D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
May 2010
Big Wheel
One is not the loneliest number for Las Cruces unicyclist Scott Palmer.
By Jeff Berg
If you drive a hybrid car, ride a bike, take the bus, or carpool, you might think that your form of transportation is truly "green." Nice efforts, indeed! But unless you work from home or walk, you have nothing on Scott Palmer of Las Cruces.
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Scott Palmer takes a breather near
the Field of Dreams. |
Palmer's usual mode of transport is the unicycle. Although others dabble in it locally, according to Palmer, who is sometimes game to help first timers give it a try, he is probably the only full-time unicyclist in Doa Ana County.
"I've met a couple of others who have ridden smaller unicycles," he says, "perhaps not as regularly as I do now, but they don't keep at it. "
A graduate of NMSU with a degree in geography, he briefly worked for the city of Las Cruces doing Geographic Information System and mapping work. But now he is taking some time off, trying to figure out what to do next — besides unicycling, that is.
"I was born in Germany, and my dad worked for the US Army and we came here when I was three or four, so I've actually spent my whole life here," Palmer relates. "The only memory I have of Germany is the image of a castle, so that is certainly not from around here," he adds with a slight smile.
Although unicycling is the thing that interests Palmer the most now, he is also into language construction, which is the art of creating your own or a new language, and geocaching, a form of high-tech treasure hunt (see October 2008 issue), which he does on his unicycle.
Palmer's unicycle mania is relatively recent, dating only to March 2009. "I first got a 20-inch bike and used that for a couple of weeks to get comfortable before going for a big one," he notes as he points to his current model, a 36-incher. It looks somewhat forbidding to a novice, but Palmer shrugs and offers that it really isn't that hard.
Unicycling just looked like fun, he says. "I started looking for information about it online and gave it a lot of thought and read a lot before actually doing it."
Two things that Palmer had in mind when he got his 36-inch model were to try mountain unicycling (MUni) and to go for longer distances. "My unicycle is the biggest size that is readily available, so it can go for long distances and it is fast," he explains. "The bigger the wheel, the faster they are. I've had it up to 13 mph, but I got out of breath pretty fast. I could probably go about 2 mph faster if I changed the tire and put a smaller set of cranks on."
He can go off-road with his current tire. "If it was smoother, it would be more of a road tire."
Recently Palmer set a personal record for distance when he did a 25-mile roundtrip to Soledad Canyon, east of Las Cruces. The road to Soledad is paved, but is all uphill — a gradual but steady climb from the city to road's end, about 12 miles from Palmer's university-area home. Soledad Canyon is operated by the BLM and has a hiking and biking trail, which Palmer went up for a short distance.
"I did hike a little bit, but it's too difficult to go up on the unicycle." He smiles and adds, "But it is nice coming down the trail."
He notes that unlike a regular two-wheeled bike, a unicycle cannot coast, so the rider is always pedaling. But that's not going to stop him from his next two goals: 30 miles, and then what is referred to in the unicycle world as a "century ride" — 100 miles.
"It's an ambitious goal," he concedes — an understatement, "and it would be neat to be in the group [of unicyclists] who have done it. It's certainly not something everyone has done."
He also wants to try a "giraffe" unicycle, a taller bike, the type you might see in a circus, which has a chain like a regular bike. Most unicycles use crank arms that are attached directly to the axle of the cycle.
Riding a "penny farthing" is also a goal for Palmer. You know — those big, old-fashioned bikes with the large front wheel and tiny small wheel, which probably were the machines that unicycles evolved from.
Palmer notes some other side benefits of unicycling, including, of course, helping him keep in shape. Riding also develops a strong sense of patience.
"It takes real persistence to get on it," he says. "It just takes a lot of practice to get enough momentum to keep going."
Wind can also be issue. Palmer notes on his Facebook page that riding into a 25 mph wind is probably his limit.
As for normal everyday travel, Palmer says he usually isn't hassled by car drivers, but sometimes he wonders if they do see him. Fortunately, he's not had any accidents, but there have been a couple of close calls.
"Most of the attention is good, and drivers will honk in a friendly way sometimes," he adds. But that can be a distraction, since unicycling of course demands concentration. Let's hope text-message fanatics are not out on unicycles.
Since a unicycle doesn't have a brake, a rider more or less needs to keep going, even when paused by a stop sign or traffic light. To stop, Palmer explains, "I have to slow down to a creep, and I do that so effectively, I am 'stopped,' and then I don't have to remount. That can be a big concern when I am on the road. I have to make sure that there are no cars around before I do it."
Palmer is also still learning some of the finer points of turning his bike, and is working on doing "more than 90-degree" turns. "You have to shift your weight to compensate during a turn, and that's not too hard."
With that, he straps on his helmet and mounts his unicycle to head for his next adventure. After two false starts, he is soon speeding down the slight incline of the coffeeshop parking lot, keeping perfect balance, riding like the wind.
See more pictures of Scott Palmer on his unicycle on
his Facebook
page, "Las
Cruces Unicycle Guy."
Senior writer Jeff Berg says he needs training wheels just to walk.