Late 2011, I bought my first unicycle.
I recently tried a friend’s unicycle a few weeks ago, and I was playing World of Warcraft out of boredom. I wasn’t even having fun.
A thought happened from a lonely neuron: “I’m wasting my time, I should exercise instead of playing WoW… What about unicycling? I tried it recently, it looked even more difficult than I thought and it could be fun to learn”
The same day, I cancelled my WoW subscription (13€/month), and I bought a beginner’s unicycle at CDK (~60€).
2 weeks later, I sprained my ankle during a practice 
. I stopped for 2 weeks and got back to it.
I started trying to ride it on trails and in mud, and it quickly became clear to me that this 20" unicycle wasn’t ideal.
I then bought a heavy QU-AX 29":
What a change! It was amazing to ride. I felt I was able to ride over anything: rocks, holes, twigs, kids, etc, without even noticing.
After moving multiple times, always in the countryside, I ended up moving to a city. I bought a KH 24" because I wasn’t used to riding in a city, with cars and stuff. I’d be more confident with a smaller wheel. It also had a brake.
After riding it for a while, feeling more confident, I bought a QX 27.5. It was the best unicycle I had (also was my last). Sometimes I wished the wheel were slightly bigger, but I liked how easy it was to handle.
I sold my 29", and later, exchanged my beginner’s unicycle for a pair of inline skates (I taught a friend how to ride a unicycle, she taught me how to ride inline skates, and in the end we just gave each other our stuff 
)
In the meantime, I also bought various parts and built a freewheel unicycle with a Nimbus hub.
(the middle one)
Unfortunately, I wasn’t motivated enough to learn how to ride this, and ended up selling it.
I liked how it looked, tho:
For years, my 27.5 was my main means of transportation. I had it with me all the time, especially when travelling to other cities. I rode it instead of using buses or the subway, even in Paris.
I rode it every day, literally.
3 years ago I moved into a new town I wasn’t comfortable riding in. Despite having many bike infrastructures, it felt dangerous and I just didn’t like it.
I also had a new full-time (amazing) job that was overwhelming for reasons I’ll explain later.
Those two things disrupted my habits, and I only rode from time to time.
I then moved into the countryside, in a boring village where nothing is interesting to ride, only roads, which didn’t motivate me to ride again.
It was a loss for me, because I’ve already had to give up other physical activities. Years before, I fell in love with bouldering. I had to stop because of a silent injury (probably), which had badly healed (probably). The outcome was a sharp pain in my middle finger when I was climbing and an audible crackling sound. It never went away, even years after stopping climbing. I saw many specialists, but no one was able to find the cause, and it couldn’t be fixed.
Having to give up this activity was the biggest loss of my life, this was the first time I loved something that much, and I dedicated my life to it when I was able to practice.
Still motivated enough to stay in shape, I tried a fitness club (an associative club inside barracks with good equipment, free advice and teaching from professionals, and also very cheap, quite incredible place). It was boring, but I kept coming. 2 months after, COVID happened, and everything shut down.
All my habits (my life was centered around habits) fell apart because of the lockdown.
A few years later, I got motivated enough to try something else. I tried taekwondo and fell in love with it. Almost as much as climbing. I started investing my time in the club, outdoor activities, etc.
Unfortunately, this sport revealed “dormant” back issues, which became chronic pain, and I had to give up this sport.
Having to give up my two biggest interests in my life was shattering.
This is just when I had to stop practicing taekwondo that I moved to the new city, where I stopped riding.
I still rode from time to time, rarely. I obviously had lost muscles and stamina, but I was still able to do short rides.
More recently, I tried riding again to go to the supermarket, as I sometimes did for the last two years. It just felt truly exhausting to ride. I was out of breath. I didn’t like the sensation of precarious balance, and that I could injure myself by falling.
I had no joy riding, and even had to give up climbing a road I was fairly used to. This was the first time I couldn’t climb it.
A few months ago, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. First symptoms date back to 2016, but the diagnosis was not made at that time. New symptoms 10 years later confirmed it, though.
So, like most people, I suppose, I didn’t know that the most debilitating symptom of the illness is fatigue, even more than motor issues (I’m mostly spared of those, fingers crossed for the years to come).
Anecdotally, it’s also the first reason why people with this disease have to quit their job, which also happened to me. I was mentally struggling and felt constantly overwhelmed without knowing why. I can’t be certain, but the MS was probably a factor in my decision (which was not really a decision, as I felt I had no other choice) to leave the best job I ever had in my life.
As for unicycling, other factors certainly led me to have no joy practicing unicycling.
Lack of motivation (I always liked unicycling, but it was never a passion), lack of practice resulting in muscle and stamina loss… And it’s also probable that the MS-related fatigue played a role as well.
I tried other physical activities, like at-home workouts, but I’ve had a wrist issue (I’ll skip boring details) for years that prevents me from doing many motions with my left wrist.
My back also prevents me from doing many motions, so it’s quite limiting.
My main goal, currently, is to fight back against MS as exercise is highly recommended.
Since I couldn’t ride my unicycle anymore, I decided to switch to a bike. I got one just a few days ago and had a couple of rides with it. I had not ridden a bike for more than 10 years, and I had quite a blast riding it.
I’m not sure how my wrist and back will like this new activity, I’ll see how it goes.
My sentiment right now is that I don’t see myself riding a unicycle again. It already feels… Distant. I’ll focus on my health, and perhaps I’ll give it a try in the future.
Thanks for reading, and keep riding 
while you can!
. That said, I enjoy riding it!
f-spin:
