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  #21  
Old October 20th 03, 04:22 PM
JJuggle
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Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


GOOD TIMES ROLL ; YOUNG COLLINS UNICYCLERS FIND FUN, FITNESS,
SELF-RESPECT

DAVID WICKERT
The News Tribune
499 words
15 October 2003
The News Tribune
South Sound
B03
English
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

Blair McFarland's office at Collins Elementary School is filled with
footballs, basketballs, jump ropes and other accessories you'd expect to
find in a gym teacher's possession.

And then there are the unicycles.

About 50 of them hang from McFarland's office ceiling - except for an
hour each afternoon when students in the school's Coyote One- Wheelers
Unicycle Club practice. At those times, the ceiling empties and the gym
fills with grade-schoolers peddling the one-wheeled bikes in circles and
figure eights.

It's a spectacle that has become increasingly popular among McFarland's
students in the Summit-area school in the Franklin Pierce School
District.

"They just come out of their shell," he said. "They've found something
they can do and others can't."

Six years ago, McFarland got the idea for the club from the success
colleagues at other schools had teaching various "circus arts" like
juggling, tumbling and unicycling. McFarland decided to focus on
unicycling.

He had to encourage many of the original 20 club members to participate.
But when kids saw their friends cycling, he said, "it just snowballed."


Today, the club has 75 active riders and another 75 on a waiting list.
Participants range in age from Collins first-graders to middle-
schoolers who come back just for the cycling.

They are divided into two beginning groups, one intermediate group and
an advanced group. McFarland also coaches a performing group that
masters choreographed routines and rides at football and basketball
games and parades.

Last Wednesday, about two dozen intermediate and advanced youngsters
defied gravity at the Collins gym as McFarland put them through a series
of increasingly complex maneuvers. They zigged left and right around
cones, zagged around each other, practiced various mounts and rocked in
place. Most rode standard unicycles, though a few mounted "giraffe"
bikes that in some cases were taller than themselves.

McFarland said unicycling helps develop good balance, strength, body
control and coordination. Several club members agreed.

"It makes me work hard at something," said 12-year-old Kaelin Kerr.
"It's something to focus on."

"It's challenging," added 9-year-old Taylor Griffin.

But kids also have more kid-like reasons for enjoying unicycling.

"I think it's cool to show off to people," said 9-year-old Rachel
Sandoral. "People stare at you."

"It's fun. It's interesting," said 11-year-old Justin Osborn. "Not many
of my friends do that."


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Practicing democracy between wars is like being a vegetarian between
meals.

“You’re an instrument of God, bound by the limit of time and space. . .
Ads
  #22  
Old October 27th 03, 04:11 PM
JJuggle
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Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


I know Ramos and Lowell, two of our many Davids rode this event. And
look, Nikkifrog got a quote! Way to go all.

The search at 'LancasterOnline'
(http://www.lancasteronline.com/archives.shtm) does not currently
retrieve this article, but may in the coming days. Who knows, there may
be a picture.

==============================================
UNICYCLISTS HAVE A WHEEL GOOD TIME ON LOCAL TOUR

Madelyn Pennino
524 words
20 October 2003
Lancaster New Era/Intelligencer Journal/Sunday News
English
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

Whizzing around the parking lot of Leola Elementary School on Sunday,
unicyclists practiced their free mounts, jump mounts and zig- zags -
skills required of any seasoned unicyclist.

About 80 unicyclists from several local school districts and their
parents participated in a three-mile tour through Maple Development, a
neighborhood within walking distance of the school.

The tour was organized through the County of Lancaster Unicycle
Balancers, or CLUB. Marti Beiler, a member of CLUB and parent of a
unicyclist, spearheaded the event. "I think people are shying away from
unicycling as a sport," Beiler said. "There are a lot of people who know
how to ride, but don't continue to develop their skills."

Not true for Beiler's son, Jason, who has captured the title of 2003
World Champion Gold Medalist in the obstacle course category. Jason, a
freshman at Conestoga Valley High School, said riding a unicycle didn't
come naturally in the beginning.

"I wasn't very good at first," Beiler said. "Not until I started feeling
myself get used to the bike." Beiler, who will continue to compete
nationally and internationally, rode a six-inch wheel unicycle on
Sunday's tour.

Short or tall, big wheels or small wheels, there were as many different
kinds of unicycles as there were unicylists.

Jenna Miller, 12, of Ephrata Middle School, started riding her unicycle
a year ago as part of a unit in her elementary school gym class. Though
she is relatively new to the sport, she said the tour didn't wear her
out. "I wasn't tired afterward," Jenna said. "It was fun."

Three bicyclists rode alongside unicyclists to supervise the tour.
Streets were open during the ride. However, East Lampeter Township
police directed traffic at intersections.

Most of the students who participated in the tour were introduced to
unicycle-riding during physical education class in elementary school. A
large portion of those students are also part of CLUB, which was formed
in January to raise interest in unicycling and for people to maintain
interest in the sport.

Paul Hosler, a physical education teacher at Leola Elementary, said the
tour will encourage students to share their skills. "It's a great
opportunity for kids who know how to unicycle to learn from each other
and be together, Hosler said.

One unicyclist is so committed to the sport she drove four hours from
Coudersport to participate.

Nikki Morley, 15, said she learned about the event at the national
unicyclist convention this past summer. "I'm the only unicyclist in my
area," Nikki said. I have to travel to be with other unicyclists. But
I'm thinking of starting a club at my school."

As for Warwick student Rachel Olena, she won't have any trouble sticking
to riding her unicycle. "This (sport) is unusual," Rachel said, "Not
many people know about riding a unicycle. That's why I like it."

After the ride, students ate hot dogs, chips and ice cream courtesy of
local businesses. Unicycle performances by several school districts
ended the day in Leola Elementary's gymnasium.
==============================================

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

if you kant beet 'em joyn 'em

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #23  
Old November 3rd 03, 04:43 PM
JJuggle
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Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


ONE-WHEEL CYCLISTS BOUND FOR NT

By ANTHONY BARICH
260 words
1 November 2003
Sunday Territorian
1 -
80
English
(c) 2003

The Unicycling Association of the NT (UniANT) has beaten Brisbane,
Campbelltown and Castlemaine for the right to host the 2005 National
Unicycling Championships (UniNats '05).

UniNats '05 will involve track racing, mountain unicycling, hockey,
basketball, freestyle riding and urban trials -- all on one wheel.
UniANT expects more than 100 riders to attend the July 2-5 nationals.

UniANT will host UniNats '05 at various venues around the Top End after
joining with Tourism Top End and NT Athletics to make the bid.

"UniANT put forth a very professional bid promoting Darwin and the Top
End," said Wayne Van Wijk, Brisbane-based president of AUS (Australian
Unicycling Society), the sport's national body.

"The AUS looks forward to working with UniANT to put on a sporting event
unlike anything the Territory has seen before."

The winning bid was announced on Thursday at Fannie Bay at a
demonstration ride by the NT's champion unicyclists from the recent
nationals.

Continued: Page 77

NT to host titles

From Back Page

UniANT president Karen Martin-Stone said unicycling is a young sport in
the NT -- at the recent UniNats, riders ranged in age from 7-71.

"You can learn to unicycle, whatever age you are," Martin-Stone said.

"It is an excellent sport for people seeking something exciting,
challenging and unique."

Australia's female National Mountain Unicycling champion Debbie Hyder is
now introducing adult classes to Darwin.

People interested in learning to ride can visit www.UnicyclingNT.com or
phone Hyder on 8983 3898.


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #24  
Old November 10th 03, 09:00 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


A short one, but another school uni club.

PEDALING FOR PERFECTION

94 words
5 November 2003
St. Petersburg Times
1; 1; 3B
English
Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times.

(ran SS edition of METRO & STATE)

Katrina Sawaska, 9, from left, Kaitlin Castle, 10, and Lindsey Norton,
8, practice Tuesday with Oldsmar Elementary School's unicycle club in
Oldsmar. Members of the club, founded in 1995 by school principal David
Schmitt, plan to ride in the Safety Harbor and the Oldsmar Days parades
and a school talent show.


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #25  
Old November 10th 03, 09:00 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


A short one, but another school uni club.

PEDALING FOR PERFECTION

94 words
5 November 2003
St. Petersburg Times
1; 1; 3B
English
Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times.

(ran SS edition of METRO & STATE)

Katrina Sawaska, 9, from left, Kaitlin Castle, 10, and Lindsey Norton,
8, practice Tuesday with Oldsmar Elementary School's unicycle club in
Oldsmar. Members of the club, founded in 1995 by school principal David
Schmitt, plan to ride in the Safety Harbor and the Oldsmar Days parades
and a school talent show.


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #26  
Old November 10th 03, 09:03 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


EXTREME UNICYCLIST

Alexa Moses
379 words
5 November 2003
The Sydney Morning Herald
9
English
© 2003 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited. www.smh.com.au Not
available for re-distribution.

I ride therefore i am

Alex Toms's obsession doesn't need to be talked up. To get his jollies,
the 17-year-old from Campbelltown rides down rough mountain tracks,
travels on the edges of bridges or hops over gaps - on his trusty
unicycle.

"It's extreme unicycling," Toms says. "I wear a helmet when I
mountain-cycle because it's pretty crazy. We used to go without
protection and I've concussed myself, which was serious."

He took up unicycling when he was 14, as part of a circus arts course at
the Campbelltown Performing Arts High School, where he's doing his HSC.
Nowadays, he relaxes by unicycling around Campbelltown and the city with
his mates, ignoring the stares of riders on conventional two-wheelers.


"Bikers, I'm not sure what they think of us," he says. "Both sports are
really similar. Unicycling isn't as extreme as cycling but it's much
more difficult. You can't go backflipping on a unicycle, like bikes. But
a bike is just too easy now."

Toms competed recently in the national unicycle trials, where he took
the Australian records for high jump and long jump. You high-jump on a
unicycle, he explains, by bouncing on the unicycle like bunny-hopping on
a standard bike. The aim is to get over the high bar and ride away
without falling over.

Tips for would-be unicyclists?

"Unicycles have fixed pedals. Which means you can't stop pedalling and
keep moving. If you stop pedalling, you stop. Most of them don't have
brakes. So you don't want to go that fast."

Toms says he wishes he could learn to ride his unicycle again because
the learning stages were fun.

"But I got into bad habits thinking it was a bicycle. It was hard to let
go of the bike feel and learn the Unicycle Way."

Zen and the art of unicycle maintenance, maybe?

"Yes, it's very spiritual," he says.

For the 10 unicycling skill levels of the Unicycling Society of America
visit www.unicycling.org/unicycling/skills/skills.html


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #27  
Old November 10th 03, 09:03 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


EXTREME UNICYCLIST

Alexa Moses
379 words
5 November 2003
The Sydney Morning Herald
9
English
© 2003 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited. www.smh.com.au Not
available for re-distribution.

I ride therefore i am

Alex Toms's obsession doesn't need to be talked up. To get his jollies,
the 17-year-old from Campbelltown rides down rough mountain tracks,
travels on the edges of bridges or hops over gaps - on his trusty
unicycle.

"It's extreme unicycling," Toms says. "I wear a helmet when I
mountain-cycle because it's pretty crazy. We used to go without
protection and I've concussed myself, which was serious."

He took up unicycling when he was 14, as part of a circus arts course at
the Campbelltown Performing Arts High School, where he's doing his HSC.
Nowadays, he relaxes by unicycling around Campbelltown and the city with
his mates, ignoring the stares of riders on conventional two-wheelers.


"Bikers, I'm not sure what they think of us," he says. "Both sports are
really similar. Unicycling isn't as extreme as cycling but it's much
more difficult. You can't go backflipping on a unicycle, like bikes. But
a bike is just too easy now."

Toms competed recently in the national unicycle trials, where he took
the Australian records for high jump and long jump. You high-jump on a
unicycle, he explains, by bouncing on the unicycle like bunny-hopping on
a standard bike. The aim is to get over the high bar and ride away
without falling over.

Tips for would-be unicyclists?

"Unicycles have fixed pedals. Which means you can't stop pedalling and
keep moving. If you stop pedalling, you stop. Most of them don't have
brakes. So you don't want to go that fast."

Toms says he wishes he could learn to ride his unicycle again because
the learning stages were fun.

"But I got into bad habits thinking it was a bicycle. It was hard to let
go of the bike feel and learn the Unicycle Way."

Zen and the art of unicycle maintenance, maybe?

"Yes, it's very spiritual," he says.

For the 10 unicycling skill levels of the Unicycling Society of America
visit www.unicycling.org/unicycling/skills/skills.html


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #28  
Old November 10th 03, 09:06 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


So many jerks, so little time.

LITTLE MOMENTS IN GOTHAM

Reviewed by John McMurtrie
Chronicle Staff Writer
542 words
2 November 2003
The San Francisco Chronicle
FINAL
M.2
English
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

The Colossus of New York

A City in Thirteen Parts

By Colson Whitehead

DOUBLEDAY; 158 PAGES; $19.95

-------------------------------

For a brisk, freeform book that weighs in at a mere 158 pages, the
grandiose title "The Colossus of New York" is only slightly less lofty
than the Big Apple's top-of-the-world ego.

In trying to capture the majesty and complexity of his native city,
novelist Colson Whitehead has written 13 nonfiction chapters that read
as a stream-of-consciousness riff, an impressionistic take on a place
whose mutability, as he points out, makes it hard to pin down.

At its best, "Colossus" illuminates innumerable little moments that
define the city. "A man hands out leaflets," Whitehead writes in a
chapter on Times Square, "and they shun him as if he held a sheaf of
virus and not merely advertisements for discount prosthetics."

At its worst, the book strays toward overly grand and groovy
pronouncements. "Hit the town. It hits back," Whitehead muses in a
chapter on nightlife downtown. (The world-weary voice, one of several he
adopts, is especially precious for a writer who is 33 years old.) Times
Square, meanwhile, inspires this unironic insight (cue the smooth jazz):
"Oh, the lights. At night you need shades."

Being a New Yorker, Whitehead, author of "The Intuitionist" and "John
Henry Days," brings a New York attitude to his enterprise. It's only
appropriate, of course, but one senses that he's striving extra hard to
play the part of the urban misanthrope who loves his city but not its
inhabitants. He dishes out unimaginative put-downs for "the jerk at the
intersection," *"some jerk on a unicycle,"* "fools" who wade in
fountains and "him again, that rheumy bitch" on the subway.

Thankfully, "Colossus" has flashes of keenly observed and mordant humor.
Writing in the second person, he paints a vivid picture of the gloomy,
neurotic underworld of the subway: "Look down the tunnel one more time
and your behavior will describe a psychiatric disorder. It's
infectious." Of the advertisements staring out at riders, he observes:
"Along the fungi hall of fame we are introduced to ailments. Has anybody
ever in history copied down the phone number of the dermatologist with
the sinister name."

Though what he's written is, at heart, a love letter to New York,
Whitehead, oddly, makes no reference to the devastation brought about by
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But he does reflect on the impermanence
of place: "One day the city we built will be gone, and when it goes, we
go. When the buildings fall, we topple, too."

What best emerges from Whitehead's book is a sense of New York as a
living, breathing entity, a benign force that always looks after its
own:

"You say you know these streets pretty well? The city knows you better
than any living person because it has seen you when you are alone. It
saw you steeling yourself for the job interview, slowly walking home
after the late date, tripping over nonexistent impediments on the
sidewalk. . . . The city saw all that. Remembers, too."

E-mail John McMurtrie at .

Document SFC0000020031102dzb20000u


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile:
http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #29  
Old November 10th 03, 09:06 PM
JJuggle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)


So many jerks, so little time.

LITTLE MOMENTS IN GOTHAM

Reviewed by John McMurtrie
Chronicle Staff Writer
542 words
2 November 2003
The San Francisco Chronicle
FINAL
M.2
English
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

The Colossus of New York

A City in Thirteen Parts

By Colson Whitehead

DOUBLEDAY; 158 PAGES; $19.95

-------------------------------

For a brisk, freeform book that weighs in at a mere 158 pages, the
grandiose title "The Colossus of New York" is only slightly less lofty
than the Big Apple's top-of-the-world ego.

In trying to capture the majesty and complexity of his native city,
novelist Colson Whitehead has written 13 nonfiction chapters that read
as a stream-of-consciousness riff, an impressionistic take on a place
whose mutability, as he points out, makes it hard to pin down.

At its best, "Colossus" illuminates innumerable little moments that
define the city. "A man hands out leaflets," Whitehead writes in a
chapter on Times Square, "and they shun him as if he held a sheaf of
virus and not merely advertisements for discount prosthetics."

At its worst, the book strays toward overly grand and groovy
pronouncements. "Hit the town. It hits back," Whitehead muses in a
chapter on nightlife downtown. (The world-weary voice, one of several he
adopts, is especially precious for a writer who is 33 years old.) Times
Square, meanwhile, inspires this unironic insight (cue the smooth jazz):
"Oh, the lights. At night you need shades."

Being a New Yorker, Whitehead, author of "The Intuitionist" and "John
Henry Days," brings a New York attitude to his enterprise. It's only
appropriate, of course, but one senses that he's striving extra hard to
play the part of the urban misanthrope who loves his city but not its
inhabitants. He dishes out unimaginative put-downs for "the jerk at the
intersection," *"some jerk on a unicycle,"* "fools" who wade in
fountains and "him again, that rheumy bitch" on the subway.

Thankfully, "Colossus" has flashes of keenly observed and mordant humor.
Writing in the second person, he paints a vivid picture of the gloomy,
neurotic underworld of the subway: "Look down the tunnel one more time
and your behavior will describe a psychiatric disorder. It's
infectious." Of the advertisements staring out at riders, he observes:
"Along the fungi hall of fame we are introduced to ailments. Has anybody
ever in history copied down the phone number of the dermatologist with
the sinister name."

Though what he's written is, at heart, a love letter to New York,
Whitehead, oddly, makes no reference to the devastation brought about by
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But he does reflect on the impermanence
of place: "One day the city we built will be gone, and when it goes, we
go. When the buildings fall, we topple, too."

What best emerges from Whitehead's book is a sense of New York as a
living, breathing entity, a benign force that always looks after its
own:

"You say you know these streets pretty well? The city knows you better
than any living person because it has seen you when you are alone. It
saw you steeling yourself for the job interview, slowly walking home
after the late date, tripping over nonexistent impediments on the
sidewalk. . . . The city saw all that. Remembers, too."

E-mail John McMurtrie at .

Document SFC0000020031102dzb20000u


--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists

Never have so few done so much for so few. - Jim Hightower on the Bush
administration

"...and lately I've been satisfied by simple things,
like breathing in and breathing out."
- Natalie Merchant
"...and a new uni" - RL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile:
http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/22148

  #30  
Old November 11th 03, 08:59 AM
Klaas Bil
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Unicycle articles (but wait there's more...)

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 14:06:55 -0600, JJuggle
m wrote:

So many jerks, so little time.


Gosh, that was hidden!

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
Grizzly bear droppings have bells in them and smell like pepper spray. - UniBrier

 




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