Well first thing you should know is that Prague has cobblestone roads. Lots of them. In fact, you can’t go out without tripping over them and breaking your mother’s back.

So when one discovers that like in New York, Prague has a riverside bike path, along the Vltava river, all should be strawberries and cream right?

NOPE.

So at first, it’s all ooh’s and ah’s when starting out, because the road is nicely paved and you have attractive joggers and happy-faced cyclists whizzing past you.

Also, you don’t really mind that it’s maybe about 8 degrees celsius because you’ve got music in your eyes and fluff for brains, and hypothermia is a silent killer so you can’t really feel your toes drop off.

Ooh nature!

And then the further you ride, the further away from built-up environment are. At some point, it almost looks like one of Singapore’s manicured parks except for the fact that your body forgets to sweat in a weather that slowly gnaws away at your toes.

But it’s all very pretty, you know, so most of the time is spent looking around at the pretty sights while being much pretty oblivious to other people gawping at the passing unicyclist.

Very scenic, very peaceful. You start to forget that there were ever such things as cobblestones in Prague and you’re like “Pfft I could ride on these FOREVER.”

YES, I BELIEVE I CAN FLY

Looks like NY

When suddenly…

BLAM! WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?

[BACKTRACK] As I kept cycling further south and south, I realized, “OK I think I’m running out of energy to keep riding. Imma turn around and ride back.” But noo I can’t ride back the same way I came because bad things will happen if I do! Things like… the crops will fail and global warming will happen. So I had to ford the river like a steely cowboy does. The problem is, cowboys ford rivers that don’t attempt to drown or freeze them. Well maybe they do but they don’t have unicycles to keep dry. Also, the Vltava river is deep. Like boat-depth deep.

How now brown cow?

If you can see where Modřany is, that’s where I began to have doubts that I could keep ‘going forever’. Just before I reached Zavist, I began to despair. Luckily, a bridge! A bridge! I am saved! Hallelujah! I can finally turn around and…. start to cycle back.

It’s like someone gave you a water bag in the desert just as you’re about to collapse and then he tells you you’ll have to unicycle about 11 km more to fill it up at the nearest oasis.

So I started to cycle northwards and then we get to enjoy this lovely picture again.

"Hi. You will be riding on me for the next 83793km or so. nbd."

Did I mention I was riding a 20″ unicycle with indoor freestyle tires, 100mm cranks and a crotch-busting cheapo saddle that has no handle? Besides rocks, there were muds, gravels, bushes, fishermens, expressways and the cold, cold Communist weather. Nelíbí se mi to počasí.

I'm so hungry and tired... ooh sheep!

The buses on this side of river went places I didn’t know, so I didn’t want to risk it. I think there were buses going to Smíchovské nádraží which I do know where it is, but it lulled me into a false sense of security that said “ONLY TEN MINUTES AWAY BY BUS!!” so I thought “Ok, I can probably last till that train station and take the metro back.

But I was waylaid because I had to avoid the expressways (why the hell do I always end up on them??) by returning to the mud path. Then I lost sight of the route to Smíchovské nádraží. Apparently I overshot it upon checking the GPS.

(Edit: I didn’t overshoot it, it seems. I didn’t even reach it. Hunger does funny things to your map reading skills)

Yes I had a GPS unit with me. But why didn’t I consult it to get me out of this fix? 1) The map of Prague and Greater Prague is loaded inside it. If I so much as try to scroll more than a few mm away from my current location, it takes three minutes to reload itself and all of Greater Prague. 2) It’s too cold to do anything other than gawp at the GPS unit telling me I’m getting closer back to Prague.

Anyway, I found the expressway bridge with a pedestrian footpath, and so I rode across it, across the Vltava river like a BOSS and many pigeons flew around in formation celebrating my new bosshood and then I took a tramvaj and then the end.

I am not amused.

Photo credits Alice Yuen

Alright, I know this is late. The event happened during the first week of August and featured a turnout of hundreds. All but some tens of us are Korean.

Full writeup here

Asia Pacific

Unicycle Championships 2011

30 July – 1 August

Korea

Fri 30 July

… A smile is a frown, upside down!

Keep those grins up, Jiahui!

Kee approves of this message

On the right, is Example 1. This was Remi and Hui Fang then. Remi and Hui Fang are now married, with a kid, although Kee comments, “Unless you consider her taking care of Remi, making him the second kid.”

The head in the foreground probably belonged to Geoffrey.

Now below, we have Example 2. The renowned duo of the Singapore Unicyclists (then of the ‘World Players’ fame), Kee and Sid, known for their flawless and freakily cohesive unicycle-hockey plays, were caught in bed. While it seems that these two did not pan out as Remi and Hui Fang did, and Sid and Kee are separated by oceans and continents, their time together was a dangerous liaison worthy to be remembered (and captured on camera and then photoshopped to hell).

Sadly, records of the Desaru trip by the Singapore Unicyclists scarcely exist now. We can only look back fondly and twiddle thumbs, reminiscing of better days and broken teeth.

Want more details? We (I) have a page here that you can visit for any additional info!

A group of us rode the trails at the Tampines Bike Park on Safe Cycling Day. The trails, like mentioned are VERY beginner-friendly because they’re mostly flat.

Here’s Hongwei being lazy on the flattest stretch of land ever. Because we have no tolerance for laziness, we fed him to the alligators that lurk by the swamps along the trail and carried on on our merry ways.

Here’s me taking a photo of my face while riding. And Kelvin’s being on his KH29 complete with handlebar.

Thanks OCBC for the jerseys. Me likey.

Ok we’re getting our act together and there will be weekly muni rides. MORE details on how to join in the crazy fun (as can be seen from the picture above) here.

P.S: No I’m serious. There’s an actual discussion thread with more pics here.

Reporting live from the unicycle while dodging the axe.

(Sept 2010 Wildfire Retreat)

Activities were spread over three days; on the first day, a ride was organized to start from the Brooklyn Bridge and to end in Coney Island. Some 55 unicyclists took part and about 48 riders completed the ride.

The bulk of the festival was held at Governor’s Island, where about 300 or so unicyclists and non-unicyclists alike took part. Free workshops, unicycle-hockey and unicycle-basketball matches were held, and some flatland and unicycle-basketball demonstrations took place. There was even a trials course in the corner for those who felt that unicycling is nothing without causing your insurance premiums to suddenly triple.

Finally, on the third day, unicyclists gathered at Grant’s Tomb, the usual meeting and practice place of the New York Unicyclists (NYUC) where all sorts of weird unicycles were available for tryouts. Double wheel, triple wheel, unicycles that cycled sideways when one pedaled forward, free-wheeling unicycles and giraffes and more were free for all who had the guts to try them out.