Well, I am finally making some progress. I have had 3 more practices,
for a total of 11, and I'm definitely doing better. This evening I spent
about 25 minutes with my husband trotting/jogging along side me so that
I could touch his hand and we went back and forth down this long alley
near where we live several times without incident. After that, I tried
pushing off from him while he was standing still, but didn't have any
luck (I'm still scared to try and get going by myself). So, we tried
having him walk with me for about two revolutions while I get up some
speed and letting go. I was able to ride well over 10 meters by myself
It was the farthest and smoothest I've ever ridden unassisted
before. We did this a few more times, and I almost always ended up
stopping because I got turned kind of sideways and ran out of room in
the narrow alley. I'll have to pick a wider area like a parking lot
next time. (I did take one bad fall that made me glad I was wearing a
helmet, but overall I think it was a success).
My problem was that I wasn't putting my weight on the seat. I'm sure I
wasn't putting my weight on the seat because after two practices of
sitting all the way down on the seat and pedaling around for half an
hour, my crotch was so sore I ended up buying gel-padded bike shorts.
Since this hadn't happened before, I take it as a sign that I wasn't
putting my weight on the seat. My pedaling is also smooth now (and it
wasn't before).
My knee problems are just about resolved. The pain in my knees has
been going away little by little every day since I started sitting down
all the way on my seat so that now they barely hurt at all. I was able
to do a 10K run yesterday without my knees giving me problems.
Part of my progress is related to a changing in thinking, as well. I
had always focused on the unicycle rather than my own body. Once it
occurred to me that I am just changing the speed of my pedaling to keep
the unicycle underneath me (rather than trying to stay on top of the
unicycle), pedaling along smoothly and quickly got a lot easier.
I'm fairly confident that if I just practice now, I will be able to go
farther and farther. Now my current struggle is to not panic when going
fast (I think I'm still scared of the speed). I also need to get up the
guts to try and start off faster so that I won't have to have anyone
walking with me while I gain some speed.
Any suggestions for my current problems are appreciated. I am sure
practice is the only real cure. I appreciate the advice -- I think it
helped me get past both the knee problems and a large part of my mental
block.
--
natosha
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