It has arrived!

I got my Solowheel today. After topping off the battery, I headed out for a little practice. The pressure on my shins and ankles was pretty painful, but luckily I'd been advised to use a little padding. After strapping on a pair of soccer shinguards, and turning them each 90 degrees toward the insides of my legs, I was much more comfortable!

The padded ankle was a nice extra, as it cushioned the pressure point on the top of my ankle bone. The downside was I had to keep rotating them back into the wheel, as they liked to roll over to the front of my shins as I rode. I think as I get more comfortable, my "death grip" might relax and maybe I can retire the shinguards at some point.

It took me a while to figure out exactly where to put my feet on the platforms. I have relatively small feet (size 41 Vibram Fivefingers, or roughly size 8 1/2 US), and my feet still more than covered the platforms, but eventually I seemed to figure out their placement. I put the balls of my feet on the leading edge of the platform, toes hanging slightly over the front. I can actually flex my toes downward in the shoes I wore today (Vibram EL-X - The best shoes I've ever owned!) so that I could almost grab on to the platforms with them.

The outsides of my feet sat almost right on the outer edges of the platforms, but I think I could move them in a bit if not for the shinguards.

The safety strap is a must for now. I would have dumped the wheel several dozen times already without it. I just have to remember not to pick the wheel up off the ground! (It goes a little nuts if you do.)

I was riding along a fence, and up and down a slight incline. Down was far easier than up. For some reason, I had a lot of trouble leaning forward on the uphills, and the wheel thought I wanted to stop. Possibly a mental/coordination issue, so I'll work on it.

About that fence. Don't try to grab a chain link fence while moving several mph. It hurts. Also, don't grab the posts where the sharp wires hold the fence to said post. That hurts more.

It's easy to start off holding onto a post or pole. It's harder to start off without anything to hold onto, but I managed it a few times.

I recorded myself for a while, to share and remember what that first ride looked like.

Music: Moiteur d'une chaude nuit d'été (Circus Marcus) / CC BY-NC 3.0

Overall, it went better than I expected. After a while, I could leave the fence. Briefly at first, and then for longer and longer rides. My camera battery died after about 30 minutes, but I kept at it for maybe 30 more. By the very end, I was able to stay on the Solowheel for a minute or two if I was lucky. Those brief rides were pure joy. It's hard to describe the feeling: a bit like a good clean glide on ice skates, a bit like soaring, and totally awesome!