My April 2003 issue of On One Wheel came on Friday, almost making it in April. That may not sound very impressive, but in the past, the USA’s newsletter could be off by six months or more. Tammy and Tanya Marsh are successfully bringing it back to a timely and fascinating publication.
If you aren’t a USA member, this is what you’re missing in the April issue:
Big picture of Bronson Silva on the cover, riding his ultra high-tech Creative Geckos aluminum/titanium suspended Coker with adjustable cranks.
A calendar, in which none of the events is outdated!
Big story on the Tasmanian Unicycle Tour, with writing and pictures by Andy Cotter. This article also includes details on Bronson’s Coker, and how it worked for him on the tour.
Three unicycle poems.
Another “true fiction,” totally silly story by Idaho Joe. This time, he’s abducted and threatened by one-legged aliens with speech impediments who want to know why he rides on one wheel.
A One Wheeled Words article (by yours truly) with no less than 18 fun and informative definitions.
Member News
Club News, with a story about the Arizuni club, and how they got lots of press and TV coverage.
NAUCC details and registration information.
A collection of unicycle games by Carol McLean.
And more!
It’s not all on the newsgroup or Unicyclist.com forums, you know.
Still not a USA member? Then you won’t get to see it (unless you’re cheap, and borrow your nearest member’s copy). The Unicycling Society of America is the organization responsible for our annual national conventions, and the rules used in their competitions. Without it, and the legacy of the newsletter Bill Jenack started in 1974, we’d just be a few isolated unicyclists here and there, without much history to learn from and improve upon. You should join now to help support it. Hurry before the price goes up, as it’s likely to do in the near future, to cover increasing costs.
Members? Don’t see what you like in On One Wheel? It’s probably because you haven’t sent anything in. The editors depend on all of us to supply them with the stories and pictures that make up each issue. It doesn’t get mentioned unless you send it in. Let them know what you’ve done, and what you’re planning. Send pictures! If we ever get enough subscription members, we’ll be able to afford to go to color as well…
I received my copy of On One Wheel Volume 27, Issue 2 via the USPS on Wednesday, April 30. Therefore, since this issue reached the President in April, I officially declare that it met the deadline.
There was a slight delay in publishing this issue in order to incorporate a change to the membership structure on the application / renewal form. The USA Board had just voted to drop the discounted four-year memberships as the issue was going to press. This delay was out of the hands of the Marsh sisters, who had met their target date of sending the issue to the printer.
Tom Daniels
President
Unicycling Society of America, Incorporated
The four-year USA memberships were dropped due to rising costs. It is hoped that when the pricing structure and insurance costs are stabilized, we can go back to offering some sort of long-term membership.
Anyone else receive their On One Wheel yet? Mine comes first class, so don’t panic…
Raphael, you are going to have to change your avatar if you want us to believe you are mad. It is hard to take the message icon seriously when you have such a jolly avatar .
Wow! Guess it pays to get the first-class upgrade on your membership (for first class mail). if you live overseas, I believe most or all issues are airmailed. You pay the premium anyway.
Bulk rate mail is sometimes flukishly fast, and other times very slow. It’s like gap-fill mail, and goes when it’s “easy” for the postal service to send them.
So hang tight!
Meanwhile, if you have calendar items or other interesting stuff to send in to the editors for the next issue, the time is now. Send submissions to oneonewheel@unicycling.org and remember, short new items are fine! Images should be of good size, because they are printed at around 300 dpi. So if it’s a Web image (72 dpi), it has to be pretty big to take the shrinkage. If you have questions about this, ask me. Use my email address, which is in my sig.
Re: Another excellent issue of On One Wheel – non-members are missing out!
Question for presidents past or current: If I took the above suggestion to heart and sent my app in the last week of April, will I qualify to get the current issue, or will I have to wait until the next one comes out? Please tell me the timing will err in my favor…
Wood
Re: Re: Another excellent issue of On One Wheel – non-members are missing out!
You should get the current issue. But as our system is run by snail-mail, and volunteers working on their own time, it takes a few weeks for applications to be processed.
The PO box only gets visited once every week or two, then stuff is mailed out from there, such as instructions to Eric Kvamme to add new members to the database. These may go out electronically, but are probably not sent until checks clear the bank.
The determination of which issue you get first is dependent on a number of things, including how many extra copies of that issue were made, how near we are to the next one, etc. But you get four issues no matter what. Fortunate thing is, you can purchase back issues (while they last).
The USAs system could be faster. They could be accepting membership and merchandise payments online. John Drummond has offered to work with the USA on setting this up using the Unicycle.com infrastructure, but so far no one at the USA has either had the time or desire to pursue this. I’m sure it would mean a big boost to merchandise sales, and possibly even membership renewals, because it would be so much easier to do.
I finally received my copy of On One Wheel. First, I was so excited to see the Memphis Unicycle Club’s signature logo and our web site highlighted. Also, I’m so glad to see Ben Edwards featured in the Unicycle.Com full-page ad! What fun! This issue is, by far, the best yet! Accolades are sent out to all who participated in the editing and who contributed. Great job!
Tommy
message icon seriously when you have such a jolly avatar 
.