Recently it struck me that learning to unicycle as an adult must be a little bit like learning to walk when you’re a toddler. When you start out you can only go a few feet before you fall down (or in my case, I usually just step off the pedals and try to grab the seat before it crashes). Then, as your body learns what it is supposed to do, you start going a little bit further, and a little bit further again before you eventually lose your balance.
Right now I can go about a third of the way around one of the apartment buildings before I have to step off the unicycle. Only at this point I’m not so much stepping off because I don’t know how to keep my balance as I’m dismounting because I’ve run out of the stamina I need to keep from tipping over.
Unicycling is hard work! I don’t notice it so much while I’m riding because I’m concentrating so hard, but by the time I dismount after 200 feet or so of riding my thighs are freaking killing me and I’m panting like I’ve been lifting weights. After a minute or so I’m ready to try again, but after a dozen mounts and dismounts I’m pretty much toast.
I’m not in terrible shape - 2 or 3 times a week I run about 4 miles at a time on the treadmill. I think it’s mostly just that I haven’t learned to be an efficient unicyclist yet. On the unicycle my muscles spend a lot of time in opposition to each other - one foot pushing the wheel forward while the other foot holds the wheel back and provides balance. Also, most of this effort is going on at less than full knee extension, a little bit like walking around in a crouch. (Try walking around in a crouch for 15 minutes, and you’ll know what I mean.)
I’m sure more advanced cyclists use less force to stay upright (by putting more weight on the seat perhaps), but at this point it feels I’m putting in close to max effort most of the time.
I wonder if this is what a toddler feels like when they’re learning to walk? Maybe once they get past 10 or 20 steps at a time they’ve pretty much figured out the balance thing, and the reason why they fall down after that point is because they’re just plain tired from inefficiently using muscles they’ve never used before.
If that’s the case, then let me just say I can sympathize with the little diaper poopers - learning new forms of locomotion can be a hell of a workout.
