Im not VALIDATING anything, especially the attitude and contempt that was shown. Anyone who does MUni knows that a unicycle just isnt designed to be as efficient as a Bike.(simple physics) but I hope that more people will embrace Unis on trails in the future!
A very good uni-rider might indeed keep up with an average MTBer, depending on the terrain, average uni-rider - no chance. You can’t compare the two disciplines. It’s like trying to compare a boxer with a wrestler, a soccer player with a tennis player, a condor with a falcon …
“Contempt” and “disgust” are rather harsh words. I don’t think most bicyclists feel that way about us. They probably don’t take us very seriously and may laugh or chuckle behind our backs.
For the most part, I think there is a cordial “get along” factor between the two groups. When we MUni, we are always happy to get out of the way of someone on two wheels. They generally do travel faster than us. We tease them about having a “training wheel” and they tease us about having lost a wheel.
Face it, we do this because it is different. You have to put up with a certain amount of “off” remarks if you want to be different. However, the vast majority of remarks are positive or intended to be positive. Even the “where’s your other wheel” comments which non-riders think are funny. They are acknowledging your accomplisment. Accept it as a compliment.
I havent been talked to by bikers while riding any trails, cause when i muni, i dont go on “trails” if the hill is step, ill ride it, if i see something that might work, i go for it, or im usally at a construction site riding down the huge gravel hills =p
I have, while doing trials and street, been ridiculed by the bikers and skaters, cause at first they only saw me doing one-footed rifing, kinda of warming up, then when im gapping the same stuff the skaters are doing, and unlike them, i was landing it, they ended up just leaving, which kinda sucked, cause then i felt lonely lol. Another time there were two bikers there, with trials bikes, first two ive ever seen in spokane, and they did a trials line, but on the bigger drop, the guy wrecked, so i did the same line, completed it, and kept riding, next thing i knew the two bikers rode away.
So i guess im the one riding all over them =p
good talking
Has anyone ever out done, or does anyone know someone who has “outdone”(speed,hills, jumps,spins, whatever) a mt. biker, roadie, skater, bmx, etc. I would love to hear about it!
I guess I feel a bit wounded by my friends response! We have Mtb together for years and we will always be friends, but I just feel somewhat dejected!(self pity)!
the mtbers around me love me and take me to all there downhill races. The only other bikers that i have found hate us are trials bikers but most are “eleatist bastards”.
Mostly the mtb’ers that I have met haven’t realised what unicycles can do. Then I show them one of the videos I have on my PPC and they change their minds.
Cathy
Why didn’t I think of that?
I would have liked to say that I did some fantastic riding and showed them what unicyclists could really do; but it wouldn’t be true. I would probably just reinforce their stereotype as I fell over or failed to mount the beast.
Cathy
I like that idea too. I have shown a couple of people the Universe DVD, but I havent gotten the chance to show any MTBers! Thanks Cathy!
Lets we have person X who is reasonably in shape. Person X will be faster on a bike offroad, on road, naked, etc than we would be doing the same things on a unicycle. Unicycles are SLOWER than bikes, PERIOD. Don’t take it personaly. That’s like being mad that bikes are slower than motorcycles.
I’d say your friend was upset because he imagined unicycles getting in the way on singletrack, etc. Guess what, they do. It’s not a problem if the unicyclers get out of the way when being passed, however, like any smart unicycler would. Your friend is just assuming the worst case scenario.
i have passed bikers going up hill on my coker and muni. also ryan atkins who pro or expert at motorama a few years back. he beat out some or the best trials bikers in the states
i was out a week or so ago in the forest doing some natural trials lines that i had found and i saw a few mtn bikers and they stopped to chat for a bit. i showed them some of my stuff and they seemed quite impressed the only thing that was even close to negative was that if i came when it was wet to try to avoind landing from drops on the acctual trail because it leaves big pot holes in that trail. thay asked very politely so i was happy to oblige becuase i kno a good hard drop could leave a sizable mark in that triail.
More people embrace us on the trails every day. Most of them.
Red, you have to lighten up and let some people react wrong, because they don’t know enough about us. When you actually meet mountain bikers on the trail, they’re almost always impressed and complimentary. They have to see us to believe us.
I don’t think of us as “two different groups” either. We are all trail users, we are all cyclists. Our cycles are just a little different. Like fixed-gear bikers, we choose the path of a bigger challenge. But mostly we’re there for the same reasons as the bikers, and getting the same enjoyment out of riding there. We are much more alike than we are different.
In a bike racing situation, however, a group of unicyclists on the trail would get in the way, and could even be a safety hazard. “Real” races only happen on closed trails, so hopefully you would be shooed off if a race was actually going on.
Bike vs. unicycle:
All things being equal, such as rider skill and fitness, the bike will win almost every time. By a lot. Bikes are faster. Especially downhill. Unicycles are more fun.
I agree w/you John, maybe I just need to give it more time and patience, and let them see that we are more alike than they realize. 
This looks like a good place to give a plug for Tommy from Memphis. This link will give some extra details.
The race involved a 3-mile run, 6-mile off-road ride then a 1-mile run. The bicyclists had a 5 minute headstart over the unicyclists so the one-wheelers would not “get in the way”. Team-Thompson beat about 40 bicyclists. (In the interest of fairness, most of the bicyclists did their own running, some were old enough to be retired and Tommy’s son was a state-level high school track runner.) Tommy made up the 5-minute deficit and passed some of the bikes. It was great hearing Tommy’s stories about passing people on their bicycles.
for the last 2 septembers we’ve had a muni team at a local 24 hr. mtn bike race. never had any negative comments from any of them. but i do get out of their was when they come up behind me. 3/4 of them will politely wait behind me and talk on decents or climbs that they’re much faster on.
As for beating bikes on trails, I think that unis are a LOT better than bikes at technical stuff. I know that at moab I had about the same average speed as a big group of MTBers. I’d overtake them on technical stuff and uphills, then they’d blow me away on the flats, I’d catch them, etc. It was really cool, actually.
As for contempt, all the bikers I know respect me. I don’t ride with them, but we ride the same places and meet sometimes, and they respect me then. I respect them too, I think they’re SO much more extreme than me.
I got the privilege of meeting Tommy and Rody Thompson a couple of weeks ago. They welcomed us into their home and were so cool to be around.