www.eastbayexpress.com/news/circus_act_or_extreme_sport_/Content?oid=1194820
E-mail story September 16, 2009 On a unicycle basketball court, eccentricity is standard. "I've always loved the weird stuff," said Berkeley Revolution team member Albert Kong. Feats like riding a motorcycle from San Francisco to Tierra del Fuego (Jim Sowers), learning parkour and archery solely because they're obscure (Kong), or simply juggling with a group once a week on the UC Berkeley campus (Lance Thornton) are par for the course in the unicycling world.
Unicycling's traditional ties with the circus, particularly juggling, further sequester it on the fringes of popular culture. Many of the Berkeley team's members came to unicycling through juggling, and some, like Frank Olivier, who has performed on Broadway and appeared on the Johnny Carson show, make circus-style entertainment a way of life. Ashley Foster, who plays unicycle basketball in Berkeley regularly, learned to ride at Wavy Gravy's Camp Winnarainbow circus camp. But some contemporary unicyclists aren't thrilled about the connotation of unicycling as a party trick for oddballs. They'd prefer to establish a distinction between circus- and non-circus riding, and to push unicycling from the realm of novelty into the realm of sport. "Unicyclists are trying to get rid of association with the circus and clowns," said Marcus Hertlein, a founding member of the Berkeley squad. "It kind of makes fun of it and doesn't really show that there's athletic ability necessary for these sports." Like Hertlein, Berkeley Revolution team member Sowers is more interested in the athletic side of unicycling. It took him an hour and 45 minutes -- third place among the three unicyclists who tried (first place went to Berkeley team cofounder Tom Holub at 1:20), but well ahead of more than eighty bicyclists. "When people see how athletic we are, we get some embarrassed respect," he said. Sure enough, the barriers between unicycling and serious sport are beginning to break down. In recent years, a number of professional unicyclists have earned sponsorships from companies such as Columbia Sports. Many of them specialize in mountain unicycling, which is perhaps easiest for nonunicyclists to embrace because it mirrors mountain biking.
com became the first outlet to sell unicycles online in 1999, and suddenly everyone with an Internet connection and a mailing address had access to the sport. An explosion of unicycle production and sales ensued, Foss said. The new market for different types of wheels, seats, axles, and other components allowed unicyclists to customize their rides and adapt them to different uses. Prices began to drop, too -- today, standard cycles go for under $100, while top-of-the-line rigs run around $500. At the same time, the growing popularity of online photo and video sharing led to the development of a virtual, international unicycle clinic. An innovator in a particular arena could broadcast the achievement and inspire viewers to follow along -- and perhaps respond with their own innovation. Unicyclists who once felt isolated within smaller communities were now linked to a worldwide network. As a result, participation in sports like unicycle basketball has grown steadily over the last decade, and the expanding unicycle universe has led juggling and unicycling to diverge into distinct cultures. While the tension between circus and sport may never be fully resolved, there's ample room for both in our niche-driven culture. "If you can do it on foot, you can do it on a unicycle." READER COMMENTS Editor's Note: Comments are not edited or fact-checked by the East Bay Express. We have several professional performers who play basketball with us, so we're well aware of the physical skills required by many circus acts and other performances. But there's a distinction between "performance" and "sport." A circus act is explicitly performing for an audience, and presentation is at least as important as skill. When I'm playing basketball, or mountain unicycling, I am not at all interested in how it looks to anyone else; I'm trying to accomplish something difficult and I'm concentrating solely on the task at hand. Basketball is measured by how often you put the ball through the hoop, no matter how it looks. Mountain unicycling is a technical athletic discipline, more akin to rock climbing or white water kayaking than to any of the circus arts. I do find it annoying when I clean a technical trail section that most mountain bikers walk down, and someone starts signing the circus music and asks me if I'm a clown. It's not that being in the circus is something to be embarrassed about; it's that circus performers are explicitly performing for others, and I'm not. It is not accurate that they were the first outlet to sell unicycles online. Nor are they responsible for the existence of the sub $100 unicycle. Comment by unicycle-historian - September 16, 2009 @ 01:29 PM I think that the implication that circus acts can't also be sports is rather insulting. Check out hand balancing and flying trapeze, just to name two. I was in a circus in college (Gamma Phi Circus at Illinois State University), and we had rigorous strength requirements for many of our acts. The act in which I participated is a competitive sport throughout Europe. Even clowns, when they are exceptionally good clowns (see Bello Nock for an example) incorporate a great deal of athletic ability into their acts. While I certainly understand the desire not to be taken for a bunch of sideshow freaks, an association with the circus is nothing to be embarrassed about.
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