Every one of Christie Scollon’s neighbors had seen her practicing, so backing down wasn’t an option. Christie quickly learned that there were only two ways this could end: either she would land herself in a cast, or learn to ride the unicycle.
Christie’s fascination with the circus arts started when her son, Owen Scollon, learned to juggle in his fifth-grade P.E. class. He started juggling at the Bellingham Farmer’s Market in middle school, and his career took off. Owen was introduced to the Bellingham Circus Guild and was given a unicycle. Now a high schooler, Owen simultaneously juggles, unicycles, and solves a Rubik’s cube as part of his act.
Owen inspired Christie to try juggling. As a professor at Western Washington University (WWU), she wanted to learn a new skill to help her understand the minds of her students who are constantly taking in new information. More recently, with Owen’s encouragement, Christie took up unicycling.
Christie practiced for 15 to 20 minutes every day, sometimes twice a day, the whole summer of 2024. She says she learned slowly, but the tiny bit of progress she would make each day kept her hooked.
“It’s incredibly joyful,” Christie says. “Nothing feels more fun to me than riding my unicycle.”
While learning to unicycle, Christie’s usual role as a teacher was temporarily reversed. Owen taught his friends and the neighborhood kids how to unicycle, and would give his mom advice and tips for how to improve her skills in the early stages of her unicycling journey.
“I could have only done it with his help,” Christie says.
Once Christie got the hang of unicycling, she started looking for more unicyclers to connect with. She found the dormant “Bellingham Unicycling” group on Facebook and got in touch with the founders.
“Once you’re a unicyclist, you just have a special bond with other unicyclists,” Christie says.
Christie started posting on the Facebook group, created a “Bellingham.Unicycling” Instagram to further unite local unicyclers, and began organizing meet-ups. The Bellingham Ferry Terminal is a frequent meeting location for the group; the railing around the dock is helpful for beginners to lean on. Christie discovered that, like her son, she enjoys teaching others how to unicycle.
“Christie’s a great coach, and she’s so inspirational,” says Grace Wang, a WWU professor in the College of the Environment who heard about the group from Christie.
Throughout the eight years Christie has worked at WWU, she has exclusively used her bicycle to travel to campus. Since learning to ride the unicycle, she carries it on her bike, then uses it to get around campus.
“Since I’ve learned to unicycle, I find walking incredibly boring and slow,” Christie says.
Christie has found that unicycling short distances is much faster than walking, and incredibly convenient with the lack of need for a bike lock. A unicycle, just having one wheel, does not take up much space. People do not care that she takes it with her wherever she goes.
Furthermore, Christie noticed that when she starts her day with unicycling, she is more productive throughout the day. Christie says there is a unique balancing component to unicycling that forces activity from both sides of the brain. When Christie starts her day with a unicycle ride, a physically challenging activity, it gives her the motivation to take on mental challenges.
Studies on the intersection between psychology and unicycling are few and far between, but Christie keeps up with them all. A study published in 2019 found that participants in a three-week unicycling training had significant changes in gray and white matter networks related to motor and cognitive functions. The study found that learning a complex balance task, such as unicycling, grew the parts of the brain that control posture and spatial awareness. Christie says there’s a lot of opportunity for research regarding unicycling’s connection to mood regulation, focus, and cognitive function.
Along with encouraging balance and spatial awareness, unicycling attracts a community of all ages. During a unicycle meet-up on a sunny day at the ferry terminal, a range of early elementary schoolers to retired folk learn to unicycle.
“Real human connections are so valuable in this day and age, and so joyful,” Christie says.
One of Bellingham’s unicyclists, Eina Ooka, has been teaching her daughter to unicycle. Ooka had a unicycle when she was a kid, and started up again about five years ago when her child started learning to ride a Strider bike. On a unicycle, Ooka says any trail becomes challenging.
“I don’t have to go far to have a lot of fun,” Eina Ooka says.
Ooka regularly attends the Bellingham unicycling meet-ups and says she enjoys the funky group of people that unicycling attracts.
“To unicycle, you can’t worry so much about how people look at you,” Ooka says. “That’s also kind of freeing, that we have a group of people who don’t really worry about how others look at us and we have fun.”
Christie appreciates how welcoming the Bellingham Circus Guild was to Owen and herself. Now, she welcomes new unicyclists who join Bellingham’s unicycling group.
“This is a warm, welcoming community; they turn away no one,” Christie says.
Between the Bellingham Circus Guild and the newly revitalized unicycling group, Bellingham is teeming with circus artists.
“For a community our size,” Christie says, “Bellingham probably has the most circus talent per capita in the whole country.”
Photograph by Malia Fraser
