Days 11-20 - Unicycling

At Day 20 (February 4, 2015):

Weight - 146.0 (Still!)

Stamina - I can make it down the block one length before turning onto the next segment.

Clothes Fitting - They're getting baggier

Strength - Legs, butt, arms, abs all way stronger

Muscle Tension - sore, perhaps even more. Could possibly have an injured knee. I also jammed my pinkie finger.

Family Climate - 7

Emotional Well-Being - I am happier...

Conclusion: I am definitely going to keep this up.

2/6/15
Today is day 21, and I wanted to add an updated video including the second 10 days. So during days 11-20 I've been working on a few things. I figured out how to get on by free mounting (no hands), but then I watched a couple YT videos showing a bunch of ways to do it and none of them were the way I was doing it. So I decided to start learning those ways so I'd at least seem legit around other unicyclers.



Benchmarks:

- I worked on going down the driveway without falling, and then up the driveway without falling. I got it, although I can't do it every single time, yet.

- I mastered free mounting with my right foot back, and it is pretty solid. Still takes about 10 tries to get on cold, though.

- I rode around the block once by myself, taking lots of breaks, getting off maybe a total of 7 or 8 times. Then I tried to ride around the block with Christopher riding his BMW balance bike, while pushing Nico in the little Cozy Coupe car. That didn't work, because Nico kept dragging his feet and falling off the seat, so I tried pulling him backwards but it was difficult to steer that way, and I almost never was riding my unicycle the whole time.

- I tried to get over bumps. This is still not accomplished. In order to get over even a little bump, I realized a few things. 1) I'm going to have to hop while holding onto the seat with one hand. 2) I can't ride while holding on with one hand, yet. 3) I can hop, but only if my right foot is back and left foot forward. This won't always be exactly how my feet are every time I get to a bump. I'm going to have to practice hopping with my feet in every position and master that, before I can ride over a bump/root. I dreamed that someone told me hopping like that is called "advancing". haha. 4) I'm going to have to practice how to keep going after hopping, which I can also not do, yet.

- I thought if I'm going to be ambidextrous with getting over bumps and hopping no matter where my feet are, I'm going to have to feel ambidextrous enough to get on with my left foot back also. Otherwise my muscles never really will be trained enough to be in control no matter what position they're in. So I practiced that on day 18 and got it pretty much right away!

- I don't consider myself competent until I can also ride backwards in order to stay up and not fall off. You know, do little 3 point turns, and be able to do u-turns. This is something I just started working on.

- From now on, I need to practice what they call idling, or rocking: rocking back and forth with one foot going in a boat shape motion on the bottom. I need to be able to do 100 of these per foot. I got 10 so far with my right foot, but on day 21 I got 26!

This is a picture someone took of us while trying to make it to Starbucks. THIS is why I do this. Christopher never went out of the driveway on his little bike before! His awesome, orange, BMW balance bike!!!