Students may be familiar with Light Up Guy or the Flag Guy on campus, but another “Guy” is rolling around campus lately and stirring buzz.
Jerry Myers is most known at ETSU for his unicycling. He has ridden in various locations around campus, spanning from the obstacle course to the library, for the past two years.
“There’s a lot of awesome places to ride,” he said.
A former student at ETSU and now a private accounts manager in Elizabethton, Myers is a completely self-taught unicyclist.
“It took about three months to learn to ride a straight line,” he said. “From there, it’s been four years, and I ride all around now.”
He picked up unicycling from his other hobby of mountain biking. One day when he was biking, he broke a chain while coming off a jump. This caused him to hit the handle bars and get hurt. He decided he didn’t like relying on a chain, and he wanted something with a fixed wheel. This led him to unicycles.
Because he is not a student, Myers parks at BoJangles’ on West State of Franklin Road to avoid getting a parking citation. He mostly rides in the evenings because of the heat but says he will probably be around more during the day with the temperatures dropping.
Myers can be found at Tannery Knobs Mountain Bike Park when he’s not cycling on campus. He said people at the park are more likely to take videos of him than ETSU students. He does not consider himself a campus celebrity like the other “Guys.”
“Over at Tannery Knobs, I get out of the car and people are like, ‘Oh my gosh. Here he comes,'” Myers said. “But I don’t really like that because I’m not trying to draw attention. I just really like riding.”
Many people do take videos of him, and he recently discovered a video on YouTube taken of him crashing at Tannery Knobs.
Because crashes and other accidents can happen on a unicycle, Myers said he has to wear safety gear. This includes a helmet, gloves and shoes that lock into the pedals. He said he has spent less than $1,000 on unicycling, and he does all repair work himself.
“The upkeep is relatively cheap,” he said. “Every now and then, you bleed a break or you may have a flat tire just like you would biking.”
In fact, he broke his first unicycle while jumping off a table and had to buy one that would hold up better.
Anybody interested in learning about unicycling can ask Myers. He said he will offer people the chance to ride if they want.
“I’ll offer it to anybody,” he said. “If anybody seems interested, I’ll stop and let them try it. Every now and then somebody will do it, but most people just point and look.”
While the “Unicyclist Guy” does not know any others with the same hobby, he plans to keep riding in the future.
“It’s just like riding a bike, except for when you get up on it,” Myers said. “Instead of just leaning side to side, you’re just on one point. So you lean all the way around – full circle. You can always get better at it.”
