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THE BACK GARDEN — What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "unicyclist?"
Do images of clowns come to mind accompanied by circus music? Well, that's just a tiny portion of the unicycle market. Indeed, there are communities of unicyclists that have societies, clubs and competitions of many different types. (Have you seen Utah's own famous unicyclist?)
British man Mike Taylor is what is known as an "urban unicyclist." The best way to describe urban unicycling may be this: Taylor basically parkours his way around urban landscapes, but he does it on a unicycle. It's pretty neat.
This video isn't about a slick routine he's filmed, although those are indeed cool. This video is about a single impressive move that he was practicing in his back garden.
Taylor has stacked wood pallets in his yard that, according to him, measures in at 155 centimeters — that's 61 inches, or 5 feet. I list these all because you should hold in your mind whichever measurement sounds most impressive. Because what you're about to see is more impressive than what you're imagining right now.
With one jump forward and one vertical jump, Taylor scales the wall of pallets and edges his tire over the top to stand on his unicycle with perfect balance. As another display of his control, he then jumps off the pallets and pedals away in disbelief.
I've watched it several times now, and I am still surprised he makes it. It's incredible.
You can see more of Taylors acrobatic unicycle feats on his YouTube channel.
