Time I stopped lurking and introduce myself.
My name’s Joe (Mister B. here on the Forum) and my unicycle journey began when my parents bought me a Sears 16 inch unicycle back in 1979. Despite all my efforts, I never could ride it very well. I had it about a year before it basically fell apart on me. I wish I still had it to use as wall art but all I’ve got left are the memories and the two steel balance poles that came with it.
After the Sears unicycle wore out, I purchased a 24” Schwinn unicycle in 1980. What a difference. No longer was I just going a few yards then falling off. The day I brought the Schwinn home, I literally hopped on it and rode up and down the street for the rest of the day. After that, I rode it just about everywhere, including in all the local parades as part of a small clown group (see attached photo for a good laugh). Despite all my riding, I never did learn to idle or ride backwards.
Unfortunately, after high school, the unicycle was placed on a hook in the basement and saw very little use for a pretty long time. However, I never forgot it and I did take with me as I started a family of my own, I even took it out occasionally, put air in the tire, dusted it off and rode it around a bit to remember the “good-old-days”.
About a year ago my interest in the unicycle returned, especially after I saw a guy riding a muni at the Blue Hills near Boston. I started riding more regularly again and as a result, my daughter also became interested. Like any good dad, I bought her one from UDC (a Hoppley 20”) and she’s learned to ride, too.
However, my old Schwinn quickly began to protest against my “adult” weight gain by flexing in ways that I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to. I decided to purchase a Sun Flat Top 24” off road unicycle to better support me and start the transition into muni.
I’ve been doing okay on easy to moderate off road trails (with only a few upd’s and minor injuries) and I hope to increase my skills to a point where I may even try to hook up with some of the other forum members here in Massachusetts, USA.
I look forward to continuing my reading (and learning from) the many informational posts and tapping into the wisdom of those who are willing to share their uni-knowledge.
