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They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 24th 04, 08:41 PM
teachndad
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


…they came running over to me repeatedly yelling, “Can I have your
autograph, can I have your autograph?” A group of 7 or 8 boys ages 8 –
13 came running behind me after seeing me riding my Muni at the park.
Oh, great, what do I do now, I thought. I always get embarrassed in
situations like this.

==============

After finishing schoolwork this past Sunday morning, I treated myself to
a much needed 30 minute ride at a park in Glendale. This was the first
time all week I had gotten a chance to ride. Temps were pleasant with a
comfy nip in the air. Overcast skies reflected Los Angeles’ June Gloom
for this time of year.

My 10 year old son goes to Temple School on Sundays. This was there
last date for school, so they moved it to the local park. I had dropped
him off an hour and a half earlier. I began riding the park, which
provides some light trials. This includes a sinuous 5” wide and 2’ high
wall that runs 50’ along the perimeter of the sand box. It’s always my
goal to ride this out to the bitter end. On this day, I made it half
way and dropped the Uni several times adding war wounds to the
what-used-to-be pristine purple paint job. Leaps to the sand are always
fun for the imminent UPD. Right after a water brake at the car, I did
my first rolling hop up onto the curb. I thought, “Huh, I did that, no
way.” Couldn’t stop and recheck that one, I had to make it to the
restroom as the body was calling.

To break up the routine, I head across the grassy areas ignoring stares.
I find the 20” high long brown benches. I mount on them but sometimes,
if I start in the wrong place, I come off the bench weak foot forward
and UPD. On this day, however, the Gods are with me as I land every
drop. It doesn’t matter which foot is forward. I ride off, hop off,
and try a forward hop while thinking of Bill Hamilton’s (Billham)
attempts at landing a 30” forward gap. If a 48 year old can do this,
why can’t I? Well, I need more practice, but came close to that
distance. Some boxers that were practice sparingare next too me. I
notice them staring at me, but no one says a thing. I politely smile
and continue and then move on

I slither over to small round wading pool devoid of any water. Looks
deep enough to hop into and hop out of. Looks just shy of 10”. Any
higher and I am afraid of not making the hop out and worried about
screwing up my wrist again. My son’s teacher comes out of the bathroom
with some of her students. No Sammy with her, but she looks right at
me. I smile and say, “Hi, this is what I do for my outlet”. She smiles
back but doesn’t recognize me. Okay, fine.

I have had a good ride today, I feel good. All body parts are
functioning properly. No pain in the ankles or feet, no back aches. I
constantly think about how much I enjoy my Shimano DX pedals. So,
comfy. It doesn’t get any better than this.

It’s time to go. I head over to the picnic table where I spy my son. I
ride up and he’s looking excited to see me with a box of donuts that his
teacher had given him. “Daaaadd, You want a donut?” I am thinking,
heart attack,- no thanks. I politely say, “no”. All the classes were
outside in one big group and we ventured over to his teacher to say good
bye and wish her a nice summer. She sees me and spots the purple beast
next to me. With guffaws, she realizes it was me she saw. Then she
says, the ubiquitous “Oh, I didn’t know you ride a unicycle. You will
have to come and do a show for my class. Do you know any tricks?”…

We politely say good bye and I ride a ways with Sammy by my side and
then it starts. From afar, I hear, many boys voices running after us
yelling, “Can we have your autograph, can we have your autograph?!”
Ohhh, for crying out loud, I think. The boys ages range from 8 to 13 by
my estimate. They come running up. I am really embarrassed and
thinking what do I do now?
I get the positive comments about it being cool and can I ride that from
the smallest one. I remark politely, “ You can’t reach the pedals.” The
next question is inevitably, “Can you do any tricks?” I sigh, and say,
“No, but I can ride that wall over there.” The chorus chimes together,
“Cool, let’s see”. As I ride over to the wall, I think, “I can’t blow
this, I can’t blow this, I can do this” it turns into a mantra inside my
head. I hear, “Look at him, that’s sooo cool.” I am on the wall ride
it from the middle to the near the very end. The wall turns gradually
right and I begin leaning left. Just shy of the end of the wall, I
decide to bail with a rolling hop off to the left and into the sand. It
looks like I planned it. Cheers go up. I feel like one bitchen baddass
for just a moment. I decide continue heading over to my parked car.

I always get uncomfortable in these moments. I like riding a unicycle.
In fact, it has become a passion for me, but I almost loathe the
attention it brings me sometimes. One person at a time, on a trail I
can handle, but when there’s a group, I don’t feel comfortable. I feel
like slithering away. …but, the cheers helped.


--
teachndad - The Munieer

Rod Wylie


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  #2  
Old May 24th 04, 09:29 PM
scot
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Nice story Rod.

You are a role model dad, teacher and unicyclist.


--
scot - cyclops

stick with what works
http://www.unitours.org/tours/ScotCooper/
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  #3  
Old May 24th 04, 09:31 PM
one wheeled stallion
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Cool! Great read, I'm not too keen on people staring or asking the kinds
of Qs you were asked either, especially when the Q is "how do you ride
that?" It always seems like I'm being really sarcastic if I say "just
sit down and pedal" but it's the truth! I find it quite embarrassing
also! Never been asked formy autograph tho, which is a shame!

It is fantastic to pull of a nice move with an audiece on occassion! I
was in Hong Kong recently and I was messing around on my trials uni and
slowly but surely a large group of people had gathered as I was riding a
wall/ledge thing. I didn't mind it too much as I don't speak the lingo,
so no-one asked me any Qs and I don't think I got any silly coments!

Do you find the DXs to be grippy? I've never tried any, but when I was
pedal shopping a while back, I thought the pins looked kind of short?

Keep up the good riding!


--
one wheeled stallion - Guerilla Unicyclist

OWS

"In conclusion, unicycle... or perish. Because in the real world, you
don't have time to think about a second wheel"
-Zach_Jucha
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  #4  
Old May 24th 04, 10:12 PM
S_Wallis
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


I loved the story, Rod... except for the part about dinging the paint,
that hurt.
It sounds like you really had the moves goin', considering how little
you have ridden the new muni. At the park where I ride there are often
large birthday parties going on and occasionally I find myself suddenly
surrounded by a crowd of children rattling off questions for which there
are no answers. It makes me a little uncomfortable but I can usually
passify them by just riding down the stairs and hopping back up. There
is always at least one wise guy that will tell me to jump off the roof,
or ride up a tree.one wheeled stallion wrote:
*Do you find the DXs to be grippy? I've never tried any, but when I
was pedal shopping a while back, I thought the pins looked kind of
short?*

I was glad to hear Rod say he was enjoying the pedals since I kind of
encouraged him to get them. I really like mine, but I know he had a
hard time deciding to get them because he was afraid they weren't grippy
enough. I will be interested to see what his answer is.

Scott


--
S_Wallis - Back in the saddle

"Don't neglect your knees! They're really useful." Words of wisdom from
Cyberbellum

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn
how to do it." Pablo Picasso
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  #5  
Old May 25th 04, 12:25 AM
johnfoss
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Face it. When you ride a unicycle, sometimes—just sometimes—you're a
star. Might as well bask in the attention, because it won't last!

Most spontaneous autograph seekers are not that big a threat. They don't
have anything to write on, or with! That's the autograph-seeker's
responsibility. Back when I did school shows all the time, we got lots
of requests for autographs, but we handled it with a "not enough time"
policy. Because if one kid asks, suddenly every kid in earshot wants
one. You can't tell which ones really, actually want one. If you sign
the 50 autographs in such a situation, you'll find half of them
littering the floor within five minutes.

So in the shools, the ones who got the autographs were usually the ones
that helped us pack or unpack our equipment, or otherwise showed some
committment.

I was never very into autographs myself. I'd rather have a picture of
the person, or better yet a picture of that person with me. I still have
a picture of me with Greg LeMond on my refrigerator. But I also have his
signature on a flyer for MUni Weekend I. That happened on the weekend
before that first MUni Weekend.

Don't get stressed about questions kids ask you. Kids are very good at
coming up with unanswerable questions. This is different from the press
who come up with questions you never thought of, and don't want to
answer. In most cases, the kids are satisfied to get an answer of any
kind, in that they got some interaction with you. They're interested!

I always try to answer kids the same way I would adults, with the amount
of information they appear to want to hear. So if I get asked a
meaningless question like "How hard is that?" I usually give an equally
meaningless answer, like "Not quite as hard as this cement!"

Usually, the ones who really want to know about unicycling are pretty
easy to identify. I always try to make sure the overriding message is
that anyone can learn, you just have to stick with it.


--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard." -- John F. Kennedy,
1961
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  #6  
Old May 25th 04, 01:36 AM
Nick_PF
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


That's one of the worst parts of unicycling in my opinion. Do they have
to stare? I always thought if I ever saw a big time celebrity, I'd give
them their space. They dont' owe me anything, so I won't get in their
way. I guess being on a unicycle turns you into a part-time celebrity,
huh? Ah, well. I'll get over it. This is just me complaining.


--
Nick_PF
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  #7  
Old May 25th 04, 03:36 AM
gerblefranklin
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Nice with the wall.
I had my first unprovoked (I was on public land next to a road, with no
pedestrian traffic on my side of the road and I'd asked park officials
and they said they were happy I was riding in the park and didn't mind
my hopping on the rocks. Basically, this person had no reason to be
nagative towards me.) and mutually negative experience with a stranger
on Sunday. I was riding trials in a local park (see above) and I was
about to try to land a particularly difficult gap from one rock to
another. I was about to do the stillstand into the gap when some total
stranger driving by yells at me "Oh give up! You'll never make it!" I
decided the guy was just some random asshole, and ironically enough, I
landed the gap immediately on the first try of the day. As I landed it I
heard him swear and yell "LOSER!!!" as he drove off. What an idiot.

Now for the good part to remove any negativity from the previous 30
seconds of the ride.

Well, the gap I had just landed was the last gap of a long series of
them that I'd never landed in one try with no dabs before. After the
a-hole drove off I went to the beginning of the line and started fresh.
I landed the first gap/up and almost without pause put the seat back in
and landed the next one. I then began to idle to take a quick rest (the
rest of the line is very technical and has no spots where one can rest
before the next hop, and the first two moves of the line are very big,
so I always take a quick breather on the one flat rock in the whole
line). After about 7 idles I take the seat out and go to the next rock.
It's a strange gap because it's onto an incline and the rick tips in the
dirt so I immediately have to get to the top of the rock before I get
dumped off.

I land it perfectly and prepare for the next gap. It's a hard gap
because the next landing zone is a compound angle where the rock has an
incline towards me on the right side of the side facing me, and the
middle and left of the rock is inclined so that if I gapped to those
spots my wheel would turn and I'd faceplant. Thus, I gap to the riged
right part and land it, although I'm now getting tired so it's a little
sketchy and I barely keep from hopping off again.

I get back in control and prep for the last, most difficult gap. The
rock I'm currently on turns into a ridge about 8" from where my tire
currently is. The ridge is about 2.5" wide and points directly at the
next rock. The face of the rock I intend to land on is strange because
it's pretty much flat and horozontal except where there's a pyramid like
piece of rock taking up about half of the landing zone I want to use. I
hop out onto the ridge, being very careful to keep my tire parrallell to
the ridge, and get to the end, where I can then gap. I don't like front
static gaps, but here it's the only option. I go for it, making sure I
don't land on the pyramid.

I stick it! I put the seat back in and do a short stillstand to savor
the moment before I hop down into the dirt and raise my arms in a moment
of private victory. Unbeknownst to me there was a small crowd of locals
who had gathered across the street and I guess had seen me land the
whole line. My hands immediately go down as I hear "Great job! That was
amazing!" My face glows with a huge smile painted across it even as I
turn red and ride over to my camelbak to shyly take a sip. I was glad I
didn't know about the people as I did the line, but it was great to know
someone else had witnessed my triumph over a line I'd been trying for
about 3 weekends straight. Basically, I prefer to have a few spectators
who don't really ask too many questions, and who I don't know about
until it's over.

They asked me to do a few more lines I had planned to do anyway, and
then I left. Other than the idiot in the beginning, it was a great ride
and nice to have peopel see it.

If a unicyclist whoops with joy after landing a challenging move/line,
and nobody hears/sees it, does he/she make a noise?


--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
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  #8  
Old May 25th 04, 06:12 PM
teachndad
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Do you find the DXs to be grippy? I've never tried any, but when I was
pedal shopping a while back, I thought the pins looked kind of short?



OWS,

I would like to give you some solid feedback, but it's too early. My
expression of "comfy" refers to how they feel to my foot. I was riding
on Snafu pedals which are pretty much straight across at the point above
the spindle. The DX pedals are entirely concave including the area
above the spindle, so my foot seats nicely there. Very nicely, in fact.
That's what I meant by comfy.

I am still riding with the short pins, however I want to swap out to the
longer pins that came with the pedals. I can probably do that by the
end of the week. That should help on the grippiness aspect. I bought
the pedals on EBAy including shipping for $56 USD. They came new out of
the box, but three of the pins were flush with the pedal. The pedals
may be "seconds", but puting in the longer screws will eliminate this
problem. I am going to run longer pins in all the holes except the two
outside holes. This seems to be where the pedal takes most of the
impacts from curbs and rocks.

I will email you in about a month to let you know how it works out, or I
will post something to the reviews forum.


--
teachndad - The Munieer

Rod Wylie


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  #9  
Old May 25th 04, 06:25 PM
jagur
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


teachndad wrote:
*

I am still riding with the short pins, however I want to swap out to
the longer pins that came with the pedals. I can probably do that by
the end of the week*

yeah,dont wait to long to do that.i had the little pins in for awile and
went to install the longer ones.i found out that if the pins even get
smashed a little bit,its impossible to get that 1.5 mm allen key in
there or it just rounds out.

also,if you ever plan on getting some spare pins,start looking now cause
they are a really weird size that nobody has.there was this guy at the
shop that had to wait 6 months for some to get ordered from Shimano
directly.

other than those 2 issues they are great pedals though.


--
jagur - #3649_all fluff i hear?

---------------------------------------------------
-Forget_Your_Life-

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  #10  
Old May 25th 04, 06:46 PM
john_childs
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Default They Yelled, "Can I have your autograph?"


Use Loctite when you put the new pins in. Otherwise they'll loosen and
fall out. The medium strength Loctite should be good enough to hold
them in place.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
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