A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is practiced professionally in circuses, by street performers, in festivals, and as a hobby. Unicycles have also been used to create new sports such as unicycle hockey. In recent years, unicycles have also been used in mountain unicycling, an activity similar to mountain biking or trials.
Mountain unicycling is an adventure sport that consists of traversing rough terrain on a unicycle. Mountain unicycling (muni) is undertaken on similar terrain to mountain biking. However, muni requires much more attention to the microfeatures of the short distance in front of the wheel. Unicycles' lack of a freewheel means that descents must be controlled all the way, and the typical lack of a gear system prevents the rider from reaching high speeds. Muni usually takes place on specially designed unicycles, which are equipped with strong hubs, large, knobbly tires, high-grip pedals and rugged frames. Some are also equipped with rim or disc brakes, having the lever mounted under the nose of the saddle. The brake primarily helps to compensate the downhill-slope force, while more expert riders also use it to decelerate or stop.
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expression as films, television, comics, animation, and games. The format can vary but will tend to have a few similar features such as a guest of honour, discussion panels, readings and large special events such as opening/closing ceremonies and some form of party or entertainment. Science fiction conventions started off primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States but have now spread further. Several countries have their own individual conventions, as well as playing host to rotating international conventions.
Unicon is a programming language designed by American computer scientist Clint Jeffery with collaborators including Shamim Mohamed, Jafar Al Gharaibeh, Robert Parlett and others. Unicon descended from Icon and a preprocessor for Icon called IDOL. Compared with Icon, Unicon offers better access to the operating system as well as support for object-oriented programming. Unicon began life as a merger of three popular Icon extensions: an OO preprocessor named Idol, a POSIX filesystem and networking interface, and an ODBC facility. The name is shorthand for "Unified Extended Dialect of Icon."
Unicon, previously known as UNICON, is the World Unicycling Convention and Championships sanctioned by the International Unicycling Federation (IUF).
An icon, from the Greek word for image, is a religious painting in the tradition of Christianity.
Unicycle hockey is a team sport, similar to rink hockey where players try to hit the ball with their sticks into the other team's goal, except that each player must be mounted on a unicycle to play the ball. A team is composed of five players, but there is no dedicated goalkeeper role.
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS.
Kaleigh Michelle Grainger is a British unicyclist. She won a gold medal at Unicon X, in China, in 2000 when only 14 years old in the pairs freestyle category.
Amy Shields is an American freestyle unicyclists. She holds five world unicycling titles and in her home continent she holds over 15 North American titles since 2001.
Wincon was a series of British science fiction conventions, initially envisaged as a one-off entry in the Unicon science fiction convention sequence but which subsequently took on a life of its own as an occasional event held at King Alfred's College, Winchester. The first was held in 1988, the most recent in 1999. Guests have included Patrick Tilley, Geoff Ryman, Michael de Larrabeiti, Bruce Sterling, Josef Nesvadba, Gwyneth Jones, Brian Stableford, Colin Greenland, Norman Spinrad, Patrick Hogan, Diana Wynne Jones and Warren Ellis.
Jack Halpern is a Japan-based lexicographer specializing in Chinese characters, namely kanji. He is best known as editor-in-chief of the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary and as the inventor of the SKIP system for kanji lookup. Halpern is also an active unicyclist, having served as founder and president of the International Unicycling Federation. He currently resides in Saitama, Japan.
Unicon was an annual science fiction convention held in Maryland and at least once in Washington, D.C. from 1975 through 1989.
The International Unicycling Federation (IUF) is the international governing body for the sport of unicycling. It was founded in 1982 in the United States but is composed of representatives of unicycling nations from around the world. Funding comes from participants at organised events, primarily the biennial Unicon world unicycling championships.
Michael Jarrett Walsh owns and operates Old Earth Books, a small press science fiction publisher. He primarily publishes re-prints, though occasionally he issues original books from established authors. His first publication was a short story collection Rude Astronauts, by Allen Steele, published in 1993. He is active in science fiction fandom.
Pere Huriwai-Seger formerly known as Christian Huriwai is an extreme street unicyclist from Kaikohe, New Zealand. He is the former and three time street world champion after taking the title from Adrien Delecroix during UNICON XV, in Wellington, New Zealand in 2009–10.
Dustin Kelm is a professional world champion and world record setting unicyclist, performing the UniShow around the world. He has performed and competed throughout North, South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Dustin is a three time Unicycling Society of America expert freestyle national champion, a Unicycling Society of America mountain unicycling national champion and a UNICON freestyle World Champion.
Peggy Rae Sapienza, was a science fiction fan, con-runner, and promoter of science fiction fandom. She made memorable contributions to Noreascon III in Boston, the 1989 Worldcon, partnering with Fred Isaacs in conceptualizing the ConCourse, a new feature for Worldcons. A Vice Chair of the 1993 Worldcon, ConFrancisco, she served briefly as Acting Chair after the Chairman died, until a new chairman was appointed. In 1998 she chaired BucConeer, the 56th Worldcon in Baltimore. She served as North American agent for the first Worldcon to be held in Japan, Nippon 2007; in 2010 co-chaired, and 2011 and 2012 chaired the SFWA Nebula Awards Weekends; and was Fan Guest of Honor at Chicon 7, the 70th Worldcon, held in 2012. She co-chaired the 2014 World Fantasy Convention just months before she died due to complications from heart surgery.
Roger William Haun III is a US-born Ghanaian unicyclist. He is the first person to win medals at the Unicycle World Championships for Ghana by taking a silver and bronze in 2022 as well as gold and bronze in 2024.
