Daily Nebraskan

Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Sarah Lieswald Kelsey Fawl concentrates as she attempts to reverse on her unicycle. Fawl has ridden a unicycle since she was young and constantly tries to improve and expand on her skills. [Click to enlarge]

A crowd gathers, staring and whispering as Kelsey Fawl rides her unicycle in circles outside the Nebraska Union.

The freshman nursing major is not the only one with a unicycle on campus; after spotting another rider, she was inspired to bring her unicycle from her Lincoln home.

"Apparently there are two other guys who know how to ride it," Fawl said. "I haven't met them, but I kind of want to because I think that'd be super cool."

Larger lecture classes often make storing her unicycle hard, so she refrains from driving it to those.

In her smaller classes, however, she said teachers usually allow her to bring it in and lean it against a wall.

Fawl's French instructor, graduate teaching assistant Chris Meyerle, recalled the first day she brought it in, saying it lightened the mood.

"I didn't know what to think," Meyerle said. "It's not common by any means."

Fawl said people around campus have three general reactions to her passing by: they pretend they don't notice her, they stare at her or they approach her.

Her favorite is when people come up to her and begin a conversation, but she said the funniest is when people pretend they don't see her.

When she was younger, Fawl said people who saw her riding outside her home would drive by and then drive back to watch her.

Fawl took up unicycling the summer before she entered fifth grade. Her uncle was a unicyclist, she said, and that piqued her interest.

"I always heard the stories of my uncle having (a unicycle) when I was a kid," she said. "And that was really funny because we'd go camping, and these college guys, most likely drunk, would say, 'Do a wheelie! Do a wheelie!' I always thought that'd be cool."

It took Fawl nearly two years to learn how to ride. She practiced in the hallway inside of her home, as well as outside, often with her mom's help. It wasn't easy, she said.

"I'd have this big stick trying to pull myself up," Fawl said. "It was really frustrating. I got a lot of bumps and bruises. I fell off a lot."

With practice, Fawl improved. In fact, when she doesn't have a backpack on, she can text and ride.

"The first time I've fallen in four years was outside Oldfather (Hall)," Fawl said. "I wasn't paying attention, and I don't know what happened, but I was trying to go back and forth, and I just fell on my butt."

Fawl is now teaching herself to go backwards and to bounce up and down. She is also teaching people around her dorm to ride in the same way she learned - in the hall and on the basketball court outside Smith Residence Hall.

"I think it's fun to have a silly talent," she said. "It makes college a little less stressful."

Meyerle recognizes Fawl as a unique student. "It's a fun experience to have her in class," he said.

Taking 15 credit hours and working at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital takes up most of Fawl's time this semester, but she said riding the unicycle helps her forget the pressures of the day.

"Usually, I just smile (when riding)," she said, "because no one wants to see someone on a unicycle being all grumpy. I can't be cranky when I'm riding it because otherwise I wouldn't get any smiles back."

abbylindekugel@dailynebraskan.com

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