sentlovrenc said:this thread was made with a purpose to find out what was the thing that
push you over the edge to get yourself a uni and sit first time on
it...
Ah, nostalgia.
Back in the eighties in England there were sometimes foreign kids tv
programs dubbed to English and shown under the name of something like
"Friday Night Special". The opening credits was pigeons flying around as
I remember. These shows were always a bit odd, things like "The Legend
of Tim Tyler" which was about a boy who sold his smile but then tried to
get it back. Anyway, another of these programs was about a boy who
learnt to unicycle and so on. I can't really remember anything else
about it apart from that it was probably German and that when the school
"bully" had a go on the unicycle he blamed our hero for not being able
to ride. I always tell people that I just always wanted to unicycle, but
I think that may have been an influence.
At scout camp one time there was a circus tent where we could all learn
circus skills. I could already juggle a bit and decided to eschew the
other skills in favour of unicycling. At the end of eight hours of
trying over two days (I counted!), I could go about 20/30 metres on a
quite rough field - this was all the surface we had to learn on. I also
remember a girl who could already unicycle being given a go on a giraffe
and thinking it was the best thing ever 🙂
My parents bought me a 20" red Pashley a while later when I was 15/16.
I only just replaced it after breaking off the axle on one side. Say
what you will about old Pashleys, but I was more than happy with mine
for the nine or so years I had it. I'm even happier with my new Nimbus X
though (so far 🙂
I had my first real contact with other unicyclists at the first juggling
convention I went to, say five or six years ago. Roger from UDC was
there with a Coker. I seem to recall he said there were only six in the
country at the time. Thinking back, that must have been my first ride on
a uni other than a 20" and inside a not too quiet sports hall as well!
As with many things, I wish I'd been more involved earlier on. Ah well.
Roger
