There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I have
been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows what
kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this common
for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
Re: Bad part of town?
Chris wrote:
>There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
>wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
>have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
>what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
>common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
>Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
>
>
Wow, I would have to say I don’t experience that. Of course, I live in a town of
16,000 people. But aside from that, I still think your problem sounds
extraordinarily bad. People do swear at me of course, but a lot of people
applaud of yell positive comments. I guess you could move to sleepy South Dakota
if you want to get away from drive-by shootings!
~Tanya Marsh http://members.tripod.com/~MarshT/
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
Re: Bad part of town?
It’s not your town, welcome to America. Nothing ceases to amaze me of what
people do these days. Fortunately, I live in a city where it’s illegal to own a
gun so generally I don’t get shot, not to say that it won’t happen.
Probably the worst incident that happened while I was riding a unicycle happened
as a teenager while riding down a busy street-- a redneck took a big gulp of
beer & sprayed it on me.
I still get the “group” laugh, usually teenagers or drunks. They usually shut up
quickly if given the opportunity to ask if they’d like to try it. Most people
don’t know how to respond to something they don’t understand. I’d probably avoid
neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally walk through, but maybe it would help if you
wore a t-shirt, “I am not a mime so please don’t shoot?”
Universally yours, Unicycle Lady http://users.aol.com/unilady/
In a message dated 6/16/99 8:02:51 PM, chris@hempseed.com wrote:
>There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
>wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
>have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
>what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
>common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
>Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
RE: Bad part of town?
The yelling is common, but I’ve never been shot at.
When I lived in an in land community I would get a lot of negative and
insulting comments, but now I live in a beach community and most of the
comments are positive.
The shooting ... ... I think that's an LA thing. Jim Hahn San Diego
> -----Original Message----- From: Chris Carey [SMTP:chris@hempseed.com] Sent:
> Wednesday, June 16, 1999 5:37 PM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Bad
> part of town?
>
> There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
> wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
> have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
> what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
> common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
> Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
RE: Bad part of town?
Listers:
The only problem I’ve ever had was some verbal abuse from some neighborhood
punks who play street hockey down the road from me. I usually just ignore them
but when one of them threatened to put his stick in my revolving spokes, I had a
discussion with his father. I reminded him that in this state (Florida) parents
can be held responsible for the willful misconduct of their minor children and
that he may want to adjust the liabilty limit of his homeowner’s policy.
I haven’t had any trouble since then.
John
> -----Original Message----- From: Chris Carey [SMTP:chris@hempseed.com] Sent:
> Wednesday, June 16, 1999 5:37 PM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Bad
> part of town?
>
> There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
> wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
> have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
> what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
> common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
> Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
RE: Bad part of town?
I live in Riverside which is just a 1/2 hour from Anaheim and virtually all the
comments have been positive or in good fun at worst. Somebody suggested
uni-hockey. Is there any So Cal interest? jd
> -----Original Message----- From: Jim Hahn [SMTP:jjh@ALLP.COM] Sent:
> Thursday, June 17, 1999 8:51 AM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: RE:
> Bad part of town?
>
> The yelling is common, but I’ve never been shot at.
>
> When I lived in an in land community I would get a lot of negative and
> insulting comments, but now I live in a beach community and most of the
> comments are positive.
>
> The shooting … … I think that’s an LA thing. Jim Hahn San Diego
>
> > -----Original Message----- From: Chris Carey [SMTP:chris@hempseed.com] Sent:
> > Wednesday, June 16, 1999 5:37 PM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: Bad
> > part of town?
> >
> > There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at
> one
> > wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This
> week
> > I have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who
> > knows what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings.
> > Is this common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part
> of
> > town?
> >
> > Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
>
Re: Bad part of town?
>Chris Carey wrote:
>>
>> There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
>> wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week
I
>> have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who
For Chris, yes it’s time to move if you have the means. Unless you like it
there. I live where I do now because I chose not to put up with such.
In recent years though, I’ve found that on the trails there has hardly been any
negative comment at all. It seems the losers you encounter on the street aren’t
worthy of a nice trail ride, and if they are, they’re on better behavior then.
>more inteligent people will usually have positive comments or questions in the
>same circumstances.
This week I’m in Angeles City, Philippines. Yesterday Steve Dressler and I went
riding through some tiny towns on Mt. Pinatubo, the volcano that ravaged the
area eight years ago. The people in the villages are dirt poor (dirt poor =
can’t afford to buy dirt; good thing it falls from the sky), but they came out
in droves to watch the two zany Americans play with their basketball and chase
the kids up & down the street. Lots of comments like “Nice bike”, even from
passing cars in town!
John Foss www.unicycling.com
Re: Bad part of town?
It’s probably just disgruntled Disneyland workers. After 18 hours in high
temperatures in a Goofy suit who knows when these people may snap ? I must say
I’ve never experienced anything like this in the UK. Maybe you should take up
uni-hockey ? There’s always a gang of you with very big sticks, and unless you
start refereeing you’re never likely to get shot at.
Jeremy Nichols leafy Kington, UK Home of Sheep and not much else
At 17:37 16/06/99 -0700, you wrote:
>There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
>wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
>have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
>what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
>common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
>Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
>
>
>
Re: Bad part of town?
I used to get startled glances, smiles, the occasional humourless policeman,
“Where’s your other wheel?” etc. I was unicycling at an event the other week and
some youngsters said something cheeky, that I didn’t quite catch, so I offered
them a go. They both had a pop at it and (a) enjoyed it a bit and (b) discovered
that it’s harded than it looks.
Don’t know what to do about rednex and drive-bys though. I live in the shittiest
street in York (Old York, UK) and nothing comes close to that. I think with
the non-life-threatening the best generaly policy is a demonic grin — most
people want to try and put you off to see you fall, so if you stay on you win,
if you falls off, acknowledge their superior wossnams and carry on… – Steve
Carter, York, UK. steve@juggler.net The opinions expressed here are not
necessarily shc103@york.ac.uk my own, let alone those of the University of York.
URLOTD:Paper Sizes http://www.smartype.com.au/sizes.html 
Re: Bad part of town?
I haven’t had many bad experiences while riding. Here in Edmonton I’ve only run
into the standard wisecracks, although when I was going to college in Iowa
winter unicycle rides usually involved dodging snowballs launched by adolescent
boys. It was pretty harmless, and actually helped motivate me to learn how to
stop on a dime, turn 180, drive backward, etc.
Toby
Re: Bad part of town?
Chris Carey wrote:
>
> There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
> wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
> have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
> what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
> common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
> Chris Carey Anaheim CA Home of Disneyland
i think the real problem is, that there are many people who are not worth the
air they breath!! i am beginning to think eugenics was a pretty good idea!
stupid people tend to act with fear and/or violence when they see something that
they don’t understand. more inteligent people will usually have positive
comments or questions in the same circumstances.
Re: Bad part of town?
Jim Hahn (jjh@ALLP.COM) wrote:
: The yelling is common, but I’ve never been shot at.
: When I lived in an in land community I would get a lot of negative and
: insulting comments, but now I live in a beach community and most of the
: comments are positive.
Over here in the Uk I found it the other way round, i rode in Scarborough a sea
side resort town for a couple of years and the summers where hell to ride in,
too many drunk idiots on hols thinking they are hard. Winter was OK when they
were not there, it’s part of the reason I took to Muni, the hills have fewer
idiots on them. Now I live inland and am largely ignored or grinned at, with the
odd round of applause from youths swaying home after the clubs kick out. sarah
Re: Bad part of town?
We were in the first summer parade today located in a small pacific northwest
town. The reponse was all postive. This year most everyone cheered and clapped
as we passed. Maybe it is safer in numbers. I don’t have an exact count but I
think we had about 14 giraffes,14-20 inch, a Pashley, a five wheel stack, three
stack with the teams 4 year olds bringing up the rear with a 16 and 12 inch
wheel. It was great! Barb K.
Re: Bad part of town?
I have now been unicycling for one year (not counting first barely learning in
1980.) In that time I have progressed more rapidly than I expected (idling
fairly comfortable and progressing on idling with juggling.) I have never had a
single negative comment. People tell me how good I am or that I make it look
easy (or even just applaud as I pass) and if it wasn’t for this mailing list I
would believe them!
I’ve had a couple of semi-negative comments. Once, full of unicycling bliss, I
approached a couple of bicycle riding cops and pitched to them the concept that
they rode unicycles it would be very good for community relations. One of them
sneered back “You’dd better get off of that unicycle!” I was in an area where
bikes wern’t permitted but I wasn’t riding, I was walking the uni! I proceeded
to lecture him about his attitude and he made it clear that he didn’t care what
I thought. So much for community relations.
Another time I took it on a bus and the driver stopped me and said, “You’re not
supposed to bring those on here, you know.” He had so much conviction in his
voice that I could only imagine that they’d had a big meeting down at the bus
garage that morning and discussed the growing problem of people bringing
unicycles on the bus.
jh
Re: Bad part of town?
Here is Socorro, New Mexico, USA the experience has been suprisingly,
overwhelmingly positive. Almost everybody wants to try. Even menacing looking
young adults smile and ask questions, or at least say “Whut’s up man?” as they
watch. It may be because this is such a small town (two unicyclists). I don’t
know. I even appeared in the local paper at one time.
I used to skateboard, and people (usually older adults) get downright hostile to
skateboarders, all over the USA anyway. I don’t know why. I wear the same
clothes and act the same but when I’m unicycling people get happy, when I
skateboard people get angry. So I don’t think it’s a unicycle thing you’re
experiencing.
Good Luck and be careful. At least skateboarding you can use your stick if
things get hairy, on a unicycle you’re kinda exposed! Bob.
Re: Bad part of town?
> There are always these o-so-brave who like to yell and throw stuff at one
> wheelers. At least every time I ride, I have to put up with it. This week I
> have been called faggot about 3 times, and have been shot at once by who knows
> what kind of gun. These are drive-by yellings and drive-by shootings. Is this
> common for other unicyclists or do I just live in a shitty part of town?
>
I’ve been insulted, but never shot at. I like the compliments so I put up with
the insults. I’ve never been shot at, but I did get spit on once, in a nice part
of Tulsa, OK.
Beirne