My triathlon and road biker friends challenged me to find out if I could prove this photo is real or not, and if real who is the rider. I, of course, responded with, “Challenge Accepted!” Don’t know how I would do a search for a picture, and if the answer is too apparent to some forgive me. But any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance…
Oh, and yes there is a website on the bottom, but I’m at work and Big Brother has that site blocked!
My inclination is that it is shopped
here is why
Water bottle in the wheel
“disk break” looks an awful lot like a chain ring
the triangle part of the frame looks an awful lot like a carbon road bike frame
- the seat tube is shaped to be close to the rear tire
- the center part sure looks like a bike fork and provides no structure to the frame
- rear brake is not lined up with the wheel but with the bike wheel that is missing
- fork goes over the triangle frame
looks about the right size for a 36er but there has never been (to my knowledge) a deep V rim in that size, deeper than the Airfoil rim anyway.
There has never been a smooth skinny 36" pneumatic tire
two brake levers
at a quick glance it looks pretty good though.
My first response was shopped, but also said if it is they did a great job! The water bottle is what caught my eye first and if the frame was wide enough to put a bottle between the frame and wheel, then he was going to have plenty of hits with his knee.
If it’s real, they did some damage to the file. But I doubt it. 99.9% it’s fake, and this is what I do. Pan actions slow shutter speeds are cool because you will usually only get 1 item sharp at a time. I have shot numerous cyclists with pan action, and you can get their torso and head sharp, but their legs will have blur, because they are moving in different directions. Background image might actually be real, but that shadow is atrocious
EDIT: It looks like it was done by someone that has a very minimal understanding of lighting (only enough to make a shadow, and a bad one at that) Also, the frame is just too obviously a bikes frame. And how does he get his water bottle out from inside the spokes?
It’s an old photoshopped image that has been circulating the internet for years.
Note the bicycle chainrings in the photo.
Go to my website and click on the sports portfolio, image 2 is a real pan action. It’s not one of my better photos, but you’ll be able to see what real vs fake looks like.
EDIT: 2 brakes…
OK, just got home from work and checked out the website it came from - Photoshop Contests!!
Did they get last place?
The rider is clearly identified as #1349. Now you just have to figure out what triathlon it was, and then what year. I know the image is at least five years old so that should narrow it down… 
Yeah, never noticed the water bottle before. Definitely a deal-breaker. As someone who mounted a water bottle on a unicycle as far back as 1981 (on a Schwinn 24"), I know a lot of places where it can’t go…
to be honest i thought the biggest give away was that part of the wheel is missing behind the riders knee…
also the fact it has all the components of the bike, just jumbled up basically. Its an alright photoshop at a glance, but not great.
Don’t be silly, that gap is for improved aerodynamics.
and a really uncomfortable ride. Ive heard the expression “the tyre is only flat at the bottom” but the wheel is missing at the top is taking it a little far lol
haha, it reminds me of a weird dream I had. In the dream I was riding this newly-invented uni-wheel which had a solid rubber wheel, it was supposed to be the new best muni tire. And it looked like this:
Strange dream…
nothing odd about that at all? 
Lol, how did we miss that :o
They’ve obviously tried to use blur to disguise imperfections around the uni.
I sorted it out a bit, mostly to make it a more ridable unicycle!
Still some issues, but a bit more convincing I hope.
Sam
Haha pretty good job, especially considering how destroyed the file was to start with.
You must’ve gotten the paint wet. Now some of it’s rubbing off onto his knee.
Sam that looks great, you missed the rear brake though.
Maybe you should re-enter the photo in that contest.
EDIT: that is a actually a pretty sweet unicycle now, makes me want to play with carbon fibre.