1998 National Unicycle Convention Report - Day 3
by Craig Milo Rogers
Sunday, 19-Jul-1998, was the third day of the Unicycling
Society of America's 1998 National Unicycle Convention, in Monrovia,
California.
Whew! All my griping in the last report must have paid off!
There was a thick coastal marine layer on Sunday morning, and the
National Weather Service reports that the high temperature was 93° F in
Monrovia. That's 10° F cooler than it was yesterday!
Actually, the cloud layer broke up by mid-afternoon, so by the
time that I performed my Artistic Freestyle thingie (more on that
later), the gym had gotten a little hot. Maybe it was just the
stress, though ...
Today's focus was on the Individual and Pairs Freestyle
competitions. Roughly speaking, the order of events was:
- Individual Freestyle by age groups
- Lunch
- Jr. Expert and Expert Individual Freestyle
- Remaining Individual Freestyle age groups
- Pairs Freestyle by age groups
- Parade
- Dinner
- Remaining Pairs Freestyle age groups
The youngest Individual Freestyle competitors were:
- Male
- Spencer Johnson, Unicycle Team of Minnesota, age 5
His performance included backwards, 1 foot, figure 8s,
and a final wheel walk!
- Female
- Bridgette Bibler, Wood One Wheelers, age 4
Bridgette was dressed in a Baby Bop outfit. Her performance
involved a few cones and a lot of assistance, but it was
very, very cute.
The oldest competitor was Dr. Reynolds. He almost didn't get
an opportunity to perform, possibly because my own performance was so
short, and another competitor in my age category withdrew from the
Individual Freestyle, so Doc's turn came up sooner than he
anticipated. The problem was resolved, however, and the audience
enthusiastically received Doc's routine when it finally appeared,
partway into the Pairs competition. He took a hard fall, too, while
riding backwards through his disks (cone substitutes), but fortunately
seems to be OK.
Yesterday I reported his age as 76. I want to verify that
final digit; I'll get back to you on it.
Dana Schneider gave a spectacular Individual performance. I
didn't take notes, so I can't tell you exactly what she did, but it
was quite impressive. I hope she retains (or improves!) this level of
performance at Unicon in Bottrop!
In the Expert Individual Freestyle Male category, there were
several impressive performances; unfortunately, many were marred by
unintentional dismounts. Offhand, I'd say that either Andy Cotter or
Dustin Kelm will take first place when the awards are announced,
Tuesday evening, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the other
contestants won it, either: style and the relative difficulty of
advanced techniques are difficult subjective judgments, I think.
More than once today, Dustin was observed dusting the gym
floor with a large dust mop. Ha ha, very funny, but very useful.
Thanks, Dustin!
What else caught my eye? I confess that I wasn't paying full
attention this year, particularly in the younger age categories, but I
particularly recall the toilet plunger juggling, and the, ah, female
impersonator "prop".
The parade competition was a short affair, about three blocks
long in the Old Monrovia downtown. The audience was gathering for a
(regularly scheduled?) afternoon concert in the park, as well as us.
The pavement was OK, except for the mock-cobblestone crosswalks. I
rode one of John Foss' giraffe unicycles for fun.
There were several big wheels in the parade, but there was one
very big wheel; so big, it uses chains like a giraffe. It's not
shaped like a giraffe, though, and I'm uncertain what to call it: an
elephant unicycle, perhaps? It has a reducing gear ratio. Sem
Abrahams rode it during the parade.
Unfortunately (I'm using that word a lot, aren't I? How
unfortunate!) it collapsed after the parade, when someone was trying
to mount it and the rim failed under excessive forces parallel to the
axle. This is a known problem with this particular unit, and a lively
discussion followed about what factors in the design (rim thickness
and material, hub separation, etc.) should be changed.
There were several other novelty unicycles in the parade,
including a couple that were (partly) built out of standard bikes,
in their original frame configurations, or something similar!
Finally, I'd like to include a brief profile of the Panther
Pride Demo Team from North Bend, Washington, which is somewhere in the
Snoqualmie area for you ski buffs.
The group is led by Alan Tepper, a PE teacher in one of
the area's K-5 (elementary) schools. He has been teaching unicycling
since 1982, and his club frequently performs at local half-time shows,
trade shows, etc. Currently, he has 76 (there's that number again!)
riders from several schools in his school district. The youngest
rider is 5 years old.
He found out about the USA and the NUC only 3½ months ago
via the Internet. He held a parents' meeting, and parents with free
time (and their kids) were selected to go to the NUC. The club held
fundraisers to cover airfare and hotel costs, while the club members
rapidly familiarized themselves with the USA rules, and prepared for
the competition.
Mr. Tepper starts the first 2 weeks of PE class with
unicycle safety, equipment room procedures, etc. There's a 30 minute
open practice session each day before classes start. Students who
progress to a satisfactory degree are invited to join, with parental
permission, the 90 minute after school team practice sessions.
The club has acquired a number of unicycles over the years,
which gives the kids access to unicycles without a large up-front
investment by their parents. There are 50 unicycles with 20" tires,
16 with 16" tires, some Schwinn 24" ones, and 24 5' giraffes, I was
told.
For training small children, Mr. Tepper uses "pedalos"
(spelling?), which he described as 6 or 3 small wheels and attached
pedals that allow the student to learn the up-and-down pedal motion
without having to learn the other balance skills of a unicycle at the
same time. I'm afraid that my second-hand description isn't very
good. Hopefully, we can get some pictures on the Web soon.
There's no Web site yet, but email to at1pe@aol.com should
get through.
Well, I finally competed in the NUC Freestyle Individual
event. Although the unicycling that I did as a kid, in the
Wonderwheels Unicycle Drill Team, from 1964 through 1972, roughly, was
what would now be called Artistic Freestyle (pair, group/club, and
parade), I haven't competed in this category since I started going to
the USA Nationals in 1992.
I overcame my internal resistance this year (I have a motto:
"I am not a perfectionist -- not exactly"), and gave a, ah, comedy
routine. You could also call it a "surreal" routine. The details
included a live harmonica performance of "A Bicycle Built for Two"
(Daisy, Daisy), a large plush penguin strapped to my back, and
vigorous swimming motions. Ah, comedy, sure, that's what it must have
been, yup. It would have worked, too, if the strap had held the
Penguin upright, instead of letting it tip over to the side (it was a
*large* plush penguin). :-o
Brett Bymaster did some more MUni stuff today, including a
gliding workshop.
That's it for Sunday's report. Monday is the start of the
racing events; I hope I'll be awake enough to compete!
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