Looks like Drummond has a subscription at the Associated Press;
Look, Ma, no hands! Conquering the Great Outdoors on one wheel
By JANICE PODSADA
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Marta Zwierzynski knew the relationship was getting
serious when her boyfriend, Chris Wonderly, had a Unistar LX shipped to
her home in Hatfield, just outside Philadelphia.
It didn't have a doublewide, downhill rim or a 3-inch fat tire, but it
was street-legal and ready to ride.
"I thought Chris ordered it for himself," Zwierzynski says.
But no, it was her own unicycle. "It took me about three months to
learn, although I didn't ride it everyday," says Zwierzynski, a
25-year-old chemist.
One world, one nation, one wheel. While the first two may not be
attainable, there's hope for the third. Why waste valuable resources to
manufacture a two-wheeled bike when one wheel will suffice?
And just like rock beats scissors, cruising along on one rim nearly
always puts mountain bikers, skateboarders - even motorcyclists - to
shame.
Vroom, vroom. I'm hell on wheel.
While unicycling was once limited to sidewalks and sideshows, it now
embraces the Great Outdoors.
Like other beginners, Wonderly was content, at first, to roll along on
concrete - until he veered onto the grass one day, and then onto the
dirt. After that, smooth surfaces lost their appeal.
"I just kept challenging myself," says Wonderly, 26, who began riding
about five years ago.
Most people can learn to ride a unicycle in about 15 hours, says John
Drummond, the owner of Unicycle.com, an online retailer based in
Marietta, Ga.
In the last decade, off-road, cross-country and mountain unicycling
have become popular with kids and adults, says Drummond, who learned to
ride when he was 12. He gave it up as a teenager, only because "you
can't pick up a date on a unicycle."
When he began riding again at age 40, Drummond took the family to the
National Unicycle Convention in Seattle in 1999 and discovered
one-wheelers who were bouncing down mountains.
Worldwide, he says, about 3,500 people engage in extreme unicycling.
A standard street unicycle costs about $100, but the skinny tire and
lighter axle aren't built to withstand a beating. Off-roaders should
plan to spend at least $300 or $400 for a unicycle, helmet and the very
necessary padding. A basic off-road model starts at about $200, while a
handcrafted top-of-the line model can cost more than $1,500, Drummond
says.
And lest you think one wheel is too dangerous for navigating rugged
terrain, think again, says Wonderly, a mechanical engineer from Exton.
The original "Look, Ma, no-hands!" sport is safer than mountain biking,
he says.
A mountain bike can reach speeds up to 30 mph. Fall, and you can get
tangled up in the handlebars or frame, says Wonderly, a former mountain
biker.
"Every single mountain bike rally I was in - at least one person got
taken away in an ambulance," Wonderly says. "It made me think."
And in a nod to Mother Nature and tree-huggers, a unicycle (top speed
10 mph) doesn't tear up the turf like a mountain bike, Wonderly says.
"When people ride mountain bikes, they tend to skid with their rear
tire and it erodes the trail. Unicycles can't skid," Wonderly
explains.
If that isn't enough convincing, then there's the mega-cool factor:
Dang, if you don't look awesome - padded up like a 7-foot-tall Power
Ranger astride that single, fat tire.
"It looks like you're ready for combat," Drummond says. "Helmet, wrist
guards, forearm pads."
Real aficionados like Jeff Prosa, 27, of Cresskill, N.J., add a pair of
black, over-the-knee shin guards, specially designed for off-road
unicyclists.
Prosa tried other outdoor sports before settling on extreme
unicycling.
Mountain biking? "I just couldn't get into it" Prosa says.
Skateboarding? "Not a lot to do there - you're just rolling up and down
on ramps."
Unicycling with a friend in college, he found his niche. "I enjoy being
outdoors. The downhills are a lot of fun, and you can go a lot of
places a bike can't," Prosa says.
On a balmy September afternoon, Zwierzynski, Wonderly, Prosa and Mike
Malsbury, 26, of Horsham, assemble at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia to
conquer the bumpy trails and rocky outcroppings that hug the banks of
Wissahickon Creek.
"It's a lot more careful and meticulous than mountain biking," Wonderly
says. As the afternoon proceeds, that becomes apparent as Wonderly and
Prosa size up each new challenge.
Here, an 8-foot chunk of metamorphic rock; there, a 20-foot fallen tree
lying on the forest floor at a 30-degree angle. What's the slope, how
slick is that log? Which route won't kill us? Hop it or zoom it?
Hikers who encounter Wonderly bunny-hopping down a set of natural stone
steps, or Prosa gliding along a fallen tree, are astounded.
"To see these guys on a unicycle is extraordinary. It's like walking on
water," says Vince Romano, 49, of Philadelphia.
Wendy Foulke, 62, of Wyndmoor, watches as Wonderly executes a
slow-motion flight off a 4-foot rock ledge.
"Wow, you could be made into a woman if you don't land right," Foulke
says.
"I hope it's not that easy," Wonderly answers.
The trick, he says, is to lift off the seat and stand on the pedals.
You don't, however, have to pogo up and down rocks to unicycle the
Great Outdoors.
Zwierzynski, for one, prefers navigating the gentler stretches of trail
on her Torker Unistar LX while her fiance tackles the rocks.
Oh, did I mention?
After her unicycle arrived, it wasn't long before the ring showed up.
A year later, Zwierzynski and Wonderly are engaged, and she carries her
unicycle, at all times, in the trunk of her Acura.
"You never know when you'll need it," she says.
November 20, 2005 12:15 PM
©2005 Copyright Calkins Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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