Our Club in the News

Unicyclists have half the bike, twice the fun--- Monica Mendoza--- The Arizona Republic--- Mar. 12, 2004--- ANTHEM - One might think learning to ride half a bicycle would be half as easy. It's not. Learning to ride a unicycle is twice as difficult. "It took me two months to ride," said Kody Klein, 13, a former extreme bicycle competitor. There's something about learning to get up on a one-wheeled pedaled contraption that is intriguing, fulfilling and has dozens of children from Anthem and Desert Mountain schools showing up for unicycle club meetings, sponsored by Deer Valley school psychologist and unicycle rider Steve Harris. "When I was learning, it was such a feeling of accomplishment," he said. Harris started the clubs at the schools, both in the Deer Valley School District, two years ago. "I think it's cool - I'm doing something no one does," said Tyler Church,12. Now the young riders are so good, they're taking their wheels on the road, riding in the St. Patrick's Day parade at 10 a.m. Saturday along Central Avenue from Thomas Road to Hance Park. "People have a lot of questions," said Mark Smalley, 12. Learning to balance is tricky, club members agree. Matt Smalley, Mark's twin, says a strategy he used was positioning the unicycle in the corner of a building. "You've just got to keep your mind off falling," he said. Making that first free mount - getting on the unicycle without holding onto a wall - is the best, Matt says. That may take a rider another couple of weeks of practice. Savanna Martin, 11, a three-week member of the club, is still learning. "Balancing is tough," she said. But she is determined to learn. The young riders make it look easy and often have trouble with the question: "Is it hard to do?" "It's hard to start," said Michael Parrilli, 12. "But once you ride, you take off."