First Annual New York City Unicycle Festival
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The 2010 New York Unicycle Festival is to be the first annual NYC unicycle event of it’s kind. It is to take place in places around New York City September 3rd – 5th, 2010. This three day event is being produced by Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. It will feature a distance ride on September 3 from Manhattan to Coney Island; a grand gathering on Governors Island on September 4; finishing up on Sunday September 5 with a gathering of unicyclist at the New York Unicycle Club’s meeting at Grant’s Tomb.
Friday, September 3, 2010 Coney Island Ride 2:00pm until after the 9:30 pm fireworks:
This day has been proclaimed by the Brooklyn borough President, Marty Markwitz as Brooklyn Unicycle Day. If you are experienced in riding in traffic and have a 26 inch or larger wheel and a recommended helmet. Meet on the east side of City Hall in Manhattan at 2:00 by the Brooklyn Bridge #4, 5 & 6 train station entrance. The 13 mile route begins at 3:00 pm traveling over the Brooklyn bridge, and then continuing through Brooklyn to Coney Island. You can join the ride from the beginning or along the route to Coney Island. You can also just meet the group at Coney Island where we will gather after the ride. Hopefully many of you will stay for the Friday night fireworks at 9:30pm. Coney Island also features the beach & boardwalk, Luna Park amusement rides and the New York Aquarium that closes at 6pm.
Brooklyn Unicycle Day schedule: This ride is sponsored by Dino’s Wonder Wheel. The first 40 participants get to ride the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island for free.
- 2 pm Meet Up on Manhattan side of Brooklyn Bridge. Meet the group on the East side of City Hall Park (on Park Row) in front of the subway entrance for the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Station 4,5,6, (across the street from the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian entrance).
- 3 pm Cross Brooklyn Bridge (all wheel sizes are encouraged to join in on the Brooklyn Bridge crossing)
- 4 pm Pass through Grand Army Plaza into Prospect Park. We need to be through the park no later than 5 pm because the roadways open to automobile traffic at 5 pm.
- 5 pm Enter the Ocean Parkway Bicycle Path
- 6 pm Arrive at Coney Island Boardwalk in the vicinity of the stadium
- 7 pm Coney Island Activities TBA
- 9:30 pm Fireworks
Saturday, September 4, 2010 Main Event on Governors Island, Noon – 5:00pm:
- Organized games such as unicycle basketball and unicycle hockey. Rules will be based on the International Unicycling Federation’s guidelines.
- Workshops, ranging from learn-to-ride sessions to advanced skills instruction.
- Races and competitions. Rules will be based mostly on the International Unicycling Federation.
- A unicycle trials course. As in skateboarding and BMX, there is a community of unicyclists who will attempt to run obstacle courses on one wheel.
- A unicycle-vending area that invites dealers and vendors from across the country.
- Demonstration by the world renowned King Charles Troupe.
- International unicycle film series.
Governors Island Event Schedule:
- Noon Welcome to UniFest
- 12:10 pm Mass ride around Governors Island
- 12:30 pm Free Style Demonstrations
- 1:00 pm Unicycle Hockey
- 1:30 pm Trials Demonstrations
- 2:00 pm Unicycle Basketball: King Charles Troop Demonstration / pick up uni basket ball game
- 3:30 pm Unicycle Games and Relays
- 5:00 pm Group Photo
Sunday, September 5, 2010 New York Unicycle Club meeting at Grant’s Tomb, 1:00pm – 5:00pm:
Unicyclist will gather to ride, talk, learn and demonstrate unicycle skills.
Additional considerations:
For all of these events it is advisable to bring your own food and refreshments or funds to buy food locally. There are food vendors and vending machines throughout Govenors Island and bicycle rentals for those who have not mastered single wheel riding. The ferry rides to and from the island load fairly quickly and are very brief. In the area around Grant’s tomb there are a couple of local delicatessens and also a couple of fast food restaurants that are within close proximity.
Helpful event links:
Additional detailed information can be found at the following websites.
NYC 2010 Unicycle Festival website for event details and Coney Island ride route map. You can follow some of the latest event developments on the Festival’s Facebook page. You are encouraged to invite your facebook friends via the 2010 Facebook event page.
The Trust for Governors Island website for island information including ferry service schedules from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
National Park Service Governors Island web page for additional information about island events and directions.
Governors Island Map. There will be venues throughout the island.
This posting will continue to be updated with relevant information and additional links as they become available.
NYUC encourages every unicyclist to attend, participate and, show your support for this event.
- Ken Springle @ August 10, 2010
Teen News Comes to the NYUC
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On the third Saturday in June, Teen News came to visit with us and interview a variety of unicyclist for a show that will air in the fall.
Unatic John Stone is pictured above being interviewed while holding up his 36′ Coker unicycle that he has ridden throughout Europe on several European tours as well as here in the states.
The club hosted two well attended unicycle meetings for the month of June. Check out the slide show of photographs that were taken at both meetings from the NYUC Flickr page. Come out to a unicycle meeting and get your picture taken and posted on our site.
- Ken Springle @ July 2, 2010
Nice Day In May
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For the second time in as many months Marcus, pictured below on the right riding with James, treated us with special unicycles that he brought to our NYUC meeting. One 6½ foot and two 9 foot giraffe unicycles all built by Tom Miller of the Unicycle Factory.
This one of the many photographs taken at this meeting that you can view on our Flickr site. You can view all of the photograph taken at the May 2010 meeting in this Slide Show.
Enjoy this short video clip of Marcus and James in action riding these tall unicycles.
- Ken Springle @ May 4, 2010
Meeting of Sunday, May 2, 2010
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Encouraged by my recent spate of meeting updates, I’ve decided to continue the trend by writing up today’s meeting just hours after the fact:
Despite the lovely weather — the first really warm meeting day of the year — we had a smallish turnout. I’m guessing that many of our young’uns were off playing baseball, softball, soccer, and the like. Or just at the beach?
Still, it was a great day to meet new members who had found us because of this great website (thanks, Mitch, Ken, and Dave Lowell!).
CAROL had finally decided that she had to join us (after having decided two years ago). She and her friend ANDY (I think he’s our 11th Andy, but it could be an even higher number!) borrowed some unis and practiced for hours, and both of them did quite well.
ADAM also worked on a borrowed uni for a long time, and he did quite well considering that it was a bit too small for him. That, plus the heat, probably made for a pretty exhausting day. Stay hydrated, Adam!
And CHET (short for Chetan) joined us for the first time, too. His amazon.com-ordered uni is set to arrive tomorrow, but in the meantime he practiced for hours on a borrowed uni and is planning to put lots of time on his new one before we meet again on May 15th. Good luck, Chet!
We had several returning guests:
CHRIS worked on idling. He’s been riding a bit for the past two years and has decided to devote more time to this healthy hobby. Similarly, KEVIN put in many hours to improve at the basics. Good to see you again!
New member JONATHAN came out from about 1:00 till 2:15, at which point he had to dash off in order to get ready for the concert he was playing (violin) for … at 2:30! That’s dedication. He’s the one who came out a month ago and learned in basically 45 minutes. Wow. Not surprisingly, he did even better today.
Our great young pal JAMES S put in many hours at the club working on some skills that are pretty basic for him but quite difficult for almost everybody else. He also worked on some of the weird unis that I had brought, including the Super Trick Cycle (STC), impossible wheel, and ultimate wheel, which of course he rode backwards, just to make it harder for himself.
New member and rider ZACHARY did quite well, working on his basic stuff. Good to see you again, Z!
KATHRYN joined us for the 5th time and continued to make good progress. She’s at that stage where she needs to take off the proverbial training wheels and just ride on her own, but it’s always scary. I can relate, since I spent 7 months learning to wheel-walk, partly because I kept holding the wall and just didn’t want to let go.
Our dedicated pal MARCUS brought a 6.5′ giraffe and two others that made that one look puny! I think both of them were 9-footers, meaning that a rider’s butt would be that high off the ground). Marcus rode around on one for a bit, thus demonstrating the tallest uni to be exhibited outside of a circus in over two decades, at least. There was no way I was going to get onto one of those with my wonky knee. Marcus’s wife, Leaf, and son Zhizhuo seemed confident that he’d do fine, and he did.
SPENCER brought out his teeter-totter again (thanks, dad!), and I rode over it a few times, as did Spencer and several others on the day. Spencer also worked on some basic skills.
PETER stayed cool on the day by only riding in shadows, while his daughter XIA worked on wheel-walking.
MIRON came around with two large ultimate wheels; one is 29″, and his other one looks like a converted Coker. Unfortunately, it needed a new inner tube, so it wasn’t rideable. Miron is in great shape. When I grow up, I want to be Miron!
TYSEN came by once again, sporting his summer haircut. He worked on his standup wheel-walk, which he can do with an unusual method that involves a sort of hurky-jerk motion. I was impressed; I haven’t put much time into standup ww, but it’s hard!
KURT joined us for the first time in awhile, and like many others, he’s hoping to really get into uni’ing and is doing pretty well. Good to see you again, Kurt!
As for KEN S and myself, we basically hung around and enjoyed ourselves while watching and helping others. Thanks for everything, Ken!
Late Breaking News! Mary Jane made it down from Rochester, arriving so late that most of us had left. Sorry, MJ. We’ll see you next time!
- David Stone @ May 2, 2010
Meeting of Sunday, April 4, 2010
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It’s taken me months, but I’ve finally caught up to our last meeting. Phew!
My right knee has been jiggy lately. I may have a tiny tear of the meniscus. In any case, I can’t really ride around a lot, but I never did too much riding at the club, anyway!
MAEVE, going on 6, had almost mastered riding when we met early last month. Since then, she’s turned 6 and gotten a new uni for the big day, but she can’t yet ride on her own. She did manage to ride quite nicely while holding my hand. I love that. Her brother, EMMETT loves playing uni basketball, and we did a lot of that on the afternoon along with JAMES, my brother JOHN, and a few others. And for a rare treat, FIONA joined us, too, tho she ended up loaning her uni to some new riders for much of the time. I was also happy to have SHIRRA join us for the first time in many moons. She can ride but hasn’t put any time into it lately. Maybe now that the weather has cleared up…
Our new pal DEREK came out with a ‘kangaroo’ uni (where both pedal arms are side by side, forcing you to ride most awkwardly). He did that for a bit before putting the crank arms back to normal, and he also worked on wheel-walking.
CHRIS worked on freemounting, idling, and riding backwards. That makes for a busy afternoon!
KATHRYN came out once again. She put in a great effort and has really learned the basics. Woohoo!
ZACH the ELDER was with us once again. He’s admitted to riding only while with the club, but amazingly he’s gotten pretty good. Just goes to show….
TYSEN, who is even better than I’d initially suspected, worked on wheelwalking and other high-level stuff. Thanks for joining us once again; it’s always nice to see you.
We had a lovely coincidental rider: HAITEM. He didn’t intend to ride a unicycle on this day — he just happened to be in the area when he spotted us. He hadn’t ridden since 15 years ago in Sweden, but he picked it right up again and looked really proficient.
KEN was on hand to take snaps, play some basketball with Emmett, play with Maeve, and instruct noobies. Great to see you again, Ken!
LOUISE worked on riding backwards. I gave her a few tips, but she’s almost there. Her dad, POTTER, rode around, too.
We were also graced with the presence of ADAM, ZIGGY, and IKE once more, with mom Renie cheering on her boys (and hubbin). Thanks for making the trip!
EDDY B worked on freemounting and has pretty much got it.
Our new best friend MARCUS was on hand once again, bringing his family before having to skeedaddle a bit earlier than usual. I hope you can stay longer next time!
JONATHAN came out for his first time and was quite good for a rank beginner. Wow!
I was thrilled to see one of my good friends, JOANNA and her younger brother ALEX visiting us just moments before Joanna’s bat mitzvah. Congrats!!! Thanks for inviting us to the party, and enjoy the unicycle! Jo and her bro did quite well for their first afternoon of uni practice.
I hope to see many of you again this Sunday at 1. Ta-ta till then!
- David Stone @ April 30, 2010
Meeting of Saturday, March 20, 2010
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We had a great turnout for a crisp March afternoon.
I dragged my younger two out with me once again. As usual, MAEVE zoomed around on her bike most of the time while EMMETT and I worked on fun stuff like playing uni-basketball.
New member JAMES, 12, worked on hopping. He’s a really fast learner and hasn’t been riding very long. Well done, James!
After a brief hiatus, we had a lot of our rock-solid teen riders out in force (we missed you, Emele!). WILL worked on cool back rolls, triple flips, and a whole lot more. JAMES did his amazing seat-drag and, like Will, many tricks that I can’t even do in my dreams. JASON is working on uni-spins of the 180-degree variety (and lately has been going for the full 360, as I know from facebook). And new member DEREK is proving to be a very solid high level rider, too.
NJ BILL joined us again — you’re becoming a real regular, Bill! — as did our old pal BOB. You may have seen Bob on his uni in the bad weather as shown in a photo from a local paper. It took all of us quite awhile to figure out that it was Bob – the photo wasn’t close-up.
KEN joined us as he almost always does. He’s become more of a regular than me lately, but that’s because my local Scrabble tourneys often conflict with our first-Sundays.
KATHRYN joined us for her 2nd time. Good to see you, K! She told me later that her legs were exhausted for four days after this afternoon. I know that feeling — like after you haven’t skied in years and then hit the slopes. Then the next morning, oof!
XIA worked on wheelwalking, accompanied and doted on by her dad, PETER, who mainly worked on some basic skills. It was also nice to see some of our older regulars like ZACH the ELDER along with our newer ‘regulars’ like TYSEN. And there were several new riders like MARTA joining us on the day.
Speaking of new members, TOMMY was there with his friend EILEEN. I think she’ll learn fast because of her background in gymnastics. Another new member on the day was HANNAH. Thanks for joining us!
My brother, John, rode over on his Coker to hang out with his friends as well as his nephew and niece. He had been performing with his group The Paper Bag Players.
Finally, I’ll mention an impressive visit from a young man from London named TONY. Not surprisingly, this was his first time with us! I was glad that he decided to visit the club while in NYC for just a few days. Thanks for stopping by.
And that goes for all y’all! See you soon!
- David Stone @ April 30, 2010
Meeting of Saturday, February 20, 2010
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I missed the previous meeting (first Sunday in Feb) because I was busy coming in 2nd in the expert division of a local Scrabble tournament. Not that I’m bragging….
The club DID meet in early Feb, and I think Ken took photos to prove it. In fact, if I recall, the weather was better that day than on the 20th. When I arrived for this meeting, I was glad I’d brought my shovel. We borrowed a few more from the nice guards at Grant’s Tomb and cleared away a good deal of the snow.
I brought EMMETT and MAEVE for some fun in the white stuff. Emmett worked on his uni’ing with both 20″ and 24″ unicycles (one of which belongs to his older sister, Fiona) and also used Spencer’s teeter-totter for some trials practice. Maeve rode over the obstacle on her bike and was surprisingly good at it. She also worked on her puny uni and rode a bit on her skateboard.
As noted, SPENCER was there, riding on his teeter-totter and generally having fun in our limited space.
PETER spent much of the day shoveling but managed to get in a little riding and also watched XIA as she rode over the seesaw or zoomed around in the track we’d carved out of the snow.
New member JAMES came down from Poquague for the afternoon. Thanks for joining us!
We also had a too-rare treat of seeing ADAM and his boys ZIGGY and IKE, both of whom are under 4 years old. They’ll be the youngest riders on the East Coast in a matter of months (in fact, they’re already doing some riding, but not much at the club — too shy!). Thanks, Renie, for lending us the boys for the afternoon.
My pal Marco’s entire family was on hand again: PHYLLIS and the daughters MIA, LAILA, and TALIA. It was so nice to see all of you again!
Others on the day included new-ish member DREW as well as JASON, who worked on hopping while showing off his brand-spanking-new unicycle.
And of course it wouldn’t be NYUC without our beloved friend KEN, helping noobies and snapping photos of it all. Thanks, Ken!
- David Stone @ April 30, 2010
Meeting Notes of Saturday, 1/16/10
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Yeah, these notes are WAY overdue. We’re going to play catch-up here before another meeting passes me by without notes. Speaking of other meetings, we’re on again for this coming Sunday (May 2)!
Back to the notes of Jan. 16….
Well, it was my mom’s birthday, so I didn’t stick around the whole time (happy birthday, Mom!), but I was there long enough to see XIA working on riding one-footed. Here dad, PETER, was there, too, riding a unicycle that he’d bought for her — the silly one with the really fat wheel. He did surprisingly well on it; it’s not easy to ride.
Another father/daughter team was on hand later: POTTER and his daughter LOUISE. You can’t miss her: wonderful orange hair to match her yellow and orange Converse sneakers (or maybe it was the other way around). She’s getting to be a very solid rider!
Our cool pal JEREMY was there with his girlfriend. She gave unicycling a try, and he worked on one-foot idling.
ANDREA joined us for her first time at the club (and first time trying to unicycle) and did quite well for a noob. Other neophytes included TATIANA and her friend BRIAN. Come out and join us again soon now that the weather is nice!
My bro, JOHN, was there with his wife, YUXIN, and their friends JIANYU and SONG FEI. It’s nice to see so many friends who unicycle — reminds me of when I was a teenager and all of my pals (Russell, Ben, and Paul) learned to ride after I did. We all used to ride around Central Park or hang out in front of the Natural History Museum.
New member (but old rider) TYSEN worked on one-foot wheel-walking. That’s a skill I somehow find easier than regular two-foot wheelwalk. Go figure.
As for the old men:
I worked on crank idle and wheel-walking one- and two-footed (I’m still really bad at both). IRA joined us for an hour and rode around the Tomb. You’re just getting better and better, Ira! KEN rode around a bit, too, and took photos as usual (thanks, Ken!), and we had a visit from BILL of New Jersey (check out njunicycle.com about his club).
And we had a visit from our younger pal, HEATH. Good to see you again!
And that goes for all of you who braved the chilly weather. It’s hard to look back just three months ago to remember that it was in the 20s and 30s. This weekend’s forecast calls for temps in the high 80s! See you soon!
- David Stone @ April 30, 2010
Large And Small Wheelsize
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Many of us seasoned unicyclist know that unicycles are made in a variety of wheel sizes and designs. That was made hugely apparent in our last meeting when Marcus arrived at the meeting with both the largest and smallest wheels at this day’s meeting. Check him out riding this tiny unicycle built by Tom Miller of the Unicycle Factory.
If you check out the slide show of the photographs from April 2010 on our Flickr site. you will see photos of a few Unatic riders trying out this small wheeled unicycle. You will also see many of us enjoying the opportunity to ride this large 43″ in diameter wheel on the unicycle below.
Pictured above is club founder David Stone taking a spin on this big 43″ one wheeled vehicle.
Besides unicycles, you never know what to expect at a NYUC meeting. So, come out and delightfully expect the unexpected.
- Ken Springle @ April 12, 2010
NYC 2010 Unicycle Festival Seeking Volunteers
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Updated April 13, 2010.
NYUC will be participating in this upcoming unicycling event scheduled for the end of the Summer. If you are interested in volunteering contact Keith Nelson directly via contact information below.
NYUC will keep you updated with new information regarding this event on this website as it becomes available.
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus is organizing the NYC Unicycle Festival. It will be taking place Sept 3-5, 2010 in NYC.
We are still in the very early stages of this project, but I am hoping to put together a committee/crew of folks to help make this happen. And I am interested in having your input/assistance/support/etc.
There are many responsibilities that will need to be covered including:
* organizing contests and games
* public relations, promotions, and social networking
* raising funds to cover basic costs of the festival
* seeking sponsors
* coordinating housing for out of town riders
* possibly organizing a Saturday performance
* logo design
* coordinating artists and demonstrators
* and so much more.
In the immediate, I am seeking to create a preliminary festival committee. Most communication will be by email and phone, so close proximity to NYC is not necessary. I have included the basic details about the festival below.
Let me know if you want to be kept in the loop and if there are any special areas of expertise you would like to offer.
More soon.
Thanks
Keith Nelson
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus
PO Box 1917
New York, NY 10009
keith at bindlestiff (dot) org
1-877-BINDLES
New York City Unicycle Festival Event Details
3 Days of One Wheel Madness
What: New York Unicycle Festival
When: September 3, 4 and 5, 2010
Where: Governors Island, West Side Cycle Path, Grant’s Tomb
Day 1: September 3, 2010, 11:00am
West Side Cycle Path
A long distance ride from South Street Seaport up the West Side Cycle Path.
Day 2 Main Event: September 4, 2010, Noon until 5:00pm
The New York City Unicycle Festival comes to Governors Island for a day of unicycle races and games, public shows, and the largest group of one-wheeled enthusiasts ever to gather in the five boroughs.
The NYC Unicycle Festival on Governors Island features:
1. A fun-filled day of riding unicycles on Governor’s island
2. Organized games such as unicycle basketball and unicycle hockey. Rules will be based on the International Unicycling Federation’s guidelines.
3. Workshops, ranging from learn-to-ride sessions to advanced skills instruction.
4. Races and competitions. Rules will be based mostly on the International Unicycling Federation.
5. A unicycle trials course. As in skateboarding and BMX, there is a community of unicyclists who will attempt to run obstacle courses on one wheel.
6. A unicycle-vending area that invites dealers and vendors from across the country.
7. Interboro tunnel ride through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, entering Governors Island through the stairway in the air shaft (pending MTA permission) .
8. International unicycle film series.
9. A public show featuring the best unicycle entertainers from around the world (venue and funds permitting).
Day 3: September 5, 2010, 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Grant’s Tomb
The festival joins up with the New York City Unicycle Club at their traditional meeting ground, Grant’s Tomb.
- Ken Springle @ April 3, 2010