quote
i was riding today and a kid walks up to me
kid:in that a unicycle?
me:yes.
kid:that must be hard.
me:kinda
kid:i just learned to ride a two wheeler.
kid:do you know how old i am?
me:no
kid:i am ten and i just learned to ride a bike!
they are uneducated about them and think of them as a hard act such as juggling and stilts
KILL the Stereotypes with WIT
I like that! They are “uneducated” about them…I think the next time someone mentions the word “circus” or “clown” the next time I’m riding, I’m going to say “Circus? Why would you ever associate extreme unicycling with that? Are you stupid?” …or something clever like that. Anyone else know why people associate unicycling with the circus??
I get this quite often:
“Are you training for (or ‘in the’) the circus?”
I should have said “Where have you been? Unicycling hasn’t been considered a circus ‘thing’ since the 80’s!” (referring to the birth of MUni as of Wikipedia).
I HATE circus/clown stereotypes…I’m on a quest to find the ultimate response!! 
Maybe because they’ve only seen unicycles in circuses. And many see unicycling as something unpractical and only used to get attention. Bleh. I think I dislike those more than the circus stereotypes.
“No…”
inspect the person who asked
“Are you?”
Basically two words, Bongo Bear.
I think.
Cartoon depictions of juggling
also serves to reinforce the shower-pattern as the basic way to juggle.
We see it in corporate juggling workshops all the time.
Perry (capuni) and I were out on our Cokers and a 11 or 12 yr old girl shouted “Are you the circus?”
That was an interesting variation. Yeah, we’re the circus.
Personally, I’m nothing but flattered by circus comments, if they’re sincerely asked, though I don’t really like the clown comments. The circuses I’ve seen feature highly skilled people.
My favorite explanation to MTBers at the races I go to is how extreme unicyclers take offense at circus/clown comments:
Munier: “Don’t call me a clown, I’m a #$%@*$ extreme unicyclist!”
MTBer: “Oh, er, sorry…what else do you like to do?”
Munier: “Oh, I juggle.”
bongo bear
Haha! I’ve seen that picture before. If kids today are reading a book from the 1950’s, then I don’t know what to say! 
that’s why grand-fathers were invented! they read to their grand-children the book they had (and kept!!!).
Absolutely best comment I have ever gotten, period. IF you could call it that of course.
Riding the shoulder of a street, a car slowed down, rolled down the window, and blasted “Handlebars” by the Flobots. If you don’t know the lyrics…
Lyrics to Handlebars :
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it’s good to be
ALIVE
and I’m a famous rapper
even when the paths’re all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “De Colores”
And “I’m Proud to be an American”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome
I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone
Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule
Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let’em all die in exasperation
Have’em all healed of their lacerations
Have’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like’em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
awesome
.
I was laughing so hard I had to dismount. The guy just grinned and sped away.
Thats funny as hell… Hehehehe…
This morning I dismounted (gracefully) in front of a very old lady -probably in her late 90!-
lady (with malicious eye): “Recession looms! no credit for a second wheel eh?”
Great one, that is a clever lady.
As am I. I generally respond, “I wish!” or “If I keep practicing!”
I’ve gotten the Flobots song as well.
I was BC wheelin’ in my neighborhood today and when I fell off one of my runs, a guy in his yard said “Where did the seat go?” (A funny variation to “where’s the other wheel”)…I laughed and said I lost it with the other wheel. Most of my neighbors are use to seeing me ride in the 'hood so it’s rare for me to hear non-rider comments.
this morning as was practising rough weather unicycling (it was literally raining chestnuts!) I came across a bunch of MTBers in the woods…
thirty-something( panting, steaming, eyes bulging,…) “it’s so hard for me that I would not dare imagine how hard it is for you!”
From my little brother today, who has seldom seen the unicycle: “So I guess you’re han’s-free solo?”
So you met this bunch of middle aged blokes in the wood, all panting and steaming with their eyes bulging, and one told you it was “hard for you”?
Next you’ll tell us you were looking for badgers.
This was a few days ago but this guy asked me with a serious tone " does that actually have one wheel?" ended up saying “No, the other one was stolen”