I wished to document the progress while attempting to learn to ride one-footed, like I did with learning to ride backwards, so here it is. This post will be updated to have the latest updates on top, so if you wish to read it in the correct chronology, it’ll be bottom to top.

Session 18: 2021-02-07: duration: 1 hr 25 minutes, total time 22 hrs 25 minutes

I’ve now been practicing one-footed riding with my foot on the frame. Earlier, I’d thought I’d practice being able to ride first and then figure out how I could get my foot up onto the frame, but I realized that having the foot onto the frame actually was going to be much better in terms of helping me stay balanced, and the center of gravity centered better, over the wheel. My earlier attempts to put my foot up resulted in instant UPDs, but I thought I’d try again. The fact that I’d ridden close to 150 km since my last practice session meant that I now had better riding skills too, and that’s always a good thing. Since I started practicing, I’ve always tried to drive with my right foot, while unloading the left, and the best way, I realized, to get the left foot atop the frame was to first push down hard on the right foot, and smoothly get the left foot to simply come off from the top, and get it quickly but smoothly onto the frame, while preparing to drive the right foot down again. The key thing is the smoothness, with any sudden movement resulting in jerks and instability that are very hard to overcome. When I began to get my foot atop the frame, I realized that I needed to pedal faster, a point my friend Pontus also pointed out, so I started to practice riding faster.

When one is learning this trick, it can be a bit difficult to dare to roll faster, but with experience, it gets easier to roll faster without fear getting in the way. Once the non-drive foot gets atop the frame, it not only helps to keep the CoG centered, but also allows one to grip the unicycle. The driving down with the driving foot still needs to be smooth and rhythmic in order to get beyond the first two revolutions. I’ve now been able to get to five crank revs repeatedly, something I could have only dreamed of, earlier. I’d now like to try and ride longer distances and be able to control the line, so I continue riding straight. I also want to be able to ride one-footed with either foot, so I’ll need to start working with driving with the left foot instead. Now that I’ve internalized several aspects related to the technique, I hope learning with the other foot will therefore happen at a faster rate.

Session 14: 2020-08-17: duration: 2 hrs 10 minutes, total time 17 hrs 20 minutes

Trying to focus on a cleaner exit; roll fast(er), slow for a fraction as the drive leg reaches the deadzone, lift off the non-drive leg and complete the drive revolution, and try to hook in a more revs. I’m now trying to focus on achieving a full reset in terms of posture, by the end of the first rev, to allow for more successful follow-through, after the first rev. While the hour count is going up, I know I’ll get this. I’d start each outing with the expectation of a breakthrough, or just learning to do it by the end of the session. While that might still happen, i.e. suddenly get the skill, at this point, I’m more inclined to believe that the progress will be gradual. I’ve now got in around 17.5 hours, and I hope to do it within another twelve hours of practice or so I’m targeting 30 hours of riding for this. Will I get it by then? Or will I get to 30 hours and be left wondering how many more hours I’d need? Let’s see. I’m staying positive.

Session 13: 2020-08-16: duration 40 minutes, total time 15 hrs, 10 minutes

Session 12: 2020-08-15: duration 1hr 5 minutes, total time 14 hrs, 30 minutes

Managed to ride three revolutions, but was unable to reproduce at will. When it goes right, the wheel tracks straight, and I stay centered in the saddle. When it doesn’t, it rolls to a side and the foot comes right down. Every session seems like it’s going to be the breakthrough session, but after a while, I’m left wondering if I’m making any real progress, and this repeats over and over again, leading to a lot of frustration, but I continue to keep plugging away, hoping to nail it. At this point, I’m unsure how many more sessions I’d need to nail this, but there’s nothing to do but to take it one session at a time.

Session 11: 2020-08-14 duration 1hr 40 minutes, total time 13 hrs, 25 minutes

Session 10: duration 1hr 30 minutes, total time 11 hrs 45 minutes

Session 9: 2020-09-11: duration 1 hr, total time 10 hrs 15 minutes

Session 8: 2020-08-10: duration 2 hrs, total time 9 hrs 15 minutes

Session 6 and 7 2020-08-09: duration 45 minutes, 90 minutes, total time 7 hrs 15 minutes

Each practice session teaches something new, and with increasing confidence, I’m able to overcome issues which caused UPDs in the past. Much like how it was while learning to freemount, one gets to quickly understand if an attempt is going well or not. If the jerk from the setting off is too strong, the wheel angles sharply, and that’s not good. The idea is to get the wheel to track dead-straight, instead of wobbling all over the place. The start therefore is quite critical. While the previous session saw me focusing on tracking straight, these sessions were more about me being ahead of the wheel, while firmly on the saddle. The slightest backward lean means that the ability to drive one-footed just drops right off, and I find myself getting off. Continuing to lean forward, with the weight in the saddle, I can stickch together a couple of revs, but it’s tricky to ensure that I’m leaning forward each time I’m ready for the drive stroke. I hope to be able to string together a few more consecutive revs before long. I’ll also take another shot at learning to idle, one-footed.

Session 5 2020-08-06: duration 90 minutes, total time 5 hrs

Continued to practice. Now have a video, showing the current progress, which shows me getting two complete revolutions (and a half!) one-footed. The focus area of the session was to consciously ride and control the wheel, instead of simply buckling in for a ride as a passenger. I tried to observe how the wheel drifted out of control and tried to steer it to get it to straighten out.

Session 4 2020-08-05: duration 90 minutes, total time 3 hrs 30 minutes

Worked my way towards smoother retraction of the leg, and also smoother powering by the driving leg. I was also able to drive with more power, without resulting in loss of control. I managed two revolutions on a few occasions (I think) but nothing on camera yet. I thought I might be able to see a breakthrough and persisted a while longer, but I was rather tired, and found myself making more and more mistakes, so I wrapped up for the day.

Session 3 2020-08-04: duration 1 hour, total time 2 hr

Putting more weight onto the saddle is now working better, and I focused on riding straight and leaning forward a bit more, to overcome getting down from the rear. This resulted in greater stability. Staying on the saddle longer means getting down from the front, instead of sliding off from the back, so this is what I’m trying to do more often. I read on a reddit post that we also need to focus on not slowing the stroke on the driving leg when it is at the bottom, as that’s what we are used to doing, when we pedal with both legs. The target is a smooth piston-like firing at the top, and a fluid travel down and up again. If the pedal stroke is strong enough, it will result in the leg traveling down and up again, without the need for application of a pull, but if the pedal stroke is too strong, it causes a strong disturbance which requires correction which messes up the smooth motion. The trick is to ensure that neither the removal of the non-drive foot nor the application of the downward push results in imbalance. Smoothness is the key, and this might require hundreds of repetitions, perhaps even thousands, to nail down. This is going to require a lot of patience is what I realize.

Session 2 2020-08-02: duration 30 minutes, total time 1hr

Video

Tried practicing riding, but consciously driving only with my right foot, without any overt inputs from the left leg. This became easy after a bit of practice, and I found that I could now lift off my foot without suffering an immediate UPD. However, I couldn’t do more than a quarter rev, without getting off/putting my foot on the ground. Friends recommend either putting the foot back on the pedal and riding on, or attempting to place the foot onto the frame.

Session 1 2020-08-01: duration 30 minutes

Tried to try and lift my left foot off the pedal, as the left foot neared the top. Lifting off resulted in immediate UPD. Tried repeatedly without making progress. Spoke to a couple of friends who recommended riding faster, putting more weight into the saddle, and practicing one-footed idling, using a fence or a wall.