Making and Finding "Uni Buddies"

[Nurse Ben]

I'm sure this is not unique to me, but after more than two years of riding muni I still 99% of my time riding alone with my dogs. Granted, my son used to ride with me once a week, but even he's lost the interest. I taught some folks to ride, one of whom is quite talented, but they all seem to stray back to the dark side: mountain bikes.

I have gotten my wife to ride a bike while I'm on the trail, maybe once a week, but other than that it's just me. Though I love to ride, and most of the time I don't dislike riding alone (it's peaceful), I do miss riding with other uncyclists.

So how can we network better as a sport? Is there a better way to link folks using this forum?

[unipilot69]

I have been riding 32 years and have never ridden with anyone. I have talked with people that say they ride or used to ride but I have only seen first hand 5 other unicyclists in person. Every time I have seen other unicyclists I have not had my uni with me.

[Nurse Ben]

I have been riding 32 years and have never ridden with anyone.

That's a shame, man, that makes me wanna pack up and head out to ride with you! You know, there are a bunch of folks in the Seattle area as well as some in Portland (Brycer). You should look them up and plan a ride.

Seriously, I have ridden with folks every so often and the "high" is so awesome, watching other riders do what you're doing, learning some new moves, just sharing the ride with a like minded person.

I think the festivals are cool, need to make sure I get to one this year; missed the Asheville, NC Muni Fest this year.

So how can someone ride for 32 years and never meet someone else for a ride? Are unicyclist so few and far between or is there something about our psyche that makes us standoffish or unapproachanble?

[Nurse Ben]

Okay, I got an idea:

Would it be possible to get UDC and KH, for instance, to do a fifty state tour?

Crazy, maybe, but thjnk how cool it would be to have them stop over in a major city in your states (Knoxville or Nashville for TN), do some clinics and go for a local ride. I'd pay money for that!

It just seems to me like we need something to "unify" us

[knoxuni]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

Okay, I got an idea:

Would it be possible to get UDC and KH, for instance, to do a fifty state tour?

Crazy, maybe, but thjnk how cool it would be to have them stop over in a major city in your states (Knoxville or Nashville for TN), do some clinics and go for a local ride. I'd pay money for that!

It just seems to me like we need something to "unify" us

i would love that to happen i would love to test out something other than a dx and cheap Lerner uni.

[Dr D]

Tricky, I find the same thing. Unicycling does tend to be a lonely sport. My own solution was to start a club. It's sorta working. I know of other unicyclists in the area, although most are more "enthusiasts" of the sport then actual riders. It's also taken work to find the handful that I have in an area that supports 500 000 people. At this point there are "group" rides comprimising of 2 of us at the same time and I can see that increasing to a point.

[Flyjeffva]

I went into the members area of this forum to try to find who was close to me. I was frustrated to discover that we could not search on location. Sure would be nice to be able to search for members of this forum who are close by.

[davidp]

The forum user map is a good way to find other unicyclists in your area. If there's someone near you send them a PM and offer to meet up for a ride.

[wobbling bear]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

Seriously, I have ridden with folks every so often and the "high" is so awesome, watching other riders do what you're doing, learning some new moves, just sharing the ride with a like minded person.

agreed ... though I often ride Muni alone for different reasons:
- I tend to ride slowly so I can't keep up with people that could be half my age and ride twice faster .... I just like to stop, breathe and enjoy the woods without going at top speed
- I *love* bad weather and now there are lot of mud and snow and other unicyclists just stay at home .... the contrary is true when it's too sunny and hot (_I_ stay at home).

[Max_Dingemans]

I'd go on a fifty state riding with people/helping learn/demo tour if I could afford it. It's 3 degrees here, anyone want to pay me to start next week, preferably in a non-snow state?

[unibabyguy]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

I taught some folks to ride, one of whom is quite talented, but they all seem to stray back to the dark side: mountain bikes.

That's kind of odd; I know of a few unicyclists who used to be MTBers and stopped riding them after getting into Muni.

You have to ride more often, and in more public places with a lot of people around, to get peoples' interest. Mix up your rides and don't always ride in the same place, and ride on popular trails.

When you come upon people on the trail, stop and get off the unicycle and let them pass, and smile and say hello. This gives them the perfect opportunity to ask you questions about Muni, if they choose to do so. Otherwise if you just ride past them, there's very little opportunity for interaction.

Eventually when you do all these things, more people will get interested and they may start riding with you. Just be patient.

[tzenev]

i'm just getting into the sport and me and one other guy are the only ones in the town that have unicycles. neither of us are very good but were getting better. It would be nice to ride with more people. It gets kinda boring trying to find places to go Muni or find places in town to go ride. so if there was some sort of club that was close buy or that 50state tour thing i'd go to as many as i could!

Everytime i see a younger kid like me or even people older that ride bikes or do other things they say that they want to try and i go to hand them my uni they just look at me with a blank stare like there scared of it. its crazy how many people wont try it.

[Nurse Ben]

That's kind of odd; I know of a few unicyclists who used to be MTBers and stopped riding them after getting into Muni.

You have to ride more often, and in more public places with a lot of people around, to get peoples' interest. Mix up your rides and don't always ride in the same place, and ride on popular trails.

When you come upon people on the trail, stop and get off the unicycle and let them pass, and smile and say hello. This gives them the perfect opportunity to ask you questions about Muni, if they choose to do so. Otherwise if you just ride past them, there's very little opportunity for interaction.

Eventually when you do all these things, more people will get interested and they may start riding with you. Just be patient.

Not so odd here in Knoxville, TN:

I ride 2-3x a week on a variety of local trails, stopping often to talk with people I meet. SOmetimes I stopped too much, which can make me late for dinner.
I have tried to get local bike shops interested in unis
I have taught a number of people to ride, one of whom is very skilled, but they seem to lose interest after a few months.
I offer rides at the trail head if there is anyone even remotely interested in riding.
I have offered free riding lessons on our local biking forum
I have a loaner uni that has been out more than two dozen times.

Trust me, I'm involved, all the mtbers know me as the unicycle guy, but that seems to be about as far as it goes. What I'm asking about is not how to get more interest in local uni but hjow to get more existing riders together.

[Nurse Ben]

Hey Max, if you can get here, we'll go riding, no such low temps here, just wet. Rode last night in teh snow, 23 deg, awesome conditions. Last week it was in the upper 40's and I rode for hours and hours, all weekend long

[uniShark]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ben

I'm sure this is not unique to me, but after more than two years of riding muni I still 99% of my time riding alone with my dogs. Granted, my son used to ride with me once a week, but even he's lost the interest. I taught some folks to ride, one of whom is quite talented, but they all seem to stray back to the dark side: mountain bikes.

I have gotten my wife to ride a bike while I'm on the trail, maybe once a week, but other than that it's just me. Though I love to ride, and most of the time I don't dislike riding alone (it's peaceful), I do miss riding with other uncyclists.

So how can we network better as a sport? Is there a better way to link folks using this forum?

My 10-year-old rides with me sometimes, and I really enjoy that. My next efforts to establish riding buddies are my 12- and 9-year-olds. However, as you've noted, riding with kids has inherent limitations - attention span, other interests, and a preference to spend their free time with their friends.

Interesting you mention riding with your dogs. I've never had a dog (although my dad got one a few weeks after I went to college), but I've been considering getting one to serve as company when I ride. What size dogs do you have? Do they have any trouble keeping up, or with the distances you ride?

Back on the human side of the topic, I'm grateful for this forum. Without it I'd really feel isolated in this sport, and probably would not have gotten into it nearly as much. So I think the forum is a good start for making uni-buddies, even if we rarely see each other in person. And I'm considering doing more travelling to try to meet up with other riders - I'm only a day away from Seattle or Portland, so I might pursue some motorcycle/uni trips next summer. Shorter term, I'm going to try to meet up with unipilot in a few weeks for a ride in Seattle.

+1 on the idea of riding multiple trails, and just getting out and being seen. I also put a UDC bumper sticker on the water bottle that I carry around. I've now gotten to the point where people have seen the water bottle, then ask if I'm that guy they saw on the trail. I've now met two other guys who can ride that I'm working on for muni prospects; not bad for just one year of regular riding in a community of about 65,000.

So I guess kids, dogs, virtual buddies, an openness to travel, and patience in recruiting others are my thoughts.