At UNICON21, in Bemidji, MN, one unicyclist made an attempt to break the World Record for Tallest Rideable Unicycle with a 44ft Unicycle. Jamey Mossengren, known for his stage name, The Unicycling Unicorn, made an attempt at the World Record for Tallest Rideable Unicycle as the first big event of UNICON21.

The Unicycling Unicorn was a mere few feet off from breaking the record during the show; however, he showed determination to succeed. For Jamey this was the ‘All-or-Nothing’ moment as his journey into unicycling, UNICON, and this Guiness World Record attempt was all coming together. Jamey shared with me how he got into Unicycling leading up to this point.

Unicycling from 2ft to 12ft

“I first started unicycling because my grandma bought one at a garage sale for the grandkids. And we showed up one day and my brother and I were bored, and we were like, “there’s nothing to do.” And all of a sudden, we see this unicycle laying in there and we’re like, “let’s try that.” And 35 years later, I’m still doing it.”

But the beginning of that 35-year journey was not the smoothest for Jamey.

“So, my first day I went out there and it was a disaster. I was doing all my hard tricks, but I wasn’t connecting with people. I wasn’t making them laugh. And I made like two bucks in an hour and I’m like, “oh, that’s not going to pay the bills.” So, I was packing up. I was going to give up and never try again. But this old lady came up to me and she gave me a $20 bill. And as I was packing up, she’s like, “I believe in you. Keep doing what you love. You’re really good at it.” and yeah, if it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have tried again.”

Jamey had just lost his grandmother a year before, so he became deeply moved by this one women’s gesture. This inspired him to continue on and create his Unicycle show.

“I mainly do like a 30-minute juggling comedy unicycle show called “The Unicycling Unicorn.” And I came up with that because I had a suit and tie show, like tall unicycle act. They’re actually kind of common right now. There’s a lot of people that do similar stuff. And I was actually at burning man a while ago, and I had a unicorn mask in my van. And I put it on the front seat of my mountain unicycle and rode around, and people loved it. They’re like, “oh, that’s great. That’s so funny.” and I’m like, “wow, I might be onto something.”

Jamey gave his comedy performance acting as MC before his World Record Attempt, as unicyclist from around the globe shared in the laughter and smiles of the event.

“I just like how everyone looks at unicyclists and smiles. You know, like you just got to smile at unicyclists because it’s unique and weird and funny. So that’s why I kind of started performing because it’s kind of fun to make other people laugh and smile. And it’s really rewarding doing a show to a couple hundred people. And you see old people laugh and young people, people of all religions and races. It’s just a magical thing when everyone’s kind of getting along together and having fun together.”

UNICON – Convention/Competition for Unicyclists

This event all transpired at the 21st UNICON. UNICON is a biennial world unicycling convention that has been held since 1984. The event has traveled all over the world as reflected by the people attending.
Students from India, alongside people from Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil are just a few of the many nations that are represented at this event. Many share memories of UNICONs of the past, such as John Ross who has attended every UNICON—

This year marks Jamey’s 15th UNICON and this time he wanted to give back to the community he loves.

“I’m also creating the unicycle museum here at UNICON. So, there’s over 100 different vintage, unique, unusual, weird unicycles all on display. And there’s t-shirts, there’s figurines and it kind of snowballed into this huge project. And I’ve been working on that for over a year. And I actually traveled 5,000 miles with a trailer just to go pick up unicycles from different people.”

The museum was filled with unicycles of all different shapes and sizes, so even having the history of attending every UNICON. Despite, many being fragile from their age, some unicycles attendees could actually take outside and ride with them for fun.

WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

The big event of the first day soon approached. The land acknowledgement was given, the Unicycling Unicorn did his comedy performance, then it was time for Jamey’s plan to attempt– the World Record for Tallest Rideable Unicycle.

“Growing up, I saw all these other guys doing tall unicycles and I was like, “wow, that’d be fun someday.” and it’s very expensive to have it built and pay for the rigors and get the venue. When I heard it was going to be in Minnesota, I was like, “oh, a UNICON 21 is going to be perfect because I’m from Minnesota. All my family and friends can be here and there’s going to be a thousand unicycles here as well.” So, it’s just like the perfect opportunity to do it. And I had the money to do it and so I went for it.”

With that– the 44ft tall unicycle was crafted at the unicycle factory in Kokomo, Indiana. It was delivered the morning of the event weighing 94lbs, as Jamey prepared to break the record.

“But like over the last year, I would always ski in snowboard during the winter. And on the chair left, I would just look down and imagining I’m pedaling a unicycle and try to get my fear of heights out of the equation.”

“Yeah, so we’ll see. It might happen, it might not.” For the record, Jamey had to prove he was in control of the Unicycle by traveling 27ft without falling over.

World Record Update

He only needed 5.5 revolutions and although he didn’t get it during the show, during rehearsals he did successfully pedal 7 revolutions in control and has set the new world record.

This event also marks the finale of a feature-length documentary about The Unicycling Unicorn, directed by Robert Bartolome and produced by Rab Media and Odd Creative Direction, LLC. The documentary, which has been in production for two years, will showcase Jamey’s unique personal journey across the globe, with plans to debut on the 2025 international film festival circuit.