natosha;1166572 wrote:
Has anyone experienced a similar "mental block" when learning?
Yes, pretty much everyone I've ever really watched learning to ride. You
are at the cusp. But telling you this probably doesn't help. You already
know you can ride, because you're doing it with almost no assistance. So
you know the assistance you're getting is mental. Time to gut it out.
The advice above is all good (with some reservation on the "two beers"
thing), especially from GearQueen. First a bit more on the riding away,
then on to the knees. Like GearQueen said, work on a smooth pedaling
stroke. Also stick with relatively smooth places until you get going on
your own. If it's tilted, head downhill.
Next, don't take things too seriously. You're learning to ride a
unicycle afterall, not studying to cure cancer. As adults we sometimes
tend to overthink things, which usually backfires when learning to ride
a unicycle. There's too much to understand, and it gets in the way of
letting your body "feel" what works to keep you going. So stop thinking
and start feeling. Pretend you're an 8-year old. What would she do? Ride
until she falls and then go again. If anything, analyze which way or why
you fell, and try to do it a little different next time.
Also, don't be afraid to fall down. Falling down is part of nearly
every sport. If you're afraid of getting hurt, it could be causing you
to tense up. So do some falls on purpose. If you "fall off" properly,
usually you'll just end up on your feet, holding the unicycle. But
sometimes you'll fall down. Getting used to doing this will get your
body familiar with how to land, and you'll be less worried about doing
it next time. So do some practice falls. Pad up if you want, it makes
falling less stressful for us adults.
Lastly the knees. Is the pain in you knee joint, or above your knees in
the front? That's where I got sore in my early days of unicycling. Not
the joint but in the lower end of my quadriceps (quads). Those are your
main unicycling muscles. If they're sore now it's because you're too
tense. As mentioned above, you probably are not sitting down as much as
you think. Once you start riding on your own you'll be able to start
relaxing, but it takes a little while at first. Until then, if you keep
staying sore, do shorter practice sessions. Lighten things up and have
fun. If it stops being fun, drop it until the next day, or the next time
you feel like it.
BTW, if the pain you're feeling seems to be inside your knee joint, it
may be something a doctor should look at it. Unicycling is not hard on
the joints (unless you're riding lots and lots of miles a day) so you
may have other issues there.
Which is not giving up. It took me about six weeks to "sort of" learn
to ride, with many times giving up along the way. Of course my unicycle
was partly to blame, a 16" hard plastic tire, no bearings, etc. I know I
would have learned much faster on a "real" unicycle with a 24" wheel so
don't let anyone tell you your wheel size is a problem. It's not. Think
of all the little kids out there riding around on unicycles. If they can
do it, so can you. That's all you really need to know. The rest is just
sticking with it.
And having fun.
--
johnfoss
John Foss
Email: "jfoss" at "unicycling.com" --
www.unicycling.com
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