I have been commuting from school/work on my 29’er these days. As well I have, stashed in my tiny counsellor’s office at school, my MUni which I have been using as a opener to the course selections we do in the classroom this time of year.
So afterschool I jump onto the Midnight Special for my 12 km ride home. The day is perfect with some weak winter sun and moderately warm temps. I am looking forward to a delightful cruise home from school. This is my day’s relaxation and exercise all wrapped into a one-wheeled package.
But alas, no more then 1/2 km into the ride I hear this strange whooshing sound over and over as I pedal along. No it isn’t some out of wack bicycle about to pass me on the bike path. Nor is it my gortex jacket brushing against my backpack. No, no, definitely I can’t ignore the fact that this sound sounds more and more like the Big Apple letting off steam. Sigh… I dismount, slowly spin the wheel, the sound gets louder until I am hit in the face by a stream of stale inner tube air. Yes indeed the BA has a 5 mm gash in its precious skin and it looks like I’m going to be bussing it home.
I start to dig out a bus pass and pack away my helmet… but wait, my MUni, I think. Throwing the 29’er over my shoulder, its deflated tire creaking in the last stages of ‘flat’, I walk back to school. As I grab up the MUni my colleagues laugh and say, “Erin, only you could have not ONE but TWO unicycles at school in case of getting a flat!”
It turned out to be a slower but no less pleasant ride home with a stops for some mini trials and a detours along trails that are usually ignored by the 29’er.
The morale of the story is: always keep an extra uni in your work space cause you never know when you’re gonna need a spare! 
