> Several weeks ago I posted that I'd bought a unicycle and needed help
> learning to ride it. I was contacted by a local unicyclist who reads this
>
> <Snip>
>
> I appreciate all the support and advice I've found, both here and on the
> Unicycling Home Page.
>
> Now, a question. Okay, anybody can unicycle. But can _anybody_ walk on a
> tightrope, or does that require extra, rare acrobatic talent?
I would say yes. IMHO, walking a tighrope is easier than riding a unicycle.
>From my little experience, a slack rope seems to be harder for the novice.
We had a tightrope in our backyard last year and I got to the point where
I could juggle while balancing. All the people we introduced to the
tightrope picked it up in a couple of hours of practice (not all at one
time).
> And if _anybody_ can do that, then can _anybody_ ride a unicycle on a
tightrope?
This is quite a bit harder. I would say that not _anybody_ could do
both at the same time. It takes a good rider and good tightrope walker
and then some guts thrown in for good measure. The possibility for a bad
fall increases. The problem I had was when I started to fall I wanted
to turn the unicycle. Turning the unicycle while on a tightrope is a
bad thing because if the unicycle 'jumps' the track then a bad fall
can happen. I suggest using a long pole and a tightrope very close
to the ground. If you start to fall, the pole touches the ground and
you can lean on it. The easiest way to prepare the unicycle for the wire
(depending on the size of the wire) is to deflate the tire almost all
the way. The people I've seen who have a dedicated unicycle take the
tire off altogether. Then they put a putty in the rim to round it out.
Tom Miller has one like that (I learned on Tom Miller tight rope).
One thing I noticed is the really good tight rope walkers are really
good at still standing on the unicycle. While at Tom Miller's Unicycle
Factory he did a still stand (in his kitchen) on demand for 30 sec.
Tom used to do tightrope walking in the years past.
Andy Cotter
cotter@skypoint.com