The very first LA roundup was a great experience. The weather was California Outstanding. We had sunny skies with temps in the high 70’s with a gentle breeze. Riders came from all over southern California. We had riders from as far north as Santa Barbara to as far south as La Mesa and many had never met each other before.
One thing about unicyclists, is that they are a friendly lot. I was so amazed at how everyone just walked up to our table and just started talking to one another. Within 20 minutes of the start timg, people were smiling and chatting and really having a good time. You would have never known that they didn’t know each other until that time.
We had a nice mix of riders in both age and unicycles. The thirteen year-olds, Evan Byrne and Spencer exhibited their talents on the b.c. wheels and trials unis. Alex Bolewski from Santa Clarita found out that Spencer lives only two blocks away. Bruce Baker, David Ross, and Peter from Irvine, represented the Coker Crew. Jonathan Kelley was our oldest rider, but don’t tell him that. He had to hop a fence with Michael Carrington, after getting horribly lost on the group ride. They entered the model aircraft field and were buzzed by the helicopters. Later, they got lost on the golf course and were yelled at. Finally, after looking for a way out, hopped a chain-link fence and returned an hour later. Both had smiles and a great story to tell.
Everyone shared their uni histories and traded unicycles. Ray Ferro got attached to my trials uni and my pads and was initiated into trialsdom by having his shin tenderized by the pedals. He likes my 661’s now… I brought along my home trials set up and some skinnies to play on. That gave onlookers something to see and a fun place to ride. There was also the concrete picnic table I was going to use for food, until Evan decided to use it as a trials obstacle. Oh yeah, I forgot – those are great fun in themselves.
Once our ride got going, I bet it was a sight to see. How often do you see one unicyclist as opposed to 19 in a group. The lack of wind and low temps made the ride nice, even though my rear end complained. I had planned to stop as a group, but we got spread out and no one stopped to rest, so we forged on.
After the ride, the Muni guys, Eyal Aharoni, John Long, Rick, Jake Sprague, and others played around on the man-made rocks, nearby. I spent most of my time just talking with folks and playing the host, so I may have missed some other things that were going on.
Near the end, we got to see Spencer and Evan ride their b.c. wheels down the grassy knoll and jump a car ramp. Now, that is amazing. Pictures are available in the gallery at http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Los-Angeles-Unicycle-Roundup
I was glad to get so many thank-you’s for setting it up. It was a lot of work, but now I have built from nothing, a list of 34 riders. As a result, I have put together a website at http://www.freewebs.com/unicycleroundup/ that will eventually have an email list of all the riders and their locations, so others can connect up. That will go up next week or so. If I can get the redirection working, the website domain name is UnicycleRoundupLa.com
Many thanks to Mike Sode for helping to organize and be my right-hand man during the event and for also providing the snacks. John Long, Al Karel both brought drinks. Jake Sprague helped with set-up. Cody helped with the take- down. Thanks fellas for all the help!!
I am already looking forward to the next one!
If anyone has any other impressions, please share.
at least in tha pics, but im not in there very much, i kinda avoid cameras … but that park was so fun and hte rocks…hella tight!
