Unicyclist to tackle hill climb

Justin Henney wheels his unicycle around a corner on the road to Schweitzer as he tries out a section of the route he will ride during the Schweitzer Hill Climb race on June 6. (Photo by DAVID GUNTER)

SANDPOINT — By all accounts, the Schweitzer Hill Climb is a painful race.  The bicyclists who take it on make a nine-mile push in a relentless ascent toward the finish line.

Justin Henney has managed to come in third a couple of times in that race.  This year, he is virtually assured the top spot in his division.  Especially since he’ll be the only competitor attempting the climb on a unicycle.

“I’m pretty confident I could never win the Schweitzer Hill Climb on a bike,” Henney said.  “So riding the unicycle is a reminder just to go out and have fun.”

Apart from the physical logistics of cranking uphill on a single wheel, the race, scheduled for June 6, will pit Henney against a nemesis that had bested him for years.  Growing up, comments such as “It’s only a game” or “It’s not about winning” would rankle him without fail. 

“I wasn’t having any fun unless I was winning,” he said.  “Now that I’m working as a guidance counselor, I see a lot of young guys who have the idea that they’ve got something to prove.”

His work with college-aged students at Echo Springs — a transitional boarding school in the Paradise Valley near Bonners Ferry — has shown him just how easy it is to be miserable in the pursuit of being the best.  Having discovered the simple pleasures of enjoying an activity, Henney now shares them with his students. 

Team sports are no longer a group crucible for proving who is the victor and who is the vanquished.  Instead, they are one more chance to have a good time.

“If they’re happy and we lost — then we won,” the counselor said.

Henney had his first fling with the unicycle in grade school.  He spent an entire winter using training sticks to get his balance (they don’t make training wheels for unicycles) and, once he had that, he never looked back.

When his family moved from rural Illinois to New Jersey, Henney found that his ability to ride a unicycle gave him special rank and privilege in the competitive arena of a new neighborhood.

“I was riding it up and down the driveway and kids came over and said, ‘What’s that?  Can I try?’” Henney recalled.  “It’s how I fit in.”

He was perfectly content to ride out his notoriety until the afternoon a girl from school uttered the single word that caused him to put the unicycle away for more than a decade.

“Showoff,” she said as he rode by on the way home from school.  For all the impact it had, she might as well have whacked him in the chest with a two-by-four.

His best friend at the time urged Henney to ignore the comment and keep riding his claim to fame, but the contraption was packed up and considered an embarrassment.

Next week’s hill climb gives Henney an opportunity to rewrite history and listen — at last — to his friend’s advice.

“The same guy who told me not to listen to the girl who called me a showoff is the one who told me I should ride my unicycle up Schweitzer,” he said.  “So this ride will be like coming full circle.”

One of the things Henney most enjoyed about making the hill climb on a bicycle was pushing through the pain.  He stands to get a double dose when he tries it on a single wheel.

“Riding a unicycle uphill is painful,” he said.  “It’s all about balance and cranking it out.”

At 42, Henney could still be riding the hill climb for years on a bike.  But making it on a unicycle presents a challenge he wants to undertake before too many more years go by.

“I’m doing it for the memories,” he said.  “It’s fun, but it’s also painful.  And the more painful it is, the more vivid the memories.”

Top speed on a unicycle over flat ground is about 12 mph.  On an uphill course like the Schweitzer Hill Climb, Henney expects that to slow to around 4 mph.  At that pace, he figures he can complete the race in roughly an hour and a half.

“My best run on a bike has been 49 minutes for the hill climb,” he said.  “If I’m really moving, I might be able to do it in an hour and 20 minutes on the unicycle.

“I’m hoping more people start showing up with unicycles,” the rider added.  “We could have our own division.”

There are a few things in life that, through putting them to use, are a lesson in not taking things so seriously.  Ukuleles are great tools in that school.  Yo-yos, too.  Unicycles can be another vehicle for achieving the cosmic giggle.

“If you don’t have a sense of humor about life, you’re not going to do too well,” said Henney, who is all smiles when perched on one wheel.

“I was riding my unicycle down a mountain bike trail at Farragut and, when I came around one corner, there was a nun walking along dressed in her habit,” he went on.  “I said, ‘Oh my God — a nun!’

“At the same time, she said, ‘Oh my goodness — a unicycle!’  And then we both cracked up.”