Yep, same here. Before I read the article about him I watched a couple of unicycle downhill videos from the region (because I ride downhill on bikes) and I was like " That’s awesome, I’d definitely get into this if I was still in my 20’s". Then I read the article about him and realized that I could still get into unicycling. Maybe not rough downhills but still…
Im right with you there, If I was younger and did not rely on using my hands to make a living I would definitely be more daring riding my 26 muni. I am happy to hop on one of my unis and ride for some distance and just enjoy the scenery and being in tune with my uni . I probably will never attempt a ride like the ones he has done but I surely admit I am envious of his journeys.
Here’s another smooth rolling rider.
Imagine Mr. Codd on a big boy wheel…
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Is that speeded up? I need to work on my cadence!
I’m amazed Into The Thunder Dragon hasn’t been posted yet.
It was the video that first got my brain thinking about unicycling after it was shown at a movie night on a (bi)cycling holiday.
That reminds me of this video:
But personally I really love this video and song as a motivator:
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Ah… Fabio, a Red Bull Helmet wouldn’t help much on that one :)… This scared the heck out of me when he released it, it is amazing what folk can make themselves do… even standing and looking over the rail would be more than enough for me.
In credit to Mike Taylor though, Fabio Wibmer did have a safety rope and two wheels (they have a video about that too), Mike freemounted a uni and rode on a rail which would have had the same consequences… much respect to them both!
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I wasn’t aware of the safety rope but looking purely at the technique / rail and ignoring the location or risk involved I could ride both things and I have to say that the bike is the harder one here. You have 2 wheels to keep in line and it’s also harder to safely dismount if you lose your balance.
Even though the rail that Mike Taylor rode is wider, it also looks like it’s not completely flat but more like a ^ shape. I think the rail Fabio is using is easier to ride with the exception of the mount and corner in the beginning. Freemounting a uni on a rail is definitely easier than hopping on the rail like that.
But realistically speaking, I’m sure that Fabio Wibmer could ride a uni on a rail after some practice as well, just as Mike Taylor could do the same with a bike. The balance, the precision, the awareness of the environment are very similar and that’s probably the biggest reason why it took me only a few attempts after 7 weeks of uni riding to mount and ride a slackline:
Well done with the slackline Mark, your trials skills have certainly stood you in good stead.
I’ll take your word for it that the freemount is easier than the hop and line up to the skinny… at least it isn’t a spiky fence 
. I’d rather take my chances on a bike, not that I’ve ever ridden a trials bike though.
Here is the video I referred to above if you haven’t found it already. The guy Fabio is tied to looks suitably large that if he had fallen off he wouldn’t be going straight over afterwards (cartoon style…).
In that case, with the proper catcher, maybe I would have tried it too… He takes a lot of risk in his videos so I didn’t expect him to use a rope here… But riding that rail like Mike Taylor did is a different story then
safety rope or not, I would never have done it. Gives me the heeby jeebies just by watching it. yuck.
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Although my body can’t handle this type of punishment anymore, this is still my favorite style of unicycling. https://youtu.be/p2-c8ogz1Rg
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He never heard of the word “safety gear”.
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I’m not a fan of extreme unicycle riding. I don’t have much experience for such tricks yet.
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Sorry to be the one to break the news to you, but some here can’t seem to describe their videos without using the word extreme in the title at least once. Others do extreme things every ride and point to someone else’s riding as extreme. To people who tried the unicycle and gave up, what you now do is extreme. We each have our own perspective.
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Just wait ‘til you see my X-treme curb ride off videos. It’s about 5 inches of death defying, free fall craziness. I really need a good punk rock or thrash metal soundtrack to convey just how extreme it really is.
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Don’t forget to include ‘STREET’, ‘MUNI’, and re-post it in at least three topics here and ………
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Naturally, everyone has their own preferences. I just wanted to say that I would not dare to drive along the mountain trail. Perhaps in the future, when I am more experienced in unicycle riding, I will risk trying to drive over uneven terrain. So far, these videos are too extreme for me. But that doesn’t make them bad. It’s great that someone has such a well developed skill and such good balance.
viewer discretion advised
I’m a fan of “extreme” unicycling, although I hate the term. (I’ve used it in video titles occasionally in the past, because it was what everyone did, and unfortunately it does work rather well to catch non-unicyclists attention…)
I like pushing my limits and seeing people pushing the limits of the whole sport, but I’m also glad we haven’t reached Redbull Rampage (or even worldcup MTB downhill) levels of risks yet (and hopefully never will).
This might be one of the first unicycle videos I ever watched, I had found out that you can do more with a unicycle than just riding around in circles shortly before, and got obsessed with watching any video I could find on it. Wasn’t long until I got my first “trials” unicycle and started doing trials.
Watching it back, while the video resolution hasn’t aged well, a lot of the stuff he does in this video are still pretty top level. Muni has definetely evolved (and improved I’d say) since then, but it’s still high level riding.
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