What’s your name?
Max, former username “unirox13” many years ago.
Where do you come from?
Back in the saddle from Richmond, VA.
What is your experience of unicycling?
I learned to unicycle back in high school, over 20 years ago. A sick day home from school introduced me to Kris Holm on an episode of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”. After seeing him shred the trails on a muni I was hooked and knew that riding a unicycle was a skill that I had to learn. I spent about two weeks mastering the basics after picking up a basic uni from my local bike shop. After upgrading to a better wheel, muni was my main focus for the first few months. I then discovered street and trials, big street became my main focus up until my early 20’s. I dabbled in technical muni and distance as well. In 2013 some personal issues reduced my interest in the sport. I’d still occasionally hop on and ride my 26", but the drive and fun just wasn’t there. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be as interested as I once was.
Last year, a new skatepark opened up just a couple of miles down the road. Riding there has been on my brain ever since, but I was nervous; How many skills had I lost? What were people going to think? Would I be welcomed by the skaters and BMX riders? Would I be willing to re-learn the skills I’d lost along with new ones?
A few day’s ago, I finally bit the bullet and dusted off my KH20 and hit the park. I was immediately hooked again! I had so much fun! Everyone at the park had some great questions, the skaters and BMX rider’s were super welcoming and supportive even though my skills were clearly not the best.
I was amazed at how much muscle memory was able to take over with some of the skills. Freemounting and riding forward were obviously a piece of cake, a little shaky the first couple of times, but felt natural again within just a few minutes. It only took me a handful of tries before riding one-footed and wheel walking started to work great again, two of my favorite skills. Riding backwards felt a little bit rusty, but I could still do it. Idling was a big challenge, but I could already see improvement before leaving the park. Hopping is probably my weakest skill as of right now. Managed a few hops onto the low manny pad, but they weren’t smooth or flowy. I can’t wait to go back and continue working on things. I don’t think that I’ll be doing the same style of big street that I was doing in my early 20’s, but I do plan on getting my smooth rolling hops and drops back in order. Crankflips and unispins hopefully won’t be terribly difficult to re-learn once I get a bit more confident with my hopping skills. I’m super excited to start learning some new, low impact flatland skills as well.
Currently I’m dying to get my hands on the Impact Sylph Unicycle. It looks perfect for the type of riding that I want to continue doing in the future. Flatland, some small-ish street hops and gaps, maybe the occasional low handrail or ledge grinds. Plus, it looks like a great uni just for a casual ride around the rest of the park.
Sorry for the long intro, but I’m incredibly happy with how excited I am to get serious about this amazing sport again!
