I thought I’d create this thread for people to share what kind of jobs they all have and how it affects them riding Unicycle. Unicyclists can’t just unicycle in different places without money. So having a job supprots a lot of people who ride.
I’ll start this thread off by saying I am a Machinist at BARR Marine, which is a Boat Motor Manufacturing company. It’s a labor job and pays well. It really benefits me by letting me have the money quickly if I need to fix my unicycle or buy a new one. It’s kind of funny being a Machinist Unicyclist.
I am a home childcare provider for the past 12 years, so I get paid to be young & silly. Although, not much(cash that is!) I am 38 and a female. I have yet to actually ride a uni, as mine is stuck in a box on a UPS truck somewhere between Nebr & Utah.
But I have ridden bikes for years and love anything with wheels. I have a Surly Pugsley fat bike, a Quintana Roo carbon fiber racing triathlon bike, and a 1974 fixie conversion.
I work as a ranch hand(slave) and it helps me cuz I can go to the Unicycle club thirty miles away from where I live twice a week because I don’t have a license yet(I’m 15) and I need to give someone gas money to get me a ride, I learned a lot from the Slo Juggling and Unicycling club and contribute a lot of my success to going there.
I work summers in an insurance company. They pay well enough to cover my unicycle costs for a year although most of the money go to my school expenses of course.
Actually, I’m stationed up in the Gamma quadrant of Sector 4. As a member of the elite Universe Protection Unit of the Space Ranger Corps, I protect the galaxy from the threat of invasion from the evil Emperor Zurg, sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance.
Seriously though, I work IT for an airline. We have an office building in the middle of the airport space, the terminal is to our north, and the runways are to our west and south. There’s plenty of parking lot, and empty roads around as we’re almost the only ones here. Our team is a 24/7 operation.
Because of the available space, I have the opportunity to do a lot of riding around the office. I did almost all of my learning at the office. On my lunch hour, I would grab the uni, and head to the far end of the parking lot to learn. Once I was able to ride, I would ride around the building. I got a few weird looks in the middle of the night riding around. The only thing that kind of sucks is that it’s very flat around here, so it can get boring as I’m a muni rider.
If I didn’t work here, and worked downtown where there’s less space and a lot of people, I might have not set enough time aside outside of my work day to learn.
My title says IT Manager, but in reality I’m an Operations Engineer in the Bay Area. I do pretty much everything to keep a datacenter running. My main things are networking equipment and linux administration.
It’s fun work. There are always new things to learn and interesting ways to do things.
I don’t actually ride anywhere near the planes, just on the roads that are around the office. But I had often thought it would be funny to be riding down the side of the runway when a plane lands. Give the guys that had a few too many drinks something to ponder: “Did I just see…??”
That’s the daydream of everybody who works in IT isn’t it?
Personally I’m currently unemployed, hence how I found the time to learn - though I actually have surprisingly little free time as I do a lot of childcare, and there’s always another DIY job to do (I also do one morning a week on voluntary IT support in our local school). I got a good redundancy pay-off, hence haven’t been too worried about getting another job, but figure it’s probably about time now - when I do get a job it will presumably be in some sort of software development job, as that’s what I did before, though have also done software testing, IT support and systems admin type stuff - I actually quite enjoy the latter and seem to be quite good at it, so would happily take a job doing that. Or there is always the fantasy of becoming an outdoor activities instructor - talked to somebody I know today who’s getting back in to that via voluntary work and suggested I should have a go, but unlike me she already has some instructing qualifications.
I’m a Math tutor (algebra through second semester Calculus, I’m taking the third, Multivariable).
I’ve noticed all my uni practicing has made it easier to concentrate, and see multiple and more ideal ways of solving the problems when I rode challenging terrain regularly. For over a year I did my 2.5 mile commute every day, now it’s 4.5 mi and over a huge hill so I haven’t done that ride yet (I suck at climbing).
Set up some obstacles. There is tons of stuff you could do that doesn’t take too much space or is collapsable.
Acutally, it’s just really flat around work, there’s quite a bit of great mountain-style riding right in Calgary, and the mountains are less than an hour away. If I’m working a day shift, I’ll drive away from the office for lunch to find some short trailage. If I’m working the graveyard, there’s not much I can do as I need the street lights around the office. I’m planning on building some lighting for the uni and my MTB, but that’s for a different thread
It goes pretty much the same for me. I take my Nimbus Trials to work and ride during lunch, ofcourse after my meal. I think if you take it to work with your fully comitted to the sport. Or obsessed, which is me haha.
I’m just saying it’d be nice to have something to practice on similar to what you might see on the trail in the tough sections.
Most of the interesting stuff is in the first few pages of my building link.
A few sandwich boards, teater totters and 2x4 skinnies could be arrange in an infinite variety of ways.
A skinny I’ve thought of but haven’t seen any pics of would be 2x4’s screwed together in the following pattern. Link a few up of varying widths at different angles and you can create some really interesting lines.
I’m guessing 2 feet long 1 wide at the crosses (for stability) would be good. Easily stackable in an out of the way corner.
I was working as a summer day camp counsler for seven year olds. I brought it one day and rode it around the gym with the kids chasing me. It was’t a very good camp so I probably provided them with some good entertainment.
Just about to head out for my lunch ride. I work at a company as a statistician. Luckily my lunch time is long enough to go for a spin everyday. I leave my 29 inch in my car and drive to a couple nearby parks for a quick 45 minute ride.
