Do you get better just by riding?

[aventador]

Once I knew how to ride, I started making short trips around the neighbourhood (5-10km). In total I made 150km so far.

In the beginning, each time I got better and more secure. But now I feel that my skills don't improve any further. I get anywhere I want to go, but still don't feel 100% secure. It is worse when people are staring at me, then suddenly I am almost unable to mount the wheel and need to lean on a wall etc.

Do you eventually improve just by riding distances? Or would you recommend special exercises?

[Reivax]

Yes you improve by riding distances, especially if not always on the same itinerary, and not always the same ground.

I rode more than 3000km and I think I keep improving, although I make no effort at training.

But it is probably slower than if you train in order to improve ! There are tons of videos with exercices or people showing off stuff that you could try to reproduce

Training is a good idea, because while it does not eliminate danger, having good control skills can only help in awkward situations.

[SlowMo]

Just continue riding. You will eventually develop muscle memory and riding would be as normal as driving a car. Experience is the best teacher.

[Cloud]

There are plateaus on the learning curve. There will be times when you feef that you are not i proving and then, all of a sudden, your skills jump ahead. So this may be normal.

At the same time, we learn by trying new things. Always push yourself to try something new once you are comfortable riding the way you are.

 And just practice - the best excercise to learn to ride is to ride.

[Paddylaz]

1 hour ago, aventador said:

It is worse when people are staring at me, then suddenly I am almost unable to mount the wheel and need to lean on a wall etc.

Do you eventually improve just by riding distances? Or would you recommend special exercises?

You are still in the 'early' stages of learning (relatively speaking) if you're having trouble mounting under pressure or riding when people are watching. 

Learning to ride can be done in a day. But it takes weeks/months to master everything else (I'm still not there...:(

Riding extremely slowly and mounting with a 100% success rate took me ages. Nowadays I can mount the wheel perfectly every time, even if people are staring at me and I've got four pints of beer in my bloodstream.

So yes, you constantly get better, and better.....but unless you're learning tricks, the improvements are subtle in nature but no less rewarding once you've achieved them.

On my Lhotz I now do sharp slaloms at 25kph that would've made me piss my pants (and crash) if I had done them even as little as 3 months ago.

Just takes repetition until it really does become 'part of you' (psychologically at least).

The other thing of course is the 'connection' you build with your wheel (not to sound too cheesy). Ive had my wheel for long enough that I know its every capability and behaviour. When I tried my friend Joe's Ninebot the other day I was quite nervous because of the change to your muscle memory and comfort factor. For a few minutes, at least handling wise, it was like I was a relative beginner again. So learning the ins and outs of your particular model and its handling is also important, and with time, an inevitability.

[esaj]

In addition to what has already been mentioned above, one reason that might make you feel like you're not improving is that after the initial hurdles are behind you, the "progress" becomes slower, but nevertheless is (likely) there. Over time and repetition, you get better at things, although you might just not realize it, you should start comparing your progress in longer time intervals, like how good you were at mounting a month or several ago vs. yesterday or last week.

I didn't have any real "training regime", after the first weeks or months I mostly I just rode around for plain fun. But in the "early days", I did purposefully train basics, like curb hopping, mounting/dismounting, power braking etc. I can't put my finger when it exactly happened, but last summer at "some point" I just noticed that I could mount with 100% success rate always, I didn't have to "concentrate" on riding, it became more reflexive/instinctive (including emergency power braking whenever necessary), "second nature", I could ride through crowds at sub-walking pace crawl without needing to put my foot down etc. I can't even tell for sure how I do things, I "just do it"  I did spend some time trying to learn to ride backwards, but didn't really learn to do it for however long I wanted to, more like few meters at a time, then I had to either stop or start moving forwards again not to loose my balance as the wheel started to veer to either side. Maybe this summer...

Also, techniques that work for one person might not work for another. On flat roads, I ride pretty stiff-legged (ie. knees not bent) and control the acceleration and deceleration (braking) pretty much solely by leaning with my whole body, whereas some people tell you to ride with your knees bent all the time (which for me would probably kill my legs on 20+km trips ). As I rode with the stiff "sport-mode" of the Firewheel, I believe (especially at slow/crawl speeds) I also used my ankles a lot for more "fine-tuned" control of acceleration and deceleration, but never really paid that much attention to it. On off-road, I ride more bent-legged, as it's (for me) necessary to keep control in bumpy terrain with high pressure tire. Never learned the "skate-kick" mounting/starting, but I can mount with 100% success rate with the "standstill" mount (ie. one foot on pedal, rise the other foot to other pedal and get going by leaning forwards AFTER your feet are already on the pedals). For other people it's the other way around (and some probably use both techniques).

But I believe that simply repetition and riding is the key, it certainly doesn't hurt to try what works for other people, but don't feel bad if a certain way of doing something doesn't work out for you, or if you feel you're progressing slower than some other rider.

[dmethvin]

Practice is definitely the key. I've been riding for more than a year now, and things that used to be hard are much easier. Several times I've had to make sudden evasive maneuvers and afterwards I'm amazed that I was able to do it. Examples: I was almost doored by a woman in a parked car while in a bike lane, managed to slow down quickly and then dodge the door. I was riding on a nature trail and came across a long snake spread across the trail, dodged that one too. Still, I manage to fall. Last week I was crossing a street and a car had pulled up too far into the crosswalk. I had to squeeze between the car and the curb and in the process scraped the pedal on the curb. In trying to keep the EUC from hitting the car I ended up falling, didn't get hurt or scraped but probably looked dumb.

[tadrossi]

I live in a climate that has snow a considerable amount of time. I made drastic improvements in my skill set when I was forced to ride in my basement. It was considerably harder than riding outdoors and accelerated my learning on the wheel. You will improve naturally with time. the wheel will become an extension of u. I cant believe how relaxed I am on the wheel now. I honestly feel more capable on it than walking.

[Mono]

3 hours ago, aventador said:

Do you eventually improve just by riding distances? Or would you recommend special exercises?

Any kind of exercise is likely to improve your general skills. I would recommend practicing in particular (i) braking and (ii) looking behind over your shoulders while riding straight (both sides, in the end you should be able to look straight at what is 180º behind you by not only turning the head but also shoulders and hips while the wheel keeps going straight forward). This would only take a few minutes of practice every other day. Getting the head and eyes to move freely (looking left and right and up in the sky) while riding is also a good exercise which can be done during a normal ride. After that I practice regularly going up curbs and, more for the fun of it, small turns and riding backwards.

Starting to feel somewhat safe and in control in most situations took more than 1/2 year and more than 1000km for me.

[johrhoj]

I can agree with all of the above. I know i am pretty comfortable on my wheel, but I still can learn a lot too.

I know I learn by challenging myself a bit on occasion, by doing stuff beyond comfort zone. Examples: doing extra sharp turns, feel the wheel through ditches, duck extra deep to avoid those branches, try what happens in the loose gravel.

Also, I like to make it perfect, even I can do it very good altready. Coming to a full stop exactly where you want and put your foot down a second (or two or three) later. Go through that byciclepath turn and stay exactly the same distance from the side all the way through. Try the perfect coast (keeping your exact same speed). When successfull, it makes me feel good.

I still cannot ride backwards, and I don't practice jumps. It is not really a requirement is it? I never could on my normal bike either  But maybe some day though ...

[OneWheel]

I likely can survive 25km to 30km/hr on the second shutdown with readiness only. The first shutdown is the killer having no experience. Speed will KILL you....if not for you, do it for your kids, wife, family or friends...slow down and wear protection. I travel on avg 7km/hr to 8km/hr avg max. I do up to 35/40km distance at that SPEED with protection 100% of the time, except helmet 75% of time due to cold weather.

Skill / comfort will improve having ride on different surface on grass, moist / dry sand, gravel, ice (wont work), water, wavy/bumpy/dips cement, etc. I think jumping is a bad idea.

 

 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

I think that all of us are still always learning, but the learning curve does flatten out as our confidence and skill increase. Self-concioussness also decreases as you get more comfortable wheeling, but it is something I still try to suppress / ignore. 

Just last week, starting to cross a road I was cut-off by a woman with a pram (even though see could clearly see me) and I had to step off my wheel, with the inevitable spinning and beeping. She then says to me, "It's not that easy is it!" To which I just replied, "What did you expect? It is a unicycle after all."

And I think that is significant. "Wheeling" is still uncommon, and will attract attention - partly because it is new, and partly because a lot of people think it must be really difficult - and partly because it's really cool. At the end of the day though, it is a unicycle and (sooner or later) shit will happen. For me,  accepting that meant I stressed less when it happened and that made me much less self-concious.

[WeeJ]

yeah I think you will just gradually improve the more often/further you ride and become more confident and comfortable with it.  

[The Fat Unicyclist]

One other point (maybe) worth mentioning is that for some people the learning curve can be a bit longer as we get older...

I know it is the case for me. 

[Villac]

Wow, reading this from all of you, I need to ride more! I'm ver comfortable with my commute. I agree indoor, close quarters, and obstacle training helps with precise maneuver skills. The only thing I am actively training is backwards, it is slow but I can back up further thanfurther than I could before. Recently I crashed and my skills decreased, but it's coming back as I regain my confidence.

[MaxLinux]

13 hours ago, dmethvin said:

Several times I've had to make sudden evasive maneuvers and afterwards I'm amazed that I was able to do it.

Several times this has happened to me too. The emergency situation with no time to deliberate results in me successfully doing a maneuver that I would not have tried voluntarily. Afterwards, I say to myself, "wow, I can't believe I actually did that! I guess I'm a better rider than I thought I was!"

[MaxLinux]

12 hours ago, johrhoj said:

I know I learn by challenging myself a bit on occasion, by doing stuff beyond comfort zone.

I mostly let my skills develop naturally by just riding for fun or going on errands. I try to include in every ride a few challenges like navigating a narrow pathway, climbing steep hills, or making tight u-turns.

[Cloud]

I got better by navigating around pedestrians on busy manhattan and brooklyn siewalks, both at slow and high speeds. Go like that for a few thousand kilometers and you are bound to get good.

if you think about it, i must have gotten around some 300,000 to 400,000 thousand pedestrians on my wheel if you figure on average 1 pedestrian every 10 meters. If nothing bad happens i will be looking forward to manouver around my 1 million -th pedestrian some time next year.

[Chuts]

Once you have learned the boring Urban street riding try your hand at off-road you learn so much by doing that especially on very loose gravel, were you learn that you can travel diagonally.

[Gimlet]

It definately helps to ride with another euc rider as you find yourself challenging each other and doing silly things as I do with my son's,  like playing tag or event tag rugby.

Anything that forces you to push yourself a little harder speeds up your learning and improvement.

I know that when decided it was time to learn to ride backwards, despite having little use for the skill in everyday riding, it was almost like starting all over again, only more difficult but it's made me even more confident when riding in general.  

[AlanR]

For me repeating new maneuvers in batches of 6 to 10 helped my progress; for instance mounting / dismounting several times periodically helped smooth the action.  I also practice riding backwards periodically - but progress is much slower than going forward. 

As has been said previously, practice and challenging yourself with new maneuvers is the key I believe.