I do not associate a vertical position with 'comfort' so much as I associate having any significant weight on my hands for the majority of my ride with DIScomfort. I've tried a number of things to try to remedy this, and recently injured my hand; it looks like i'm going to need to go to something with a fully upright position or a recumbent... Since I live in Alaska, i'll likely need both.

As noted though, I had no trouble with a unicycle for afternoon rides all around town. It is true that a recent trend in touring unicycling has been toward the addition of bars, but those are used mainly for control and as a mounting point for cycling computers, lights, brakes, and the like.

DataJunkie: I'm in my 30's, and I only in the past year got out of the college in question, as I was returning to academia persuing an advanced degree.