Let’s celebrate another unicycling year, and post the best pictures of 2021 in this thread!
As usual, I want to create the World Unicycling Calendar for next year, with twelve pictures exclusively from the past year.
The calendar will be available for free to anyone as a pdf file to print a paper copy for yourself. I will post details in this thread once I’m done.
I’ve been the editor of the World Unicycling Calendar since 2011. Previous calendars can be found in this forum (use the Search function).
On the calendar I want to include a wide spectrum of disciplines such as muni, road riding, track racing, urban, freestyle, team sports.
Keywords: spectacular, amazing, remarkable, funny, expert riding, gorgeous scenery, technical picture quality, composition.
Please post (or link) your pictures on 27 December at the latest, to be elegible for the calendar. It’s OK to post low-res, because if the picture would pass pre-selection I’ll contact you for a high-res version.
In addition, I will browse through the “Pictures of your latest ride” thread for posts made in 2021.
2021 was not a great year for me getting pictures of people riding unicycles. I will share a few possible candidates, and a few that just might be interesting.
In my garage, a poster from the (New York City) Festival of Juggling & Unicycle Arts, 1988. This was an event held in Central park, and was a lot of fun. I got to perform at the Ampitheater, which was where the 1971 “Unicycle Invitational” event was held in 1971, hosted by Bill Jenack, and the Stelber Corporation (a maker of “affordable” unicycles). In the foreground are a DM ATU with Fireball tire, on loan from Bronson Silva of SilvaCycles. The ATU was the first unicycle you could buy that came with a splined axle (1999). On the right is an old Miyata that I used to use in shows as a handlebar unit. All the Deluxe model Miyatas at that time had the same frame, whether 20" or 24".
For fans of the Seinfeld TV show, one of those posters was featured in an episode of the show; the one where Seinfeld’s apartment is in an alternate reality. His hanging bicycle is a unicycle, and this poster replaced some of his other wall art. Oh, and at the bottom you can see my old New York license plates (“UN1CYCLE”), from 1985 and 1988.
Stone stacks near the Old Salmon Falls Bridge, Pilot Hill, CA. The bridge is underwater when Folsom Lake is full, but emerges during times of drought, creating a shortcut to this spot. Otherwise, it’s around the 3.5 mile mark along the Darrington (Salmon Falls) Trail, which was the Sunday ride of the original Muni Weekend, 1996. I don’t know who makes these rock stacks, but there are a lot of rocks up there to work with!
John’s Rob-ish Ride, June, 2021, Folsom, CA. In the first image, Jason Little leads the group as we head up the Johnny Cash Trail from the Folsom Prison entrance. In the second one, Nathan Hoover leads Tom Holub and Nick Brazzi. Third picture has Beau Hoover in front, followed by Jim Sowers and Corbin Dunn, with Ashley Foster back there.
Rest stop on John’s Rob-ish Ride, at Beals Point, on Folsom Lake. We had seven Schlumpfs on the ride! They look pretty good together. Last shot is the full group, minus photographer (me): Scott Bond, and his son. His son rode a trail-a-bike behind Scott; a unicycle of sorts. Beau and Nathan Hoover, Jim Sowers, Nick Brazzi, Jason Little, Tom Holub, Corbin Dunn, Ashley Foster.
Of the many fires that ravaged California in 2021, one did a lot of damage to trails in the Auburn State Recreation Area, including the first trail ridden at the first-ever Muni Weekend (1996). Much of the upper Culvert Trail was bulldozed to provide an access road for firefighters. The area was hardly recognizable; you could see so much more than previously, due to the lack of vegetation. In the third photo, those aren’t Fall colors; those leaves are supposed to be green in October. I think those trees are all dead.
These two photos are of the same section of trail. You may recognize the “green” picture if you’ve read Kris Holm’s Essential Guide to Mountain and Trials Unicycling; its near the very back. That was 2009. Since then, the trail was re-routed (current trail curves earlier), and then this fire, which took out the tree that my old Wilder Muni was leaning on. You can see it in the current photo, laying on its side. Looks like firefighters cut it down, but it was already burnt.
On the brighter side, there have been fires along these trails in the past, and things do grow back. New vegetation will replace old, and the land will survive. Hopefully without excessive erosion (We just had a ton of much-needed rain), and we will have Muni Weekend rides there in the future.
Old Salmon Falls Bridge again (as seen in an earlier upload), this time in november with the “lake” really low. Normally this bridge would be completely underwater, with boats going back and forth pulling water skiers (in the summer at least). This is the second lowest I’ve seen it. The bridge was first submerged in 1955, after Folsom Dam was finished.
Mikes Bikes in Folsom is usually our go-to shop for repairs (mostly to Jacquie’s bikes) and other stuff. I don’t know how long this little piece of artwork has been up on this column behind the registers, but it’s very cool that it includes a unicycle! I would recommend wearing chainmail pants for riding that one…
Local trail outside my neighborhood. I don’t know what it’s called; no label on Google Maps. It gets a lot less traffic, so it’s rough riding, but it can be quite beautiful on a nice day, such as under the shady arms of this tree.
Bonus photo: Has anyone seen this TV ad? It’s a very brief shot (maybe 1.5 seconds) from an Etsy commercial. I wonder what’s inside that wrapping paper? And how long it would take to get it all off?
Judging from the unsharpness, the wheel turns. Perhaps the unicycle is rideable in wrapped condition, and you have a permanent cliffhanger what might be inside
Hey Klaas, I found some nice pictures on my hard drive of the 3rd part of my ~1800 km ride from Basel to Rügen this summer. (Part 1 & 2 I did with the muni)
Cool! I added the beech forest picture to the longlist. If you say “from Basel”, did you start in Switzerland or in Germany? If Germany, it’s probably the longest possible ride from A to B within the country. As well as one of the longest solo unicycle tours ever.
I started in Switzerland, and rode mostly through Germany, only made approximately max. 100 km in total through Czech republic and in Switzerland. I definitely didn’t choose the shortest route I also had company on the way and only rode less than half of the days alone:) Will definitely share more pictures and also videos when I find the time
I also had company on the way and only rode less than half of the days alone:) Will definitely share more pictures and also videos when I find the time 
