Slivers of time

I've been thinking about yesterday's entry on lifting and on earlier comments on trying to relax my knees and pump with my thighs instead of my feet when on the flats. There is an underlying, unifying idea at work.

This underlying idea stems from the reality in unicycling that you do not coast. Your feet are always moving, giving you propulsion and balance. Even down hills when gravity is providing all the propulsion you need, you pedal to keep balanced. All that constant pedaling without relief is tiring. This makes unicycling a good workout, but also places repetitive stresses the body.

So the unifying idea is that a rider can relieve his or her body when riding by finding little slivers of time to briefly relax, even though you can't coast. You can lift, you can unweight your knees. I'm sure there are other things too that I'll discover as I learn to ride longer and more efficiently.