Well I am 42 and have been riding for over ten years now but it was only
this past summer that I actually learned to idle, ride backwards, do more
than one mount, juggle clubs while idling and riding and pass 6 clubs with
some else also idling on a uni! My kids starting juggling a year and half
ago and ever since then we have been juggling and unicycle together. They
are now totally into Muni and trials. I also run the Nanaimo Park Jugglers
club in Ottawa Canada and have a performing troop with my two sons and one
of their friends (the “Right On The Head” Juggling Troop). Last but not
least we rode in two parades this year!
I don’t think that age has anything to do with it.
Carl
“billham” <billham@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote in
message news:billham.yr2wk@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> I’m curious as to the ages and numbers of “old” folks still actively
> riding a uni. I just started up riding again this year at age 47 after
> taking a 30+ year break from riding. I’m loving it!
>
> I was looking at the results from NAUCC and noticed that last age group
> was “over 40”. How about a few responses from the over 40 gang (you
> know, the older and wiser uni riders ). I’m especially
> interested in who is the oldest rider.
>
> While we’re at it, how long have you been riding?
>
> Bill
>
>
> –
> billham
>
> Direction is everything, distance is secondary.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> billham’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4625
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/29502
>
I’m 54. Bought my first uni at a “yard sale” 2 years ago last June. I’m
easily at level 4+ now (untested).
Lots of “old” people avoid the uni (or ride very carefully) because they’re
afraid to fall. I’ve been falling all my life and nothing bad has come of it
yet. Saves the cost of a chiropractor.
I’m 6 weeks shy of 50. Started riding at the age of 15 with a department store (Monkey Wards) uni, which I still have. Didn’t do a lot of riding until about 3 years ago, when I started to try Muni about the same time my son got into mountain b**ing. This past season was the best yet - I got a Bedford 24" Muni with a 3" tire, and also finally learned some technique. It’s been an absolute blast! There aren’t many things you can do at this age that will elicit remarks like “cool” or “wicked” from teenage kids.
A few months ago I went through the calendar on this site and kept a tally of the ages of the people who entered their birthday there. In a rare lucid moment, I threw the list away, but I do recall there were a fair number (10-20) of people who had reached that half-century mark, but only 1-2 over the age of 60. Since almost all of these older riders are men, I conclude that male adolescence probably ends somewhere around age 59…
Bought my very first uni for my 40th birthday, a low-slung, sexy red convertible uni. I’ll be 43 in a few weeks (Jan 13) so if I’m adding correctly, that would make it three years ago. Mary is a year older than me but doesn’t ride…yet. As far as skills go, the boys have long since left me and my racy red uni in the dust. I’m officially a level 3 but am just learning to wheel walk. Look out boys, here I come!
However, with prior words of suicide mounts (affectionally called the soprano mount around here), here’s a clip of mine from a year ago. It’s the last clip on the page. I weigh in at about 285 pounds so I’m pretty proud of it…even if my hand was on the saddle a bit too long, Sofa.
I’ll turn 46 on the 23rd of this month. I learned to ride when I was about 12.
I started back up in '98. I do a bit of road riding but most of my time is devoted to MUni.
I’m 48 (the second oldest at Moab last year - come on old f***s!!). I started riding when I was 11, and took about a 30 year break when I hit high school. I picked it up again seriuosly about 18 months ago. My son Owen (now 13) learned about then (took him about 5 days) we got interested in MUni and trials when a trials biker down the way from us mentioned seeing Kris’ videos. Wow, were we hooked. Now I ride 3-4 times a week, including commuting, and Owen is seriously into trials. It’s a particular joy to see one of your kids do something like this well. I’m looking forward to staying healthy (got a knee I’m nursing along - probably should have it scoped but I dread the recovery) and riding off into the sunset.
Sound familiar? I wish I’d had this forum 30 yrs ago. Never would’ve put it down.
Found Memphis Unicycle Club and subsequently this site 14 months ago and have been having a blast ever since. Now I can hop up stairs, idle, ride backwards, ride one-footed.
Sorry I missed all those yrs. But glad I got back in when I did.
Two daughters ride now. Wife one good practice session away from maiden voyage. (She’s made 2 or the revs, but not what I would call “riding”.)
Wow I just read all the posts. What a great bunch of people. I learned in 1997 when I was 38 years old. Now I’m 44 and still riding ok, not slowing down yet. Today I cranked out 17 miles at speeds up to 18mph and it was great. I don’t think age has much to do with it and cite George Peck as unequivocal proof. But I’ve found that if you ask just about anyone in the world who’s 40+ or even 35+, the typical answer about why they could never learn has something to do with age. That’s pretty silly.
Ah dude, I think you are misinformed about the skateboarding scene. Been doing lots of boarding myself lately and know of quite a few ‘old people’ that are totally rippin it up on boards.
Yeah I know some old guys who skate. They always rip it up old school in a way new schoolers can’t even compare to.
One time me and my friends were skating in a lot next to a construction area when this old guy, probably 40-50, came over from the site and did a hand stand going pretty fast on one of our skates.
I’m 51 and started learning when I was 45. I was the last of our
family to learn. Until Unicon 11 my longest ride was two or three miles,
but I rode the 10K there and survived. A month later one of our sons
started taking 90-minute karate lessons three times a week just off the
riverside bike path in Eugene, and I started riding during his
classes. That was 15 months ago, and I’m doing 20-25 miles a week on my
24" Miyata. I still can’t idle, go backwards, or do anything fancy, but I
can ride long enough to get some aerobic benefit from it. And Scott says
I’ve improved a lot. Actually his words were (after a race at this year’s
NAUCC): “You don’t look like you’re going to fall off all the
time.” Which I’m taking as a compliment.
Comparing myself to our kids, I know I learned slower than them
mostly because I have more fear than them. But I’m really enjoying
unicycling, and it’s been worth the time it took me to learn.
Jody in Springfield, OR
At 01:21 PM 12/20/03 -0600, billham wrote:
>I’m curious as to the ages and numbers of “old” folks still actively
>riding a uni. I just started up riding again this year at age 47 after
>taking a 30+ year break from riding. I’m loving it!
>
>I was looking at the results from NAUCC and noticed that last age group
>was “over 40”. How about a few responses from the over 40 gang (you
>know, the older and wiser uni riders ). I’m especially
>interested in who is the oldest rider.
>
>While we’re at it, how long have you been riding?
>
>Bill
>
>
>–
>billham
>
>Direction is everything, distance is secondary.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>billham’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4625
>View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/29502
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
>rec.sport.unicycling mailing list - www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
I’m 48 - I started riding almost six years ago after reading about George Peck and “rough terrain unicycling” in Bicycling Magazine. I think George was 57 years old then.
My riding was kind of hit and miss at first but I’ve been riding seriously for a couple years now. I’m looking forward to at least Moab and the Black Hills MUni weekend this coming summer!
The best part about this thread to me is that I am like a child compared to most of you. I have seen some great skills out of many of you and realize that in time I too can achieve a lot more with practice. Age seems to be a non issue to some extent.
>A “trusted” source should at least be able to count to 10 in Dutch.
Hehe. I trust my trusted source’s good memory.
>Are the 2003 stats in the works yet?
Thanks for showing interest, but I’ll only begin in the new year.
Wouldn’t want to miss any late-year posting rage or so, much like some
year-review books or news shows were made too early to incorporate the
capturing of Saddam. Or the birth of the future Queen of the
Netherlands, for that matter!
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“Friends don’t let friends drop to flat - Kris Holm, discussing large drops to flat ground.”
). I’m especially
