Racing events are regularly held on unicycles, including 100 m, 800 m and 1500 m races
The Guiness Book Of World Records mentions Peter Rosendahl of Sweden as holding the 100 m record of 12.11 seconds, in Las Vegas, March 24, 1994. He claims he did this from a standing start on a "standard" unicycle (24" wheel, 5" crank) - i.e. conforming to IUF standards.
The Unicycle Society of America publishes all of the track records from its events, including many world records. The IUF publishes its own records. At the time of writing, both sites were out-of-date.
Long distance riding has become so popular, there is a Unicycle Tours web site dedicated to it; they probably have more accurate and up-to-date details than the selection provided below, and I would recommend a look.
Akira Matsushima, of Japan, gained a Guinness record by riding from Newport, Oregon, to Washington DC - a total of 5248 km (3261 miles) between July 10 and August 22, 1992.
Takayuki Koike of Kanagawa, Japan, has the Guinness record for 100 miles in 6 hours 44 minutes, in 1987. He was 18 years old, and rode a unicycle with a wheel diameter of 42 inches. He did not dismount for the entire distance!
Brian Davis of Tillicoultry, Scotland, aged 33, earnt an entry in The Guinness Book of World Records when he rode from Land's End to John O'Groats (901 miles) in 19 days 1 hour and 45 minutes, from May 16 to June 4, 1980. His record was broken, however, when Michel Arets of Belgium and Mike Day of London, made the same trip, following a more direct route - 880 miles (1416 km) in only 14 days 12 hours and 41 minutes, from August 27 to September 10, 1986. Three other starters could not complete the trip.
In 1976-78, Wally Watts of Edmonton, Canada rode about 12 000 miles (19 000km) around the world. His journey (which was not continuous) was described in the Unicycle Society of America newsletter around that time.
Pierre Biondo of Montreal, Canada rode more or less around the perimeter of the U.S. and Canada in 1983-4, over 12,000 miles. He appeared on the cover of one of the 1984 issues of the USA newsletter.
Keith Cash of California rode across the United States of America, from Los Angeles to
Boston, over a six month period in 1981. His own account of the ride
makes an excellent read.
Pastor Lars Klausen rode 4,457 miles across the USA from Washington to New York, in 2002, over 103 days. His web-site describes the details of this trip, and he is writing a book about the experience. During the trip he twice attempted 24 hour long-distance records. He rode 202.78 miles in a 24 hour period (wheel-size unknown, but it looks large). [Note: The information I have is not clear, but Lars may have actually ridden back afterwards, making the record 205 days, 9136 miles.]
In 1997, Tyler "Tater A. Peal" Bechtel from Portland, Oregon, rode from Seaside, Oregon to Tampa, Florida - 3800 miles - for charity. There was a cover story in On One Wheel, Volume 23 Issue 4.
Robert Ripley (from Ripley's Believe It or Not) persuaded Walter Nilsson to travel 3,306 miles across the USA, in 117 days in 1934. He used a number of unicycles on the trip including a short giraffe with a miniature wheel, pictured in Jack Wiley's The Unicycle Book.
In 1968, Steve McPeak unicycled from Chicago to Los Angeles in six weeks. He went much of the way of a 13' giraffe. Apparently, he also rode 186 miles in a 24 hour period.
Stefan Gauler of Switzerland has a number of long distance records, described (in German) on his web-site:
Michael Kirsch, Robert Mager, Erik Kolb and Wolfgang Schaper of Germany, rode 320 km across the Alps in 1996.
In May 1981, Mark McGan, of California, took 37 1/2 hours, and Eric Pederson, of California, took 38 1/4 hours, to complete the Davis California Double Century, a ride of 200 miles (including climbing 6000 ft).
Pietro Biondo rode around North America around 1984. The story was covered On One Wheel. He basically went around the perimeter of the eastern, southern and western USA, up & down Baja, California, up to Alaska and then all the way across the wide part of Canada. His ride was about 12,500 miles.
I have heard many other stories of rides in the 200 - 300 km (say, 100 - 200 mile) range.
The high-jump competition that involves riding up, jumping over a bar, landing at the same level and riding off. Some records are available from the USA's track records site, but at the time of writing they appear to be out-of-date, making the current record less than clear.
At Unicon XI, Kris Holm took first place, with a 90 cm jump.
Ryan Atkins, of Toronto, Canada, claims to have jumped 92.5 unofficially, and 90 cm in competition.
Bill Karbo is pictured managing a 50.8 cm (20 inch) jump (which was competitive at the time).
There is an inspiring piece of footage showing Kris Holm jumping onto a table.
Joseph Campbell from California jumped 1.50m at the 1999 National Unicycle Championships in the USA.
Idling or rocking is riding back and forth on the spot. The 1973 version of Jack Wiley's The Unicle Book states that 13 year old Sharon Novik (Novir?) won the Paul Fox Unicycle Club's Rock-A-Thon by rocking for 3 hours and 40 minutes, beating Cathy Fox and Rick Clarke who both managed over 3 hours.
Mat Schwemmer (?) claims to have hopped 1111 times until getting fed up with it.
John Foss and Noburu Sugiyama both lasted until the 15 minute time-limit in a hopping competition at the 1983 National Unicycle Meet at Syracuse, New York.
Jumping rope is a competitive arena!
Constance Cotter was competed against her brother Andy Cotter, in a head-to-head rope-jumping on a unicycle competition, in June 1997. In the competition, which was recorded by the BBC program, Record Breakers, Connie made 169 skips in a minute, beating both her brother (148 skips) and the previous world record (151 skips, held by Peter Rosendahl).
Later, Peter Rosendahl equalled the record. (I am afraid I don't have any details).
On February 23, 2002, six unicyclists tried to break the record, and four of them did, albeit briefly. First, Kevin Gilbertson break the record with 175 skips. That was soon beaten by both Ryan Woessner and Brady Witbeck (206 skips), before they were all beaten by Amy Shields with an awesome 209 skips in a minute.
Marko Laasonen of Finland jumped rope 1295 times without a break, in 1994.
Holger Summer relates that if had known how to do it at the right time, over a burning rope, he could have won about $2200.
This was attempted informally at Unicon VIII, August 1996, in Guildford, England.
Guy Hansen claims the record of 0.3 miles for
pedalling a standard unicycle with his hands. He was photographed, during the Unicycle
Across Minnesota in August 1999, in a failed attempted to break his own world record
Riding with your feet off the pedals, and on the tyre, is tricky, but Brett Bymaster, of the United States, makes is even more dangerous by trying to do it fast. With a top speed of 25.6 mph (about 41 km/h), he has claimed the record, and no-one else has challenged him to it.
Arne Braunbeck, of Germany, has a pedalless unicycle, which he glides while holding a rope attached to a motorcycle. He has achieved speeds between 50 and 60 km/r (30 - 37 mph).
Wolfgang Schaper, of Germany, carried four children on August 12th, 1996, in the public show at Unicon VIII.
Steve Mills, of the Dazzling Mills Family can carry his wife, their two children, their dog and dove (not pictured).
Nini Hall (daughter of Mel Hall) is believed to have been the youngest unicyclest, riding across a stage aged 18 months.
Julian Orbach
Copyright © 1998-2003 Julian Orbach All rights reserved.