All,
I was in Atlanta for DragonCon ( http://www.dragoncon.org), a convention of about 20,000 roleplaying nerds (self included) over Labor Day weekend. While I did go to quite a few of the evening events, I found myself riding my unicycle downtown for 2.5 to 3 hours every day I was there! It was a lot of fun. I wish I had thought to look up some Atlanta riders.
I asked a police officer if it was OK to ride on the sidewalk, the street, or both (I didnt have my cycle with me at the time). He said it was fine on BOTH the road and the sidewalk, as long as I wore my helmet. I asked “Are you sure?” He looked mock-offended, gazed around the crowd like an Anima-tronic President at Epcot, pointed one hand at the badge, and another at the sky, as if to say “who is the Police Officer here?!” I also asked a couple of more, and got the same response. COOL! I rode maybe 9 hours total in the city across 3 days.
I had been planning on visiting Unicycle.Com but I didn’t want to drive all the way over there from the Hyatt. However, I did have a lot of fun. I rode all over downtown on Friday, and I rode in Centennial Park as well. It was fun, kids were cheering me on as I rode through the same fountains they were in (there are a bunch of fountains in the floor of the park that shoot water). The next day, I found out that Centennial Park isn’t a city street or a city sidewalk and that they have different rules, and that Unicycles (and Bicycles? I didnt ask) are not allowed. However, the other security guy, upon seeing my downcast face, told me that technically, the barricaded street that runs through it is OK as long as I stay on it. So, Saturday and Sunday I was able to ride right past the fountain, and I got lots of OOHS and AHHS, just for riding. I got a few laughs at one other time in Centennial park because a man was there playing Santana’s “Jingo” on a bongo drum. I hopped up and down to the beat next to him for a short while as we sang “Jingo … jingo ba! Go ba ba, go ba ba, go ba ba go ba! …” together in unison.
I also had a ton of fun just mixing with pedestrian and automobile traffic, and I learned a lot, always left lots of margin for safety, always looked and listened in all directions, and stayed away from doors, driveways, and intersections. No accidents, yay!
I met about 10 different people or so who wanted to try, and 3 who rode as kids and managed to get up on my Hunter and ride 20 to 30 feet. I had a lot of great conversations, and thanks for the Holiday Inn having the coldest, quickest, and thickest water fountain available. Heh!
OH! I also met several guys driving the Segway. I think they were the International Ambassadors, or something, who give directions and help downtown. All of them were very nice, and one of them let me take a picture with him. I will attach the image.
You can find all my DragonCon weekend pics, TEMPORARILY, at http://lwb.org/public/dcon2002/ … there are some costumes (I should have taken many more costume pics, but I rarely had my camera on me) from DragonCon there, plus the ledge in my Hotel Room where a bird pooped on my head … for real! If only I had been on my UNI, that would have rocked. There is a picture of a minor (but very cool) actor there, and some other misc stuff.
Later,
Lewis
I had originally thought about being on my Uni for the shot … I would have been taller then. However, I wanted my Hunter in the shot, from the side, but this guy was nice enough to swing by (I had a footman page him over the radio and he came over) so I didn’t want to keep him through a dozen poses.