I had 2 yesterday
1st was a girl on a bike, now that is talent
2nd I had stopped at a store and when getting ready to leave a guy walks up with a totally confused look and says just the front tire , I say no just 1 tire, he looks again and says in a more confused state, just one tire? he looks a bit bewildered and walks away. I think I met the only person on the planet that has never seen a uni before
Yesterday I got my first one in quite a while. This is due to a combination of a lot less riding (my wife was winding down to her second knee replacement so less riding/hills) and wearing headphones some of the time, which cuts out a lot of bike trail “background noise”.
But yesterday wasn’t on the bike path, or a Muni trail. It was at the checkout line at my local Safeway supermarket:
“Do you still ride?” What an excellent question! How did this guy know to ask? I’m pushing a shopping cart with two big bags of ice in it…wearing a T-shirt that says “Life Is All About Balance” with a picture of an anatomically-correct unicycle. Also I was wearing my hat that says “It took me 60 years to look this good”, that they made me wear on our trip to Hawaii. I told the guy yes. He says ‘not as much as I used to. I still have my 6-footer but it’s too hard on the knees.’ I told him I ride a 36" on the bike paths and a 26" on mountain bike trails, and he was fascinated.
I always wear 2 different socks. I think it is colourful and it shows I don’t take myself seriously, which I think is important. But I am called a clown sometimes when riding uni. Not sure if it is because of the socks or the uni.
After this picture made its rounds at work a co-worker from another department made a comment about me riding my Segway… At first I didn’t even get what he was talking about.
Today, my son and @DavidTennant I went for a unicycl ride in the snow. And one guy behind us with dogs says to another guy, “that’s not something you see everyday, two unicycles”. I replied, “that’s true”. Not something I see every day, for that matter I don’t usuallly see even one unicycle.
“You’re still alive!” - quote from a horseback rider after seeing me for a second time during a morning ride. And, yes, I too am very glad to still be alive. Didn’t know I was that close to the edge.
A cyclist was about to overtake me but then hesitated to do so. When he finally got next to me he said: “I could look at this for hours.”
We still chatted a bit and he said that he won’t be able to ride a unicycle in his life anymore (he was little bit older already indeed) before he continued overtaking - at least he was faster.
As a Unicycle Ambassador(anybody who can ride), whenever I am approach by an interested "non-rider, I try hard to never allow them to embrace their thinking that, “unicycle is too hard, I’m too old”…etc… "
It’s nice to be complimented that I am a superhero for my unicycling abilities…However, I am more proud to be able to encourage and change some peoples mind that Unicycling is possible. It’s not hard just buy or borrow a unicycle, grab a fence and your body will take over.
Oh and if you should fall, you will just land on two feet. Right?
You can do anything, if you put your mind to.
(Marty Mcfly: Back to the future, 1985)
By Mountain Unicycling isn’t it easy to land on the Feet. But by normal rides you land often on your feet. Mountain Unicycling is next level or Flat or street Unicycling is also next level.
It reminds me of a day when I was walking with my unicycle on my side (uphill, too tired).
I saw a mom and her little kid.
The kid (genuinely): “Look mom he lost a wheel!”
Me: “Yeah, I’m looking for it right now ”
The mom (genuinely): “Really? ”
The other day I had “Top Man!”, from someone who I think had seen me on my ride out a couple of hours earlier and was clearly impressed that I was still at it.
Closer to home I then had an elderly lady exclaim “What a lovely sight”, which confused me a little. I’m still unsure as to whether the unicycle brought back some nice memories from her childhood, or if she just found me unbelievably attractive…