Wrong.

For Los Gatos resident Beau Hoover, 13, this trip will be his first long-distance, three-week unicycle tour. For his dad, Nathan Hoover, this will be one of the most difficult rides he's ever made.

The Hoovers, along with Capitola resident Scot Cooper, Campbell resident Bronson Silva and six other unicyclists from across the nation, will ride through the Alps from July 10 through July 29. Leaving from Fussen, Germany, they will ride over eight mountain passes, through six countries and end in Geneva, Switzerland.

While this is the first long-distance tour Beau has been on, fellow unicyclists have ridden through such countries as Norway, Tasmania, Europe and America.

The tours, established by Andy Cotter of Minnesota in 2001, are designed for unicyclists and are at least four days and 120 miles, Nathan said.

Beau and his dad started unicycling about seven years ago. After thinking it was impossible, they eventually got the hang of it. Now Beau, the youngest rider on the trip, will also be the fastest--he can go slightly more than 20 miles per hour.

The unicyclists will ride about 10 to12 miles per hour on the tour, and ride from 15 to 60 miles a day.

Scot Cooper has been on several unicycling tours, including through Norway and Tasmania. On his travels, he said that when natives see unicyclists it's an instant icebreaker. In fact, he prefers to travel on a unicycle because it sets the riders apart from the crowd, and gives the locals a reason to talk with them.

Nathan recalled a trip one year ago in Lake Tahoe when someone yelled out for them to stop for cocktails.

While the others continued on, Scot thought it sounded like a good idea to stop for a drink.

"We get that type of thing all the time," Nathan said.

Nathan, who helped organize the trip, said he chose the Alps because it of its beauty and elevation.

"The Alps seemed perfect. But talk to me in six months," he said.

The last time Nathan was in Switzerland he traveled by rail.

They will have a website that they will post daily reports of where they rode, what happened to them, pictures and anything bizarre they might have experienced.

Nathan said that when they were in Norway, they would often be stopped by newspaper reporters and find themselves featured in the local paper the following day.

The unicycles they will ride have 36-inch Coker wheels, the same wheels that were used for cars in the early 1900s. The unicycles have a brake, and a small handlebar attached to the seat that riders can use for stability.

Riding is just as hard as it looks, Nathan said; unicycling is a full body workout, and that on these long trips they are exhausted by the end of the day.

After each tour, he said they tweak trips to make them better. On this tour, the main difference will be that they will have steeper elevations to climb, and will have more rest days.

He also said that it is very difficult to carry gear with them, other than a sleek backpack with water and some food, so a support group will travel with them on bikes and in a car.

Even though the local riders said they are excited about the trip, they also realize they still have a lot more training to do.

Recently, the four unicyclists rode for about 40 miles in the Santa Cruz Mountains with an elevation climb of about 3,000 feet to simulate a medium-difficulty day in the Alps.

The hardest part of unicycling, however, is not going up--it's going down.

"If it wasn't for the brake, going downhill would be murder," Nathan said.

Even though the sport has been slowly rising in numbers, Beau Hoover said that unicycling is only for the persistent.

"This is for people who like a challenge. It's hard to learn but easy to ride," he said.

To follow their trip, visit aut.unitours.org.