To ride with me and Tom Miller (The Unicycle Factory guy) in Sheridan’s 4th of July parade this year. Sheridan will be celebrating it’s 150th birthday so it will be a big event for our little town.
I’ll be riding my Nimbus 5 footer or my Schwinn 6 footer if I can get it ready in time. Tom will ride either a 7 footer or a 10 footer (made by himself).
This will be my first parade ever on a uni of any type so I’ll be pretty psyched.
Forgive me if I bump the thread.
Just for fun I’ll add a picture of Tom riding his 10 footer last year…
So I’ve been riding a lot on my giraffe, practicing for this parade, and I’ve noticed something interesting. When I’m on the giraffe, nobody makes the usual missing wheel comments. It’s like I’m exempt from having to hear it!
Anyway… Sheridan is about 30 minutes north of 465 or about 1 hour southeast of Purdue.
I’m not going to talk about such things in front of kids!
Gravity…
By not concentrating.
Ask Tom for suggestions for more. In case Tom doesn’t know you can share with him that my first realization that such comments are fairly universal, came to me in Kokomo (Indiana), at my first USA convention. I was practicing in the motel parking lot, on my Schwinn Giraffe, and Ted Wade (of Kokomo), came out the door and instantly rattled off half a dozen of the more common non-rider questions.
That led to the creation of the original “Snappy Comebacks” list in 1981.
That’s hilarious! Now that you mention it, it’s already begun. I believe 2 kids asked me how I get off of it. I told one kid, “I usually aim for a swimming pool.” He responded “oh” in a deadpan fashion.
Speaking of Tom, I asked him how many parades he’s ridden in. He said probably at least 100! He said there was at least one time he rode in one parade then went to another town and rode in another on the same day.
Just saw this thread! I live in Indy and have never met another single unicyclist. I am not good. Can’t go far and have only ever managed to freemount 3 times. Do I count? I might drag the family on up anyway! Would love to see you guys ride! Is the parade tomorrow (Sunday)??? What time??? Way excited about this.
I’m very sorry I didn’t see your response until now. Last night I had my class reunion then came home and worked on our U.S.V. (Unicyclist Support Vehicle) until 4:30 in the morning.
But get ready for next year! I’ll do a call out again. In fact, PM me your contact info and I’ll get a hold of you directly.
The parade went great! Tommy rode his 10 footer and stole the show. He went the whole 1.5 miles (45 minutes) without falling or dismounting and was awesome to watch as he worked the crowd. I had a blast but began to get heat stroke symptons right as we were finishing the parade. I recovered fine. Last but not least Jesse Millikan rode a standard 20" and did a fine job.
In the pictures you will see the U.S.V. in all it’s glory. The pole is for assistance with mounting the giraffes. At the bottom of the pole you see the cut-out for the giraffe wheel to be positioned. The wooden areas on the pipe are to keep the saddle in place while climbing on. I had more than one to be prepared for different giraffe heights. On the back of the 4-wheeler we had a cooler full of emergency water etc… My wife drove the U.S.V. which was her first time to ever be in a parade.
Pictured in the group photo (left to right) are Tom Miller, Me, my wife Linda (seated) and Jesse Millikan.
