Community Engagement walks continue

Weekly Community Engagement walks continue Saturdays departing from Whirlpool State Park at 10 a.m.

Organizers Uniquia Lewis and her son Ahmad (Maurice) were not able to make it this week but Beth joined in and so did Tom Reinbird.

You probably don’t know him, but if you are downtown at night and see a guy on an electric unicycle dressed in black with LED lights on his unicycle, playing music and wearing a motorcycle helmet that’s him spinning in circles, standing on one leg and bringing an air of frivolity you found Tom.

As we arrived at the Park I approached the greenshirted nature educators.

“Good morning,” I said. “ Have you seen any random black people around.”

The cute blonde Karen-in-the-making looked at me horrified.

“No,” she said with a tone that could only come from a proper, lily white upbringing, “and you could phrase that differently.”

“What do you mean? They are my friends. If they were here, they would laugh.”

We left her to snear at people who didn't irritate her self-righteous skin and hiked on with Tom and headed down the stairs, winding our way to the flats, nibbling on berries as we went. It was a crowded day for a walk with numerous people taking advantage of the nice weather to stroll along the Great Gorge Railway bed. 

Reinbird brought his 360 degree camera on a 10-foot pole to record views for his Youtube channel @tomsflyingcircus.

Part of his mystique is dressing in black on the unicycle with a full face shield helmet. It adds mystery as well as protecting him. In the city, police are friendly and speak to him. In the state park they are not as welcoming.

The unicycle cost him $3,000 and is equipped with a gyro and connected to his phone. He has traveled over 6,000 miles on it and when it was newer, said it had a range of about 70 mile. He also wears body armor because cars are not always considerate. He is a pilot who says he has had more fun on that unicycle than flying planes.

Reinbird tells a great story of a 1973 caper when he and five friends lashed together innertubes and shot the upper and lower Whirlpool Rapids. Somehow they escaped getting caught even if they made the Courier Express.

We also had a nice chat about e-Bikes. Reinbird said he is on his 3rd motor in his Specialized Turbo Vado, all replaced by Tom’s Pro Bike under warranty. Brose, the motor manufacturer, equipped the bikes with an undersized belt. Motor failure for a bike of his vintage is common.