Unicycling has come a long way from its roots in clown and circus culture, with the one-wheeled balancing act making its way to being a full-fledged sport on its own accord.
For more than 20 years unicycling enthusiasts have gathered at different locations around the world to participate in the Unicycling World Convention and Championships.
Unicon 21 took place in Bemidji, Minnesota, in July, and Sawyer Gowans, a well-known unicyclist from qathet, was there competing. His dad Geoff Gowans was also there in support.
"There are off-road events like downhill and uphill racing, and a cross country event," said Sawyer. "I was in 14 or 15 events over two weeks."
Places such as Ansan, South Korea, and Grenoble, France, have hosted past Unicons, where thousands of competitive unicyclists from around the globe gather to compete and take part in 12 full days of convention activities and social events.
Sawyer has been riding for 19 years but this was his opportunity to attend the world championships.
"This is the first time it's been back in North America in 10 years," said Sawyer. "The last major ones have been in France, Korea and Spain, which is slightly harder [for me] to pull off doing a two and a half week trip."
Bemidji, the once booming logging midwestern town, is famous for its statue of the mythological lumberjack Paul Bunyan, with Babe, his blue ox, that stands on the shore of Lake Bemidji. Bemidji is an Ojibwa word meaning, "a lake with crossing waters."
Sawyer began unicycling at age nine after seeing a video of Kris Holm, the godfather of mountain unicycling.
"He's a gentleman who lives in Vancouver and pioneered a lot of the riding on the North Shore," said Sawyer. "I saw one video, and I was hooked."
Sawyer and his dad Geoff were not in touch when the younger Gowans started riding his unicycle. It wasn't until years later that they reconnected and found out they had something unique in common.
"I was 14 years old when I started to learn how to ride a unicycle," said Geoff. "We were not in touch, and [Sawyer] had no idea I rode a unicycle."
Since father and son have reunited, Geoff is fully embracing his son's passion for the unicycle and now attends most events, and even volunteered at the championships in Minnesota.
At Unicon 21, Sawyer had eight top 10 finishes and took home a bronze medal in the 55-kilometre race.
"There are some people who do freestyle events who are very performative in nature," said Sawyer, explaining his type of unicycling. "I ride in long distance road races and downhill mountain biking."
Sawyer said unicycling is still small on a global scale, but added that there were still a couple thousand people in Minnesota.
"The European ones are generally bigger, just because there's a huge demographic," said Sawyer. "France had about 5,000 people at its Unicon."
Geoff said it was mostly camping that brought them back together, but the unicycle as well.
"When we first got back together, I did learn to ride again," said Geoff. "I tried to relearn at the championships [in Minnesota]."
Sawyer said most of the riding took place around Lake Bemidji and some indoor events were hosted in the Sanford Center, which is downtown.
"My favourite place to ride around [qathet] is Mount Mahoney,” explained Sawyer. “But as far as road riding, just because the distance is hard to find here, I sometimes ride out to Saltery Bay, where I work."
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