There are few people in this world as intriguing as Woodrow Farar Savage. Where his name's from, few know. What one can know and tell from him is that adrenaline is his friend. Intensity was bred in him the day he was born. It's literally in his name. With a grin a tooth short, and calm, gentle eyes that remind you instantly of the false sense of protection provided by an endless ocean. One of the nations former unicycling professionals, the young man graduated from high school only two years ago in 2012. He's a wheel rolling certified badass, and, in this interview, he graces with grit. |
How did you get your name?
Woodrow Savage: Savage is my dad’s last name, and everyone thinks it’s from [Woodrow Wilson], but my parents found it in a name book, and they really liked it. It was between that and Hedgerow.
Are you still ranked nationally in unicycling?
WS: I haven’t been able to ride as much recently because I hurt my wrist unicycling really bad, and now every time I ride it flairs up.
How does unicycling affect your wrist?
WS: To grind handrails or to hit a set, or anything with a hopping aspect. I can’t switch hands. The handle is right there on the front of the seat, and whenever you are jumping you just yank up on it; it yanks my wrist along with it.
Can you unicycle at Al Town?
WS: Before I took my hiatus there wasn’t any street there, it was just a bunch of transition. it doesn’t coast, so you can’t do much there.
Tell me the gnarliest story you know.
WS: Thankfully I never have broken a bone in my body (knocks on coconut), but I do have some gnarly stories.
WS: I have a buddy named Chris who is one of the gnarliest skaters I know, a real old-school dude. One time he was he was going to drop in on the high wall at Altown and he just slammed straight into his fucking head. The video is on YouTube, and it’s one of the gnarliest shits I’ve ever seen.
WS: And here is another one. One time Chris was skating a ditch a couple of years back. He came up to a grassy patch and decided to just ram through it, but he didn’t see a piece of concrete sticking out and hit it at full speed and slams onto his chest and cracks his sternum. I forget the technical term but we called it the “unicorn tit.” Basically the blood was seeping out and forming a growth, and it looked like a tit on the center of his chest. He had to lance it himself, and one time he accidently dropped the scalpel on the bathroom floor, didn’t decontaminate it and ended up getting staph. He kept ignoring it until he started getting a fevers. When he finally went to the doctor it turns out that it was so bad that if he waited another week he would have died. It was so bad that they were bringing in med students to study him. It has healed up pretty nice, but now he has an indent where it’s just skin over his sternum. And that’s my gnarliest story.
Woodrow Savage: Savage is my dad’s last name, and everyone thinks it’s from [Woodrow Wilson], but my parents found it in a name book, and they really liked it. It was between that and Hedgerow.
Are you still ranked nationally in unicycling?
WS: I haven’t been able to ride as much recently because I hurt my wrist unicycling really bad, and now every time I ride it flairs up.
How does unicycling affect your wrist?
WS: To grind handrails or to hit a set, or anything with a hopping aspect. I can’t switch hands. The handle is right there on the front of the seat, and whenever you are jumping you just yank up on it; it yanks my wrist along with it.
Can you unicycle at Al Town?
WS: Before I took my hiatus there wasn’t any street there, it was just a bunch of transition. it doesn’t coast, so you can’t do much there.
Tell me the gnarliest story you know.
WS: Thankfully I never have broken a bone in my body (knocks on coconut), but I do have some gnarly stories.
WS: I have a buddy named Chris who is one of the gnarliest skaters I know, a real old-school dude. One time he was he was going to drop in on the high wall at Altown and he just slammed straight into his fucking head. The video is on YouTube, and it’s one of the gnarliest shits I’ve ever seen.
WS: And here is another one. One time Chris was skating a ditch a couple of years back. He came up to a grassy patch and decided to just ram through it, but he didn’t see a piece of concrete sticking out and hit it at full speed and slams onto his chest and cracks his sternum. I forget the technical term but we called it the “unicorn tit.” Basically the blood was seeping out and forming a growth, and it looked like a tit on the center of his chest. He had to lance it himself, and one time he accidently dropped the scalpel on the bathroom floor, didn’t decontaminate it and ended up getting staph. He kept ignoring it until he started getting a fevers. When he finally went to the doctor it turns out that it was so bad that if he waited another week he would have died. It was so bad that they were bringing in med students to study him. It has healed up pretty nice, but now he has an indent where it’s just skin over his sternum. And that’s my gnarliest story.