I found another insane location to ride at that is a bit closer to me than Rays. Of course, I still intend to go to Rays as often as I can, but when I have some time and can’t make it all the way to Cleveland, I’ll be heading to Philly to ride at the ESPN X Games skatepark! It looks like a world class facility and I already called them and found out that they will allow me to ride my Coker there during the sessions when they allow BMX The attached pics will show you some of the ramps I hope to ride. I already have several tricks in mind, so I hope I can pull them off or at least determine that they are doable for me if I practice a lot. For those of you in other parts of the country, they also have ESPN X Games skateparks in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and St. Louis… so if those locations have the same policy as the Philly location regarding uni’s… a whole bunch of you may have some pretty exciting (indoor) locations to ride at. This will enable us to be seen by other members of the extreme sports community and if they (the BMXers and skateboarders) see some of the uni stuff that I’ve watched that was posted to the forums live in front of their face, I think many of them will be impressed. If you do visit these locations (which I obviously encourage) please be sensitive to the fact that since we’re the “new guys” on the block (and in a facility that until fairly recently has been catering to the BMXers exclusively during their specified riding sessions), we should be very careful not to piss off the BMX riders in any way because then the’ll say stuff like, “those damn unicyclists are a pain in the butt”… or worse. On the other hand if we are considerate and do cool stuff on one wheel, they may be interested and/or excited by what we do. You can check out many more pics of the ramps at the ESPN X Games website:
If anyone wants to meet me in Philly to ride at this location, let me know. Maybe we could even organize some small (or not so small) uni gatherings at this location! It would be great to have a bunch of us riding there at once! And if anyone has a digital camera they can bring along… we can shoot and post some vids for everyone else to see
none of the skateparks around here allow bmx let alone unis. being stuck in iowa sucks if anyone knows of pretty good jobs for a uni/bike/juggling freak from iowa with a marketing degree, pm/aim me.
With all respect you’ve said that before (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31023) and not surprisingly you got shot down. Have you tried riding a uni in a skatepark? It’s all skills and style and a bit of socialising so it’s all good.
Although some of the other guys on the forum (like Andrew Carter) could probably ride part of the way up and then turn sideways and hop the rest of the way up.
Anyway, my thing is blasting up, off, and over steep ramps and obstacles and doing stuff like that… doing things that can’t be done on smaller uni’s… attacking ramps and obstacles that only the speed and momentum of the Coker will allow you to conquer.
For example… I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull it off, but I’d like to ride up to the top of the first ramp (in the far left of the attached picture), then angle the Coker enough so that my pedals will clear the wall next to it, and ride (over the angled ledge where the ramp meets the horizontal section) and across the level catwalk and then off the other side of the catwalk and down the ramp on the other side. I don’t think any other uni could do that without hopping. I hope I’ll be able to pull it off!
looks like a neat place. people definitly can ride to the tops of ramps like those on a 20" (without stopping and hopping up it) and without too much effort on a 24". coker is probably a lot easier and more flowy to do it on though.
As far as skateparks go, I try to avoid riding at them. They really don’t work that well for unicycles (some of them do have great obstacles though that are worth riding on). Most of the ramps are pretty useless, unless your intention really is to just cruise around on them. I’d think that others using the park could be a little hostile towards someone on a coker at a place like that, but I guess you never know until you try. I find that you get the least hastle at skateparks when you are just sessioning on 1 or 2 obstacles at it as opposed to riding around at it.
Yeah, I guess most of these ramps are probably manageable on a smaller wheel… but they would seem to be real awkward without the speed and smoothness that the Coker gives you… and probably not nearly as much fun! Ramp riding is a completely different (and much more enjoyable) experience on a Coker. I couldn’t imagine most of the ramps being too much fun on a smaller uni, but on a Coker… riding up ramps, riding over the spine of jumps and back-to-back (mini) half-pipes, and launching off tabletop jumps is tons of fun Plus… I doubt very much that smaller uni’s could get up many of the larger ramps and jumps (such as the ones at Rays) and even if they could, those types of obstacles probably wouldn’t be much fun for the smaller uni’s, anyway.
Consider the following comparison:
Riding your 20" or 24" up the quarter pipe ramp (in the attached picture) and on to the top ledge (you’d probably just be able to muster up enough momentum to barely make it on to the ledge if you could make it at all) and then dropping on to the ramp below and riding down it.
Blasting up the ramp on your Coker with enough speed to get some air off the top of the ramp… possibly even get enough air to clear the top ledge and land on the ramp below.
The two scenarios are a world apart!
You may change your mind about riding skateparks once you ride them on a Coker! I would agree with you that they probably don’t work all that well for standard size uni’s (even though I would think smaller uni’s could still have a blast on a decent number of ramps and rails)… but the speed and smoothness that the Coker gives you enables many of the ramps to work quite nicely for Coker riders! Just going off jumps and up and down ramps on a Coker with it’s seat height and speed is really fun… anything beyond that is insane!
The majority of non-unicyclists I have encountered have never even seen a unicycle with a 36" wheel before and are often impressed just by seeing someone ride it, no less seeing it ridden up and down ramps and over jumps, so I’m hoping that the people in the park will think it’s cool and have a positive reaction rather than act hostile. Like you said… you never know until you try, so I’ll let you know what happens.
The attached pics will show you some of the ramps I hope to ride. I already have several tricks in mind, so I hope I can pull them off or at least determine that they are doable for me if I practice a lot. For those of you in other parts of the country, they also have ESPN X Games skateparks in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and St. Louis… so if those locations have the same policy as the Philly location regarding uni’s… a whole bunch of you may have some pretty exciting (indoor) locations to ride at. This will enable us to be seen by other members of the extreme sports community and if they (the BMXers and skateboarders) see some of the uni stuff that I’ve watched that was posted to the forums live in front of their face, I think many of them will be impressed. If you do visit these locations (which I obviously encourage) please be sensitive to the fact that since we’re the “new guys” on the block (and in a facility that until fairly recently has been catering to the BMXers exclusively during their specified riding sessions), we should be very careful not to piss off the BMX riders in any way because then the’ll say stuff like, “those damn unicyclists are a pain in the butt”… or worse. On the other hand if we are considerate and do cool stuff on one wheel, they may be interested and/or excited by what we do. You can check out many more pics of the ramps at the ESPN X Games website:
if anyone knows of pretty good jobs for a uni/bike/juggling freak from iowa with a marketing degree, pm/aim me.
Plus… I doubt very much that smaller uni’s could get up many of the larger ramps and jumps (such as the ones at Rays) and even if they could, those types of obstacles probably wouldn’t be much fun for the smaller uni’s, anyway.