Careful! "Theoretically impossible" is a forbidden word in our sport.
Back in 1979 when I first took a Japanese team to the NUM in Findlay,
then in 1980 over dinner with John Jenack and his father Bill Jenack
(the "father of modern unicycling"), we had vehement arguments over
the possibility of coasting. I maintained that it's possible, the
Jenacks maintained that my "ignorance of physics" was showing through.
Well, in 1980 during my trip around the world to stir up interest
in forming the IUF, I met Joackim Malm (I think it was him) in Stockholm,
where they held the first Swedish meet. We were exchanging tricks when
he says real nonchalantly, "Hey, can you do this one?", and he goes off
coasting! I said, "Hey, man, you're not supposed to do that! You're
breaking the Laws pf Physics!". He says, "Oh, yeah? I've been doing it
quite a while". I filmed him to have living proof of this miracle.
Another argument I had with the Jenacks was that I maintained it's possible
to ride an ULTIMATE GIRAFFE and an ULTIMATE TWO-WHEELER. Just imagine
the last two without the seat and fork. I have not proved my claim yet,
though I tried the former. The Jenacks, of course, said "theoretically
impossible" and gave me a long line of theoretical evidence....Why
don't some of you level niners out there give it a shot?
Another skill (I hate when people call it tricks -- we are not all circus
clowns) that I think is possible is coasting whgile standing up on the
seat -- I don't mean on the fork crown. I think Ken got this idea
from me. I suggested and challenged Jose Roman at Unicon VI to do it,
and I'll bet he can. How about it, boys and gals, get to work! Wouldn't
it be ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR!?
(John you might want to use some of the above stuff as a basis for an
article.)
By the way, somebody posted something about skill levels being silly. I
think s/he misses the point. We are trying to standardize unicycling as a
*sport*. Clowning around and using unis for transport is not the
whole story. At least in Japan, unicycling is a *serious* sport
supported by the governmet. Over 90% of elementary schools now have
unis and its spreading to Junio High Schools. Probably 1.5 million
unicycles have been sold in Japan over the years since I started the
Japan Unicycle Club (now the Japan Unicucle Association, Inc.).
Enough for a Sunday morning's rambling...
Stay on top,
Jack Halpern
IUF Vice President
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