In this series we stop people along the bike lanes in Vancouver and have chats with them about their thoughts on cycling, their bikes, and more. Have a look at the archive HERE.
Name?
Tynan
Does your unicycle have a name?
Actually it does. I didn't give it the name but a friend named him for me. His name is Barry and he's a bit of a big boy.
Is there a reason why you would ride a unicycle with such a large wheel?
With unicycling you have very limited gearing options so you ride a larger wheel to go faster. With that you lose a bit of mobility so it's like driving a semi or a big bus. It takes a long time to get up to speed and a long time to slow down but once you are at speed you're going.
How many unicycles do you have?
I used to have seven but I trimmed down my collection so now I only have two. I have my hockey/artistic one and my distance ride.
Why did you collect so many at one point?
It's like any avid cyclist where they have their road bike, mountain bike, and other bikes for various purposes. I had one for BMX, one for skate park tricks, one for distance, one for off road, one for cross country and one for circus stuff. It just kinda adds up.
What was your reasoning for getting rid of them?
Partially to share the love. I sold ones to people that I thought would actually start unicycling. I help run the Vancouver Unicycle Club, and it's important to me to bring on new people and make sure we keep on having the influx and that new energy.
Do you own a bicycle as well?
I do. Unicycling as you can probably imagine is a lot of work. If I don't want to be super sweaty and I want to hang out I will just ride my bike so I don't have to bring a change of clothes.
Are unicycles quite expensive?
They range in price. You can go on craigslist and find one for fifty dollars or you can go up to three or four thousand. Not really anything beyond that. They don't scale quite as much as bikes do.
How long have you been unicycling for?
Around 15 to 16 years.
Did it take a while to learn?
It did because I didn't have a teacher. I think if you have the right teacher you can learn quite quickly. It's a hard thing to learn, but I know people who have started riding two weeks ago and came to play unicycle hockey with us this week. It's possible if you have the determination to ride.
Where does unicycle hockey take place?
It used to take place under the Cambie Street bridge on the downtown side where there is a little skate park/basketball court. It is really great there in the winter because we are completely covered so we will probably move back there once the beautiful weather leaves us. For now we share the court with the bicycle polo crew on Commercial Drive at Grandview Park where we play once a month.
Tell me about the Unicycle Club.
The original creators left the scene in the late 90's and my friend James and I picked it back up when there was just the two of us riding. James went on a ride and met the local unicycle hero, Kris Holm and we were all star struck at the time because we had only seen him in the Banff Film festival before that. Shortly after that Kris came out to a ride at SFU that had 30 – 40 unicyclists which then gave the club the boost it needed to get started. From then we had weekly mountain unicycling rides for five years. Now we don't do it as often as the club is split between unicycle hockey and off road riding. We go up to the North Shore and Squamish fairly regularly. Anne-Sophie Roget, and Justin Lemire-Elmore are the other two ring leaders of the club.
What unicycling adventures have you been up to this summer?
Well every two years for the past eight years I have gone to an event that is very dear to my heart called Unicon. Which is the world championships of Unicycling as well as a convention. There are a lot of people there who are really passionate about unicycling who might not be very great at it and then there are people who will drop your jaw with what they can do on one wheel. It's a full two weeks of competitions of all sorts. There is unicycle basketball, hockey, and track races. There is artistic singles, doubles and groups which is pointed and judged in a similar way to figure skating. There is street which is basically like skateboarding in a skate park. There are trials where you make difficult lines and jump over obstacles. There is also distance riding where in Italy a few years back there was a 100 km race. They haven't done since because I think it was too gruelling for people so now it's just the marathon at 42 kilometres and a 10 kilometres race. There are some speed demons in there.
Did you compete as well?
I actually got to join the Hong Kong team for unicycle hockey because there wasn't enough people playing from Canada to make a team. Even though it is the world championship's they are not limited by country for the teams for basketball and hockey. We got through the first round and then got knocked out on the following one. We tied for 16th with 8 other teams out of 44. This was in Northern Spain in San Sebastian.
What are some challenges you face unicycling in Vancouver?
Coming back from an event like Unicon always leaves me inspired. We have a bit of a culture of just going and doing your own ride which is great but it can be hard to bring people together to get that real community feel. There are also great circus schools in Vancouver that have unicycle programs but I haven't connected them with our club. I am hoping to bridge the gap of our groups. We have enough riders but we just need to coordinate and convince them.
Where in the world is unicycling really popular?
There are some hot spots for sure. The next Unicon will be hosted in Seoul, Korea where 10 years ago there wasn't much of a unicycle scene. This one man, Master Cho who is the leader of a number of Taekwondo Dojang's decided that all his Dojang students would cross train by riding unicycles. Now there are about 5000 unicyclists in Korea. In Germany they are really serious about their unicycle hockey, and they have a massive league there and actually have three different leagues because they have too many teams. You can't get to the top league if you haven't played in the bottom league. In France they do a lot of unicycle basketball and street unicycling. Oddly Puerto Rico is renowned for their basketball, they have a very small team but they are one of the top in the world. In Japan they learn unicycling as part of their school curriculum, but it is my understanding that it is more of a woman's sport in Japan so you don't get many male riders.
Check out more about unicycling in Vancouver at: www.vanuni.com
