Great beginnings

I got to my trusty starting post this morning, hopped on, took off, and rode almost all the way to the corner. It felt great to get off to such a good start! For the rest of the morning I had a handful of false starts, but for the most part I was able to get on and ride, regardless of which support I was using, and regardless of which side I was starting on.

Jenny brought Molly out walking and was finally able to see me actually riding, which was nice. At one point I started off from the tree in the middle of the park and rode all the way to my starting point, including a left turn; then I turned around and rode all the way back to the tree (including, of course, the corresponding right turn). Jenny and Molly were suitably impressed. As they left, I rode around the picnic area, which was off my beaten path and included several gentle turns and changes in pitch.

The other great beginning today was my first step in learning how to freemount (that translates to "get on the unicycle and start riding without a support" for the uninitiated among you). I used a 2x4 to help keep the wheel in place, and used the support that I've been using for the past month. As I progress, I'll be able to use a smaller block, then no block, then no support (not necessarily in that order). I look forward to being able to freemount, because at that point I'll be able to ride just about anywhere, instead of having to consider whether or not there will be support posts close by. But that won't be for a while: based on what I've read about learning how to freemount, and based on my experience today, I can tell that it won't be a skill easily learned. That's okay, I've got plenty of time. And in the meantime, I'll continue to improve my riding skills, so that when I can freemount, I'll be able to ride away without falling over.

No need for the wrist guards today. But they were on, and I was happy to be wearing them!

Guarded!

As I was driving to the park today, I thought to myself, "Self, those wrist guards haven't been any use at all, I don't think you should bother putting them on today." But when I got out of the car it just seemed natural to put them on, so I did. I will never again think about not wearing my wrist guards until I am so good at unicycling that I can amaze most circus performers.

After a few minutes I was back to long rides; there were certainly plenty of false starts, but they're getting somewhat more rare. I rode to the corner. I walked back to my trusty support and turned around and rode 50 or 100 feet in the other direction. I rode to the corner and used the yield sign to ride down the sidewalk. I used a couple of other supports, including a tree on the left, to complete the loop (mostly). I rode back to the corner, used the yield sign to ride down the sidewalk, and successfully negotiated the corner that took me back into the park.

But at that point, I was getting tired, because this unicycling stuff is much more strenuous than it looks. Or than it looked to me, anyway. I was passing the tree that I'd used for a support the last time around, and either because I was tired, or because the grade changed slightly, or because a butterfly in Greenland changed direction suddenly and upset the local wind currents, I UPDed and couldn't quite manage to get my feet off the unicycle. I fell forward, and I remember thinking during the eight-tenths of a second that I was falling, "No knee pads! Watch the knees! Wrist guards!" It was probably more like, "kneesnowrist!" but whatever it was, it worked. All I ended up with were two tiny scratches on two left fingers and one tiny scratch on a right finger. Yep, those wrist guards will be staying on for the forseeable future.

I played ball with a dog that was out with his owner (who remarked that I'd improved a great deal, so I guess he's seen me before -- the owner did the remarking, not the dog) for a while, then walked back to my trusty support (Fido didn't seem to want to move out of my way when I tried taking off from the tree, so walking seemed the judicious approach). I had a few more really good rides, including a successful negotiation of the yield sign corner. When I UPDed on the sidewalk, I decided to walk across the park to my trusty support instead of trying to ride around again since I was getting tired. At that point I just rode down to the car and called it quits.

A very good day. Due in part to a couple of now-slightly-scuffed wrist guards.

Going in circles

After five days off, I was back at it again today. It took about ten minutes, then I was back to frequently riding quite a ways. I made it to the corner a few times, and on the third or fourth time I decided to keep going. The park I'm riding in has several paths that join together, and I've been practicing on one side of one of the loops, so I decided to just see if I could ride all the way around the loop. One of the school kids mentioned last week that four laps was a mile; I'm not sure how accurate that is, but the loop looks like it's about the size of a standard track, so he might have been right.

It took a few minutes to mount using the yield sign as my support, because the sidewalk angles up slightly, and I'm not used to starting out uphill. But after several attempts I got going, and I was able to go down the sidewalk almost all the way to the next "leg" within the park. Another sign helped me get through that section, and another post like my usual launch post got me going on the final stretch. Unfortunately, I UPDed in the middle of it, and there was no post nearby, so I walked the final hundred feet or so. Still, it was pretty fun going all the way around.

I also began starting out in the opposite direction today, using my usual support, but holding on with my left hand. It was very wonky at first, and I think it will take some time before I'm as comfortable as starting out using my right hand. But I had several good 100'+ rides in that direction. I even got used to the one "drop" in the pavement in that direction: the sidewalk's cracked, and there's about a half-inch drop from one section to the other. Not exactly a curb hop, but you have to start somewhere!

I'll be starting in on learning how to freemount sometime in the next couple of weeks. I might look into serious shin guards before I start.