TR: Two Pedals, One Wheel, No Brakes; Moab Muni Fest.

**TeleHoar** · 04-01-2008, 01:42 PM

Mountain unicycling, Half the bike, twice the danger.
Circus skills become extreme sports.

Unicyclist culture probably represents a single percent of cyclists. They are just a step above the numbers, maybe, of penny farthing riders. They are a singular lot, often riding long rides alone. Independent and Intellegent, they are often engineers, biologists, and IT guys. There is one or two in every college and small town. Sometimes there is a small club of loyal members in the bigger cities. It is like most fringe sports; with a dedicated and passionate few who infect the rest us with their quirky but charming obsession.

I forget now why I wanted a unicycle when I was 15. Probably like most 15 year olds, I just wanted to be noticed or get some attention, Maybe I need to show the world I was different then they were. I don't remember that far back, all I know is there I was with a unicycle and a lot of time at home after school each day. I have ridden ever since.

I decided I needed to learn to take the one-wheel to the trails. I missed the singletrack as I don't mountain bike much anymore. Bad wrists make the descents just too hurty. On a mountain unicycle (or "Muni") there are no handles to hold on to. Seemed perfect for me. I started looking around the internet for more information and found out about the Muni-Fest, I had to go. I learn by watching other crazy-people and here I could watch and shorten my learning curve a bit. I signed up, contacted some guys who had extra condo-space and drove to Moab with my girlfriend.

Unicyclers are much like their two wheeled counterparts. They love putting hours in the saddle, they drive long ways to ride favorite trails, they talk milage and nutrition. When the subject comes around to the technical side of their rides you might recognize the minutia of hubs, frame materials, and tire rubbers. They wear the same lycras and jerseys and helmets. They kid each other about their performance and line up to ride sections of trail over and over again.

Big drops.

Something about the fact that there is only one wheel on their steed, however, makes for some very diferent bedfellows. Unicycle riding is much harder, much harder. You tend to fall-off a lot more on the trails. So unicyclists wear a ton of padding. Shin, ankle, elbow and tail-bone protection is a must as you learn. There is no clip-in option, to do so would be suicide. Unicyclists don't take their fashion so seriously, along with the standard MTB clothing you will see wacky print shorts and clown socks. Bright colored helmets and stickers that go on anything. Unicyclists go that extra mile to attract attention...as if the unicycle wasn't enough.

I arrived on a Friday night and met my flat mates. After some beers at the McSwifty's I learned that there would be some unicycle basketball games that evening. My girlfriend and I showed up to a lit street court and watched guys wizzing around the concrete court dribbling and passing and shooting. There were a couple of girls who were playing and they seemed better than the guys! I refrained from trying it myself because i was nervous enough about the ride the next morning. I ended up drinking too much at the basketball court and stumbled home to the rent-a-condo and passed out.

The next day was a planned ride on the Amassa Back Trail. I watched my roomate gear up and copied what they did. I had some of the required padding already and noticed that i should have had more. Some tailbone padding would have been nice and I would be a lot more comfortable today had I had some. We drove to the trailhead and started down the dirt road on our unicycles.

Here we are getting ready to start. You can't see the fear in my eyes as I am thinking "What have I got myself into?"

After a group picture of 200 unicyclists everyone started down the singletrack. The first section was a set of stair-steps that led down to the river. A river crossing was challenging, with many riders falling in. Next was a long steep climb. Here is where I learned that Muni rides consisted of carrying your cycle around a lot. The most elite kids could somehow stay in their saddles on the up. Unicycling on trails requires some trial skills. You can basically just hop your way up the trail as if you were on a pogo-stick. Balancing and making micro adjustments as you "idle" back and forth and then in an explosive move you can jump up the ledges and over the roots. I unashamedly walked these sections.

My roomates, Jim and Mark, showed me the ropes. They let some more air out of the tire, showed me what the handle on the front of the seat was for, and encouraged me to try sections that I never would have thought were ridable. As it turns out those sections were not only totally ridable for me...but they were actually a lot of fun. I found myself hooping and hollaring like a little boy, as I rode down tricky technical sections. Holding on to the handle was key, I felt like a rodeo bull-rider with one hand on the saddle-horn and one in the air as I bounced down little 6" drops.

Me...getting the hang of it:

I was able to ride more and more sections and by the time I reached the end of the ride, 10 miles later. I felt like I was already an intermediate rider and couldn't wait to go try the local trails around Colorado. I am hooked. This was a ton more fun than I ever imagined. Sure I could have cleaned most of the trail on an official mountain bike, with a lot less effort and falling. But that would have been just another Saturday ride, like all the rest. This was SOMETHING, something hard and nearly impossible and I just pulled it off.

I learned something new, something I totally enjoyed and can't wait to go do again.

**InspectorGadget** · 04-01-2008, 02:01 PM

Superb TR! Unbelievable! Good for you.

Last year when I rode my roadie around Lake Tahoe, there were a couple people doing the ride on unicycles. I thought they were lunatics. I'm not sure what that makes you.

**Conundrum** · 04-01-2008, 02:06 PM

Looks like a lot of guys rolling around holding their junk

More challenging than anything I would try...the muni'ing, not the junk holding.

**Wiilbert** · 04-01-2008, 02:11 PM

First time I've ever used that ^ and it's never been more appropriate. Badass!

Although all the guys holding their junk do look goofy.

**rideit** · 04-01-2008, 02:27 PM

Now try it on a high-line!!!

(Quality TR, way to not get too old to try things and have fun!)

**powder4breakfast** · 04-01-2008, 02:34 PM

I actually really enjoyed reading this. Nice work.

**Big E** · 04-01-2008, 02:39 PM

Very cool. Wondering about some of those drops up towards the top of the pics. What's the percentage of muni'ers w/ kids? Looks like it'd be low.

**Greguar** · 04-01-2008, 02:48 PM

Wierd....I mean word

I see more and more of these guys playing around on the stunts out here, pretty fucking cool....

**CDubz** · 04-01-2008, 03:25 PM

thats cool and takes a skill i will never develop, saw some guys in denver doing that on some local trails thought they were nuts...they were but super cool. thanks for a solid afternoon tr

**grskier** · 04-01-2008, 11:13 PM

Looks sick and some suberb shots...

I hurt myself with two wheels enough.

**summit** · 04-01-2008, 11:24 PM

looks very fun

**couloirman** · 04-01-2008, 11:41 PM

sweet TR, go unicycles! I wish I would've seen you guys out there, I had like 10 pounds of extra meat to grill, a ton of beer, a handle of wild turkey 101 and was with a bunch of vegetarians who cant drink worth shit, so I came home with a lot of leftovers. Maybe Ill come join you guys next year...

**deepsquat** · 04-02-2008, 08:23 AM

Nice TR, TH. Saw you freaks out there. I was having a lot less fun, being all official and stuff.

So tell me, why is it so popular with the kids?

**Crinkle** · 04-02-2008, 08:58 AM

sweet tr, we were up there 2 or 3 years ago during this festival. The group ride was Porcupine, which is retardedly long for muni. There were a lot of young kids walking. Needless, we saw some guys pull off some cool shit on one wheel. When we hit the end of the trail at the road, there were a ton of parents in a panic, "have you seen my son?!?!?!?" (a lot of the muni's were younger). we saw so many kids and they were MILES behind us with no water, walking, we encoutered very few in the last 4 miles of trail. It was slightly humorus to me the situation. glad to see they are doing shorter runs now

**chaka** · 04-02-2008, 12:58 PM

awesome! great TR, thanks. Going to craigslist momentarily to see what I can find... I've always wanted to try one.

**Huckwheat** · 04-19-2008, 08:32 PM

After looking at the slack line TR (again), and came to find this.

Great TR, I liked the write up. I have had it in my head for years that when I have a kid and they are learning to bike I will learn to Uni (will make 10 laps around the block alot more entertaining). If I pull that off (my son is only 7 months now), I could see liking the MUNI thing too. I really like to bounce my mountain bike with the front wheel up on a rock or something....could see some of the same challenges (+).

**truth** · 04-20-2008, 12:02 PM

Wow. Most impressive.

**wanghoeby** · 04-20-2008, 07:14 PM

So do any uni's go clipless? That would be gnar.

**denmeado** · 04-20-2008, 07:45 PM

Cool - have been most impressed with unicycles since I saw a guy complete the Mt Evans hill climb on one (14 000ft peak)! He seemed to be having the most fun out of anyone there.