Unicycle club rolls around campus
For the past few years, some Cal Poly students have been turning their preferred mode of transportation into a hobby.
Although unicycles were invented in the late 1800’s, the unicycle was not widely available to the general public until the 1980’s. Previously, unicycles were primarily known for their use in circus acts, but Cal Poly students are looking to give unicycling a new reputation.
A few years ago, the Cal Poly unicycle club was founded with only two members. Today, unicycling has a much bigger fan base in San Luis Obispo. Every Friday and Monday night, the unicycle club gathers outside the Sierra Madre Towers on campus to work on their skills and teach unicycling to any passersby who are interested.
They congregate on the basketball courts outside the dorms under the bright fluorescent street lights that line the court at 8 p.m. Members of the club ride around on various unicycles, big and small, of all different colors and heights. Wearing helmets and knee pads, they try their hand at various tricks, such as jumping over curbs, rubber chickens, and even people. Their activities draw the attention of everyone leaving or returning to their dorms.
Informally, the president Nakul Mohakar characterized the club as, “a bunch of weirdos” he said laughing. When asked if he meant that in a good way or a bad way, Mohaker replied, “in the best way.”
A.J., the vice president of the club, said that the unicycle club consists mostly of engineers. “We attract nerds, long story short we attract nerds.”
The unicycle scene has a special home in SLO. Before attending Cal Poly, Mohakar said he knew nothing about unicycling, but enjoyed the process of challenging himself and learning something completely new.
“Before coming to Cal Poly not only did I not know what a unicycle looked like or even what it was called,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about a community or competitions.”
The group had humble beginnings at Cal Poly, starting only a few years back. “When I first showed up to the club, there were two people who were officially part of the club,” Mohakar said. Now he stood on a crowded basketball court looking around trying to count the amount of people there, “Typically you’ll see like 20 to 30 people show up every night, which is pretty huge for us considering our club has been growing a lot over the last few years.”
A.J. joined a unicycle club in elementary school and has been riding for 13 years. He even participated in the North American unicycle championships. He also reports a growth in unicyclists at Cal Poly over the past three years.
“It’s become way more normalized,” A.J said. “The most common comment I got first year was ‘there’s the guy on the unicycle’, most common comment I got second year was ‘yeah I’ve seen a few of them”, and one of the more common comments I get this year is ‘yeah that’s a thing here’. So it’s been a cool shift to see,” A.J said.
He attributes part of that to a lessened stigma around the activity. A.J said that with more members in the club, he’s had more people come up to them who want to learn. He also says that drunk people are typically more willing to try the activity when passing by.
“A lot of people, when they’re sober, their inhibitions are too high, to be willing to admit they want to try unicycling,” he said.
Both A.J. and Mohakar admit to having their fair share of gawkers while riding around campus, but it doesn’t seem to bother them.
“Nowadays people are kind of desentized to the idea of unicycles, so if I see them on my way to class people will kind of walk past and then maybe once I’m out of sight they’ll start whispering about it, but they don’t really come up to you anymore” said Mohakar.
A.J. and Mohakar have found a community in the unicycle club on campus.
“It attracts the kind of person who’s willing to fall over and over again in front of other people while learning things,” A.J said.
Mohakar said that unicycling is a way of life for him, a way to stop and smell the roses on an otherwise routine commute to class.
Both eagerly encourage anyone interested in the club to try it out.
“It’s a really niche, weird thing, it’s not for everyone, but I think everyone should try it,” A.J said.
“We’re a free club, we don’t have dues, and we have extra unicycles for people.” He said he has just one thing to tell interested students, “Literally just show up, Monday and Friday night”.
