Hi people … ‘.Mad mac 7’ here!
Just arrived on the net about a week ago due to huge demand of my= fellow
unicyclists… Just a quick introductory note follows…
I started unicycling about 14 years ago after I saw a flick of ‘Jester’= the
party goer, he did lots of unicycling/juggling and stuff. I learnt by backing up
to a fence and just going for it! about two= hours of falling flat on my butt I
had it finally! After using it for= transport to get to college for a while I
started a club up and got to over= 30 students! from there I’ve just used it to
get around and teach the= odd interested person. In the following few years I
built a couple of= giraffes …6ft and 10 ft but now have only a 7ft.
In 1990 I left NZ on a world tour on my 20"unicycle (a simple taiwanese
version), first stop for a time was Laguna beach, where I spent weeks unicycling
around the beaches & boardwalks, SD.CA was next then= McCall, Idaho. On to
Houston, TX and then to England. I spent two years unicycling around
England…Birmingham, Okehampton, Torrington, Cambridge, London, Bath and so on.
It was in England= I went to my first convention at Coventry, I think it was
1991, I entered= in a gladiators event,(no holds barred, last one on top wins),
as luck= would have it, I came out on top! travelling through England I found
the= main advantage of a uni was getting to and from bus stops and pubs, and=
when I was hitch hiking I covered a few miles if rides weren’t good.
On the way back home I purchased a 20" Semcycle and it’s one of only= two I’ve
seen in this country! I started writing to USA’s OOW about= then, and subscribed
of course. For the benefit of all fellow unicyclists,= I also bought a complete
set of the back issues! I call John Foss once a year or so, if that, to catch up
with things,= but haven’t really kept up too much … until now of course …
I’m on= E-mail.
I used to publish a Uni-News newsletter here in New Zealand for the= last year
or so but now have combined it with the NZJA ‘Flying Kiwi’ newsletter. This is
so far a good move as at our last juggling convention in Wellington Feb’ 95,
there was alot of interest in unicycling from= the jugglers and stilt walkers. I
held several workshops at this convention (my first in this country), and they
were all VERY successful, one= workshop I couldn’t stop and it went for 6
hours!! Yes, my butt was blue!= Here in NZ we play a game we call Uni-grid. It
was mentioned in a past issue= of OOW, we wear heaps of gear and look a bit like
American football= players, and to watch the game looks a bit like NHL (I’m a
Kings fan BTW).=
=20
Incredibly cool game and only lasts for 15 minutes (5 per third)= and believe me
it’s hard work to stay on top playing Uni-grid without= going wobbly after 5
minutes!! I introduced it to most at the Wellington Convention, at it went
WELL!=20 I consider my self reasonably competent on one wheel as far as down=
under is concerned, but I’ve seen the standard of others elsewhere and= learned
quickly that I’m just a beginner!
Like to hear from anybody that is heading this way in the future.= I hope to be
in Wisconsin or Michigan next May visiting my brother who has= been known to
get on one wheel from time to time. his E-mail is
blair.mackintosh@software.rockwell.com. Feel free to drop him a= line as well.
That’s enough dribble from me for now … I’m not here… cool to= finally be
in touch…
regards
Ross Mackintosh \\ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ c =83 + = +
) Y =83 + E-mail: Romack@midland.co.nz= + / _=83 + = + ( / + If the world was
the size of an orange…= + \ + It would be much to small! = + (( /L )) + = +
_/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++