Thursday, July 23, 2009

Get out from behind that keyboard! "goStretch!"


Okay, so my home office isn't *that* inspiring, but I promise, the lawn that's hidden in the above picture is a beautiful spot. Between the palm and oak (?) tree, the lawn is great for people watching, eating meals, reading books, and stretching / yoga type stuff.

But sometimes I forget to take time out for my body and do some stretching...

Enter the "goStretch!" bookmark!

This is simply a little internet bookmark that I've positioned at the end of my bookmarks toolbar, to remind me, when I'm just surfing my favorite sites and gathering news, that I should go Stretch!

(The link can point anywhere, but how about a "yoga pose-a-day" type website? In my case, the link goes nowhere, I don't even click it, I just rise from my seat and have at it!)




So when you're done reading this article -- how about going for a stretch!

Your body will thank you!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Day 34: Free Mount is conquered!

I might be writing out of turn here, but I believe that I can free mount with less than 3 tries at any given time, and so I'm counting that as a win for the time being!

I took a long ride this afternoon after work and went up and down main street, all around the park -- probably totaling about 1.5 miles total!

Random picture of MAS and I flying in a Piper Cherokee, over to Catalina for a hike and snack, courtesy of MA_Air, who sometimes orders Buffalo Burgers over the aviation airwaves, thanks to the helpful tower folks at "Airport in the Sky!"

Because of a business / pleasure trip, I'll be away from the 'cycle for the next 5 days. Curious how things will fall apart in that time, I'm still excited to ride and get better when I return (and I'll try and get some multi-media going for the next update!

A friend's MINI E (fully electric Mini Cooper) car that I'm super excited about. The future is here, folks, and it's totally awesome. Get some electrons -- from anywhere, solar, wind, or plain old coal, and you'll be doing your grand-children a favor!


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Day 17: Hittin' the (unicycle) gym!

Today was a pretty successful day, as I was able to free-mount (get on the unicycle) without holding on to a fence 3 times (out of about 50 tries). Very exciting; this brings my total to 5 free mounts!


In addition to trying to free mount, I did some work at the park on my turns. The first drill was a slalom course made from the tether-ball poles:


Second, there are these two concentric circles on the ground -- I have no idea what they're really for, but I practiced riding 'within the lines' in both directions, with limited success:


Here's a video of me riding at the playground!



(and here's another (not me! :)))

Monday, July 6, 2009

Unicycle progress tracker

Alert: Nerdlevel 9 Ahead!

(Click the image)


That was fun, eh?

Unfortunately I still can't turn right very well, but it's no big deal because it's about to be Mega-Nuts Slalom Week!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Day 15: Let's go to the park

My three day weekend started beautifully enough, spending half a day at a surprisingly beautiful man-made park in Costa Mesa. I decided to use the contour hills of the park to practice on my Unicycle!



Riding up and down small inclines isn't a big deal -- but it does get very tough, very quickly as the incline increases. This second movie shows the limit of what I can descend right now.


Third movie is more of the same -- hill descent. :-)



Also, check out this awesome photo of the park where I rode: TeWinkle Park Vertorama:
(Same pic looks BEAUTIFUL here.)