NYC Unicycle Festival, September 3-6, 2015

General
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New York City Unicycle Festival
4 Days of One Wheel Madness
Free! All ages and abilities welcome.
Find out more at nycunifest.com.

What: New York City Unicycle Festival
When: September 3-6, 2015
Where: Governors Island, Battery Park to Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island

NYC’s Unicycle Festival rolls across New York City this September. The growing popularity of this quirky pastime, combined with the City’s initiatives to encourage cycling, make this a timely opportunity to celebrate the unicycle. Last year’s festival brought over 300 riders to the Big Apple, even more one wheelers are expected for this year’s event. This year a long distance Manhattan ride is also being added to the schedule. The New York City Unicycle Festival takes place September 3 to 6, 2015:

September 3, 2015 — One Wheel the West Side. Unicycle riders will meet up in Battery Park at 10 am and journey up the West Side before rolling to Central Park for a loop. Some riders may return to Battery Park via an east side route.

September 4, 2015 – Brooklyn Unicycle Day. Festivities begin Friday afternoon with a mass ride over the Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island. Meet-up at 2 pm next to City Hall (Manhattan) at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. We will roll at 3 pm. Expect to witness a one wheel parade across Brooklyn followed by “One-Wheel,” an stage show produced by Ross Berenson at Coney Island USA Shooting Gallery Arts Annex.

September 5 and 6, 2015 – The festival’s main events takes place on Governors Island from 12pm-5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Activities include races, competitions, exhibitions, and a variety of unicycle sports including basketball, hockey and sumo. For fans of extreme riding, the Hell on Wheel trials course challenges riders throughout the day. World-famous riders display their skills, and members of the public have the opportunity to try one-wheel riding. DJ Sky King keeps the one-wheel tempo rocking.

Seeking volunteers, sponsors, and more.
Contact festival director Keith Nelson to see how you can help.
cirkus@bindlestiff.org

Produced by Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc., the New York City Unicycle Festival brings together recreational riders, world-class performers, mountain and off-road unicycle enthusiasts, mono-wheel vehicle inventors, and thousands of people who have not ridden in umpteen years, along with circus enthusiasts, extreme sports viewers, and anyone seeking an unusual sight–even for NYC!

Bindlestiff Family Cirkus
PO Box 386
New York, NY 10009

1-877-BINDLES info

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Not sure if I will be able to do the whole Brooklyn Bridge - Coney Island ride, but for those who do, what can be done with the unicycles ridden out there, while their riders are watching the show?

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Going to NYC unifest? This is the old thread about the event, but I’m looking forward to the organizers posting more up-to-date info

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So who all from the forum is going?

I’m planning to do the Brooklyn Bridge - Coney Island ride Friday afternoon and then get myself out to Governors Island on Saturday at least.

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I’ll be there. I’m doing the Brooklyn bridge ride.

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I will be there was well Lou.

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I’ll be there on Saturday- can’t make the Brooklyn Bridge-Coney Island ride unfortunately

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I will be doing the full ride on Friday.

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Hey guys, while I was packing up my uni yesterday I noticed cracks in one of my cranks. I was not a happy camper. So, I called UDC and spoke with Peter who informed me that they would be able to ship an overnight package with new cranks to my Hotel. I hope I get them.

A lesson learned the hard way. The cranks are 165mm long and a while back I decided to drill dual holes at 137mm. The crack occurred at the 137mm hole.
Won’t do that again.

Wish me luck.

Attachments_201592 (1).zip (137 KB)

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Hey guys, while I was packing up my uni yesterday I noticed cracks in one of my cranks. I was not a happy camper. So, I called UDC and spoke with Peter who informed me that they would be able to ship an overnight package with new cranks to my Hotel. I hope I get them.

A lesson learned the hard way. The cranks are 165mm long and a while back I decided to drill dual holes at 137mm. The crack occurred at the 137mm hole.
Won’t do that again.

Wish me luck.

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I have a spare set of 165 Venture II (probably longer than you want) that I can bring if you’re in a pinch. Let me know.

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If it is not to late. That would be great, just in case UDC doesn’t get my package to me. I have square taper cranks. Thanks.

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Oh, what I have are ISIS.

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Thanks anyway. I’m sure UDC will get my package to me. Hope to see you there.

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Off to the bridge!

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How was it?
Any photos?

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The only photo I know of so far is this one on facebook at a regrouping stop across from Prospect Park.

The ride itself was a lot of fun. I’ve done enough hills now that the Brooklyn Bridge was easy. Fortunately there was not a lot of bike traffic (in either direction) when the ride went through, and though a few photographers had parked themselves on the dividing line I don’t remember any pedestrians actually on the cycle side.

I did fall near the start of the bridge, landing on and slightly cutting my hand while widely detouring to try to pass someone on a 19" who was going a little slower than I felt stable matching. And later on tripped over the unicycle of someone who fell off right in front of me at the curb-cut from a road crossing. I was feeling really proud of myself when I came up with my unicycle in one hand and his in the other, walking briskly backwards to clear the ramp for the oncoming horde… but then I backed into a support bike. All in all though riding in a large group went much better than I was concerned it might. Either from inexperience or wheel size, only a minority of riders were prepared to idle, so generally everyone had the same challenges and realized that everyone else was facing them as well, resulting in remarkably little getting in each other’s way or chain-reaction dismounts.

The route itself is mostly nice. A lot of it is on physically isolated cycle paths, though there were some sections of road riding that I in a different frame of mind I might have been less comfortable with. A long stretch in Brooklyn runs down a median with lights every block, and one of the support bikers was great about sprinting ahead to those and then parking in the intersection to stop anyone from abruptly turning into us. There’s a very low fence running along that path, so there was a recurring sight of unicyclists hunched way over to hold it and wait for the light. Towards the end of that section there started to be increasingly large sports where the paving was broken upwards by frost or tree roots, but the first ones were small which provided nice training for dealing with them before hitting the largest. The last dozen blocks to Coney Island pretty much amounted to vehicular unicycling - fortunately traffic was light, but in a pinch one could walk that and rejoin the group at the end.

I’d say 29ers were the most common equipment choice, but there was at least one adult on a 19" and quite a few 36" and 24" to be seen. Overall we took enough breaks that the 13 miles took nearly four hours, so there was plenty of time for everyone to catch up (especially when someone waylaid an ice cream truck). I think a few riders even managed without relying on free mounting - either being helped up by a friend or one of the support bikers lending a shoulder.

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It’s times like this when I wish I could be visiting my relatives in New York. I’m one of four unicyclists in my city (and one of the other three lives on the same block).

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No Unicycle truck at Governor’s Island this year. Everything else is the same, though. Lots of fun!

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I must confess I was pretty proud of myself for that one, and even happier when I saw he has gone to where I asked. Next year I just need to get one to prospect park!