What made you wanna ride?

Three things over a period of time got me unicycling:

1. 1981 in the Paris Metro and I'm sitting on a train near a guy who
is holding a unicycle. As the train stops, he nonchalantly hops on and
cycles straight off the train onto the platform and through the
commuters. Left me thinking Paris was the coolest city and I'd just
seen the coolest Parisian.

2. 1990s - I think it was the first UK series of Big Brother and the
housemates had to learn to ride a unicycle as one of their weekly
challenges. One of them managed it in the few days they had. Prompted
me to think maybe I could do it.

3. 2003 and I'm looking around this new website I've found called
Ebay. Thought I'd search for, what the hell, unicycles. Next thing I
know I have a no-name uni for £30. Had the rest of the summer to
learn. Wish I'd carried on surfing and found this forum - I'd have
learned a lot quicker!


--
s7ev0

DARWIN LOVES YOU

The best things in life aren't things

-Avatar courtesy of Loosemoose. -
------------------------------------------------------------------------
s7ev0's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7310
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

cyclenoobie wrote:
then later on i had $80 bucks in my pocket and me and my family were
watching master of chamions and then the uni part came on. and i
thought "hey that looks like fun!" so 2 weeks later...



Mwahaha! The power of television!

I saw one in a b*i*ke store, and because I was a weirdo I asked for one
for my birthday. Three years later I could ride.


--
Spudman

*PM to rent a dot.*
'_•_' (www.cathodecorner.com) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • '_•_'
(http://www.pandora.com/) • • • • • • • • • • '_•_'
(http://www.qu-ax.com/)
• • '_•_' (http://www.purepwnage.com/) • • • • • • • • • • • • '_•_'
(http://www.longnow.org/projects/clock/prototype1/) • • • • • • • • • •
• •
• • • • '_•_' (http://www.unicyclist.com/?page=donate) • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • '_•_' (http://www.myspace.com/jerrick_crites) • • •
•
'_•_' (http://www.xanga.com/monkeyman305ab) • • • • • • • • • • • • •
'_•_' (http://www.southparkstudios.com/) • • • • • • • • • • • • '_•_'
(www.google.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spudman's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10752
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

Four significant events for me:

1) I started mountain biking 4 years ago with a very experienced biker
colleague. He used to take us, the novice riders, to real trails. He
would talk about the unicyclists he would sometimes see on the trails
and at 24-hour races. I used to think that both my buddy and the
unicyclists were crazy.

2) I used to see unicycles at a local bike shop ("These must be for
crazy people...").

3) Last year we took some of our old stuff to a garage sale that was
being organized by the parents of a classmate of my daughter. One of
the items they were selling was a no-name unicycle for $3. The owner
said that he had bought it at another garage sale but couldn't learn to
ride.

I immediately grabbed it to give it a try, as part of my
mid-life-crisis activities; to be added to activities like learning to
play the piano, skateboarding, learning to sing, etc... That
unicycle turned out to be very bad and too short for me; but I learned
to go 50m on it.

4) I remembered later on that when I was about 4 or 5 I was walking
with my grandmother Makbule in our neighborhood. I saw a unicyclist and
was very impressed with it. The rider was not Turkish, but was someone
who was affiliated with the many consulates that were in my
neighborhood in Ankara. (For what it's worth, 35 years later I remember
exactly where I saw him: the corner of Farabi and Alacam ).

Now I impress people in my neighborhood. For example, I was on my
unicycle on our little neighborhood 4th of July parade!

Ali


--
tekteker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tekteker's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12447
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

trials_uni wrote:
I wanted to do something that noone else i knew could do...So i bought a
learner uni from the b*ke shop i now work at. Ive only been riding for
11months and ive got 3 unis.



Me too! I went juggling balls, juggling clubs, unicycling.


--
onelesscar

mmm...i love my qu-ax...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
onelesscar's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11127
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

I got my uni just before i got my first clubs


--
trials_uni

TRIALS 4 LIFE !
UNICYCLING FOR MYSLELF
'Check Out The Newbie Guide' (http://tinyurl.com/99yez)

harper wrote:
Bruce-
Quick. Put me on e-Bay.


w00t...i got reply # 60666 in MR
------------------------------------------------------------------------
trials_uni's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10953
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

i make wierd novelty bicycles. i always wanted to make a uni but figured
out it would be really crap so my dad went and bought me one for
christmas and ever since then i have always ridden unicycles. i barely
ever make novetly bikes anymore, i make novelty unicycles.


--
tomtrevor

I was doing a wheelie on my bike and figured why not buy a unicycle.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomtrevor's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12118
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

dad bought unicycle when he was drunk in singapore
now if that wasnt funnliy enough he was an airline pilot at the time
*cue drum set joke rythem*Badom shaash


--
dan de man

tomtrevor wrote:
how the hell do u get fluro brown??? it would also probably look like
uve dunked the uni in a big pile of sh*t




iridemymuni wrote:
What colour ****s do you do tom ? flouro brown sh*ts? thats kinda weird




tomtrevor wrote:
y do u want to know the colour of my sh*t? like that just isn't natural
for someone to think that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
dan de man's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11403
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

A friend came over riding a 9 friking foot unicycle!!! Needless to say
the baseball game that was going on across the street dropped dead and
I had to learn.


--
Joe2005

*Come To The Dark Side* we have cookies.
Anyone in the Wichita area give me a hollar
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe2005's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13692
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

I had just finished work and as i passed the local bike shop, for no
reason what so ever that i can remmember i wondered to myself; do they
stock unicycles? i went in, asked and bought one.

although i do admit to having a circus gilrfriend a few years ago who
first introduced me to one but i never caught on to it back then
because i related it to wierdo circus stuff


--
tobbogonist

Siglet
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tobbogonist's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12176
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310

Well my friends parents got him one for his 15th birthday and everytime
i was over at his house i would practice. I managed to learn to ride
in about a day and I obviously had to buy my own after that.


--
chester1234
------------------------------------------------------------------------
chester1234's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13698
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/51310