Unicycles & Strollers

When we lived in Manhattan, one of the great joys in life was riding my unicycle while pushing a stroller (or perambulator, to my British friends). There were certain obvious advantages to this form of transportation.

1. Primarily, it's FAST. Even a 20" uni can ride along easily at about 2-3 times the rate of a walker.
2. There is also the fun factor: It's great fun zooming around pedestrians and other obstacles, such as mail boxes or street signs situated a foot or so from the curb (or kerb, for you Brits). This last case involves occasionally tilting the stroller to one side so that the other side is 'flying' off the curb for a moment.
3. It's eye-catching. When that Metropolitan Diary entry came along one Monday morning, my first comment to Shirra was, "Well, it's about time." When I unicycle along without a stroller, many people feign indifference. OK, this only happens in NYC, but it's so silly. I guess they're trying to be cool by not staring or turning their heads (or making some inane comment, or singing the circus song). But when I ride by with a kid in a stroller, their cool completely disappears, and even the most hardened New Yorker is likely to smile and make a comment.

I mention Manhattan specifically because when we moved to Brooklyn, it was clear right away that uni-strollering was going to be a challenge. The sidewalks are awful. When they're not made of huge waves of slate that ride and fall over twelve inches within a matter of feet, then they're old and eroded, replete with holes and jagged edges. But I knew just what to do: I bought a stroller with larger wheels.

I was sad when Emmett outgrew his stroller, because at the time, Shirra and I were fairly certain that we were "two and thru." But when we bought our big Brooklyn house, our initial joking around about the extra bedrooms eventually turned into a desire to have one more kid, and when Maeve came along, I got to experience the thrill of uni-strollering all over again.

There have been some fun times with this "sport" over the past 9 years. I loved taking Fiona to school when we lived in Manhattan. We made excellent time, covering the thirteen blocks in just over 5 minutes. When her brother came along, it was just as much fun zooming around with the two of them. At that time, Fiona rode one of those platforms that attaches to the back of the stroller; later, she learned how to hold on tight to my waist while standing on the crown of the unicycle frame.

Uni-strollering had a couple of mini-disasters, but both of them turned out nicely. One time while on the way to the cinema, I hit a snowbank really fast, causing the front wheels of the stroller to crumple. I stopped in time to avoid hurting the kids, but the stroller was ruined, and we had to have Shirra rescue us (with another stroller) after our movie was over. In Brooklyn, and before I'd bought the stroller with large wheels, Emmett and I had a near-disaster when the front wheels crumpled after hitting some raised slate as we raced, once again, to a movie. We missed the film but had a great time at the playground. Unencumbered by a stroller for the rest of the afternoon, I held Emmett as we rode about two miles home, and he was thrilled to be riding along with Daddy, chatting along the way about the things that 3-year-olds chat about. In the non-disaster category, there is also the fact that uni-strollering kills strollers faster than normal, so we went thru a lot of them.

I look forward to another year or two of pushing Maeve, but there is no chance of another one after her (see my earlier entry about unicycling after a vasectomy), so I'll have to enjoy the uni-strollering time I have left!