You see things in Astoria, Queens.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

As predicate – two things; The first is that the Transportation Alternatives Bike Lane people never mention Unicycles in their agitprop for expanding the bike lane network. The second is that last Friday, an old friend was in town and I made it a point of getting to the local bar early to grab a choice outside table in the shade.

I wasn’t there five minutes before the fellow pictured above came rolling past.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I knew a guy in High School who rode a unicycle, but it was the smaller kind that circus clowns are known to frequent. The following series of shots are rare vertical format ones (rare for this publication, at least) as this specimen from Astoria put its rider’s center of gravity at least six to seven feet up from the pavement.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The fellow was doing a bit of a dance as he rode the thing, throwing his arms about in a somewhat comical fashion to maintain balance.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The best part of experiencing this was that he had a bluetooth speaker somewhere on his person, and he was loudly playing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album while riding.

Specifically speaking, it was the song “Thriller.”

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I look forward to the day when the bike people begin advocating for Unicycles. #carnage? Someday, my friends, someday.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The Thrillercycle continued eastwards along Broadway in the direction of Woodside.

The first few people who had arrived at the bar for the gathering and I all looked at each other all quizzical like. Somebody asked “you saw that too, right”?

Yes, yes I did.

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