As a rider of unicycles and teacher of other circus skills, do I think he was
supported by the crane? He sure was. He was strapped onto his seat, and the
crane was attached to the unicycle at a high and low point along the back of
the frame. This line was kept relatively tight as he rode, so the thing
couldn't fall far if control was lost. Steve pedaled it himself.
How do you steer a 1400 lb unicycle? two guys walked along behind it, holding
ropes which were attached on each side, to keep the steering on track, and
possibly to keep the wheel from getting away if Steve came off the pedals. He
used full toe clips. The two guys did all the steering.
As Steve rode, he issued instructions to the crand operator, though not in so
many words "I feel loose" he would say, while grabbing his handlebar (yes,
handlebar), then "Ok" and letting go again. When the camera angle was from
above, looking down the length of the unicycle, it was fairly clear to me
that the uni. was leaning forward slightly, and the crane operator was
maintaining constant tension on the line. Thus, the unicycle was being held
up the entire time he rode it.
In any case, he's still in the Guinness Book, and will probably stay there
until someone rides something higher with full safety equipment, which will
cost a bloody fortune (don't know if "bloody" is acceptable internet
language; sorry).
I have a 1981 clipping from the GLOBE about a guy (I can't find the clipping
now) who rode a 35 foot unicycle at Giant Statium in New Jersey and
subsequently fell off because he had never tried it on astroturf before. This
guy was obviously really brilliant and is the source of Guinness' rule about
safety equipment for tall unicycles. He broke lots of bones in the fall,
which was not his first. I never wrote about this in the newsletters, because
I didn't like our emphasis to be on getting hurt and breaking bones. I leave
that to Kurt Morgan.
John Foss, President
International Unicycling Federation
unifoss@cerfnet.com
voice: (516)731-7613