Well the other day I rode my MTB on the local outdoor ice rink, much to the amusement of some skaters… it has studded tires…
But what really keeps me riding is the look on their faces when I returned with my 28" Sun and rode that on the ice!!! It has a studded tire too.
All in all, great fun tooling up and down the snowy bike path on the uni!!! I love the minimalistic nature of unicycles - just one wheel and a seat. What keeps me riding is the awesome smooth flow you can achieve, and also the endless challenge of learning new things. I don’t think I’ll ever stop riding.
In no particular order: AJ, Matt Toliday, kit, Pete, Neil, Sponge, NIKITA!, Mike, Spencer, Dale, Jas, Gk, Lucas, Joe B, Hodges, Amanda, Bungle, and all the rest of the UK guys!
All true Legends and the friendliest bunch you will ever meet!
For me, unicycling is everything that has been mentioned: fun, challenging, rewarding, etc. But even more than that, unicycling is a great metaphor for living.
Balance, awareness, sensitivity, agility, and last-but-not-least humility. All these skills make the most of my experience. If I ride while looking down, I’m sure to fall. If my attitude isn’t right, freemounts are impossible. And always, always I just have to enjoy and treat each experience as an accomplishment.
I was an old hand at the sports I did until about age 40. Because I’d done them all my life, I never saw much improvement, day-to-day.
Then when I first tried the unicycle I got twice as good in the first couple of hours (one revolution became two :D). Then I got twice as good again - two revs became four. Later, free-mounting success went from “never” to 25%, 50%, etc. It was all tremendously gratifying as an old dog learning new tricks.
As I started riding around town, I learned another reason to love the sport - as my wife says, it combines athleticism with exhibitionism. I could get exercise AND attention (mostly positive) at the same time. This is even more pronouced in the hill-climbs and MTB races I’ve entered. Bikers don’t think uni is hard, they think it’s impossible, so they’re always loud and encouraging. I hear the term “You’re AWESOME” 100 times in each race.
Two and a half years into the sport, and I’m still improving noticably all the time, whether it’s hopping higher, riding faster on my 36er’s new, shorter cranks or finally cleaning a Muni trail that I’ve UPDed on all the previous attempts.
It’s more fun than biking, challenging, great exercise, noticing my improvement has become addictive, and the mostly possitive comments from others. Also meeting and talking to a unique community of like minded people from all over the world.
I live in a verry cycle unfriendly city. while bikeing i have been hit form behind twice by motorist since october but they give me room when unicycling. probably becouse they have never seen one riden before. i have never got a negitive coment while unicyling but many positive ones. the oposite can be said about biking in PA
When I ride down main street at night and the drunk people want to try my uni and I do a 180 off of the curb. It is neat to see the way people look at me when I do stuff that most people don’t think is possible on a uni.
Hey, I just had someone ask me at the traffic junction the other day if I could hop on that thing. A very refreshing change from the ‘How do you ride this thing?’
It has a studded tire too.