hello I have been juggling for 1 1/2 years and have just started riding a unicycle and I need some help. I have looked on youtube and cant find anything so I decided to look here, I could not find any other topics on learning to ride a unicycle, so I am making my own. I have been practicing for about a week and I can only stay on for 3 or 4 seconds.
I was told that riding a unicycle was like a mix between riding a bike and pogo stick, I am really good at both of those so I thought that I would be able to unicycle... its not working.
any tips?

Cirkus

I've never ridden one, so I'll use what I know of physics to help you out.

1. When you're in motion, it's going to be WAY easier to balance.
2. If you're slowing to reverse, or stop, you'll want to lean away from the direction you're currently moving. With practice, gravity will keep you from flying head over heels. Oh, and either put your feet down quick, or pedal backwards quick. You can't stay balanced at a full stop for long.
3. Turn by leaning. If you lean left, you'll turn left. Lean right, turn right.
4. Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the better you'll get at keeping your balance, and recovering when you do start to tip.
5. Wear a helmet and pads, at least while you're practicing.

It might help if you practice first by riding a bike without touching the handlebars. That'll get you used to leaning to turn.

#2 is the biggest problem, if I slow down or stop than I fall off even faster.
I cant seem to keep going for very long anyway, but I guess I will just have to get better at staying on before I learn to stop.
because of that getting on is a huge problem, this is one of the only things I saw on youtube, but even so I cant seem to do it unless I start against a wall and get going before I let go, so I guess its easier to keep in motion than to start motion.
thanks for the advice
I am pretty sure that I heard someone say holding on to a shopping cart helps, but where would I get a shopping cart? I don't want to unicycle in the store.
any other tips?

Yes. Lean forward a little when you're starting, that way the wheel doesn't roll out from under you as soon as you start pedaling.

OK, there are two schools of thought on this, I did one, and the only other person i know who rides one did the other.

Method one. The one i used. Find a wall, or a railing with flat ground and hold onto the railing and then ride it. With time you will need to depend on the railing less and less. until eventually your good to go.

the other school of thought says to "just go for it." Use a wall or something to brace you geting on, push off, and just ride. As far as you can. And repeat. over and over again. With this method, you will notice faster progression than the other method. Not saying you will learn it faster, but you will go from five feet to twenty feet the next run. (from my understanding)

Whoever told you it was like riding a unicycle was like a mix between a bike and a pogo stick was wrong. There is really nothing to compare it to. It took my buddy four months to be able to ride consistently, and it took me 6 months...So it takes a while, but hang with it and you will get it.

thanks for the reply, I had been doing method two, but I have a pretty cheap unicycle, so I fell over... I usually catch the unicycle and land on my feet, but this time I fell worse than usual and the unicycle hit the ground and the stitching on the seat ripped a little (and the seat kept on swiveling while I was riding, no matter how much I tightened it) just goes to show you that you get what you pay for. Anyway I am getting a little bit better, even with a cheap unicycle I found a good place to practice (it helps a lot) it is outdoors and has poles every four feet so I can just go from pole to pole.

Cirkus

Also, buy seat guards. http://www.amazon.com/Ramiko-Unicycle-S ... B003ZD5540 they pieces of plastic that go on the front of and back of your seat to prevent your seat from getting torn up. best investment.

I went with method one, and now am back at method one to try to learn to ride backwards.

What I did is went to my local park and found a baseball fence that had sidewalk right next to it. This way, while practicing I was not as bored because I just watched the baseball game while I practiced. The best, is that some of the same people would play each day and gave me inspiration as I practiced, ie "wow, you are getting way better".



By now, hopefully you can ride though.