10 Tracks with Dylan Canfield

This week is Dylan Canfield week here at YGR. We’ve got him as a DJ on 10 Tracks today, and we’ll review his mountain unicycle tomorrow on Ride Review. I’ve been seeing Dylan ride his unicycle at the Sendtown races for a few years but finally got to know him a little this Fall when my three kids and I took the Sendtown Unicycle program (Five stars. Would recommend.) that he leads.  The short track and cyclocross races at New Belgium are actually pretty mild compared to some of the other stuff Dylan rides. The Four Seasons of Horsetooth Mountain Bike Challenge (3 hrs 38 min), 200+ mile seven-day unipacking trips, Porcupine Rim, North Shore… Dude’s crazy. Learn more about his exploits and give his playlist a listen below, and be sure to check out his mountain unicycle review tomorrow.

When/where/how did you start on the uni?  I asked for a unicycle for my 12th birthday because my best friend at the time rode a unicycle. I taught myself how to ride by using my dad’s station wagon as a launching off point. In high school, most of my friends were skateboarders. I tried to skate for a bit, but could never get a clean ollie. So I brought my unicycle when we were hanging out at different skate areas in Denver where I would do stairs, drops, gaps, and a few tricks — aka street unicycling. I broke two unicycles doing big drops (like off of a loading dock) and learned the hard way what differentiated a quality unicycle from a cheap unicycle. Since then, I’ve moved away from street unicycling. My favorite unicycle disciplines now are mountain unicycling, road unicycling (like doing the Horsetooth Res. dams on a 36″ unicycle), and multi-day unipacking (like bikepacking but on a unicycle).
When do you listen to these? Wrenching in the garage or driving to HTMP or Lory SP. I don’t typically listen to music while I ride because I find it helpful to hear the sound of my tire on the ground or bikes approaching from behind, which happens a lot on a unicycle.
Favorite unicycle? Out of the many unicycles that I own, (we counted 11 unicycles in his garage- a roadie, a fatuni that he rides on the groomed trails in Winter Park, a couple of municycles, a tall uni…) it’s definitely my 27.5″ mountain unicycle. It’s my go to unicycle for everything from getting in a quick after-work ride with my dog to tackling the 4SOH course.
Favorite ride? Any ride where I can have my dog off-leash with me.
Preferred style of riding? “Enduro-style” mountain unicycling. I challenge myself to clean the climbs just as much as the descents. I like going out for 2-3 hours at a time (~10-20 miles), whenever possible.

I have also been “”unipacking”” the last few years. My two biggest trips so far have been Winter Park to Boulder (basically the Indian Peaks Traverse route in reverse) in 2020 and Winter Park to Fort Collins (via Walden, Red Feather, and Old Flowers Rd) in 2022. Those trips were 73 miles (3 days) and 236 miles (7 days), respectively.”
Years in NoCo? (City?) 6 years in Fort Collins
Employer/title/years there? I’m a Linux Systems Administrator for the University of Colorado (Boulder). I have worked there for 12 years, since I was an undergrad at CU. I’ve been working 100% remotely since 2016 when I moved to Fort Collins.
Hometown? Denver, CO
Team name if applicable. I am the head unicycle coach for SendTown Bike Club.
How do you take your coffee? I take my coffee black. At home I make it half-caff, by mixing regular beans with decaffeinated beans before grinding, so that I can drink an entire pot without getting the jitters 🙂
Do you ride a unicycle with two wheels? I own a mountain bike (2015 Specialized Enduro) , but haven’t ridden it since April 2021… I also have a gravel bike (2017 Specialized Sequoia) that I ride on occasion, especially with my wife, Ali. However, I definitely accumulate more hours on a unicycle every year than on a bike.
What other cool things have you done on your uni?

• I’ve ridden Porcupine Rim in Moab (as a shuttle from LPS) multiple times since 2015. I’m planning on attending the Moab Muni Weekend this upcoming March, as well.
• I started the Colorado Front Range Unicyclists group in 2015 when living in Boulder, CO. I continue to moderate the Facebook page for this group and submit group rides there for Northern Colorado. However, the group is currently most active in Golden, Denver, and Colorado Springs.
• I organized the Colorado Muni Weekends in 2016 and 2017 in Winter Park and Fort Collins, respectively.
• I rode the North Shore trails in Vancouver at the 2018 Vancouver Muni Weekend. The double black diamond trails were way above my ability, but I had a lot of fun on the single black diamond trails.
• I have been riding the Tuesday night cyclocross races at New Belgium Brewery on my unicycle since the Spring 2019 series.
• I was one of two Head Directors and the Mountain Unicycle Director for the North American Unicycle Competition and Convention (NAUCC) in Fort Collins in 2019.
• I have been coaching unicycling and mountain unicycling with Send Town (formerly Cyclismo) since February 2020.
• I unipacked a total of 73 miles in 3 days from Winter Park to Boulder in 2020.
• I organized a Curt Gowdy Muni weekend in 2021.
• I unipacked a total of 236 miles in 7 days from Winter Park to Fort Collins in 2022. I took the scenic route from WP -> Granby -> Walden -> RedFeather Lakes -> Old Flowers Road -> Rist Canyon
• I completed the 4SOH Fall 2022 stage on my unicycle in 3 hrs 38 min. I plan on completing all 4 stages on a unicycle for the current series.
• As of early December, I have recorded 921 miles unicycling in 2022. My goal for next year is to surpass 1k miles!