They go back now almost five decades, so when Jim Sowers told Mike Kwinn that he wanted to do something special for Kwinn’s Friends4Michael Foundation, Kwinn wasn’t surprised.
Then Sowers told him what he wanted to do — ride the full 100-mile El Tour de Tucson course on a unicycle — and Kwinn was floored.
Kwinn was thinking the 25-mile fun run, maybe. Fifty miles, if they were pushing it. But 100? On a unicycle? A journey that could take somewhere north of 10 hours?
“He calls and I thought great, that sounds good, he wants to help,” Kwinn said. “But when he said he wants to go 100 miles, to increase awareness for what we do? Even I was blown away at that. That’s the extent of friendship and devotion he has for others.”
The challenge is steep, but Sowers is no stranger to Kwinn, nor the unicycle.
He dabbled with it in high school but really picked up unicycling 13 years ago after he met a woman at a wedding who played unicycle basketball. Sowers, a basketball fan himself — albeit one with aging knees — was intrigued.
“It was just so out there that it was like, ‘I gotta go see this,’” he said. “When I showed up, the quality of play was pretty bad. The hard part of unicycle basketball isn’t the unicyling. It’s the basketball. You can learn unicycle skills, but you can tell the people who never played basketball. I’d throw a no-look pass and it would hit them in the head.”
Sowers was just shy of 44 years old, but he picked up the hang of it pretty quickly. Within a couple weeks, he was moving around better than he ever did in high school, and in short order, he became obsessed with the sport.
An avid athlete, though not particularly into two-wheeled cycling, Sowers was more drawn to the basketball aspect than the cycling aspect. He dived in head-first, competing in the unicycle basketball national championships and then the worlds. He’s won more than a half-dozen national titles. Impressive, he says, until you realize there are maybe only four or five teams competing. Internationally, he’s finished as high as second.
His pursuit is not about individual glory, though.
“Not all unicyclists are narcissists,” he said. “I just like riding. But in order for me to create some buzz around this, I have to do something epic. I will say, I’m 57, but I’m a pretty bad-ass 57-year-old. Nothing gives me more pleasure than passing someone on two wheels when I’m on one.”
In recent years, Sowers has traversed the world on unicycle, participating in various charity events and raising money for causes he supports. He’s unicycled from Mumbai to Goa, India, and from New York to Washington D.C., in five days. He’s a get-out-and-go kind of guy. Took a motorcycle from the bottom of Africa to the top.
This El Tour trek means something extra special.
In 2002, Kwinn’s son, Michael, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was 13 years old. Friends, family, and strangers rallied around Michael, offering gifts, tickets, toys — anything to take his mind off his tragedy. To young Michael, his life was no tragedy, but an inspiration. He wanted to do more. He implored his father to help raise money for other families in similar tragic circumstances, and the Friends4Michael Foundation was formed, providing immediate financial assistance to the families of cancer-stricken children.
Since 2003, they’ve helped more than 3,300 families during the worst of times.
“What Mike did was really a nice effort in an area that isn’t always dealt with,” Sowers said. “Some families get this horrible news, and they have to travel somewhere, and they might not have the money for a hotel. That’s where Friends4Michael steps in. I always wanted to do something for Mike, I just didn’t know what.”
That’s why Sowers, who lives in Oakland, will come down to visit his friend Mike in Tucson this week. They’ll laugh like old friends. Inside jokes will spark memories almost 40 years after they graduated Alta Loma High in California. And on Saturday, Sowers will hop on his unicycle and he’ll hop off 100 miles later.
But why 100? Why not 25? Why not 50?
He points out one of his favorite quotes from one of his favorite movies, Invictus, about a legendary rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand in the mid-90s. In it, a character says, “Rugby isn’t something to be enjoyed, it’s something to be endured.”
Sowers feels the same way about this. If he’s going to do this, if he’s going to help, why not go all the way?
“I enjoy unicycle basketball,” he said. “That’s fun for me. But riding 100 miles for this cause isn’t something to be enjoyed, it’s something to be endured.”
