2.2 How do you learn to ride?
Description
This article is from the Unicycling FAQ, by Beirne Konarski with numerous contributions by others.
2.2 How do you learn to ride?
This comes from a posting by Robert Bernstein(rbernstein@igc.apc.org):
I am a big proponent of the getting friends to help. I do not like falling
down!
I learned by the MIT Unicycle Club method:
1. Get two friends to stand on either side of you and get up on the
unicycle with your arms around their shoulders.
2. Sit up straight; look straight ahead; weight on seat, not on pedals.
Rock the pedals to get a sense of balance. Get the pedals level; this
is when you are in control.
3. Pedal half turns then stop. Then full turns, two turns, etc. Doing
multiples of half turns (from pedals level to pedals level again) is
harder than continuously pedaling, but keeps you in control.
4. Switch to holding on to your friends' wrists.
5. Switch to holding on to one friend's wrist.
6. Go off and use a wall instead of your one friend. (If you can't find a
wall and a flat surface to ride on then continue with one friend, but
let go as much as you can. Ed.)
Steps 1-5 should not take more than an hour (perhaps in 10 minute sessions).
The thing I liked about learning this way is that I never hurt myself in the
process. I have used this technique to teach a couple of dozen people.
For some people, the get on, fall off do-it-yourself cycle works best. It's
a matter of personality!
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