For some of you this is going to be a bit of a surprise unless you have been following me on Facebook and or Instagram. I have been in the hospital for a week now after checking myself in with shortness of breath and pain in my upper stomach right under the rib cage. As it turns out it is heart related and very serous in nature.
Unknown to me I was born with an Aoritic Vlave Defect that over time starts to leak back into my heart adding more and more presure and work for my heart enlarging it to the point where it starts to become less and less efficient where I am now at around 15% efficiency. A normal healthy heart should be 60% efficiency. On top of this right above my Aortic vlave the main artery is also enlarged and bubbled which can rupture at any time.
This means I need to have open heart bypass surgery to correct the valve and anoursim issue and lesson the stress on my heart with hopes that my heart can also recover to some degree allowing for an improved heart efficiency over time.
It looks like my operation for this will be this Tuesday but it is not a for sure date. That is the gist of what is going on but I go into more detail in this video so make sure to watch it and follow along as I face the most challenging experience of my life which is to keep it!
It's another New Year and to kick it off I made a quick video while riding on my EUC (Electric Unicycle) while wearing my Camera Glasses so the video is a little bit shaking so be warned... When I am a little bit more confident I will use my Insta360 camera which is way more stable and allows me to view everything in full 360 degrees.
Getting back to the main content of this video, well the title kind of already gives you a heads up but I talk about my New EUC (Electric Unicycle) and why I am already upgrading from my recent purchase of the Begode Tesla T3 which is an awesome EUC but I just couldn't pass on a deal I got for a fully upgraded and modded Begode EXN EUC. It's a bit of overkill for me right now but I have adjusted to its larger size and more power and when I am ready for what it can really do I will have the right unit for it.
I also talk about how I am now doing since my recent panic/anxiety attack and my goal to get off of all the medications. Long story short, no serious anxiety has returned so far and I a mostly off of a all the drugs other than a sleep aids.
In terms of moving forward and what I plan for the year? Well it's for sure not written in stone but I will be putting most of my focus on health and relationships. First step is to feel 100% again mentally and physically and that means finding a balance between gym life and life in general. We will have to see how things go, I will not be putting a lot of pressure on myself in the gym, that said the gym is a place I need in my life and that will not change. I'm just not going to be so hard on myself if I miss a workout or lose a bit of strength.
This video is not one I ever wanted to make or thought I would make but I feel it is important to share with you what I recently went through. I am the last person I would have ever thought would ever go through a mental health episode and I am not 100% sure what exactly brought it on. All I can do is share my experience with everyone as I feel this is something that more people go through then we really know.
I hope this video will help others going through their own mental challenges and would like to find a way to add more mental health content to this channel moving forward as it is just as or even more important than physical health.
When you see someone ripping around on an EUC (Electric Unicycle) it looks pretty easy, the just lean forward a bit and glide away dipping side to side to turn left and right...
Well I am sorry to say it is not so simple. Yes the leaning forward and back part is 100% handled by the EUC but when it comes to the side to side it's all up to you and no riding a bike does not seem to help here. If you have ridden an actual Unicycle then I am sure the learning process of the EUC will be a lot easier but I think most of us have little to no experience on a pedal based Unicycle.
This video represents day three of the learning process for me. My first steps to learning how to ride my Begode Tesla T3 EUC Electric Unicycle where at home in my kitchen where I simple held on to walls and stuff while I went back and forth against the wall and did some loops around the island. There was no real speed involved here and very little free wheeling.
My next main training session was going to my local artificial turf soccer field and learning how to get away from holding onto stuff. I figured this is a safe place since the ground is much softer than a road or parking lot (better for both me and the EUC) and I still had a nice fence all the way around to practice on at first before taking a leap of faith and ridding with no assistance. This session was fairly productive with me being able to ride around the field non-assisted for the most part without crashing and I was even able to make decent turns but I did not feel super confident, for sure not ready for any trails, sidewalks or open roads.
So now we get to this video which shows me at the same artificial turf soccer field but this time with the inclusion of snow! Probably not the best for learning on but maybe even softer if/when I fall :) Like before I pretty much just road around the field hoping to get more comfortable with riding in a straight line and also turning. And low and behold it did start to all come together a lot more than before, so much so that I took to the local trail even though it was covered in snow and did a nice loop with no falls or crashes!
Some basic suggestions that I feel helped me a lot while learning would be the following:
Go at your own pace and start off with simple wins like just standing on your EUC and going forward and back while holding onto a wall or person.
Progress to very short no assistance rides from one point to another even if it is only 5 or 6 feet at first. lengthen the distance as you get more confident.
Look where you want to go, maybe even a bit ahead, do not look at things you want to avoid or you will hit them for sure!
Keep your knees a bit bent and squeeze the EUC with your legs not too much but just enough to keep it stable.
When turning put most of your weight on your outside leg almost like you are riding on that leg all by itself.
Also when turning, make sure to keep a slight lean forward or you may stall in the turn, you need to keep your speed up in turns.
Well that's where I am at so far learning how to ride my new Begode Tesla T3 EUC Electric Unicycle. I look forward to being even more confident on it and taking it to the sidewalks and roads and using it as a sort of commuter vehicle for more local trips even though it can take me 70-80km on one charge if I need it.
Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 10:16AM ;)