uni'ing and your manliness

General
1

I wrote something about this quite some time ago to this list, but it was a
fairly new issue then. Does anybody know anything new about potential dangers of
unicycling with regard to male impotence? The issue is being explored in greater
detail for bicyclists, of course, but I would think the fact that on a unicycle
you are putting absolutely all your weight on that one spot (as opposed to
distributing some of it through your arms as a bicylcist does) it might be
particularly risky. I’ll be the first to concede that riding a unicycle is not
the most comfortable experience for the nether-regions. There are new seats on
the market for bikes – I don’t suppose anyone’s bothered to come up with
anything for unicyclists, huh?

I’ve got a Semcycle Pro and I’m using an inflated-innertube in the seat,
but anyone with hints for making unicycle riding more comfortable is
welcome to respond.

2

RE: uni’ing and your manliness

Of course this is only anecdotal evidence, but my now 3 month old son was
conceived at NUC 98. So all I can say is so far so good. jd

> -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Horwich [SMTP:jlh1@duke.edu] Sent:
> Thursday, July 29, 1999 2:10 PM To: unicycling@winternet.com Subject: uni’ing
> and your manliness
>
> I wrote something about this quite some time ago to this list, but it was a
> fairly new issue then. Does anybody know anything new about potential dangers
> of unicycling with regard to male impotence? The issue is being explored in
> greater detail for bicyclists, of course, but I would think the fact that on a
> unicycle you are putting absolutely all your weight on that one spot (as
> opposed to distributing some of it through your arms as a bicylcist does) it
> might be particularly risky. I’ll be the first to concede that riding a
> unicycle is not the most comfortable experience for the nether-regions. There
> are new seats on the market for bikes – I don’t suppose anyone’s bothered to
> come up with anything for unicyclists, huh?
>
> I’ve got a Semcycle Pro and I’m using an inflated-innertube in the seat, but
> anyone with hints for making unicycle riding more comfortable is welcome to
> respond.

3

Re: uni’ing and your manliness

I actually stopped riding for a couple of years when I was working abroad (and
didn’t take the uni). I’ve been back a year. My son is eighteen months old.
Where’s my calculator ?

Jed Nichols

At 17:09 29/07/99 -0400, Jeff Horwich wrote:
>I wrote something about this quite some time ago to this list, but it was a
>fairly new issue then. Does anybody know anything new about potential dangers
>of unicycling with regard to male impotence? The issue is being explored in
>greater detail for bicyclists, of course, but I would think the fact that on a
>unicycle you are putting absolutely all your weight on that one spot (as
>opposed to distributing some of it through your arms as a bicylcist does) it
>might be particularly risky. I’ll be the first to concede that riding a
>unicycle is not the most comfortable experience for the nether-regions. There
>are new seats on the market for bikes – I don’t suppose anyone’s bothered to
>come up with anything for unicyclists, huh?
>
>I’ve got a Semcycle Pro and I’m using an inflated-innertube in the seat,
>but anyone with hints for making unicycle riding more comfortable is
>welcome to respond.
>
>

4

RE: uni’ing and your manliness

> Does anybody know anything new about potential dangers of unicycling with
> regard to male impotence? The issue is being explored in greater detail for
> bicyclists, of course, but I would think the fact that on a unicycle you are
> putting absolutely all your weight on that one spot (as opposed to
> distributing some of it through your arms as a bicylcist does) it might be
> particularly risky.

A bicyclist supports approx. 40% of his or her weight on the hands and feet. We
don’t. But the main difference between us and them is hours in the saddle. Since
there are so many more bicyclists out there, and so many of them are putting in
multiple hours per day, naturally the problems are more noticeable there.

Even among the few of us unicyclists who spend that much time riding per day (I
look toward the riders about to cross Minnesota), we probably get on and off
more than the road bikers do.

Natually no medical studies have been performed on unicyclists, so we don’t
really know. But we probably all agree that there’s a lot of wear and tear going
on down in those nether regions.

> There are new seats on the market for bikes – I don’t suppose anyone’s
> bothered to come up with anything for unicyclists, huh? I’ve got a Semcycle
> Pro and I’m using an inflated-innertube in the seat,

I ride a Miyata air seat, and it’s by far the longest-riding seat I’ve ever
used. I haven’t spent lots of time on a Semcycle/old Schwinn air seat so I can’t
compare, but I think either has the basic formula of supporting you without
pressure points.

As far as I’m aware, that’s the pinnacle of our current uni technology for seat
comfort. Nice to know it’s so simple to do!

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

jfoss@unicycling.com http://www.unicycling.com