I was messing around this evening at a boat launch on Lake Champlain.
Rode out on a narrow floating dock which was rocking around. Unable to
turn around at the end so dismounted. Turned around and tried to
remount. The uni popped out from under me and went into the lake.
Luckily unicycles don’t sink very fast. I was able to reach down and
retrieve it before it had gone too deep. Otherwise I would have had to
jump in after it.
A couple of old ladies sitting on a bench got some amusement out of it.
One of the Toronto Unicyclists lost his unicycle in Lake Ontario for 2
months. Connie Cotter was in Toronto and we took her for a ride along the
waterfront downtown. He rode down a little hill over some tree roots and
fell off his unicycle. It shot out in front of him and rolled under the
chain fence right into the lake. It was 20 feet deep at that spot. We tried
for 4 hours to get it out. We tossed a borrowed anchor in and pulled it out
trying to hook the wheel. We found a chair, a tire, a bicycle and other
stuff but not the unicycle. We kept trying, it started to rain and got dark
before we gave up and went out for dinner.
When he finally got it back, it was covered in zebra mussels and a black
slimy goo. The police did a training dive and got it for him. With hours of
cleaning and parts replacements, he still rides it today. The bearings were
rusted solid.
We are careful now when riding by the water. His name comes up every trip
to Harbourfront ever since.
Take it from Steve… keep your unicycle under control when riding close to
a lake.
Darren
Mark Newbold wrote:
> I was messing around this evening at a boat launch on Lake Champlain.
> Rode out on a narrow floating dock which was rocking around. Unable to
> turn around at the end so dismounted. Turned around and tried to
> remount. The uni popped out from under me and went into the lake.
> Luckily unicycles don’t sink very fast. I was able to reach down and
> retrieve it before it had gone too deep. Otherwise I would have had to
> jump in after it.
>
> A couple of old ladies sitting on a bench got some amusement out of it.
>
> –
> Mark Newbold
> Montpelier, Vermont USA
> http://dogfeathers.com
> Alternate email: manx@sover.net
Mine poped out from under me in Pennsylvania while I was crossing a
predestrian bridge and fell in a river (the muni…)… I had only been
riding it for a week or so and my heartrate increased very fast…
Fortunately it was floating but the stream was quite strong so I had to run
after it… It was only 3" deep so I could get it without swimming… My
girlfriend was having a lot of fun laughing after me…
Christian.
Mark Newbold wrote:
> I was messing around this evening at a boat launch on Lake Champlain.
> Rode out on a narrow floating dock which was rocking around. Unable to
> turn around at the end so dismounted. Turned around and tried to
> remount. The uni popped out from under me and went into the lake.
> Luckily unicycles don’t sink very fast. I was able to reach down and
> retrieve it before it had gone too deep. Otherwise I would have had to
> jump in after it.
>
> A couple of old ladies sitting on a bench got some amusement out of it.
>
> –
> Mark Newbold
> Montpelier, Vermont USA
> http://dogfeathers.com
> Alternate email: manx@sover.net
> Take it from Steve… keep your unicycle under control when
> riding close to a lake.
That’s why we MUni riders here in Northern CA like to leave plenty of cliff
between us and the water. Not only does this provide more chances for the
unicycle to come to rest before getting wet, it also gives us a spectacular
show of bouncing, rolling, and flying by the riderless machine.
The two biggest “cliffside retrievals” (as I call them) that I’ve seen were
both along the Stevens Trail in Colfax. See a picture:
Brett Bymaster and David Poznanter both dropped their unicycles on the
“river” side of the trail, causing them to tumble down about 100’. In fact,
when riding Stevens Trail it would probably be a good idea to bring a long
piece of rope, to help the riders climb down to their unicycles. Poznanter
actually lost his twice, almost at the same spot in the trail…
Then it helps to have a relatively shallow river at the bottom. Most places,
you can see the bottom. Except in the winter, when the water might be brown
and the current too dangerous to mix with.
I was riding this spot, with a stream by my moms house. there was a
steep decline for about 4 feet, then a soft marsh-grass streem bank at
the bottom. I was trying to make it down the decline-along the bank,
through the streem and up the other side. on my second try i lost the
uni to be fully submerged in the streem. which was fine, but my
cousen, already convinced it was sewage, laughed his ass off. a few
min later we had moved on to another small streem, roughly 2.5 feet
wide and i was trying to gap over it. this is a reletivly new skill
for me and i have only been riding for a few months, nevertheless i
was sure i could make it, my cousen who had not seen me ride in some
time, was convinced i could not make it, but was willing to give me
mad props if i did. so the first try, i make it accross, somehow
placing the uni perfectly on its side at the bottom of the streem 2
feet below. my cousen laughed his ass off. second try, both me and
the uni make it perfectly accross, for about 2 seconds before the
entire bank colapses dumpming both me and the uni perfectly in the
center at the bottom of the streem. my cousen laughed his ass off.
