The learning curve

[nute]

I received my LHOTZ about 2 weeks ago, excellent service from Runrui at IPS by the way. 

At first I was not sure how to best learn to ride it but i am lucky to have a school with a nice flat playground with a fence around it close to me. The top of the fence is just the right height to run your hand along whilst on the EU to keep balance. After 20 mins i could go across the playground and with an hour of riding i can do large circles with a few wobbles. 

I found the fence very helpful and had a rope on the handle of the EU to stop it hitting the ground when i had to step off. 

What i cannot get is how you get onto the EU and start moving without a wall or fence to lean on. How did you guys learn to step on and ride without a prop to help you?

Also, as i can see the battery percentage remaining on my phone at what remaining charge percentage would you guys consider it best to stop and recharge (on flat ground) to prevent the risk of a shut down. 

 

Thanks

 

[Tomek]

to learn how to get onto your wheel without holding onto things, you basically need to get the feel of balancing on your wheel with just one leg. you can train by folding one of the pedals at first, and use the other leg to balance the wheel in place. it takes some practice, the wheel will likely try to "escape' from under your one foot. the trick is to hold it in balance with your shin. what worked for me was to position my foot so that only tips of my toes stick out from the pedal and keep the lower leg at an angle, with the knee pointing forward. when you eventually try to lift your leg, the wheel will press on your shin pretty hard - the whole unicycle works like a lever. because of that good padding is a must (my wheel had none, so i had to stick neoprene foam pads onto it to stop heavy bruising, don't know what it's like on lhotz). for more tips, scan through the forum, i recall finding quite some threads here about learning and even a few good videos.

[Sweet M]

25 minutes ago, nute said:

I received my LHOTZ about 2 weeks ago, excellent service from Runrui at IPS by the way. 

At first I was not sure how to best learn to ride it but i am lucky to have a school with a nice flat playground with a fence around it close to me. The top of the fence is just the right height to run your hand along whilst on the EU to keep balance. After 20 mins i could go across the playground and with an hour of riding i can do large circles with a few wobbles. 

I found the fence very helpful and had a rope on the handle of the EU to stop it hitting the ground when i had to step off. 

What i cannot get is how you get onto the EU and start moving without a wall or fence to lean on. How did you guys learn to step on and ride without a prop to help you?

Also, as i can see the battery percentage remaining on my phone at what remaining charge percentage would you guys consider it best to stop and recharge (on flat ground) to prevent the risk of a shut down. 

 

Thanks

 

Just keep practicing.......... before long you'll get stable enough to simply straddle (actually, dominate foot on pedal and your other foot slightly behind and outside its respective pedal) and with a slight step forward up onto the EU with the non-dominant foot, be able to control the wheel enough to stay the course.  

Also at that time, you'll be able to simply step off with that same non-dominant foot as you come to a slow crawl so to speak.  

 

Battery percentage?  For me I stick to recharging on the average around the 20% remaining.  Others may differ and swear by the "technology gods" that it should be a specific value, but IMO, just wanna make sure that when you're down in the bottom 1/3 or so of charge that ya ride with "controlled moderation" as to not exceed the remaining available power by pushing the limits of the wheel.

It just takes time and practice, practice, practice!  Before ya know it, you'll be cruising at almost full speed, be able to look anywhere ya wanna while riding, and be able to turn around on a sidewalk.  MORE FUN AWAITS YOU!!! :-)

[nute]

Cheers for the replies, guess ill have to start trying to balance on one leg. At the moment i only get to practice in the dark once i get home from work but i should have more time in the coming days as work load gets lighter.

I really am so hooked on this, its such a cool feeling riding my wheel. Im sure i will get some odd looks when i start to ride it down to the local town - i live in a small rural english town but i need to feel somewhat more confident in making tight turns and control at very slow speeds first. 

[Vanquiz]

For stepping on starting, someone posted this tutorial video on this forum, and this helps me a lot. Especially those tilted angle as a starting point. 

 

[SlowMo]

Here's another video demonstrating how to mount. 

 

[nute]

Cheers guys, very helpful, been trying to get the hang of stepping on and off, after that its start to learn to ride backwards....

[Jacekddd]

Hello everyone

Since this my first post I like to introduce myself - Jacek from Poland.

Ppl somethimes like to do things on their own because thats the best for them.

I had so much fun with it at the first time a loot talking on the way but still I managed to ride like this after 15min

so if it goes wrong the other person should give us some advise.

My point is: this is so simple it should not take more time and if it takes we should reconsidered what we are doing

because looking on our moves from a side we surely do sometthing wrong.

 

Have fun.

Jacek

PS. Still searching for a good deal on EUC.

 

[MarkoMarjamaa]

Here is an interesting fact that I've learned.

You're body has a sense that tells the position of your arms and legs. That sense is in your muscles (somewhere there).

When you go standing in the edge of skyscraper, you will be scared, and the muscles in your legs get tense. That messes the sense of you leg position. That makes you feels more insecure and dizzy. That makes you more scared etc...

Same thing happens when you start learning to ride EUC. Practicing more makes you more relaxed, which helps you sense your legs and so on...

 

[ConjurMan]

14 minutes ago, MarkoMarjamaa said:

You're body has a sense that tells the position of your arms and legs. That sense is in your muscles (somewhere there)

This 'sense' is called proprioception.  It is incorporated into muscle memory.

Proprioception

Proprioception, from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own", "individual," and capio, capere, to take or grasp, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement.

Muscle memory

Muscle memory has been used synonymously with motor learning, which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort.

[MaxLinux]

Those two videos Vanquiz posted were the ones that helped me the most. However, for a long time, I could not do it! I kept asking myself, "how does it look so easy when that guy does it? When I try, I just fall over!" It seemed impossible.The only reason I kept trying was that his videos proved it is possible. Then one day, after probably weeks of failure, suddenly I could do it!

Two other videos helpful for getting on are:

Ninebot one: How to get on

 

 

How to get on (the Triangle Method)