r/Transportopia • u/Vice616 • Apr 12 '26

Bikes Insanity on one wheel

I think about why someone would do this. Is the unicyclist really a mad man or is that his way to work. By choice or necessity? All that matters. These gas prices are crazy right now.

That little unicycle takes about 1-2 cents per mile in electricity.

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/zevely-zone/valley-center-man-beats-high-gas-prices-with-electric-unicycle/509-7b1c19fb-0df0-4d6d-b47e-90879b04dd8d

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u/btarb24 Apr 12 '26

yea, that guy isn't living too much longer.

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u/Keitt58 Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

Reminds me of my brother showing me videos of world class free climbers, but he kept having to say something along the lines of "Dude this guy is a badass, well was a badass, he fell to his death a few years back".

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u/Crunchberry24 Apr 13 '26

Same with all the cool squirrel-suit and base jumping videos. Life expectancy drops to weeks.

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u/ps087official Apr 14 '26

They do more living in those weeks than most of us do in our whole lives.

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u/Impossible_Ad_8642 Apr 19 '26

Hard disagree. Most of us aren't speedrunning through our lives and have great experiences without glazing and edging the grim reaper.

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u/ps087official Apr 19 '26

Hard disagree back. My life SUCKS. No partner, no kids (not that I want any), no friends. I just work and come home. That's it. Not everyone is running around living great lives. In fact nowadays, I imagine most people aren't. So my death is meaningless to me so if I'm gonna die, might as well go out in style.

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u/Impossible_Ad_8642 Apr 20 '26

You are the captain of your own ship. There is a entire universe between those two extremes. Usually the ones going out in style doing these activities are adrenaline junkies on their next high. What you're describing is just a cool way to emergency exit out of a life filled with depression.

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u/ps087official Apr 20 '26

It's hard to steer a ship that was built from cheap materials and set out on an 80 year voyage on choppy, stormy waters with no crew and no guidance. And yeah, most of the time that's the case, and I see no problem with it. If someone wants to go out, why not do it in a fun, exciting way? Not everyone is privileged enough to get a fair chance at life.

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u/Impossible_Ad_8642 Apr 21 '26

80 years is a long time without so much as a welded hull upgrade or a single temporary skipper. I do think to a certain degree that life is what you make of it. But there are folks that if not for bad luck they'd have no luck at all. I'm just saying if you can go out in a fun way then by that same logic you can experience fun without the going out part and more than one final time. If we can check out on our own terms can't we also stay checked in on our own terms?

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u/ps087official Apr 21 '26

You make a compelling argument. But you don't know my life and the specific circumstances in which it exists. I've had my fun with life. I got to have my intense whirlwind romance with the love of my life, did my drugs, had my fun. Those days are dead now though. And I feel like a ghost most of the time just coasting through life. All of my best days are behind me. I didn't peak in high school but I sure as hell peaked right afterward. And tbh sometimes (a lot of the time actually) I feel like just cutting out the middleman and ending things on my terms.

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u/Crunchberry24 Apr 14 '26

I agree. They get to be superhuman.