indoor )-O practice areas
d.kathrens@genie.geis.com
Thu, 15 Sep 94 03:50:00 UTC
Ken Fuchs <kfuchs@winternet.com> suggested I look for an indoor practice
area to hone my skills.
What do others here have to say about the difference between indoor and
outdoor riding/practicing?
Ken says I should ask permission to practice in a public building like an
elementary school gym or activity room. He suggested I offer to teach a
unicycling class in return for such a favor. I'd love to do that. So far
the only people who have shown interest are kids (and adults) who seem to
feel cheated if I don't fall on my butt.
Has anyone here gotten permission to do that? Was it hard? Who did you
talk to, what concerns/objections were raised and how did you respond? Did
you have to sign personal injury waivers or financial-responsibility-for
-property-damage papers? Am I going to have to wear so much safety equipment
that I can't even wiggle?
The concerns I expect to hear are: liability for personal injury, as in "we
can't be responsible for your safety (my blood just boils when I hear this
all-purpose copout) and "we don't want our nice floors ruined". For the latter I
can point out (as Ken suggests) that nothing but rubber and soft plastic can
hit the floor, but it's just my word that the tires won't scuff the varnish
on hardwood gym floors or the wax on vinyl tile. And in fact I have no direct
experience in the matter.
What about off-the-wall excuses that rational people can't predict? Here's a
for-instance:
Flashback
Last winter I rode to work on my bike 85% of the time, driving the car only
when the snow got too deep to ride in. The plant safety director noticed this
after about a month and called me onto the carpet for a sermon about how
foolish I was to risk frostbite, hypothermia, you can't ride a bike on ice,
yatta yatta yatta. I could answer those concerns readily based on three
winters of prior experience at other plants with no "incidents" & having all
appendages intact. The practical considerations involved in achieving this
were quite an education for him.
That took the wind out of his sails but THEN he said "If a motorist hit you,
he/she would be traumatized". How would YOU answer that? My answer was that
being "traumatized" would be a convenient way to avoid responsibility for
driving too fast and not paying attention and deflect all the blame to me.
(In the privacy of my own head, I said "I can hear the screams now, as I lie
bleeding in the ditch with my bike wrapped around my head: "Oh s--t! I
scratched the bumper! My husband will kill me!" or "There goes my safe-driver
insurance premium discount. I'm going to kill that bike nut if he isn't
already dead.")
Well, that made no sense whatsoever to the safety director but this did: I
had to commit to adding 2 miles to a 14 mile commute to come in the back
gate to the plant. "For my safety", I had to stop riding on a straight, well
paved, well lit and snowplowed road with a 30 mph speed limit and ride on a
hilly, twisty, potholed, unlit and unplowed road with no speed limit until
next spring--or be forbidden to ride on plant property at all.
End of flashback
That's the kind of insanity I fear. If I do make a plea for access, I want to
come loaded for bear--names, addresses and phone numbers of club organizers
and building superintendents. Written statements to the effect that, from
direct experience, no damage, unusual wear or serious injury has resulted.
Glowing praise of educational, health and community benefits from organized
unicycling activities would be nice too.
I realize I'm asking a lot. Heck, just expecting you to read my marathon
posts is bad enough. If this tendency is bothering anyone, don't be shy, just
send me a nastygram by email.
Dennis Kathrens
d.kathrens@genie.geis.com