Riding Solo

By Jack Sullivan

When Nyle Blanck was in middle school, he stumbled across a strange object on eBay that he decided he must have.
Unlike any bike he had ever seen, this object had a single wheel directly attached to a seat by a simple frame. Blanck had discovered a unicycle.
Five years after his discovery, the unicycle has become Blanck’s passion. “While looking up videos online to learn to ride, I stumbled upon a video of a guy performing tricks at a skate park,” said Blanck. “I thought this was the coolest thing I had ever seen and decided I want to be as good as that guy.”
Now a second semester chemistry major at the University of Connecticut, Blanck is the founder and president of the Unicycle Club, where other students who share Blanck’s passion for this mysterious bike meet once a week to practice.
Blanck said that while it took him about a week to learn to ride consistently, after five years of riding, there is still room for improvement. He said that he can teach a beginner in roughly eight to 10 hours.
He said that as the club grows and becomes more experienced, they hope to put on shows around campus to show off their abilities.
“The possibilities are endless for a unicycle,” said Blanck. “I can jump onto a picnic table from the ground, ride by pushing the wheel instead of using the pedals, juggle while riding, jump and spin it under me, ride backwards, and many other tricks.”
The club currently has 24 members, and many have joined with no prior experience. They meet every Friday outside of Hicks Hall in East Campus. Blanck said that at the club, they teach new riders to ride consistently. Once they get the hang of it, they progress to jumping and tricks, depending on what they are interested in. They also go on rides around campus if enough members feel up to the task.
Blanck said that most people take up riding unicycles simply to be able to say they can do it. “It is a unique contraption the catches the eye of anybody anywhere,” said Blanck. “It is not something the average person sees everyday and many people are interested in trying it.”
According to Blanck, a beginner unicycle can cost anywhere from $30 to $150, and that his first unicycle from eBay cost $50. He said that the price increases as the material becomes lighter and stronger, and that a unicycle for an expert rider can cost up to $1,500.
And despite what conventional wisdom may suggest, Blanck said that riding a unicycle is actually not that dangerous. “When the rider is falling off, the person naturally puts their feet on the ground out of habit,” said Blanck. He said the only times he has hurt himself was while riding down stairs and riding off-road, and that riding on flat surfaces is safe.
“When you first learn to ride there is a rush of adrenaline when you realize you are actually riding on just one wheel,” said Blanck.
Anyone interested in learning to ride needs to have self-confidence, fearlessness, and persistence, according to Blanck. He said that many people give up after trying it a few times, and that he wishes everyone could know what it feels like to actually ride.
“It takes twice the man to ride half the bike,” said Blanck.