AUS Newsletter - June 2006
Hi everyone and welcome to the June edition of the AUS newsletter!
Upcoming Events
Waverley Family Bike Fair 2006
Bondi Park, Bondi, NSW 25 June, 9am – 2pm
The AUS has been asked to invite unicycling members to the Waverley Family Bike Fair, at Bondi Beach. Sydney Unicycle Hockey Team will be there, and all other unicyclists are welcome!
What’s on?
Meet at Bondi Park for a leisurely 2.5km ride around the streets of Bondi Beach. “Bike Buddies” will escort the ride between 9am and 12 noon, leaving every half-hour. Children 12 years and under must be accompanied by a riding parent/guardian.
- Unicycle Hockey Demonstration game
- Bike safety checks available.
- Expert bike maintenance and cycling advice.
- Cycling products and stalls.
- Bicycle hire available.
- Cycling circuit for the little kiddies.
- Prizes for the best decorated helmet on the day
More information at http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/council/enviro/family_bike_fair.asp
Unicycling Weekend - Brisbane Competition
Park Payne Road, The Gap, Brisbane - 30th Sept - 1st Oct 2006
Saturday 12pm till 5pm, then Sunday morning Finals 9am till 12pm
The event will finish with a free lunch BBQ.
Events include
- Unicycle hockey
- Basket ball half court
- Race around GAP
- Kids BMX heats and finals
- Man-made trials
Events categories include unicyclists with less than 12 months riding experience!
Venue: Payne Rd, The Gap, Brisbane
$1500.00 prizes!
Cost $25.00 per person, or $20 for a team of 5 for hockey and basket ball
Contact: Alfred and Lucinda Best - info@unicycles.com.au
More information at: http://unicycles.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=172
Call for donations - Equipment for Cambodia
Wayne Van Wijk - Unicycle Round Up
A few years ago, generous AUS members donated a multitude of unicycle parts and other equipment for a circus project that I was doing in the slums of Bangkok, Thailand. When I assembled the parts I was able to donate 5 complete unicycles, 12 clubs and a box of diabolos to the kids.
A few years have passed and I am now planning a trip to Cambodia this September. The purpose of the trip is to run a 2 week intensive circus and performance skills workshop for students of the Cambodian Royal School of Circus. I visited these guys last year and gave a one day workshop. They have very little funding and are desperate for equipment and trainers.
If you have any circus equipment that you no longer need please consider donating it to the school in Cambodia. I am hoping to bring them unicycles, jigsaw mats (acromats), juggling clubs and diablos.
If you can help please contact me on wayne@jester.com.au
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Wayne van Wijk
News from WA
Reg Bolton in Perth is keen to hear from other unicyclists, especially in Western Australia. If you know of unicyclists in WA, please ask them to get in touch with the AUS or directly with Reg. Reg writes:
Hi fellow eccentrics and dreamers, I’m Reg Bolton, long-time rider and enthusiast. There are lots of stories to tell but for now, just a short introduction.
I bought my first unicycle in 1973, in New York, a 24” Schwinn. Although I can’t claim to have ridden from the USA to England, I certainly learned to ride it on the North Atlantic Ocean. I was working as an entertainer on the cruise liner, QE2, and at night, I would rock up and down the rolling corridors, struggling with luxuriant carpets, gales and drunken passengers.
Soon after that I got to know Dave Mariner (the real DM) making some suggestions for the design of his unicycles. I’m no engineer (as Dave is) but I knew there had to be something more comfortable than the vinyl covered T-bar that he called a saddle.
I had a 28” DM which I lent to a friend called Brian Davis, who for years featured with the longest unicycle ride, in the Guinness book of records. He rode from John O’Groats to Lands End (the length of Great Britain) in seventeen days. At the time, apparently, Wally Watts was riding his unicycle around the world!
I was at Unicon in New York in 1984, where I was a guest judge. That’s where I first met John Foss, Jean-Paul Jenack, Jack Halpern and many other poet/philosophers of the one-wheel persuasion.
I wasn’t seriously aware of the Muni and Extreme Uni tendencies until I was in Edinburgh at the British Juggling Convention in the early nineties. Naturally I was thrilled with this new development, as it moved us away from the world of funny clowns, and also avoided the dire pitfall espoused by the International Unicycle Federation of making unicycling an Olympic Sport. (Roll over synchronised swimming, here’s something even sillier!)
Today I live in Perth with about 17 unicycles, in spite of periodic garage sales. I still have a 42” wheeler made by Tom Miller in Kokomo, Indiana. It’s really too big for my short legs, and I’m trying to come to terms with my 36” cruiser, while still introducing dozens of new riders each year, either through the Suitcase Circus schools programmes, or The Circus Shop, which is my front room full of unicycles, juggling gear, fire toys, stilts, books, dvd’s etc. Please visit www.circusshop.net
Municycle 2006 - News from Chiltern
Here's a brief summary of what Mal Bird writes about this years Chiltern Muni ride:
Fifteen unicyclist of different ages and abilities descended on the small historic town of Chiltern in NE Victoria for the second MuniUni Weekend on the 20th and 21st May. Chiltern is surrounded by the 21,000 ha Chiltern/Mt Pilot National Park and within the park there are 100s of kilometers of tracks ranging from graded roads to difficult single tracks and from flat to steep country.
The riders who turned up were talented, keen and enthusiastic and I appreciated them for making the effort and making a great weekend happen. I am keen to organise the 2007 MuniUni!
You can read the full story with all the pictures at: http://www.municycle.com.au/muniuni06.aspx
Uninats 2007 Update
The organisers of UniNats 2007 in Sydney are getting busy! The date is (nearly) confirmed as 29th September - 1st October 2007, so pencil it in your diary!
If you have queries, ideas, items to offer as prizes, offers of venues or want to volunteer support, contact any one of the AUS committee members.
AUS Newsletter Updates
If you’ve got news, pics, stories or info to contribute to the AUS Newsletter, send them on to to the AUS Newsletter Editor at: [aus_newsletter@unicycling.org.au]