On his final Thunder Dome run at Amped Electric Games 2026, Bennett Schirmer landed a triple he had been building up to all week. Then he lost every second he had saved because he was too surprised by what he had just done to focus on the rest of the trail.
Bennett Schirmer racing Thunder Dome at Coler Mountain at Amped Electric Games 2026. Photo by Trey Lewis.
It was one of the standout moments in a championship week that ended with Schirmer taking the 2026 Amped Champ title in Men's Pro EUC and the KingSong F18 prize. The 21-year-old mechanical engineering student at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) in Evansville competes under USA EUC, the national sanctioning body for electric unicycle racing.
Schirmer at Amped Electric Games 2026. Photo by Trey Lewis.
How Did He Get Into EUC Racing?
Bennett Schirmer grew up in Lizton, Indiana, a small town on the west side of Indianapolis, building minibikes, dirt bikes and anything else with a motor he could get his hands on. He was the kind of kid who wanted to learn how to do everything. He solved Rubik’s cubes, rode stilts, and at 10 or 11 learned to ride an analog unicycle, jumping it off logs and picnic tables.
I just wanted to go as fast as possible on anything that moved.
One of Bennett Schirmer's many mini bike builds. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
A young Bennett Schirmer riding an acoustic unicycle. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
When he started college, there was no barn and no dirt bikes. He found Esk8 and was able to scratch the itch for speed riding, buying a used Backfire Zealot electric skateboard and putting over 2000 miles on it in his first year. When he wanted to ride off-road on the campus mountain bike trails, an Instagram video of an EUC at full lean fascinated him. He knew he had to have one and worked a summer of landscaping to purchase a T4 Pro.
Schirmer posing with his Backfire Zealot ESK8. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
His first attempts on an EUC came earlier that year, on a borrowed wheel in an Ohio park. He fell on his first attempt. By his second, he was riding laps.
About two and a half minutes I was up and going, ready to go.
The years he had spent riding a regular unicycle had done the work.
As soon as the T4 Pro arrived, Schirmer was riding EUC off-road. He later learned about EUC racing through a local rider Drew Hawkins. They met through a Facebook comment left on a video of Bennett teaching himself to jump on his first wheel at college. Hawkins recognized the USI campus, and the two started riding together. Hawkins was already riding off-road, and Schirmer spent his early rides chasing him saying about Hawkins "This guy's fast. Like, I'm trying to keep up with him. I want to get faster."
Schirmer first owned a Begode T4 EUC which he heavily modified. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
Schirmer has been racing since 2024. His first race was Camp Shred 2025, where he says he finished second to Hawkins in the mass start. He has no sponsors currently, however, he credits Hawkins with supporting his progress the most:
He truly just wants to see me succeed.
How Does Bennett Train for a Race?
Bennett Schirmer trains by timing full-gear laps on his campus mountain bike trails for two to three weeks before a race and watching his times drop. He runs five hard laps at a time using a lap-timing app. When asked about training, he says "I think riding with intent is one of the huge components that lead to becoming a faster racer."
Schirmer race training on his T4 EUC. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
Before Amped, he went to Scales Lake, a nearby bike park with a course similar to the Flow Track, and spent half a Saturday putting down times. His questions when reviewing video clips of him riding are specific:
Where am I losing time? Am I spending too much time in the air? Can I scrub this jump more?
His logic is simple.
If you're putting intent and time into becoming faster, there's no way you're going to go slower.
He is now adding strength work aimed at the muscles that tire during long race runs. He also says his mental approach has changed this year. Early in his racing career, staying upright and clear-headed at the start was a fight. Now, he feels more confident in the skills he has practiced:
I feel like I've practiced enough to know my skill level and know that I can be confident while I'm racing.
Schirmer's race training includes exercise and strength training at the gym. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
What Wheel and Tire Pressure Does He Run?
Schirmer's race wheel is an original LeaperKim Lynx with a Shinko 244 tire, and he raced a Lynx S for the first time at Amped. He adjusts tire pressure to the trail conditions: as low as 18 PSI in wet or muddy conditions, about 23 PSI for the loose dirt, grass and mulch like that of the Flow Track, and 28 to 30 PSI on hard pack like the Thunder Dome.
Schirmer's Leaperkim Lynx, race ready. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
He treats the numbers as a starting point.
You have to ride at different PSIs to figure out what you like, how the wheel reacts.
His other advice:
Try not to dent your rim.
Each crash has added something to his protective gear.
Every time I crash and something bleeds, I'm like, 'Okay, what gear can I put on now to protect that section?'
His best addition has been hockey pants, with hard plastic protection extending halfway up his torso.
Those have saved my hips more times than I can count.
Neck protection is next on his list.
What Title Did Bennett Schirmer Win at Amped Electric Games 2026?
Bennett Schirmer won the 2026 Amped Champ title in Men's Pro EUC, finishing with a combined time 3.4 seconds faster than second place across the Thunder Dome and Flow Track. He won the Flow Track and placed second in the Thunder Dome by only .07 seconds. A month earlier in Newark, Ohio, he won Men's Pro EUC Enduro and Men's Pro Mass start at Camp Shred 4. That gave him three sanctioned starts in 2026 and three first place podiums.
Schirmer shared the Amped 2026 podium with Zac Darnell 3rd (left) and Max Berger 2nd (right). Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
The Flow Track is where he made up time at Amped. On the first day, he slid out twice in the loose mulch of the opening turn and saved both. On the second day, he came back stronger knowing where he needed to stay focused. He also knew he was gaining time in the singletrack through the woods.
My second day, my runs were just so much better. I was taking better lines.
How Did He Land the Thunder Dome Triple?
Schirmer tripled the jump before the tunnel on his final Thunder Dome run, the only rider to land it clean all week by his count. On the run before, he had doubled and landed in the basin, which made him question why he was checking his speed at all. So on the last one, he kept it pinned.
I knew my previous times were good and I was just like, I'm full sending it this time.
The triple went clean, but it came with a catch.
As soon as I landed the triple, I lost all focus on the rest of the trail because I was shocked thinking, I can't believe I just did that.
He posted exactly the same time on that run as he had on the previous run without the triple. In his words, "all the time that I saved doing the triple, I lost, because I wasn't focused after it."
The week had other big moments off the race courses. He cleared Choo Choo Gap, a concrete line in Bentonville he had seen mountain bikers ride and EUC riders call impossible. His approach was simple:
Over send is better than under in this case.
Later, he switched to a wheel with more power and suspension and rode it off a wooden booter at Coler Mountain. Before dropping in, he described the feature this way:
Man, I'm scared. This is big. This is at least two stories tall.
He hit it about six times.
"That's the biggest jump I've ever hit in my life for sure". Schirmer remarked when asked about the jump.
What Does Schirmer Think Will Grow the Sport?
Schirmer thinks EUC racing will grow when ordinary people believe they could ride one. He compares it to mountain biking and motorsports, where fans watch because they already participate in some version of the activity. The disconnect, he believes, is that people look at a unicycle and say, "I could never do that." His answer is to get more people riding in public, learning on camera and commuting until the wheel stops looking impossible.
At USI, where he is currently a student, Schirmer is bringing more riders into the sport. He has given presentations to campus safety on personal electric vehicles, is starting a club to promote safe riding, and sets out cones in parking lots for practice time trials.
I've taught like five or six people in the last two weeks.
One of Schirmer's students at a learn to ride event he organized. Photo provided by Bennett Schirmer.
He also believes the sport needs an industry and supports the organized structure USA EUC brings to it.
It doesn't become professional because people are getting together in a park to go race. It gets professional because there's companies supporting it, teams building it.
For a casual rider thinking about a first race, his advice is direct.
If you're brand new and you're nervous about it, go amateur. There's classes for you. There is literally no risk to going out there and having a good time. Have fun with it! You don't know the feeling until you get out there on the starting line and you feel that adrenaline. In my opinion, there's nothing like it.
Among the riders he watches out for, he named 14-year-old Emmett Minge, who stayed on his tail throughout Camp Shred. Schirmer said Minge rides as soon as school lets out, then added his own verdict:
That's the mentality you got to have.
He also mentions Josh Fagerness, a well-known racer in the community for being an all-out, full-effort racer. Among others are Jace Cundiff, Justin Davis, and Zac Darnell.
When asked about his favorite race format, he says it's the mass start.
When everybody's lined up, everybody's going, it's just mayhem. It's the most fun you can have out there on the trails.
What Is Schirmer Doing Next?
Schirmer graduates from USI in May 2027 and plans to race the 2027 USA EUC season, including West Coast events he has not yet attended.
Be on the watch for Bennett Schirmer in the 2027 USA EUC season!
Schirmer racing the Flow Track at Amped Electric Games 2025. Photo by USA EUC.
Follow Bennett Schirmer's social media accounts here: Bennett Schirmer on Linktree. Athlete profile: Bennett Schirmer on USA EUC. Full standings at USA EUC standings.
