WASHINGTON — When Julius Dupree cycles around the city, people stop and stare.
The 43-year-old looks like any other cyclist. He wears a helmet, a bike jersey and spandex, but his bike sets him apart from the others: it only has one wheel.
“I’m really an avid unicyclist,” says Dupree, who lives in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Northwest D.C.
Dupree spends six to seven hours a week riding anywhere from 20 to 40 miles at a time on a unicycle that towers over other bikes. (The wheel on one of his bikes measures at 36 inches.)
Getting up on the bike is no small feat, and staying on is even harder. Dupree mounts the bike from the back: he puts one foot on the pedal and uses the other to propel his body on the seat. Once he’s on the bike, he has to catch his balance and start pedalling forward.
“Once you learn, it’s like riding a bike. But it’s a little more challenging, obviously,” he says.
Don’t expect to see Dupree doing aerial jumps or juggling while he rides. Similar to traditional cycling, there are several different styles of unicycling. He prefers long-distance riding and touring, mostly because it’s a great workout.
“The fitness piece of it shouldn’t be underscored,” says Dupree, who has been unicycling since he was 12. “It’s a good workout for your muscles and your abs because of the balance aspect of it, your legs … because you can’t stop pedaling. It’s really a challenging workout.”
In fact, on his long rides he burns between 1,000 and 2,000 calories.
Dupree doesn’t just ride unicycles — he designs and builds them, too. And later this summer, he’s launching his custom unicycle line, Lonewulf Unicycles.
He got the idea for the business about four years ago when he took his unicycle in for repair at a local bike shop. It was there that he met Mike Minnery, a welder and artist. Minnery suggested making a few modifications and additions to Dupree’s unicycle, and Dupree ended up showing Minnery a sketch he’d made a year before for a bike prototype.
“I was actually kind of embarrassed about it because I didn’t want people seeing this prototype because I didn’t want people to think, ‘Well this guy’s kind of nuts.’ So I hid the prototype under a stack of papers for a while.”
The two ended up building the prototype and named the bike the Shapeshifter — the first unicycle of Lonewulf’s line.
When the business officially launches later this summer, Dupree says Lonewulf will focus its production efforts on a universal 29-inch-wheel all-terrain bike. Slowly, he will add more bikes, including one for beginners.
“I get a lot of people who want to learn how to ride. I see people in the street all the time who are like, ‘Man, I like the way that thing looks; that thing looks so cool. Can I learn to ride it?’”
Dupree says in addition to having beginner bikes, he also hopes to offer lessons to beginners.
The plan is to keep Lonewulf’s production in the U.S. and to keep the prices in an affordable range. (Dupree says unicycles can cost anywhere from $100 to $1,500). He will also sell specialty parts for those who don’t need the complete unicycle.
In more recent years, Dupree says he’s seen growth in the sport. In 1982, the International Unicycling Federation was formed, and every two years, the organization hosts the unicycling world championships. There’s also a community for the Washington area, called D.C. Uni, which has a couple hundred members listed on its forum.
Dupree anticipates the sport will continue to grow as people become more aware about the health benefits of unicycling and consider it an option for commuting through the congested city.
“Bike is a great form of transportation as well, I just like the challenge of riding one wheel as opposed to two,” he says.
Watch Julius Dupree explain how he mounts the bike, and see him ride in Georgetown:
