I used my unicycle as pure transport for the first time today – a short trip to Tesco to buy some pizzas. I locked up the ‘wheel’ part to the cycle racks and put the seat part into my bag. The effect on my balance of carrying two pizzas and a D-lock was pretty minimal. Going down the steep path felt substantially harder though. Both pizzas survived the journey intact.
Earlier today, I was out under blue skies at Portobello esplanade. I tried three jump mounts, and landed them all. I tried three suicide mounts too, and whilst I landed on the pedals fine, the seat tipped away before I could sit down. I also did about half a mile along the esplanade, with a few cobbles and kerbs thrown in to keep me on my toes. It’s incredible how tiring it is compared to a bicycle. Your legs are spinning much faster, against less resistance, but you’re also constantly adjusting your pedalling rate – pausing a bit, then pedalling like crazy.
My main aim was to practise turns. I got really good at turning left – doing tight turns around some park benches. But I totally suck at turning right .. as in, I can barely do it. I guess I’m not an ambi-turner. Going left, I can pause mid-turn and change direction easily. Turning right, my pedalling speeds up, my positioning feels all wrong, and it feels like my body just doesn’t tilt that way. I need to just stick at it .. stop ‘practising’ the direction I can do and force myself to learn the other direction. Same with freemounts too. I can freemount with either foot, but I waay prefer starting with my right foot. Actually, same with idling too. I spot a pattern here.
Until I master turning right, I’ll just need to do 270° left turns instead …