One wheeled carnage

Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks! I am 41 years old and since meeting my father-in-law Roddy 16 years ago, I have been inspired to learn how to ride a unicycle. Roddy is nearly 70 and can still ride a 6-foot unicycle, while my son Zavian learnt how to ride at the age of 7 years old. Riding a unicycle has been on my list of new skills for the last 10 years, along with learning to solve a rubiks cube, doing a kickflip on a skateboard, and learning to start a fire with twigs!

My 6 weeks in Florida over January-February 2022 was a great opportunity to try and learn this new skill of riding a one wheeled vehicle. At first I was apprehensive that I might fall over and break my neck, or worse still be humiliated by failure.

I put on a helmet, grabbed one of Roddy's 16 inch wheeled Schwin unicycles and head out to the back shed to give it a go. I stood on the step with unicycle under toe, took a breath and stepped off... landing face first into the concrete. This was going to be harder than I expected.

After 39 days of practicing at least 15 minutes a day, I can now say that I am able to ride 16 metres, the entire length of the shed, without landing on my face! Now to hit the road to ride around the block...

Video edited by Zavian