Local mountain unicyclist Scott Kerr is taking his passion for the sport to the next level and encouraging locals to do the same during UniSquam, Squamish's first ever unicycling event Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 16 and 17).
Some of best unicyclists in the world will be on hand over the weekend to give workshops, screen films and share their enthusiasm for the sport.
"We're pretty lucky to have such big names coming for this," said Kerr. "With some of the best unicyclists in the world headed up here it'd definitely going to be fun."
Kerr said the event all began because of a few young fans.
"There's a few kids who unicycle here in Squamish and they were more or less the motivating force behind this," said Kerr.
Nine-year-old Holden Jones is one of these kids, and he just started unicycling last Christmas. He said new riders should give it some time because at first it's pretty difficult.
"My parents got me unicycle for Christmas and I tried it for about half an hour, it was super hard and after that I hated it," said Holden.
"Then after a week or two I decided I would try it again - so I tried it and I tried again and again and I finally got it and I realized how fun it was and how many things you could do with it."
Now he and his friends ride as often as possible, practicing on technical trails such as Wonderland near Alice Lake.
"We work on Wonderland a lot and practice stuff on it," he said. "We even made a Youtube video on it."
UniSquam is intended to share that enthusiasm throughout Squamish. It takes place throughout the weekend and begins outside Republic Bikes at 10 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 16) where about 15 unicycles will be provided by locals and the Vancouver Unicycling Club for novice riders to try their hand at the activity.
There will also be street demonstrations from skilled riders followed by a unicycle film by Seattle film maker Dan Heaton at the Adventure Centre at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday (Oct. 17) morning at 10 a.m. there will be a mountain unicycling workshop and Kerr has arranged for some very high profile riders to help out.
Past France Unicycling Association president Anne Sophie Rodet and mountain unicycling pioneer and the world's best known unicyclist Kris Holm will be there.
Holden is excited to get some pointers from real experts.
"It's going to be pretty awesome and they can probably give me a few good tips," he said. "I'm going to try and bring along some other friends to try it out."
The weekend ends with a novice/intermediate group ride at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday (Oct. 17). Rides should meet at the end of Perth Drive.
Kerr made it clear the workshop isn't just for people already involved in the sport.
"This is targetted towards people who have never ridden unicycles before and those who have ridden a bit but are keen to get out on the trails," he said.
"[But] there will be something for everyone."
