I usually find most people err on the side of caution when they see a unicycle, whether it be walking, riding a bike, or while driving. I’m thinking the guy might have been a little too distracted and overcorrected his way into the grass. I haven’t had a similar experience myself but if it were me I probably wouldn’t worry too much about it. I don’t think there’s much in the way of fault, and if he was okay then it’s probably not a big deal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Though I do have a similar story to share; while I was at university I’ve had a few people ask me if I could let them try riding my unicycle. There was one particular instance where somebody from across a grassy field asked to ride, to which I said “Sure!”… In their excitement they sprained their ankle jogging across the grass Although it was a bit of a freak accident I still feel kinda bad about that since sprains really suck.
That counts for most of us on the forum I’d say.
Also dogs seem to always bark at me. They are very used to two-wheelers, but one-wheelers are something very different to them.
I’ve had several times that when older peeps (70-80+) that go riding at good weather, then especially the women look nearly afraid when riding closer to me. One time a elderly woman even road off the road into the shoulder, because surely I was gonna tumble off and I don’t even flail anymore. In NL everybody has a bike and when the weather is 20-30ºC especially retired people go for long bike rides. The bike paths are very busy then.
I concur with your statements about dogs and some (elderly) people being afraid of unicycles.
Recently I was riding in the middle of a ~5m wide road when a pedestrian who walked in the other direction used a small fire hydrant bay to give way to me. She waited there, pressing her body against the hedge that followed the road while anxiously looking at the unicyclist who was still 15-20m away. Some people react in a similar way to express their discontent but this time I felt it was genuine fear of the threat on one wheel that I am. I swayed to the other side of the road and greeted her, trying to look as little scary as possible.
If I was flailing and wobbling like crazy I could understand such reactions, but in this case I even had my hands behind my back. You‘d think people would understand that someone who doesn’t need their hands to keep the balance on a uni kinda know what their doing…
Sometimes I thinking about flailing deliberately or making an unexpected move so it seems I am about to tumble off, just to annoy them (coz that is what Setonixes do), but then I would feel stupid if I actually would fall off, so I basically chicken out and then instead ride with both hands on the seat or crossed in front my chest or something.
That’s a shame that someone who seemed very excited to give unicycling a try wound up with a sprained ankle, but sometimes our enthusiasm gets the best of us! Of course, it’s not your fault, and you were just being nice to offer people the chance to try to ride your unicycle, but I can see how it’s a bit of a bummer, nonetheless. But who knows, maybe that one interaction was enough to motivate him to want to try unicycling again in the future! And in that case, although he had to deal with a temporary injury, you may have inspired him to pursue a hobby that will bring him a lifetime of joy!
That sounds kind of similar to what I experienced!
The NYC bike paths are usually pretty busy during nice weather days, as well. These days, riders on these paths include serious cyclists who are riding very fast, casual bikers, electric unicycle and scooter riders, and even some pedal unicyclists, every once in a while.
Today I got my seat covered in chamois cream (accidentally).
Before riding I applied some chamois cream, but it turns out that both my pants and underpants have a few small holes here and there, so the cream ended up on the unicycle seat. For a simple ride that wouldn’t be that much of an issue, but it made doing unispins and rolls even harder and scarier than it already is.
Still, I’ve been doing unispins for more than 2 years, so there is no amount of grease that can stop me.
Today I did the test.
I usually do not dismount to cross the street. I think that the cars have to give way when I use a zebra crossing. But I’m not 100% sure. Thus I thought I see what happens when I ride over the zebra crossing in front of a police car. They were already waiting right at the crossing because there was a queue. I approached the crossing, did a couple bunny hops while checking for traffic on the street lane that was close to me, then crossed the street.
Fortunately, they didn’t react at all; so I guess it’s fine to ride over a zebra crossing rather than walking. Then again, maybe the cops were just too lazy to bother with a dork on one wheel, who knows…
In France, we are… not considered, or maybe as a toy, thus pedestrians.
However, policemen are usually pretty smart (or at least as smart as average population), and can understand common sense. If you ride on the sidewalk (close to walking speeds) → you are a pedestrian and can cross on zebras, if you ride on the road (at bike speeds) → you are a bike and cannot cross on zebras, unless it is safer / not endangering anybody.
Obviously, there are dumb cops, who just want to apply a law they probably don’t know, and if you don’t react in the good way, you will likely have problems, especially if they had a bad day. After all, statistically, half of the population has a two digit IQ, not always with 9 as the first digit.
This was supposed to go into the Brag-thread. A unicycle is often a superior way to transport packages of this size. I ruled out the several other options, among them, , walking.
However, with two hands on the I couldn’t get enough push in the last hill and…
The box was marked “Fragile! Glass!” repeated all over on all sides. So obviously it was filled with… Bedlinens and other soft stuff The cargo survived!
Although it was a bit of a freak accident I still feel kinda bad about that since sprains really suck.
.
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, walking.
I couldn’t get enough push in the last hill and…
The cargo survived!