Butler Wobble

Last night was Jesse's first time aboard a 36.  Finding one to fit him at this stage of his life is a bit of a challenge.  Thanks to  Unicycle.com  and Chris at  Thick Bikes , the planets aligned and a Nightfox was available for demo.  The world won't ever be the same. As you can see, the week before was chocked full of good times too. You can join the fun.  We are at The Wheel Mill most every Friday night.  There's a discount for uni riders. We've got free loaner unis available (Trials and 24" muni) all the time. Last night we got to meet a new rider who has been riding for less than a week.  Ashley's already riding around the nice big open Beginner Room upstairs and working on her freemounting. We're at the YMCA in Butler on Saturdays from 4:30-6:30pm as well.  It's FREE to learn there too. Can't ride yet?  It's time to learn.  Why?  IT'S FUN!

Photo by Mike Briggs - He RULES!!! Once again, it's time for the Month of Mud .  Not only is this series 25+ years old, it's been home for regional off-road unicycle racing since 2008.  Since then we've been welcomed.  This year things are a bit different.  We've got an official uni class. This is huge. First off, mark your calendars and plan to attend: 9/21 - Moraine State Park Cross Country 10/5 - Brady's Run Cross Country 10/12 - North Park Cyclocross 10/19 - North Park Cross Country 10/26 - Ohiopyle State Park Super D/Enduro Now that we've got the dates established, let me explain why this is a big deal.  Outside of unicycling conventions such as NAUCC (the North American Unicycling Championships and Convention) and Unicon  there aren't a whole lot of races that have official unicycling classes.  (Around here, we're lucky to have 2: The Fat Tire Challenge , and 6 Hours of Brady's Run .)  When you throw in the word Series...

The 6 of us who attended Unicon 17 will remember the trip for years to come.  Beyond amazing is an apt description of the experience.  If you want to see some of the pics, go here . If you want first hand accounts, just ask Connor, Danielle, Dave, Isaac, Lisa, or Steve.  We'll be glad to tell you as few or as many stories as you want. If you just found out about the Butler Wobble, you may not know we hosted the North American Unicycling Convention and Championships (NAUCC) in 2013.  A big reason we did was to encourage people to experience a unicycling convention.  We had around 300 people participate.  Among those were Benoit and Hugo, the two primary organizers of Unicon 17.  Long before we met them in person we could tell that Unicon was going to be phenomenal.  After getting to know them between the start of NAUCC 2013 and the end of Unicon 17 we found them not only to be tremendous organizers, but fantastic people as well. At U...

The short message: GO RIDE! If you can't ride a uni yet, there's opportunity to learn.  We've been a bit busy, but that doesn't mean we don't join up with the THICK Bikes crew when they have Uni Nights every other Monday.  Rumor has it that Unicycle Hockey is starting to gain some traction.  Don't be left out.  If you can't ride, we'll teach you how to.  As always, unis are available to borrow for free at these sessions. As far as where else we're at, that involves hanging out with our friends from far out of town.  Dave just made the trip to Minnesota for NAUCC 2014 .  If you're wondering about those results, hang on a bit, they'll be published to the site soon.  Several of us are headed for Unicon 17 in just a few short weeks.  If you're missing the uni conventions this summer, that's a bummer.  To say they're an incredible experience is an understatement.  Ask any of us who have been to one about the experience, and ...

In April of 2013, Pittsburgh officially got it's own indoor bike park.  Well, Pittsburgh actually got a lot more than that.  From the start, The Wheel Mill  not only welcomed mountain and BMX bikes  but unicycles and even Striders for the wee ones too. It's been a home for all things cycling since.  From being a stop during other local cycling events, to being a birthday party venue (wear a helmet)  to just plain being the place with the coolest pump track on the planet. It boils down to this: The Wheel Mill has been ALL about cycling since its inception.  Now it's time cycling is all about The Wheel Mill. Summertime in Western PA is not the time we think of heading indoors for a ride.  The weather's (FINALLY) nice.  There are other things to do. However, it IS Western PA and Winter will inevitably return.  We speak from experience when we say that in spite of the craziest winter we've seen in a long time, we ke...

Thanks Liz Wilson for the photo! It's been a bit since you've seen some news here.  Rest assured, that's NOT because we've been inactive.  Quite the contrary, we've been too busy riding to keep the virtual end of things up to date. The picture above is from the  6 Hours of Brady's Run  race on May 10th.  We're all smiling because this was before it went all down.  Yes, we had a unicycle class with 8 total entries.  It was definitely a FANTASTIC experience.  Not only because we had a great group of riders- including Liz and James from out of state, but because the organizers do an amazing job of putting on an event that welcomes all levels of riders.  6 Hours is a long time to ride a unicycle, but it's much easier when you're sharing the experience with other cycling brothers and sisters- even if they have 2x as many wheels. The weekend immediately after Brady's Run we went to Dirt Rag's Dirt Fest .  We've been there in some ...

Tomorrow, April 19, is our last indoor day at the YMCA for the season.  We'll be back in the fall, but until then our indoor riding will mostly consist of visiting The Wheel Mill for Friday Night Family and Uni Nights.  Speaking of those, with the nice weather on its way we won't be there every Friday night.  If you're hoping to catch us, it would be best to contact us via email (put our name first (at)gmail.com- you can figure it out) or via our facebook page . One last definite YMCA appearance is for Healthy Kids Day on Friday the 25th from 3:30-6pm.  It's always been a good time, and we expect nothing less this year. Indoor season coming to a close in no way means we won't be riding.  Actually, we'll probably be riding more.  It's just that most rides will be outside on trails and roads.  There will be some group rides for sure, but we won't be bringing loaners for the most part (unless you ask nicely). There's always and exception of cour...

No joke: this Friday- April 4th, is the Wheel Mill Uni Skinny Contest (part deux).  Showtime is 8:30 pm and entry is FREE with your paid park admission (it's Family and Uni Night so there's a discount from regular price too!) There will be multiple categories.  Last time G-Form generously sponsored the event with pads for the male and female winners! If you're not interested in The Wheel Mill riding, then don't forget we're at the YMCA in Butler on Saturdays- for a few more weeks.  We plan to end the winter indoor season on April 19th.  We'll resume Y time in the Fall. Until then there's a growing list of fun on one to check out.  Expect to see some more group rides- and general tomfoolery.  We've also got events on the calendar- 6 Hours of Brady's Run, Dirt Rag's Dirt Fest, the Fat Tire Challenge, NAUCC 2014 (in MN), and UNICON 17 in Montreal! Don't miss out!

What's wrong with this picture? Hopefully we're heading out of Winter soon.  Very soon.  If you're not looking forward to it being over, you might want to see a doctor. With Spring come a few changes to the routine.  We'll be heading back outside a whole lot more.  That means our YMCA indoor time will taper off (typically in April) and we'll hopefully have more group rides outside.  Until then, it's business as usual- Friday Nights we're at The Wheel Mill , and Saturday afternoons from 4:30 to 6:30 we'll be in the gym.  Thanks to the many new riders who joined us and learned to ride this Winter.  It's our hope you'll continue to ride unicycles throughout the snow-less months and join us for some other rides. If you've enjoyed unicycling with us at the Butler YMCA, please consider giving back.  The YMCA has been gracious to keep unicycling absolutely FREE to those in the community.  In appreciation, as the unicyclists, we...

Last Friday night's trip to the Carnegie Science Center was an all around good time.  It was a good thing we had a crew of around a dozen of us to help as we had 200 people sign waivers and give unicycling a try.  Once again, 0 injuries.  Overall, unicycling is a relatively safe venture.  And as many people discovered, it's challenging and FUN! If you were there that night and are now reading this, we hope you'll join us again in a bigger space (The Wheel Mill or Butler YMCA) to really get the feel for riding.  As always, we don't ask that you give up anything else you may already pedal.  We just ask that you remember that unicycles are more than just circus props. As I sit here and type this, we're in the middle of the coldest day of the year.  Let's hope this is it and Spring is around the corner.  Let's look forward to riding comfortable again outside. Here are a couple of events you may want to keep in mind: 1. 6 Hours of Brady's Run...

Last night's overall winners of the Skinny Contest were Daniel Collins (for the males) and Danielle Millett (for the females).  A huge thanks to The Wheel Mill and G-Form  for inventing and sponsoring the event.  G-Form awarded a set of pads for each winner! The 15 minute jam format was a lot of fun, but the contest was only the beginning of the evening's good times.  Hopefully we'll get to see the official pics from the contest sometime soon.  Friday night mUni nights at The Wheel Mill have indeed turned out to be fun for the entire family.  Last night we had riders ages 10 and up.  Up didn't stop at 40 either. As much fun as it was, many of us are going to be taking a break from The Wheel Mill this Friday the 24th to be part of a 21+ Night at The Carnegie Science Center .  The theme is Circus Science!  While we don't personally do many circus-like activities with our unis, we do see the connection.  We also can't resist the cha...