Unicycling to Calvert Cliffs - Thrills and Spills

Thanks to Gregg (MAW) and Stephen (PAX) not only for the great company, but also for the terrific video and footage! We had a blast!

MUni at Calvert Cliffs

Yesterday Jam and Sly joined PAX and MAW from unicyclist.com for a MUni ride on the service road at Calvert Cliffs. PAX and MAW have been doing some MUni for a while now, but Jam and Sly were newbies. Boy, was it a lot of fun! And what an amazing workout! I rediscovered muscles I forgot I had! But I tell you what, give me a couple days (to get past some aches and to let the rain pass), and Sly and I will be hitting the trails again. THIS is gonna be what can get momma back into decent shape! And what an amazingly fun way to do it! Gorgeous day, good friends, great fun on one! Anyone want to babysit my little ones while the big one and I go hit the trails??

St Paddy's Day Parade 2011

Sly has a group of Celtic musician friends that he plays fiddle with who invited him to walk with them in the St Paddy's Day parade. When they found out he rode a unicycle and had recently ridden it in a Mardi Gras parade, they invited him to ride with them instead. And so, of course, he did! He and everyone had a blast.

We had a great time also chatting with another parade participant who rode a giraffe unicycle with a Shriner's group. He could ride and juggle, jump rope, do lasso tricks--he was quite a talented character!

Following the parade, Sly and the family were asked to also join the Irish group at a local pub downtown for some after-parade partying. Sly was even invited up on stage for his stage debut playing his fiddle! What an awesome kid and a terrific day!

Mardi Gras 2011

sk8 park 1-20-11

Jman and I went to the local sk8 park last night, just the two of us. He rode his scooter and his sk8 board, and I rode my uni. It was nice to be able to hang with Jman. We both needed that.

While we were there, a fella on a bike asked about riding the unicycle, and if it was hard. I said yes, and offered to let him try. He'd never ridden a unicycle before, but spent of lot of time riding dirt bikes. Imagine our surprise (both his and mine) when he was able to ride a fair ways! I've never seen anyone do so well on a first try! He even managed to free mount and ride at least once, as I recall. Really it was quite amazing! I did get one short video of him, just because, a little later in the evening. He didn't manage to free mount in the video, and it wasn't his best ride of the evening, but you would still never believe the guy had not ridden before that night!

Sly can ride, and so can the CMC!

It's been a while since I've updated. We've been busying packing and moving and such stuff. But folks have still been riding!

Sly/Uniana Jones can now ride and ride and ride and ride, including turning street corners, and just keep on going. He does still have to learn how to free mount, though.

Habeeb is closer to free mounting, and can ride a fair ways, but not nearly so far as Sly. But then again, he spends a lot of time trying to ride from a free mount, instead of starting by holding on. Different approaches. Both work, but the one has Habeeb looking slower at progressing.

Habeeb kept his 20" Nimbus II with him on the ship. He's going to ride it when they make some port calls. He said as he was walking down the pier to carry it on board he heard someone say, "Now that's got to be the strangest thing I've ever seen anyone bring onto the ship!" He also got some comments from the watch standers on the quarterdeck.

Within a few hours the CMC saw him in the p-way and commented that he heard he'd brought a unicycle on board. Habeeb replied that indeed he had, and offered to show it to him, since they were very near his stateroom anyway. When they walked in, the CMC said, "Oh, you have a 20" wheel." Habeeb looked at him, and CMC explained that he used to ride too--unicycle basketball and unicycle polo! How cool is that?!? He's gonna maybe ride with Habeeb at their next port call. I said they need to start a unicycle club on the ship! lol!

As for me, I just put out feelers with the local homeschool groups to try to start a uni club. :)

The boys

The boys (Habeeb and Sly/Uniana Jones) took the unicycles to the laundromat the other day, and got some practice in riding in the parking lot. From all reports, they did quite well. I'm excited to see Sly excited about riding--I wasn't sure he was going to continue to pursue it.

Last night they were at it again out in the driveway and cul-de-sac. Both are doing very well. Habeeb is working diligently on free-mounting and pulls it off sometimes. Sly is working on distance from an assisted mount. He also pulled off a couple sideways hops while holding on last night too. He was very excited. However, the best thing he did last night was ride a good 500'. That was awesome!

Sly and Habeeb really need a longer seat post for the Nimbus II. We got a 200mm seat post hoping Jman would try riding too, but he doesn't seem very interested, or at least not nearly as interested as Habeeb and Sly, and they really need a 300mm seat post. However, when we get back home and fix up my old 24" unis, I think Sly may prefer that anyway. Then we can keep the Nimbus II set up for Jman to be able to try it when he wants.

Anyway, the boys are doing great!!

sk8 parkin'

Today Jman and I went to the sk8 park, just the two of us. He enjoyed riding the new scooter he got for xmas and trying out the new longboard he got as well. I took along the MUni and rode it while we were there. We just about had the place to ourselves, which was nice!

Since it was just us, I don't have any pictures of me riding, but I did take a picture of one of the ramps. I tried riding up it a few times without success, but I could easily ride down it if I mounted at the top.

And here are a few sk8board pix of Jman. He got a custom made longboard through Faith Skate Supply with the A.Skate Foundation logo on the board. It's very fresh!

Unicycle Camp New Year's Day 2011

Xmas eve update

On Xmas Eve, Habeeb free mounted and rode a good 50 yards out of the cul-de-sac and around the corner. Then he free mounted again and rode back! Go, Habeeb!

On Xmas Day we were super busy (of course) and nobody rode unis. Later that night, it started snowing. And it snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed. When all was said and done, we went to sleep on the 26th with 9+ inches in the front yard, and it was still snowing! We got about another inch that night, and didn't spend much time riding--until New Year's Day!

garage ride 12-19-2010

Habeeb and I took it to the garage today due to cold and VERY windy weather. It was Habeeb's first time on his new 20" Nimbus II. He made it across the garage several times, both on the 20" and on the 24" MUni. He had tried to learn to ride in years past, and today caught back up with his previous abilities. I can't wait until he can ride well enough for us to go out riding together!

Sly also joined us to give it a whirl, and he almost made it across the garage a couple times. It'd be awesome if he learns to ride too! Not only could we do some family riding, but he could maybe ride with his godbrothers after they learn!

I worked on hopping today, when I could get a uni away from Habeeb and Sly. I was free mounting into immediate hops, and managed a good run of 10 hops before UPDing. It may not sound like much, but it was a personal best for me!

The funniest guy in the garage today was SB3 doing trials on his trike! I'll have to post a video of that sometime too. He wants a uni so badly! He insisted on riding my MUni today (with a lot of help from mom!). I can't wait until he's actually big enough to fit a tiny uni of his own.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same weather-wise, so I expect we'll be in the garage again. Habeeb will probably work on free mounting in addition to riding, Sly will keep working on getting across the garage, and I'll work on more hopping skills, including transitioning to riding. That's the plan, anyway.

Here's a short video clip of one of Habeeb's runs across the garage on the MUni, and my run of 10 hops. I was having fun exploring iMovie software on the MacBook Pro. :)

I hate winter!

Seriously, I don't do cold. There's a reason I got my first uni for xmas but didn't learn to ride until the following May. It was COLD outside! Now I'm getting back into riding at exactly the wrong time of year--winter! It snowed a couple days ago. I was seriously thinking about riding the uni out in the snow (I do have MUni afterall!), but Habeeb was out to sea, Sly and Jman were playing in the snow, SB3 was inside with a snotty nose, and Iago didn't need to be out in the cold either, so I stayed in with the two littles. By the time Sly and Jman came back in it had switched to rain, and I really wasn't interested in riding in slush while it was raining.

So, I haven't spent too much time on the uni, between the cold weather and the need for having someone (ie, Sly) babysit so I can be free to ride. It's actually rather discouraging.

But Habeeb is available for the next little while, 24/7 while he's on xmas leave. So hopefully I can get out and actually ride some. I'd really like to try riding some easy trails at a nearby state park, or even just ride around the botanical gardens if it's 'bike' friendly. Maybe tomorrow I can pull one of those off while babygirl and all the boys stay home for a while.

It's an epidemic!

Michelangelo's big brother, Joe Cool, was practicing on Michelangelo's new uni, and then on Habeeb's new uni, and doing very, very well after just one day. Now he too wants to learn to ride, and we just went in together on getting him a new uni too. He pitched in and we ordered him a Nimbus II uni just like Habeeb's, only in red instead of blue. It should be delivered by the end of the week. I expect he'll be showing us all sorts of stuff by the time we're back to visit him again. He may also get to borrow paxuni's 20" torker until his Nimbus II arrives, and/or Joe Cool and Michelangelo may meet up with pax sometimes to ride and encourage each other. It's awesome that they'll have each other to ride with!

PAXuni

So much has changed in unicycling since I was a kid. Now folks are riding offroad where bikes fear to tread and and creating a whole new world of street/trials unicycling with pedal grabs, crankflips, unispins, skinnies, standstills, gaps, and more. (Do a search on youtube and you can find all sorts of amazing unicycle videos!)

Also, the internet has exploded since I was a kid, and unicyclists from all over the world are networking online, communicating through forums and youtube, and finding each other to meet up in real life.

This weekend, I was able to meet up with paxuni, a fellow unicycler who lives just minutes from my bff! While we were in town visiting my friends, I was able to meet up with pax for a ride around a local park on Saturday afternoon. Pax is relatively new to unicycling, but is doing terrific. He has a wicked sweet 29" uni he let me try out, and I just loved it! It rides SOOOO SMOOTH! And so quiet!! You just fly on that beautiful thing. I so have to add one of those to my collection someday, and it makes me want to try one of the 36" wheels if I ever get a chance!

Pax enjoyed trying out my 24" MUni, which, with its big knobby tire, wasn't too much smaller overall than his big 29" cruiser. I was amazed at the noise coming from that knobby tire on the roads we were riding on compared to the silence of his smooth tire. It was really amazing how different the two unis were, and how different from the other unis I had there--Habeeb's 20" Nimbus II freestyle uni and Michelangelo's 16" trainer. You would think a uni is a uni, but that's so not true!

The other particular excitement of the afternoon was my out-of-nowhere UPD (unplanned dismount) face first on the asphalt. Boy, was I ever glad to be wearing a helmet! Wow! But it would have been much nicer if I had remembered to wear the new wrist guards I left sitting in the back of the truck. They never even crossed my mind, and didn't even enter my mind until a bit later after the initial shock of the fall wore off. As it turns out, I had my worst fall ever by far on a uni, but fortunately only ended up with some good road rash on each hand, some minor road rash and a nice bruise and some puffiness on my left cheek bone, and a couple of mildly bruised knees. I was able to get right back on and keep on riding, enjoying the rest of the afternoon, and later kicking myself for not remembering those gloves! Ah well, at least it was all minor injuries.

On the other hand, when I consider the fall I had, and survived with only minor injuries, I actually feel quite a bit freer and emboldened to push my limits a little further or a little faster, perhaps. I mean I already had a bad fall, unexpected, and it really wasn't THAT bad falling flat on my face and scraping myself up. I can deal with it okay. And that makes me more comfortable with the idea of falling. Like I told Michelangelo, the first thing you learn how to do is FALL. Well, Saturday, I relearned how to fall. Now I'm ready to learn how to REALLY ride this thing!! :)

However, I AM going to remember to wear more safety gear from now one!

Happy Birthday, Michelangelo!

So, my bff commented recently (when I started riding again and talking unicycles) that her ds, my godson, has commented in the past that someday he wanted to learn how to ride a unicycle, and would mention me, his godmom, when he said so. So, when I found that out, I of course had to make sure that Michelangelo got a brand spanking new unicycle for his 7th birthday, the first bday I've been able to be at since his Birth Day. For such a special boy and special occasion we got him a 16" Trainer unicycle complete with specially requested by him Green Flames! The unibug has attacked again! Happy Birthday, Michelangelo! I love ya, buddy, and I can't wait to go riding with you very soon!

brrrrrrrr!

I don't do cold. Add in a brisk 15-20mph wind, and I stay indoors as much as possible! Cold is the reason I got my 1st uni for xmas at 11yo but didn't learn to really ride it until the following May. During the cold winter, I rode inside, down the hallway of our house and crash landed on mom and dad's bed.

So that's why I haven't got anything new to post. It's COLD. I don't do cold. brrrrr.

20" Nimbus II blue with ISIS hub

There's a new addition to the family as of today! Habeeb's new freestyle unicycle arrived today from unicycle.com. He choose a 20" Nimbus II, chrome frame and blue rim, ISIS hub. One reason we choose a 20" uni was because it would fit Jman better if he really wanted to learn to ride. At the very least, he enjoyed helping me put it together! That was enough excitement for one afternoon though. He wasn't interested in trying to ride it when Sly and I took it outside. I don't have pix, but Jman did go out and try to get on it with my help later after it got dark. I'd love it if Jman learned to ride!

Sly gave it a whirl, and was quite pleased with himself. It's a MUCH easier ride that the 24" MUni. He mounted holding on to the gate there, and was comfortable enough to let go momentarily at least while he pedaled the few feet there. He doesn't have his heart set on learning to ride, so I don't know if he'll follow through, but he too will be more likely to learn on the 20" than on The Beast.

And I gave it a whirl after Sly and found it to be much different from my other uni's, including my 24" unis back home. It's more like those than the MUni, but it rides very differently, much more maneuverable. I totally understand why most flatland, trials, and street riding is done on a 19 or 20" wheel. I think I would have mastered more tricks when I was younger if I'd had the smaller wheel. We'll see what I'm able to pull off now that I'm older, wiser (ie--less daring), and have much less free time on my hands to practice thanks for 4 kiddoes and an at sea sweetheart! It'll be slow going at best, but fun for sure! I'm already developing my plan for what to work on first. I have some really basic skills I'm going to have to master before I can move on to anything remotely impressive (as if riding a unicycle in the first place isn't impressive enough! haha!).

Sk8 Park 11-29-2010

Shot this at the local sk8 park. It's got a leg in front free mount, forwards, backwards, and a bit of one-footed (left) before a UPD. Later I did my first baby hops on the MUni, but I don't have that on video. I need to work on being able to do tricks with either foot, tighter smoother turns, and on hops. Then I'll move on to more new stuff and to real off roading. Earlier in the day I rode for some workout distance to get in shape and start losing some baby weight.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'!

After taking a couples days off this weekend (it got cold!), I got back in the saddleagain this morning and rode around (and around and around) the neighborhood, trying to get some beginning distance riding in, even though it's with a MUni on streets and sidewalks. There's no way I would have run or jogged so far as I rode, but on one wheel it's still a great workout without all the pounding. This is going to go a long way in dropping the extra poundage I'm still carrying around after baby #4! But, being the wuss that I am in cold weather, maybe I should talk Habeeb into a trails uni I could learn tricks on in the garage with a space heater!

Actually, he's got the unibug bad enough that he's planning on ordering a freestyle uni for himself later today (cyber monday!). He's gonna get a 20" wheel so Jman can maybe ride it too. Wouldn't that be awesome?!?

Anyway, I'm riding smoothly on the new MUni, and for long enough distances before UPD's (unplanned dismounts). I'm comfortable with most of what I used to do eons ago on my old unis. My most immediate goal was to get back into good enough shape to be able to try some of the harder stuff I used to do (still not terribly complicated) on this bigger tougher MUni, and to get over the initial "saddle soreness" from starting back riding. So, I'm definitely on track so far. And riding again is just flat out FUN! I'm SO glad I'm getting back into riding, and also SO glad that there's a fantastic uni forum online with so many folks to learn from and share with. Check it out at unicyclist.com.

Awesome Video (of someone else--not me!!)

Watch this awesome video when you have a few minutes. So way cool!