The unicycle is definitely not the most common mode of transportation on campus. But for Penn State sophomore and decorated unicyclist Adam Parrish, the one-wheeled option is an accessible way to get around and one of the best-kept secrets out there.

Penn State students looking for a new way to get to class or a unique freestyle sport may have the opportunity to explore a one-wheeled option through Parrish’s proposed unicycle club.

The sophomore’s love for unicycling began when he was four years old. He wanted to take up the activity because nobody else around him was doing it — some even saw it as an impossible skill to learn.

“There were multiple parts that fascinated me about unicycling,” Parrish said. “It was something that no one else around me did, and therefore it was the pursuit of something that most people consider impossible.”

Parrish made his idea for a club public earlier this semester with a post on Wildfire, an app designed to quickly share miscellaneous updates on college campuses. His minimum aim with the Wildfire post was to create a GroupMe of local experienced and amateur unicyclists. Parrish’s larger goal, however, is to create a student organization at Penn State that would teach members how to ride the unicycle.

“Hey all!!

My name is Adam Parrish, I’m a sophomore, and I’m a 4x North American Unicycle Champion across multiple disciplines, including performance, mountain racing, track racing, and distance road racing.

If you or anyone you know rides unicycles or seriously wants to learn(willing to spend 20 hours falling to learn to ride) please get in touch with me on Instagram @adam_parrish412. I am trying to create a university club of riders or at least have a huge groupme of riders.”

Adam Parrish via Medium

Parrish said it typically takes 20 painstaking hours of trial and error (read: falling off and getting back on again) to finally learn the basics of riding a unicycle. Learning how to ride isn’t easy, but teaching yourself like Parrish did is an entirely different story.

“I learned by myself,” he said. “I kept trying to ride to and from appliances and counters in my kitchen when I was younger.”

Few know that unicycling actually features multiple disciplines — including racing, mountain unicycling (don’t try this one at home), and even team sports like unicycle basketball and hockey. Each of these disciplines requires a different type of unicycle and training methods, which is also part of why the activity appeals to Parrish.

He’s now a full-time student at Penn State, which has its disadvantages in terms of unicycling. While there are plenty of mountain trails for him to utilize, he can’t practice freestyle unicycling — similar to figure skating due to its spins and jumps — because he’s limited to riding on asphalt and concrete instead of hardwood courts.

“Freestyle is ice dancing, like performances involving spins and jumps done on gym floors at competitions,” Parrish said. “The hardest part about being here is I lose that practice on those kind of surfaces because I have to practice on asphalt basketball courts and parking lots outside.”

Parrish originally wanted to start a unicycle club at Penn State because unicycling is an individual sport, which sometimes can be isolating. He wanted to connect people who share this specific interest at Penn State, regardless of how much experience they might have.

According to Parrish, one of the best things about a potential Penn State unicycle club is the opportunity for newer riders to surround themselves with more experienced cyclists, which, in his view, helps them improve faster.

“I think unicycling is kind of a sport you tend to do alone because not many people partake,” Parrish said. “Pulling those people together makes the sport much more fun because you constantly have people supporting you and pushing you to be better.”