Required: A Single Wheel

As a cyclist who teaches--and as someone to whom odd facts seem drawn the way flies are attracted by --well, you know-- I'm surprised I didn't hear about this sooner.

In St. Helen's  School--a parochial kindergarten-though -8th-gradeinstitution in Newbury, Ohio--unicycling was a required subject for many years.

No, not an elective.  Not an extracurricular activity.  A required course.

So, kids passed each other in the hallways, astride their single wheels.  From all accounts, accidents were rate.

That should come as no surprise, given the level of expertise St. Helen's unicyclists developed:  They were asked to perform at events from Worlds' Fairs to Super Bowl halftime shows--and Jimmy Carter's inaguration.

I could find no explanation of why they unicycling requirement was dropped.

I must say, though, that I am surprised that a school in Ohio rather than, say, California had such a requirement!

A Ride To Point Lookout And A Father's Day Mystery, Almost

Today I broke a promise to myself and rode to Point Lookout.  It's not that I have anything against PL or the ride; i just figured traffic would be heavy on the way to the beach on a warm, sunny Father's Day.

Well, there was some traffic going over the bridges from Broad Channel to the Rockaways and Rockaway Beach to Atlantic Beach.  But it wasn't as bad as I expected.  I guess people had backyard barbeques (I saw a fair number of those) or celebrated in other ways.

It's interesting to see couples , usually middle-aged or older, who raised kids who've moved out.  I guess once a parent, always a parent.  I often see such couples on Mother's Day as well:  On that day or Father's Day, it's common for one spouse to take the other out for lunch or dinner.

I wondered if one such couple was at Point Lookout when I got there:

For a moment, I didn't see anyone else, let alone a couple who might've worn those shoes.  Could they have wandered out into the water only to for one of them to have a heart attack, or a memory lapse?

Fortunately, I saw them walking on a sandbar.  No kid was anywhere in sight.  

Saturday Silly: The Fliz

What, exactly, is the point of this?


I mean, it combines the disadvantages of walking with the disadvantages of cycling. 


If you're going to be bent forward, you should be riding a real bicycle with drop bars, or with flat/porteur/moustache/tourist/commuter bars set below your saddle height.  If you want to walk, why should you have a frame slung over your shoulders if its only purpose is to connect two wheels that won't to help you move.  And, finally, if you have a wheel in front of, and another behind you, you should have a pair of pedals or something to propel them.


I'm guessing the inventor of this device--called the Fliz--was playing a joke.  On whom or what, I don't know.  But it is funny to look at, so I guess his/her efforts weren't for naught.


Who says Germans don't know how to have fun?