unicyclist
One Family
This post is focused on how amazing everyone is here at UNICON 16 in Brixon, Italy. I’m always amazed at how friendly, kind, funny and easy going the unicyclist community is. It’s extremely hard to find a unicyclist that isn’t instantly easy to get along with. I never stop laughing and smiling at everyone here. We are literally a family of unicyclists. People from different cultures, countries and backgrounds meet together and set aside their differences to follow a passion, and that is to ride one wheel. We are one. (Pun intended) I can’t thank the organizers and sponsors enough for putting together an event so we can all meet together and do what we love.
The amount of gratitude and kindness that I’ve been shown is through the roof! It’s never about one person here, everyone looks out for one another and it’s a huge example for me. I broke my right pinky finger in March of this year. I just let it heal because there isn’t much doctors can do for it. It’s been alright until yesterday I landed wrong on the seat and it bent backwards. I think I either broke it again or sprained it really badly. It should be fine for competitions and I’m not too worried about it. The main point I wanted to bring up was how much concern riders had for me. Everyone asks if I’m okay and wants to make sure I’m alright. Sam La Hood wrapped it in a splint not 5 minutes after it happened and let me keep the tape. Krisz Kovacs gave me his Popsicle to ice it down. Lorenz and Raphael Poham gave me a remedy of sorts to rub on it and also some professional athletic tape. This is all within one day of me injuring my pinky finger. It isn’t even a big deal because it’s just my pinky but everyone has so much love for one another that they want to help each other out. I’m not a big complainer about things so I’m just really grateful for all the help I’ve been given. That’s just one of the many experiences I’ve had of the love shown to me by the riders. Also I take back everything bad I’ve said about the French because of how wonderful they have been to me here. 😛
Everyone here pushes each other to succeed, like I said, it’s never about one person, it’s about everyone. I know I’m biased but I don’t believe there is another sport out there like unicycling where everyone is so close together. A beginner can walk up to the best unicyclist and ask for tips and actually get personal feedback.
Okay, enough about me loving everyone! The Flatland Competition is tomorrow and here is the situation we have on our hands. There are about 80 riders registered for Flatland. In the rulebook they are allowed a minute and a half prelim and then the top 8 riders move on to the battles. A battle consists of both riders going head to head via unicycle tricks. They take turns doing tricks and the judges pick who was best and that rider moves on. The problem is that with 80 riders each having a minute and a half it adds up to a lot of time. So they shortened the prelim to a minute, then they are picking the top 16 riders to have another 2 minute prelim. (Prelim just means a run where the judges watch you do tricks) Then they pick the top 8 to move on to the battles. Wish me luck. J
Also I finally met and talked with my sponsor Kris Holm for a bit, he’s working on some great stuff and I’m pumped to represent Kris Holm Unicycles. I’ll be sure and write a review on the spirit cranks once I have done some riding with them.
Hope everyone back home is doing well. Again, I miss you all and thank you for the support!
Let me know if you have any questions and I’d love to answer them!
Be sure to check out the UNICON Facebook Album here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4387686173701.2180853.1334709428&type=3
Kevin Kartchner 