I am hyperactive these days. Waking up real early, making exquisite breakfasts, networking, interviewing, taking driving lessons. I am not working - and I actually got myself a monthly metro pass - that's how much I move around.
So today I was in West Bloor Village, paying at the cash of my favourite Chapters store (very cool building, if you haven't been there - it used to be a theatre... they still have a stage and little folding chairs on the walls) - when I saw a nonchalant unicyclist driving down the road. Right on Bloor.
This unicyclist got me curious to the point that I dove towards my laptop the moment I came home and discovered that in the Canadian Highway Traffic Act, a bicycle is defined as "a device having any number of wheels upon which a person sits astride and which is propelled solely by human muscular power through the use of pedals". So there you go, unicycle is just as legal on the road as any other.
A few clicks later, I discovered that unicycles are extremely popular. There are quite a few variations, like a giraffe unicycle and multi-wheel unicycle.People play unicycle basketball, unicycle football, and unicycle handball.
There even exists a dedicated Unicyclopedia - a wiki containing lots of information about unicycling and unicycles.
So now I know that unicycle is not a bicycle that has one wheel (as I previously thought), but rather a bicycle where only one wheel touches the ground.
Funny fact: there's a unicycle model where you turn the pedals together, like jumping. Those are called kangaroo unicycles. Because that's that you look like when riding one.
In any case, riding them is not easy. How do you get on? How do you stop? And how do you turn?
I would love to watch someone learning to ride one. Wouldn't you?
All images were found online
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