Improving Balance: Two Great Challenges (Plus Some Other Tips to Make You a Better Unicyclist)

It should come as a surprise to exactly no one that unicyclists must have a good sense of balance. There’s one wheel, one point of contact with the ground, a comparatively small contact patch, and no other sort of stabilizer to speak of. 

So that much should go without saying. It should also go without saying that any exercises or riding challenges you can come up with as a unicyclist to help improve your balance will benefit you. 

That’s why we’re here with these two, plus a few other tips and tricks to help you hone your sense of balance as you slowly become master of the one-wheeler. 

Ride a Painted Line As Slowly As You Can

Find a painted line roughly 4 inches or so wide; the white margin on the shoulder of the road works well for this (just don’t pick a busy road for practice). 

Measure out a predetermined length, say, 25 feet is a good place to start, and then ride it forward as slowly as possible. Keep trying to beat your “score” by adding more and more time to it as you complete the challenge. 

Try not to skew off to one side or the other of the painted line. If you do, you should start the test over. The goal is to be able to do it as slowly as possible without losing the line. 

Up the Ante with a 2x4

If you want to make it really hard on yourself, do the same test, but with a 2x4, or with a series of 2x4s (more on that in a second). 

The more slowly you can ride the “rail” the better, especially since the 2x4s will be less forgiving than a painted line and you’ll slip off if you trend too close to the edge. If you fall off, start over. 

If you want to make this challenge even harder, get a few pre-cut lengths of 2x4 and space them out slightly, still in a line, but with small gaps between them. When you get to the end of one, hop to the next. 

Again, the goal here is to do this as slowly as you possibly can, now introducing the challenge not just of hopping to a new 2x4, but catching yourself on the next one without slipping off. (If you’re going to hop, we recommend a mountain unicycle or at least a model that doesn’t have square taper cranks as you may want the extra stability and durability of splined cranks when riding.)

The Challenge of Riding As Slowly As Possible (Without Idling)

These two challenges so far presented both bring up the concept of riding as slowly as you can, without idling, which is one of the best skills to master as a unicyclist as slow riding is one of the best ways to hone your sense of balance. 

You see, idling is a whole separate skill which, though you should become proficient with it, is somewhat different from riding slowly forward or backward. Idling enables you to shift forward and backwards to help catch your balance, moving only in one direction does not allow you to do that. 

It takes great strength, control, and balance to move a unicycle either forward or backwards without stopping, idling, or worse, shifting back or forwards slightly to catch yourself. Therefore, one of the most elite skills to master is riding in one direction at a snail’s pace, and it’s even better if you can do it in a narrow line, because side to side dips also let you catch yourself.

Anyone that can ride a line or a 2x4 at a crawl without stopping or veering is doing something right. 

Other Tips to Improve Balance 

The two practices mentioned here will go a ways towards improving your balance, but there are other things you can do as well. Here are some top tips: 

• Stand on one leg for as long as you can; either fix your gaze in front of you or close your eyes. Some yoga poses, like the classic “tree” pose, can be helpful here as well. 
• Do crossover exercises that build strength and balance, like pistol squats, leg lifts, and calf raises. 
• Engage in other training with your unicycle in addition to slow riding, such as idling, riding tight figure 8’s (as slowly as possible) and balancing on a still unicycle, or rocking it, without letting it get away into an idle. 

Start with some of these, commit to improving your balance, and see where it takes you from there. 

Here for a New Ride? 

Whether you’re here for unicycle tools or parts like a replacement pair of square taper cranks or you want to add a new unicycle to your collection, check out what we offer and if you have any questions get in touch with us and we will do our best to help.