Hello, everybody!

Hi! Last week I read the 1994 Archive, with all of your postings from this year.
Whew! A lot of activity has been going on here on the Unicycling BBS. I’d like
to commend all of you people who have worked hard to answer peoples’ questions.
As a past editor of ON ONE WHEEL, I was delighted to find this as a form of an
“instant” unicycling newsletter. Ours, from the USA or IUF, take months to
finish and publish, so news is seldom ‘new’.

As newly elected President of the IUF (International Unicycling Federation), I
intend to make myself available to answer your questions when I can, though I’ll
leave what I can to the people who have been doing it all along. As I have the
time, I’ll offer my suggestions for adding to the FAQ, and giving my own
opinions in other areas.

When answering many of the questions that have been posted, I seldom saw people
pointing the direction for other sources of information, namely old newsletters.
On some subjects, the old (or new) USA newsletters had excellent articles, some
of which are the best source in the world for information in those areas. In
many cases, the problem is not knowing that articles exist, but in finding them.
If anyone of you hardcore computer unicyclists out there are bored, an excellent
hobby project would be to make an index database of the USA newsletters, and
other similar publications. This would be a great tool for finding articles that
have already been written, saving us lots of time!

For example, in previous postings I noted a couple of interesting questions. On
the subject of geared up unicycles, someone wrote asking about a geared up
standard where you pedal right on the drive axle. Was this possible? Yes, Tom
Miller made one and had it on display at the 1982 National Unicycle Meet. You
can see its picture on page 4 of the Summer/Fall USA Newsletter. It was a
Schwinn 20" geared up to about 40", by means of a chain that went up from the
pedal axle, across the top of the tire, and back down to the drive axle, which
was INSIDE the pedal axle. Does this make sense? The cycle worked well, but was
far less useful than a big wheel, because small bumps would always get you. Of
course, a 20" wheel does fit in the trunk of the car!

Another question someone asked was about a unicycling land speed record. One was
established in 1986 by 100 miler Floyd Beattie of Athens, Ohio. I can’t find the
details (need an index!), but he rode his 45" big wheel through a 2oo meter time
trap and was clocked in both directions at an average speed of 22 mph. This may
not be very fast, but was done under controlled conditions at an IHPVA (Int.
Human Powered Vehicle Assoc.) convention. Someone needs to go out and beat this
record! Top speed on a 24" racing unicycle (pedaling) is about 18mph. Downhill
gliding, you can go a lot faster!

I’m having technical problems still with my connection to CerfNet, my server,
and my software. I hope I get everything to work. If you find this information
interesting, contact me!

John Foss, President International Unicycling Federation unifoss@cerfnet.com
voice: (516)731-7613