Uni enthusiasts rally & race in Madison, Wis.

It was quite a sight, dozens of one-wheeled wonders racing around neighborhood blocks, practicing gravity defying tricks in the park grass and holding hands as they rolled down the bike path. These were no circus sideshow performers but an all-ages crowd attending the North American Unicycle Convention and Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, July 23-30.

The balance of the more than 300 attendees were multigenerational, unicycling families hailing from throughout the Midwest, but also as far away as Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Texas. The event drew 20 members of the Panther Pride Unicycle Team - all elementary school students in Snoqualmie Valley, Washington. And despite the "North American" net cast by the convention, unicyclists from Sweden and German joined the Americans and Canadians, according to organizers.

On the opening day of her third national championship criterium, Kirsten Goldstein, 19, of Hutchinson, Minnesota, quickly put a big gap between her and the rest of the field in the first of eight laps around a residential block. Atop a 36-inch wheel, Goldstein maintained her lead and beat, not only the other expert women in the field, but all the men, too. She would go on to win the time trial and marathon (finishing the latter in just under 2 hours 50 minutes) as well.

Ohioan Kevin Tomczyk, 15, finished third overall in the unicycle marathon in 2:15:20. He said he started riding unicycles just four years ago just to try something "out of the ordinary." He said he now owns 11 unicycles and not one bicycle. His 36-inch racing uni had short aerobars which he said (and proved) "are good for cranking over long, straight distances."

Tomczyk tied with Geoff Houghton for third place in the overall distance champion competition.

Goldstein was crowned the women's distance champion. Her male counterpart at the top of the podium was Madison resident and reining 10K Unicycle World Champion Scott Wilton. When Wilton won that international title last year - at the age of 17 - in Wellington, New Zealand, his victory was hailed as "a triumph for the purists" who do not race geared unicycles. He said his two-geared competition didn't have an advantage on the tight course that included 22 turns, gravel and a narrow bridge. Wilson, a unicyclist for the past eight years, said he averaged 17 to 18 mph over those 6.2 miles.

At the North American Championships in Madison, Wilton won the 10K and time trial, track race and mountain unicycling events. The only other expert-class racer to beat him was Houghton in the criterium.

Another purist was Wilson's co-organizer of the Madison event, outgoing president of the Unicycling Society of America Connie Cutter from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cutter, who finished third in the expert women distance champion competition, said she owns more than 50 unicycles. Asked if she ever rides a standard bicycle, she feigned confusion. "Do you mean with a chain, gears and handlebars? Sounds complicated," Cutter laughed. "I do have a two wheeler, but it's one wheel on top of the other and you have to pedal backward to go forward."

For more information, go to uninationals.com.