Sean Bennett

  

Age: 51
Location: Brisbane Australia
Occupation: Unemployed Computer Programmer
Preoccupation: Music
Years unicycling: 8
Number of unicycles: two (including the broken Nimbus 36”)
Favourite quote: Ying Tong Iddle I Po
Tattoos or Piercings: both ears pierced
Superpower: too many to list
Secret (or not secret) ambition: to play music
Favourite mountain: Mt Coot-tha
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Reach the Thorong La pass

 

Nathan Hoover

  

Age: 55
Location: Los Gatos, CA, USA
Occupation: Unicyclist and Quadcopter pilot. Sometimes I wiggle my fingers on a keyboard for pay.
Preoccupation: Getting more time off for more unicycle trips
Years unicycling: 17
Number of unicycles: Many! But only 4 or 5 that I ride a lot
Superpower: Able to stand very cold and hot temperatures (even without beer)
Secret (or not secret) ambition: I will both unicycle and juggle 5 balls on my 100th birthday, but not at the same time
Favourite mountain: Ama Dablam
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Quadcopter flights. Goal: 2300′ up to get to 20,000′ from Thorung La.

 

Corbin Dunn

Age: 36
Location: Santa Cruz, California, USA
Occupation: Circus Artist
Preoccupation: Programmer
Years unicycling: 11 or 12
Number of unicycles:Gobs
Favourite quote: “Doh!”
Tattoos or Piercings: I’m going to get a ruler on my index finger. Imperial on the right hand, metric on the left
Superpower: Spinning circles
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Not sure!
Favourite mountain: Haleakala
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Pet a himalayan cat

Nevil Hopley

Age: 43
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Occupation: Teacher & Head of Mathematics Department
Preoccupation: unobtainable levels of efficiency
Years unicycling: 4
Number of unicycles: 3 + another 17 at my School Unicycle Club
Favourite quote: “Gravity always wins”, after any UPD
Tattoos or Piercings: none, but a couple of faded scars
Superpower: Instantaneous video editing, rendering and compression, to save hours and hours.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Deliver an Ignite Talk to a live audience.
Favourite mountain: Any that are climbed without it raining.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Exit Kathmandu airport with all my gear with me, and Visa stamped.

 

Robert Clark

Age: 53
Location: Saint Paul, US
Occupation: Super Computer Programmer
Preoccupation: Keeping life interesting.
Years unicycling: 8
Number of unicycles: 5
Favourite quote: No matter where you go, there you are. -Buckeroo Banzai
Tattoos or Piercings: None that I am aware of.
Superpower: Wishing I could fly.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To do many things well.
Favourite mountain: Small mountains where I grew up, learning to love climbing high.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Soak it all in.

 

Joe Lind

Age: 37
Location: Minnesota, USA
Occupation: Systems Administrator
Preoccupation: CompulsionCycles.com
Years unicycling: 15
Number of unicycles: A dozen or so, but I’m trying to cut back.
Favourite quote: If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Go shopping

Jason Shirk

Age: 42
Location: Seattle, WA USA
Occupation: Software Engineer
Preoccupation: Trying to be good at whatever I do.
Years unicycling: 3
Number of unicycles: One less than I need because everyone tells me I’m missing a wheel.
Tattoos or Piercings: In college, my girlfriend (now wife) pierced my ear, but that has long since closed up.
Superpower: Fixing technical things by just entering the room.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To walk a lot less when I’m riding hard technical muni trails.
Favourite mountain: Whichever mountain I’m on – Washington has so many amazing mountains
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Experience many new things.

Patricia Wilton

 

Age: 20
Location: Madison, WI
Occupation: Student/Kid Wrangler on the side
Preoccupation: Pinteresting
Years unicycling: 10
Number of unicycles: Enough to comprise several bicycles
Favourite quote: You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.
Tattoos or Piercings: You will never see me without my pearl earrings
Superpower: Smelling pizza from far away
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To grow
Favourite mountain: Dercum, Keystone, CO
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Not get traveller’s diarrhea.

 

Scott Wilton

 

Age: 21
Location: Madison, WI, USA and Berlin, Germany
Occupation: Student
Preoccupation: IUF and other unicycle-related organizing
Years unicycling: 10
Number of unicycles: n+1
Tattoos or Piercings: Maybe, but I won’t tell you where.
Superpower: Have arguments with Germans in German.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To grow more than Patricia.
Favourite mountain: Whichever one I’m currently riding on.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Kick it into high gear (Schlumpf style)!

Ashley Foster

Location: California
Occupation: aerial dance instructor
Preoccupation: unicycling and sustainability
Years unicycling: 15
Number of unicycles: 7
Favourite quote:
Tattoos or Piercings: no or yes
Superpower: finding a bargain. Stay tuned for my soon-to-be-released ebook “How to Get and Do More While Spending Less Money”
Secret (or not secret) ambition:
Favourite mountain: perhaps it will be Annapurna
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: ride my unicycle up and over Annapurna

Margherita Sella

age: 23
location: Ravenna
occupation: Med student and showjumper
preoccupation: Be proud of myself
favourite quote: Smooth seas do not make good sailors
superpower: My horses
ambition: Be always ambitious
favourite mountain: Marmolada
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Want to find something I’ve never looking for

Michelle Manna

Tomas Nemecek

Age: XLI
Location: Bilovice N/Svitavou, (currently in Phoenix, Arizona)
Occupation: treasure hunter
Preoccupation: zoo keeper
Years unicycling: 6
Number of unicycles: 4
Favourite quote: “put the pedal to the metal”
Superpower: cat whisperer
Secret (or not secret) ambition: feel normal
Favourite mountain: Shaw Butte
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: get enough oxygen

Tom Holub

Age: 46
Location: Oakland, California
Occupation: Founder, Totally Doable Consulting
Preoccupation: Urban planning
Years unicycling: 15
Number of unicycles: 10
Favourite quote: What could go wrong?
Tats or Piercings: My hand. It was pierced about 20 times by a saguaro cactus at Arizona MUni Weekend
Superpower: Snark
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Become better than I am before I’m not as good as I used to be.
Favourite mountain: Of those I’ve experienced, I might have to go with Los Cuernos, Patagonia
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Ride!

Eric Pulvermacher

 

Age: 29
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Occupation: Wildland Firefighter (Helitack Crew Leader)
Preoccupation: Dodging snowballs
Years unicycling: 9ish
Number of unicycles: “a few”
Favourite quote: “If you can’t have fun while you’re making a living, what’s the reason for the living you’re making?” – Old Joe
Tattoos or Piercings: None
Superpower: I wield the flaming chainsaw of redemption
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Keep having fun doing whatever I am doing.
Favourite mountain: Billy
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Anything, Everything. I really have no idea so it’s all going to be an adventure.

 

Kevin <<Gilby>> Gilbertson

Age: 35
Location: Minnesota, USA
Occupation: Changing sequences of ones and zeros into smaller sequences of ones and zeros.
Years unicycling: Age minus 8
Number of unicycles: Age divided by 2
Favourite quote: Guillemets
Tattoos or Piercings: Piercings are cool. Don’t have any.

Nicola Cassanelli

Age: 35
Location: Bologna & Verona, Italy
Occupation: Thoracic Surgeon /Emergency physician
Preoccupation: never sure if the backpack is zipped, never sure if the car is locked
Years unicycling: 15
Number of unicycles: 11
Favourite quote: “It’s miserable during, It’s legendary in the end”. Sean Bennet
Tattoos or Piercings: some scars, and scars are tatoos with better stories
Superpower: Ability to think about stupid things when it’s not the right moment
Secret (or not secret) ambition: earn money doing nothing
Favourite mountain: Monteveglio, with a considerable height of 200 meters (home)
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: see my oxigen saturation going lower than in Yunnan…

 

Natascia Muccini

 

Age: 34
Location: Modena – Italy
Occupation: Vascular Surgeon
Preoccupation: Work hard and play hard
Years unicycling: –
Number of unicycles: I own just one unicyclist
Favourite quote: The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes but in liking what one does – J.M. Barrie –
Tattoos or Piercings: One
Superpower: Nicola
Secret (or not secret) ambition: I’d like to always say the right thing at the right time
Favourite mountains: Dolomites
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Being able to return to Nepal

Gaetano Peluso

Age: 53
Location: Avezzano (AQ) – Italy
Occupation: Engineer (for Italian Railways)
Preoccupation: Find a new way for play, play and play…
Years unicycling: 7
Number of unicycles: 4 (plus 3 others for my son)
Favourite quote: Don’t eat yellow snow (not even in Nepal)
Tattoos or Piercings: Some scars (the longest one is 13 cm, made by pedal pins)
Superpower: I can fly (from the saddle to the ground)
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Make the “perfect heist” in a large bank (please keep it a secret !)
Favourite mountain: Monte Salviano
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Realize I am in Nepal before I have to come back !!!

Emma Kvist

Age: 17
Location: Struer, Denmark
Occupation: Uncertain at the moment
Preoccupation: Swimming against the stream
Years unicycling: 9
Number of unicycles: 3
Favourite quote: Success is to get what you want. Happiness is to like what you get.
Tattoos or Piercings: 1 piercing in each ear
Superpower: Being myself
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Getting stronger than my older brother
Favourite mountain: The fells/mountains on the Faroe Islands
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Everything

 

Bruce Hall

Age: N/A, it’s all in the mind
Location: Auckland, New Zealand (24m above sea level)
Occupation: Test & Measurement Rental Consultant
Preoccupation: Procrastination
Years unicycling: ~13
Number of unicycles: ~9
Favourite quote: Life is not about how many breathes you take, but about the moments that take your breath away
Tattoos or Piercings: None that I’m aware of and hope to keep it that way
Superpower: I plan to acclimatise at 5500m and then experience superpowers when returning to sea level.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To complete a 160km/100mile ride in a day. Haha, or 20km in Nepal !
Favourite mountain: I’d like to say One Three Hill (as in U2 “One Tree Hill”) as that is my training ground and 10min from home, but at 178m it doesn’t really qualify as a mountain.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Reacquaint with and meet so many new unicyclists in another less-travelled region.

 

 Morgan Alverson

Age: 18
Location: Seattle, Washington
Occupation: Student, cello teacher
Preoccupation: Living in the now
Years unicycling: 9
Number of unicycles: 4 (soon to be 5)
Favourite quote: “Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” –Victor Kiam
Tattoos or Piercings: Ears pierced, tattoo I’ve been considering: a cello with a bass clef incorporated into it
Superpower: The ability to come up with really bad puns at the most opportune moments
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Learn how to play cello while riding my unicycle
Favourite mountain: Mount Kailash
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Spend time with local villagers

Willy Dommen

Age: 56
Location: San Anselmo CA
Occupation: Management Consultant
Years Unicycling: 7
Number of Unis: 20, 24, 26, 29, 29 guni, 36
Favorite quote: “Life is good”
Tatoo’s/ Piercings: only scars from playing to hard
Super Power: Positive Attitude
Secret ambition: become a world reknown wine maker
Favorite Mountain: Matterhorn (not the one in Disneyland)
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: absorb the chi off the mountains

Stefan Carpentier

Age: 49
Location: San Jose CA, U.S.A.
Occupation: engineering Project Manager
Preoccupation: Beekeeper
Years unicycling: 3
Number of unicycles: down to 3 now
Favourite quote: Learn to wish everything comes to pass exactly as it does.
Tattoos or Piercings: Almost
Superpower: I break stuff, a lot.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: Save the world, one bee at a time while having a hell of a good time in the process.
Favourite mountain: ANY, as long as it is tall and in good shape.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Eat some awesome Curries

Antoine Bienaimé

Age: 17
Location:Nancy, France
Occupation:Student
Preoccupation:Music, friends and unicycle
Years unicycling:7
Number of unicycles:4
Favourite quote: “Only one but fun”
Tattoos or Piercings: Nothing
Superpower:
Secret (or not secret) ambition:
Favourite mountain: Any that goes down
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: I really want to discover this country and population, and I it will be a big sportiv challenge !

Chris LaBonte

Age: 45
Location: USA CA – Redwood City
Occupation:Teacher
Preoccupation:Muni
Years unicycling:13
Number of unicycles:1
Favourite quote: ‘It is the terrain that builds the rider’ – Eyal Aharoni
Tattoos or Piercings:
Superpower: Wrecking
Secret (or not secret) ambition: To dress as snazzy as Jimbo
Favourite mountain: South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

Johnny

Age: just a boy
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation: Entertainer
Preoccupation: dancing with strings
Tattoos or Piercings: piercings…they hold me up
Superpower: telling fibs
Secret (or not secret) ambition: to become a real boy
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: climb a mountain

Anna Bailey

Age:29
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation: Puppeteer
Preoccupation: Pavlova, or chocolate, or both
Years unicycling: 0.5
Number of unicycles: 1
Favourite quote: “I do not like green eggs and ham.”–Dr Seuss
Tattoos or Piercings: 0
Superpower: pull strings
Secret (or not secret) ambition: to eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner
Favourite mountain: Mt Aoraki
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: climb a mountain

Ken Looi

 

Age: 36
Location: Wherever work takes me!
Occupation: people, puppets, porridge and pancakes
Preoccupation: Porridge and pancakes
Years unicycling: 14
Number of unicycles:  11
Favourite quote: “Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss”–Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Tattoos or Piercings: Pierced my tongue once
Superpower: porridge and pancakes
Secret (or not secret) ambition: making perfect porridge and pancakes
Favourite mountain: Machapuchare
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: See my host family from 2002

Blair Coburn

Jason Williams

Age: 42
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Occupation: Stay at home dad / temporarily retired
Preoccupation: My daughter and my garden
Years unicycling: 0
Number of unicycles: 0
Favourite quote: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Tattoos or Piercings: 0
Superpower: Balancing stuff on my nose.
Secret (or not secret) ambition: remain retired
Favourite mountain: All of them.
I can’t wait to do this in Nepal: Run!