Vietnam Unicycling Tour in Canadian Newspaper

Unicyclers plan wheely great trip

Vancouverite joins 500-km tour of Vietnam
Suzanne Fournier, The Province
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008

After a lifetime spent selling real estate for the federal government, Dal Fleischer plans to spend his 60th birthday riding a unicycle through Vietnam.

“I’m retired and now I can have fun on a full-time basis,” said Fleischer, who will be among 25 or more people from all parts of the world on an epic 500-kilometre journey from Hanoi to Saigon.

The Uninam Unicycle Tour, which insists on its website that it is “not a joke,” is a well-organized and environmentally friendly ride by “reasonably normal people” who will raise money for Oxfam New Zealand.

Fleischer of Vancouver, who has been to Asia several times but never to Vietnam, is no stranger to international travel, having organized tours to Russia, Turkey and Mexico.

“I’m predominantly in favour of fun,” says Fleischer, who lists “drinking beer” as his diversion of choice, but he notes that riding a unicycle also requires skill, balance and superior leg, abdominal and core strength.

The unicycle breaks down barriers and starts conversations on 20-kilometre jaunts around False Creek and the Stanley Park seawall, notes Fleischer, and he expects it to do the same in Vietnam, where bicycles abound.

Fleischer, who rides a 36-inch-wheel unicycle, says the tour from March 5 to 25 will average about 70 km a day.

The tour, organized by New Zealand unicyclist Ken Looi and Grasshopper Adventures, costs about $1,300.

Applicants should be able to ride a unicycle at about 14 to 16 km/h on flat roads and be skilled at riding in traffic, which is especially helpful on Vietnam’s crowded and dangerous roads.

Fleischer admits he doesn’t wear a helmet in False Creek but will in Vietnam.

“Riders must also be nice to their support crew and buy them a beer during the tour,” Looi warns on his website.

Unicycle rides are becoming more common, with tours in the past few years of Laos, New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland, Europe and the U.S.

Unicycles now have gears and can travel as fast and far as bicycles, claims Looi.

Fleischer leaves Vancouver today for Florida, where he will be in “spring training,” until he leaves for Vietnam.

see more on this tour at: www.grasshopperadventures.com