One day I was looking at the USA site (Unicycling Society of America www.unicycling.org/usa), and saw that the National Unicycling Convention was going to be hold in Toronto that summer. I jokingly suggested to my mom that we attend the convention. My mom took the idea seriously, and we started looking in to it. The more we learned, the more it looked like a lot of fun, and eventually we decided to drive up there. It was a long drive, but once we arrived, I immediately ran into more unicyclists than I had ever met at one time,  just in the hotel parking lot. When we went to register, we saw more than a hundred unicyclists riding around in the parking lot doing things I had never even thought of doing on a unicycle.

The next day, there were artistic competitions, which were pretty amazing. But of much more interest to me was that Kris Holm showed up. It was really exciting for me to see him in person. Kris and some other people started setting up some trials obstacles in the parking lot behind the gym. Despite some light rain, a bunch of people started riding on them. I had heard of trials before, but had only recently figured out that it was spelled differently than "trails", and I had never really practiced it. Trials is defined as riding your unicycle over an obstacle without any part of your body touching the ground. It's sort of derived from mountain unicycling, except that its usually in a much smaller area, and involves small technical moves rather than riding down a trail. People use hops, gaps, pedal grabs (which is landing on your pedal instead of the tire, and hopping up from there) and whatever else they can think up to make it over what can seem like impossible obstacles. I wasn't able to ride very much of what they had set up, but it was incredible watching what Kris and some others could do.

That afternoon, people started making plans to go on a MUni ride the next day, and I decided to come, even though I had no idea whether I would be able to keep up with the other riders such as Kris Holm and Nathan Hoover, who were much more experienced than I was. My mom bought me a set of Roach leg armor in anticipation of the next day's ride. The ride took place at the Kelso ski and mountain bike area, which is where the MUni competitions would be held later in the week. It was a lot of fun, and I was able to keep up with everyone just fine.

The MUni competitions came at the end of the convention. I hadn't been sure whether to compete in the advanced or beginner category, but I eventually decided on advanced. I was very nervous waiting in the middle of a crowd of riders for the group start of the Cross Country race. When the race started, I was able to pass several people on the dirt road before the course turned into a single track, and get a good position. I was passed by a couple of people later on in the race, but I still finished 3rd in my age group, and 8th over all. In the Downhill race, I finished 3rd in my age group, and 6th over all. In the Uphill competition, I came in 2nd in my age group, 5th over all, and was one of only six people to complete the bonus section at the top of the hill. I was very surprised by how well I did—I really had no idea beforehand how I would measure in comparison with other riders.

Being at the convention really inspired me to ride in a whole new way. The rest of the summer, I was up at my grandparent's summer place in Oquossoc, Maine. I practiced a lot on Bald Mountain, which had a lot of awesome terrain, and was a lot of fun. I also started practicing trials type riding, and working on freestyle skills like wheel walking (riding by pushing the wheel with your feet) and gliding (going down a hill without your feet on the pedals, and balancing by dragging one foot on the tire).

Idaho MUni weekend

At the convention I heard about the Idaho MUni weekend. It was the 6th annual MUni weekend, an event that is usually held in California. Several people at the convention recommended the event, and said it was a lot of fun. I started emailing the family that was running it, and arraigned for me to stay at their house, and get rides to and from the airport. Than I bought a plane ticket. I was scheduled to fly out there on September 14. Unfortunately, because of the attacks on the 11th, the airlines were closed, and I was unable to attend.

Unicycling at school 2001/2002

When I got back to school in the fall, I started to do a lot more riding there, and in Callahan state park behind the school. Around that time a lot of people started being interested in learning. Several other people bought their own unicycles, and quite a few learned to ride on ones they borrowed from me or my friends. Not everybody kept riding once they learned, but there was still a pretty large unicycling population. Probably 20 to 25 people where riding by the end of the year.

Because of all the things I'd learned in Toronto, I also started to be a lot harder on my equipment. I was bending crank arm after crank arm on my Pashley MUni. Some of them snapped in the middle, which made it very hard to remove the part still attached to the axle. Eventually, I decided I needed a stronger unicycle. I set my sights pretty high, on the as yet unavailable Kris Holm signature 24x3 MUni, and started to save for it. The KH24 as it was called for short, came with Profile splined hub and cranks, which are considered unbreakable. That plus the strong 24" wheel and fat 3" tire made it one of the best mountain unicycles on the market. I saved all my allowance money, did odd jobs for neighbors, and asked for money for Christmas. I also decided to sell my Pashley to Dan. By late January 2002 (the unicycle had come out by than), I was ready to place the order. When all was said and done, the unicycle cost about $1300, although that includes some parts I already had.

It was really great riding my new unicycle. I was able to ride testing the edge of my limits, rather than that of my equipment.

To be continued...