UNICYCLISTS SET TO BE BIG WHEELS IN NOVA SCOTIA; RIDE THE LOBSTER;
COMPETITORS FROM 10 COUNTRIES SET FOR 800-KM RELAY
Brianna Goldberg
12 June 2008
National Post
(c) 2008 National Post . All Rights Reserved.
It only takes just one wheel to Ride The Lobster, but for some
Canadians taking part in an unusual five-day long unicycle relay, it
also takes a miner's helmet.
Competitive unicyclists from more than 10 countries pedalled their way
through qualifications to take part in the 800-kilometre unicycle relay
that runs across Nova Scotia next week, many of them coasted on the
benefit of their own unicycle-rich cultures.
"There are three million unicyclers in Japan alone," said Edward
Wedler, founder and co-organizer of the race.
"In Europe, there's an International Unicycle Hockey Federation, where
Germany has more than 40 teams in four leagues."
And in Canada? "There's a few."
Maybe that's because Canada is not quite so friendly to the one-wheeled
wonders trying to make a name for themselves.
Mr. Wedler said team members from Alberta and Saskatchewan who wanted
to take part in what's being billed as "the Tour-de-France of
unicycling," had to first complete the two consecutive days of the
75-kilometre qualifying rides in April through snowstorms, when it was
dark, and with flashlight-topped helmets to help them see where they
were going.
When the real race gets under way on Monday, the teams will begin on a
mostly flat course in the province's south, push their way up the west
coast, and progressively uphill, as they near the end point in Cape
Breton.
"We did test runs and realized that the Cape Breton portion had more
hills," Mr. Wedler said.
"We decided to put that at the end, because we didn't want people
bailing out right at the start of the race if it seemed like it was
going to be too hard."
At least they get to end the race going downhill, right?
"Actually, going downhill on a unicycle is difficult, because it's not
like a bicycle -- you have to pedal the whole time," said Mike Thaler,
a Grade 11 student and a member of Toronto's Team Atlas, which is
competing in the event.
In all, 35 three-rider teams with members from Korea, Singapore, New
Zealand, and other sundry European and North American countries will
somehow find their way to small-town Nova Scotia, and pass the "baton"
(a GPS tracker) between each other as many times as they like during
the next five days.
Mr. Wedler, who said he can only wobble a mere 17 feet on the
one-wheeled contraptions himself, came up with the concept as a way to
bring a unique brand of attention to his home province.
He was inspired after coming across the Web site of a fellow named
Unicycle Max, who was charting his own journey across New England using
GPS on Google Maps.
Mr. Wedler tweaked the idea to include teams, presented it to the
Unicycle Federation in Switzerland in 2006, and the cross-province trek
was born.
Jeff Groves, another member of Toronto's Team Atlas, said that
"unicycling's allowed me to travel all over the world--Spain, South
America, Europe.
"But everywhere I go, Canadian unicyclers are known for just wanting to
have fun. It's really a social thing."
The hard work begins on Monday, with the international teams competing
for more than $10,000 in prize money and equipment.
Teams will be tracked and mapped and their positions in the race are to
be presented via the Internet to unicycling fans around the world.
The strange event is even being filmed as the subject of a documentary,
and home-province support was obvious when the film crew accompanied
Nova Scotian competitor Beth Amiro to an elementary school near Truro
recently for a workshop and students began sending fan letters to the
unicyclists.
"They treat her like a rock star," filmmaker Sherry DeVanney said.
--
JJuggle
Raphael Lasar - Matawan, NJ
Pictures from the '10th Annual LBI Unithon' (http://tinyurl.com/5ye394)
held Saturday, June 7, 2008!
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