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Comment by 3pt14159 | Hacker News Reader

I tried unicycling.

I couldn't get past the, uh, pressure it put on my groin. I don't know how men do it for more than a couple of minutes, let alone a globe trotting distance.

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It doesn't necessarily put that much pressure on your groin once you get the hang of it. You can rise up a bit, and it eases that. It's definitely exhausting though. I made the mistake of trying to keep up with a group on bikes once. It was only a mile and a half, but even so it was almost impossible to keep up. Not being able to freewheel is a big resstriction.

I doubt you'd be able to keep up with a fixie either though. I believe the core issue is the energy required to balance front-to-back.

I've done quite a bit of unicycling. The better your balance, the less energy is required for balance. I think for a skilled unicyclist the difference in pace compared to being on a fixie would be slight.

Sitting bolt upright on a conventional bike consumes a lot more energy than being on the drops. It's one of a handful of topics to bring up when a newbie starts talking about how they can't keep up because they're not in shape. Yes, that is true, and we also have much better technique than you do, which we can work on right now, if you like...

Somehow this guy got aerobars to work on a unicycle, which they don't talk about. I had to stop and search for an image to see how the hell those work.

They're taking a load off his core and letting him use many more muscle groups.

My son kept up with a bike group on trails for 30 miles.

To do that you should have a 36" wheel. An alternative is a geared unicycle, but those are expensive and rare. Choose crank arm length as needed to make the pedaling most effective. Resulting speed might be 30 MPH peak, or 20 MPH sustained.

There's a big difference between a 20-inch unicycle and eg a 24-inch. At Google we even had one that was probably 30 inch or more.

Though still, keeping up with cyclists is going to be a problem. Joggers and other runners are the group to keep up with. And they don't have a freewheel either.

Eh, it's really not a big deal. When I first learned, I was worried about the same, but I learned to sit properly to avoid problems. Basically, I adjust myself while mounting and then I'm good to go.

Other than that, it's the same story as riding a bike. Learn to ride on your sit bones and toughen up that area by regular use.

I must say, however, that learning involves a lot of pain, mostly from the seat hitting sensitive areas when falling off. You can learn to fall relatively gracefully as well, which minimizes pain.

I can unicycle a bit. The reason I stopped was 100% the groin issue. There's more weight on your crotch than a typical bicycle and the way the seat is curved makes it very easy to smash testicles. It's a fun activity, but also a good way to end a bloodline.

I only noticed that problem in the beginning, and after a while you figure out how to sit.

Granted, the longest I continually used my unicycle was for commuting every once in a while. So about 3km in one go.

Otherwise it was short stints working on tricks.

It might depend on the person. I used to be an avid unicyclist, including commuting to work on one every day, and my groin always ached from it. Adjusting, sitting up, etc, never really helped much. It's the main reason I don't really ride any real distance anymore.

I did find that barends helped however, push on them with your hands and you can get some relief. The unicycle in the article has them.

The undershorts in the article look pretty well padded too

Oh thank you for writing this. I was in the end-stages of buying a unicycle, and now I think I'll just borrow a friend's for a while first just to see how bad the groin situation is.

Equipment varies. Be sure to get a slot down the middle. Often there is a hidden slot, built into the foam but covered by stretchy fabric. Here is one without the fabric:

https://www.unicycle.com/kris-holm-fusion-one-saddle/

They tend to be pretty cheap, especially when you buy second hand. So it wouldn't be too much of a loss either way.

But yeah, borrowing from a friend first is still a decent idea.

I once unicycled 20 miles when I was a teenager. It was painful on my inner thighs and seat-bones even though I'd added padding to the saddle.

I just figured it was inevitable. But I guess it's not:

https://www.reddit.com/r/unicycling/comments/3cz52h/how_do_i...

I've seen people not being able to ride a bicycle (comfortably) for the same reason, until they re-angled their seat.

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