'06 Leeds Uni Trip
After a late night of rushed organisation a friend and me decided to pleasure our unicycles with a visit to Leeds UK.
After setting off on the train at 9:50 our 1 hour journey was particularly eventful. By coincidence the day which we picked to go was the very day that Leeds was playing Barnsley in a football match so of course, the train was occupied with legions of drinking, swearing, singing fans. Although intimidating, it was all in good nature and I definitely learnt to appreciate the troops of police.
Aside from an exhilarating journey the city itself is a very strange place. Throughout the day we came to around only 3 spots very suitable for trials and street riding but where we did find was very good. Immediately outside the station we came to a small concrete park, great for warming up in, plenty of low walls. As well as this we came to a fantastic area outside an art gallery and cathedral. Though suited towards more intermediate riders there was a great amount of more traditional obstacles to experiment with ānot to mention the abundance of stone floor for you flatland nuts.
I was a little suprised with the cities almost suspicious atmosphere (thatās all subjective though so donāt pay much heed to it). I know Sheffield (my hometown) has a slightly sub-culture skew but we did meet quite a lot more hostility than normal. One time riding through a high street some āYoufā attempted to push my friend off his unicycle, not very impressive. Perhaps it was my bright green shoelaces. Contrastingly, we talked to a quite a few trials bikers and they were always, at least, mildly intrigued and friendly. We even met 2 unicyclists, one who is interested in Muni and hockey and another into street. Iāll try and not let funny looks and a few jeering sway me too much.
It was our first out-of-town trip, hopefully one of many, and was a definite adventure; leaving two very tired teenagers at the end of the day.
On a final note, in Leeds we saw whole schools of trial bikers and free-runners dotted around the place. To make up for this there were almost no skaters or BMXers. I donāt know how informed I am, but this is completely opposite to wherever Iāve been to!
Weāre planning for our next trip to be to Manchester UK. Itād be great to see some new faces and some old ones there.
Unicycling
People
Overall
It wasnāt a negative experience but the city seems to lack vibrancy and there arenāt to many places to ride, the city centre would probably be good for a few hours but not for an all day all night jam (unless you really know ur way around).
AndyC
[SIZE=2]PS. Can you increase the image limit in posts Gilby?
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better luck this sunday!