My main purpose in riding is not getting attention personally. I’m really not that interested in getting people to think I’m amazing, and when, as has happened several times, people driving by stop, roll down their window, and start babbling about how incredibly amazing I am, I usually just feel embarassed and don’t know what to say. For the most part, I prefer practicing alone. On the other hand, I do enjoy the surprise on people’s faces, and I love being able to show people (especially skaters and BMXers or jugglers who dabble in unicycling, but haven’t heard of any advanced skills besides idling and backward riding) what’s possible on a unicycle.
is that George Peck’s saying?
im not sure but i think that is sofa
I do agree with the quotation (although i don’t know who is it from). I like having people watching at me because i might show them how fun it is to ride a unicycle. Moreover, i see it as a way to entertain. When i see children staring at me with big eyes, i try to do some trick. When i cross a street, i do it in wheel walking in front of all the drivers waiting, i imagine it would shorter their waiting.
It’s an interesting subject, i’m sure i can act differently if i know i’m watched.
Manu
unicyclists are not THYMOTIC
It seems the overall consensus is that unicyclists are not THYMOTIC.
Me too.
[This space deliberately left empty]
[Socrates, (via Plato), introduces us to three specific portions of the soul; those being Appetite or Desire, Thymos or Recognition, and Reason.]
that pretty much sums it up especialy for me i do trail rideing pretty much exclusively and i hate atention
I’m with caw89. It’s nice when people smile and ask questions, and hey, it’s an icebreaker sometimes. But if all the good lines were behind buildings, they’d never see me.
I ride for exercise, the sense that I’m developing a skill, fun, all sorts of stuff. But not attention. If I only rode to get attention I wouldn’t be 10% as good as I am now!
sure its nice 2 see some one impressed by my unicycling but i usually sherk it off and say that im like at the bottom of the unicycling food chain and that there are ppl that are tons better then me
but i also like 2 unicycling infront of ppl so they would think that unicycling is awsome NOT me ive gotten 2 ppl into unicycling that way
but then again i cant learn anything on my uni infront of ppl (i fall even more when im learning somthing if front of some one then if im learning alone)
so basically i try not 2 make it look like I am showing off but at the same time i try 2 make unicycling look awsome so more ppl i know will get into it
and btw that quote is like awsome im going 2 write it like in my locker or somthing
warren
i do admit that sometimes its fun to be the center of attention but its not why i started riding. it is however and excellent ice breaker and conversation piece.
Since I started Unicycling in my neighborhood, I have talked to so many more people than I ever did riding my bike around the same route. And it is alot of fun to let others try unicycling themselves.(they really respect what you do even more, and cut out the “unsmart” comments!
I have made more friends than I ever would have before Unicycling!
(The attention doesnt hurt either;)
i do it because i like it. if someone watches me and they want me to show off then i will and i will enjoy it.
im gonna join the ‘i do it cause i like it’ crowd. True, it is pretty cool when someone says something good but more often than not its ‘do u think he knows some1s stolen half his bike?’
rem
i learned unicycling because i thought it looked cool and im not doing it to show off
a few reasons
I started unicycling for several reasons, none of which included a need to seek attention. The exhibitionist side of things i figured would probably occur as a natural side effect of my riding as i improved.
I’d rather people didn’t take too much issue of the fact that i’m on a unicycle much as I’d like say, my learning japanese to be functional in that if I ever managed to get to japan, I’d be able to communicate with people and be understood and I’d be able to buy things and do stuff without too much extra hassle and fuss and bother.
My first contact with a unicyclist was a few years back when I was at secondary school, but I was reminded that I had the option to unicycle while I was working in a catalogue shop (argos) and a young girl asked me whether we sold unicycles and I then thought to myself that that could solve quite a few problems I had, in that I didn’t want (for a few reasons- you don’t need to know why) to ride a bicycle, I couldn’t afford a car, scooters weren’t really an option (even though i got a scooter license a couple of years ago) and I wanted a way to get around besides walking and public transport that would be kinda challenging for me at the same time.
I used to skateboard for a similar reason (and because I liked it too) but i didn’t fancy getting another setup or improving my old one and I also didn’t want to get into the skating ‘scene’ again, even though i’m still friends with some skaters. I also used to quad, but then you have to take around a pair of shoes for some places you want to go and i didn’t really fancy the hassle anymore- with my unicycle, I can wear any clothes and any shoes i want and technically (if people won’t allow me to take the unicycle into wherever i happen to be going which is rare) i’m able to lock it up, even though I prefer not to. I can take my unicycle on the tube in london (even during rush hour) and on the buses too.
Sure I’m learning tricks- but the primary reason for that is for a sense of self achievement and to make my unicycle useful for more than just transport from a to b. I find it quite pleasant to hear people saying ‘that’s cool’ or something to that effect, although i don’t crave it and i certainly don’t crave people saying ‘let’s see you do something on your cycle’ though I’m not offended or frightened of it or (really) annoyed by it (yet). I hope i don’t get annoyed by it, though I can imagine it getting kinda annoying.
if i did get the hang of anything particularly notable, I would like to share it with an appreciative audience, which is why if i was able to tape anything good, i wouldn’t mind sharing it with you guys on the forums; nevertheless, (especially since I didn’t know anything about the forums until a few weeks after i bought my uni) I certainly didn’t buy my uni in order that I might make videos so that I could show people on the unicyclist.com forums.
I guess that answers your question (albeit in my roundabout stylee!
).
When I have been practicing to do a line or trick for a long time, going somewhere to show it off is fun! Especially if there are people I know around… But most of the time, when we are filming or just riding to practice our riding, I prefer that there are no people around. They take my concentration, distrub me and make me nervous.
So, the bottom line, I like people to see when I am doing something I know well, butmost of the time I wish they’d bugger off. => non-exibithionist, only a show-off, if you get the difference ; )
I’m not gonna bother to read all 3 pages except the first post here…and to answer your question, I do love showing off. I think the most fun I’ve had on my unicycle so far was just goofing off in an Albertson’s parking lot and riding around the McDonald’s drive-thru. If I’m just sorta riding normally at a leisurely pace, nice and relaxed-like, and I pass someone walking their dog/jogging/skateboarding/etc., I’ll take the time to do something basic, like ride SIB or just do little hops in a circle, purely to get a reaction. And most of the time, it works very well. 
Heck yes…I’m such an attention hog
and I must agree with Matt…that was one of the best uni rides ever, going to Albertson’s and just showing off for people…