TRACK TRIP WAS WHEELY GOOD
Rochelle Evans
616 words
14 June 2005
The Marlborough Express
10
English
© 2005 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
by Rochelle Evans
Four unicyclists on the Queen Charlotte track had people wondering if
they were seeing things at the weekend.
Colleen Logue was out from her Cnoc na Lear backpackers in Endeavour
Inlet when she caught sight of a surreal vision.
'I saw a man walking with one wheel and thought he had broken his bike.
Then he got on the thing and started off. Next thing three others
whizzed by. It was the last thing you expect to see in the bush,' she
said.
But these days it's not just clowns on unicycles.
Ken Looi, Steve Pavarno, Peter van Boekhout and Rachel Shaw are four in
a growing number of people who prefer one-wheel transport.
Mr Looi has pedalled his way around Nepal, Iceland, Cambodia and Tokyo
and is planning a 12-day unicycle tour of Laos and another in the Alps
later this year.
'It's like learning to ride a bike. Once you master the balance, you
don't forget how,' he said.
After completing the Rainbow Rage, the Queen Charlotte Track was next on
his list, in training for the Coast to Coast next February.
Completing the slippery 71km track on half a bike, with no brakes or
gears, was no easy task.
The first leg, from Ship Cove to Endeavour inlet took six hours, and
wasn't without spills, known in the unicycle worlds as 'UPDs' —
unplanned dismounts.
This is the first time, to their knowledge, it has been completed on one
wheel, but the four cyclists from Nelson, Wellington and Palmerston
North are part of a growing interest in the sport.
In the past month six unicycle clubs have sprung up over New Zealand.
There are over 500 club members in Australia and New Zealand, with about
100 active cyclists in New Zealand.
Looi is president of the New Zealand Unicycling Federation and said
there is a range of events and skills with the one-wheeled sport. He
plays unicycle hockey and has represented Australia in unicycle
basketball.
Looi, who has a day job as a doctor at Wellington Hospital, said some
take on the sport for the novelty value, but the mainstayers are in it
for the challenge.
To master the balance can take months for some. The most common time is
about 15 hours of strained muscles and sore knees.
Nelson teen Peter van Boekhout applied his courage from years of
mountain biking, skating and karate, and mastered it in about 25
minutes.
After a year and a half in the sport van Boekhout, 16, is the top trial
freestyle unicyclist in New Zealand, and title holder for the highest
standing hop, at 80cm high.
'You have to be a little bit crazy,' he said.
'People have got used to seeing me on it now. It's a fringe sport. There
aren't many people making a living from it professionally.'
'It's a real cool sport to get into at the moment. Everyone knows each
other around the country. It's like the cycling clubs in the 80s.'
Rachel Shaw is one of a few woman in what is a male dominated sport in
New Zealand. In America and China it is the reverse, mostly because of
the choreographed routines in front of a panel of judges at world
competitions.
The next world champs will be in Switzerland next year.
British cyclists Glyn and Rebecca Moss were amongst many in the weekend
who were surprised to hear that it was possible.
'We thought we were doing really well until we heard they were people
doing on one wheel.'
The unicycle website is at www.unicycle.org.nz .
--
JJuggle - We Are the Newts Who Say, Nigh.
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
'7th Annual LBI Unithon' (http://jjuggle.unicyclist.com/lbiunithon) -
Saturday, June 11, 2005.
Cellphones don't annoy, people do.
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