After my last attempts to learn unicycling left me with an inflamed back (http://prashanthchengi.livejournal.com/73182.html), I took a while to recover. After that, the weather also took a turn for the worse, leading to lots of ice/slush formation. Now, snow is something I generally like and look forward to, as it means better light, but it makes it totally hostile for an activity like learning to ride a unicycle.  The long gap since my last outing on the uni was also weighing on my mind; with each passing weekend that I didn't practice, even when conditions would have permitted it, I felt worse. It was beginning to feel like something of a jinx, and I knew that the only way to get on top of it was to go out and have another session.  Today, after staying boxed indoors for most of the day, I decided that I'd do a short session.  It was half past five, but the light was going to be good for another hour at least, so I pumped up the tire and off I went.  Since my last experience of stepping away from the wall hadn't gone all that well, I decided to go back to the basics, and the wall.

The weather was glorious and the winds still. Approaching the wall with my unicycle, I was filled with both hope and trepidation. Would I have retained what I'd learned, or would I have to start from scratch all over again? I placed the uni at my prefered point against the wall and even as I mounted it, I felt good.  It didn't in the least feel like I was doing something new.  I launched off, and did a revolution and two and soon reached the end of the short distance, and felt totally comfortable doing so.  As I reached the end, there was a pebble on the ground which caused the tire to suddenly twist sidewards, but I managed to stay on, and I was able to complete the turn and switch to holding the window sill on the wall, with the other hand.  Just like that, I'd found myself facing the other direction! For the first time ever! I had only ever tried riding in one direction, and my attempt to mount and ride from the other direction had not gone well on an earlier attempt and now, I started moving tentatively.  I had to unmount after a couple of revolutions, but for the first time, I'd ridden the length of the wall, turned and continued for a while. I tried again, and was able to get to the end and this time, I didn't have to rely on the pebble to turn me around; I did it myself, and was able to smoothly switch hands.  Though I was super excited at this new progress, I was also super thirsty already.  Since my apartment is quite close by, I went back and got my backpack with the hydration pack filled with water, and quickly realized that this is really a great accessory for my unicycling outings.

Now that I was able to do the twist turns and go the other way, I no longer had to unmount on reaching the end of the wall and returning to the start point; I could now do a twist turn and ride right back, and this not only a big fillip to my morale, but also saved me a lot of time and effort. Unicyling is quite an intense activity, particularly when you are learning, as you spend a lot of energy in maintaining balance, and mounting repeatedly causes you to tire faster.  I'd already been practicing for over an hour now and was feeling quite zapped. I found myself taking longer breaks, just to get my wind back, so after another couple of wall lengths, decided to call it a day, on a high note.  I'm going to do my future sessions with my hydration pack, and plan to take 15 minute breaks after each hour of practice.  It might be a good idea to carry a couple of bananas too, for a sugar hit.

I'm now getting around to doing up to the first 3 minutes of what this gentleman demonstrates, in this video.