The first Australian unicycling nationals was a blast. The event was
extremely well run and there must have been about 80 people in attendance.
I take my hat off to Chris, Wayne, Shane and the rest of the team who
organised it. The venues were great and we couldn’t have fitted much more
action into one weekend.
Highlights for me included:
Watching Simon Well’s winning freestyle routine - this young man is going
to knock your socks off if he gets the funding to go to unicon. An
incredible act including standup, backwards wheel walk, gliding, coasting
and removing trousers while riding and wheel walking. It was made even
more amazing by the fact he performed the entire routine in bare feet. It
included some tricks I have never seen before which I will not reveal,
you’ll just have to watch him some day
Racing on a proper track in an actual stadium. I didn’t get one single
“Are you a clown?” comment the entire weekend. It was pretty obvious we
were athletes when you watched 8 people tearing around the track in
protective clothing.
Seeing the leaps and bounds the Australian unicycling scene has made in
the past couple of years. I was pleasantly surprised at just how skilled
many of the riders are considering how long they have been at it. Its
great to see a well organised national body running and making a real
difference. It was even better to see riders giving everything a go,
including people who had just learnt to ride. Way to go Sally!
Watching the Campbelltown boys filming their own equivalent of universe.
Bent cranks and pretzeled wheels will abound if they keep at it. The only
fear these guys exhibit is that there unicycles might break. They were
riding on walls, down stairs and off drops with n’ar a care. Nice footage
of attempted 8 ft drops and the like.
Setting a personal best of 60cm in the high jump. Its a height I’ve been
aiming for for a while.
Meeting absolutely fantasticly friendly people who made my stay wonderful.
You all know who you are.
Peter
o o Peter Bier o O o Juggler, unicyclist, programmer and mathematician.
o/|\o peter_bier@usa.net
Some more comments from a beginner who went to the Oz Uninats.
Highlights for me -
Watching the mens freestyle (Simon Wells, Matt Coady, Peter Bier and others).
Playing in my first ever game of uni hockey (I found it a real blast, struggling to maintain my balance while trying to poke my hockey stick at the ball and laughing at the same time) - I’ll practice this one at home !!
Playing on the obstacle course (when no one was watching)
Playing on the slow ride and saying, I can do this if it’s just chalk lines
Meeting other riders from Melbourne - before the weekend I only knew two other riders (and one was my brother), now I know half a dozen and we can start to practice together.
Learning that free mounting a 24" isn’t all that different from mounting a 20".
Spending eight hours driving home, looking at every hill as we drove by and wondering whether we had the skills yet to ride it.
Peter didn’t mention that the track was at the Australian Institute of Sports - a lovely rebound surface that was fun to ride on.
I’ve got a couple of years of inspiration in two days - not bad.
->Hi -> ->Some more comments from a beginner who went to the Oz Uninats.
-> -> -> ->Highlights for me - Watching the mens freestyle (Simon Wells,
Matt ->Coady, Peter Bier and others). Playing in my first ever game of uni
->hockey (I found it a real blast, struggling to maintain my balance while
->trying to poke my hockey stick at the ball and laughing at the same
->time) - I’ll practice this one at home !! Playing on the obstacle course
->(when no one was watching) Playing on the slow ride and saying, I can do
->this if it’s just chalk lines Meeting other riders from Melbourne -
->before the weekend I only knew two other riders (and one was my
->brother), now I know half a dozen and we can start to practice together.
->Learning that free mounting a 24" isn’t all that different from mounting
->a 20". Spending eight hours driving home, looking at every hill as we
->drove by and wondering whether we had the skills yet to ride it. -> ->
-> ->Peter didn’t mention that the track was at the Australian Institute
of ->Sports - a lovely rebound surface that was fun to ride on. -> ->I’ve
got a couple of years of inspiration in two days - not bad. -> ->Phil ->
-> philowen@cisco.com Hi guys So please tell me where it was ? Canberra? I
am Melb based and would love to learn from some one with some experiance
Hope to hear from you
