Unicycles are definitely prone to be involved in a variety of stupid accidents. There are silly UPDs, but also other things that might be worth telling to make us more cautious about these hideous vehicles.
Here‘s my accident from two days ago: holding two unis, one in each hand, I swung around one of them to prop it against the wall. It came around and hit (bit?) my shin with the pedal, making a mark as if I had had a severe UPD doing a failed free mount. Definitely stupid enough to qualify as an accident for this thread.
It happens to me quite often when I am not paying enough attention whilst handling the unicycle… fortunately I do wear my shin pads most of the times except when riding the 36.
So were you riding any of the two unis or just walking with them and then swinging one around?
I sometimes do the silly thing while riding distance that I am deeply lost in thought and stop noticing any pits or bumps and then naturally get lifted off the seat as the wheel blocks. Or other times when I should be focusing on my uni, I get distracted by something and look too far to the side. That also results in UPD’s. I guess I will never learn: Unicycling requires 100% focus
I had finished my training and was pushing both unis while walking. The stupid incident happened when I had nearly reached the place I put the unis (propped up against a wall). And when I swung around my KH27.5 it bit me in the leg.
I had this strange accident when I fell backwards sitting on the uni but had my calf wedged between the peddle and ground. The further back I fell the more pressure it put on my calf it and almost broke my leg in slow motion. That was pretty scary and at the time I didn’t know how to get out of it. Ended up falling sideways on the concrete. Has never happened again.
I had a half dismount, half upd once.
I was still a relative beginner and had begun to loose balance, so I decided to dismount.
Unfortunately my calf got stuck on the pedal somehow and I stayed in the saddle for a few scary seconds without feet on the pedals:)
I have been working at learning to unicycle for almost a year. I am pretty sure it looks like a stupid accident waiting to happen to anyone who had the misfortune to see me trying. Especaily when I started off on super cheap flimsy ones I was pretzeling at close to 400lb.
For this reason, I seek out areas to practice with no one around, or at least as few people around.
Giraffes have been ridden off road. Whether anyone has set one up with a fat knobbly tyre and grippy pedals, I don’t know.
My own daftest UPD was on my first 36 (Coker Big One) when I decided that the seat was a tad too high and puled the quick release, intending to lower it “on the fly”. The seat post poked out of the frame and dug into the top of the tyre stopping me dead.
Hee hee. My first stUPD happened when, as a beginner, I tried standing on the cranks. I had no business doing that. I ended up landing hard on my hands.
Scott Cooper had a giraffe MUni he built up with a 26" tire. He didn’t use it that much as most of the interesting MUni trails around Santa Cruz have trees.
Giraffes with wheels larger than 20" do appear in photos and videos on this forum now and then.
A skateboarder once stopped me in the park and said he knew some guy in the Bronx with a scar in the middle of his forehead who rides a giraffe down the stairs all the time. Does that count as muni?
Scot Cooper, at the 1998 California Mountain Unicycle Weekend. That was the first event where Kris Holm ever rode with other unicyclists. Here’s the rest of the site (links to the larger photos don’t work).
That would count as Street. And now we’re all wondering about that scar. Any connection to the unicycling??
The giraffe mountain unicycle has already been made and used off road. That was probably an interesting experience. Perhaps some day I will contact Tommi at the Unicycle factory to get one custom built…
Yes, but not really. unicycling becomes second nature, allowing us to juggle and listen to music and lectures for miles, while reading text messages and conversing on our phone or with a runner/rider at our side, or while enjoying the view.
You have to somehow stay alert to changes in the terrain and severe bumps in the pavement, but on really smooth road, no problem, right?
My own daftest UPD was on my first 36 (Coker Big One) when I decided that the seat was a tad too high and puled the quick release, intending to lower it “on the fly”. The seat post poked out of the frame and dug into the top of the tyre stopping me dead.[/QUOTE]
