectory perceivably. A helmet would only enhance this effect. This is unique to unicycles: bicycles or bikes have two wheels hence two contact points keeping the trajectory straight. You cannot change a bicycle orientation on the spot by moving your body (unless you jump the vehicle in the process). On a EUC you can do exactly that by twisting your body or swinging you hands since there is a single point of contact.

 

[Paulo Mesquita]

For me or was about 2 weeks to feel comfortable enough to go out on the roads as star riding over 20kms/ day. 

My average now is a little over 30km/day. Work got a bit harder now so I'm not riding every day. 

Breaking was the easiest thing for me and mounting the hardest. I do emergency breaks quite well and have avoided some scary stuff along the way. 

Dogs running after me don't scare me

I love carving and I'm always doing it. Straight lines are just not my thing. 

Music is a must!!! 

I do a lot of exercises along my mixed rides, like climbing low sidewalks, going on dirt paths with holes, curving 360º as tight as I can in manholes, slaloms on the dotted lines in the middle of the road, etc. 

Anything that doesn't make me get bored. That includes falling hard on occasions and riding home dripping blood and bruised all over. Lots of fun there..., 😏😏😏😏

All in all, it's an adventure I just love and as long as my aging body allows it... I'll be riding EUCs... 

@ShanesPlanet has shown me a lot of light on this new hobby... 😂😂😂😂

[.....]

8 hours ago, yoos said:

I noticed that it is much easier to turn your head if you deliberately compensate the move by turning some other body part in the opposite direction.

 

Spot on! I tend to drop my opposite shoulder and twist it a bit opposite of the direction of looking. I never really thought about it until you said something. Yup, I recall in the beginning that it took a conscious effort to look behind me and roll straight. Kind of the same feeling on a bike too. If you look really deep over a shoulder, you feel as if you're pushing the other way to keep it straight.

2 hours ago, Paulo Mesquita said:

For me or was about 2 weeks to feel comfortable enough to go out on the roads as star riding over 20kms/ day. 

My average now is a little over 30km/day. Work got a bit harder now so I'm not riding every day. 

Breaking was the easiest thing for me and mounting the hardest. I do emergency breaks quite well and have avoided some scary stuff along the way. 

Dogs running after me don't scare me

I love carving and I'm always doing it. Straight lines are just not my thing. 

Music is a must!!! 

I do a lot of exercises along my mixed rides, like climbing low sidewalks, going on dirt paths with holes, curving 360º as tight as I can in manholes, slaloms on the dotted lines in the middle of the road, etc. 

Anything that doesn't make me get bored. That includes falling hard on occasions and riding home dripping blood and bruised all over. Lots of fun there..., 😏😏😏😏

All in all, it's an adventure I just love and as long as my aging body allows it... I'll be riding EUCs... 

@ShanesPlanet has shown me a lot of light on this new hobby... 😂😂😂😂

Sounds like you already got me beat and Im glad to hear it! I agree, Music is awesome! Local band, shit mp3 thru a wheel, no matter. Music is glorious! Careful of the light I shine, its actually radioactive and a total trap. I'd let you in on my end goal, but then it may not work... muwahaha

[LeKeiser]

On 5/23/2021 at 12:07 AM, Roadpower said:

Probably about two years due to some critical mistakes on my part when starting out such as wrong wheel choices and not taking on the learning of the core skill of mounting dismounting. Then again I'm pretty critical of most things including myself until I see proofs fully fleshed out. Choice of wheel is a huge starting factor, the right size and weight can make or break your starting experiences.

Hello,

Out of curiosity, what was your first choice? And why did you think it was the wrong wheel? And of course, which one did you get then? And why?