Recently, I've had three very different rides, and two very negative
experiences. The one positive experience was yesterday's MUni ride in
Sherwood Forest, on the 26 with 150mm cranks, a Gazz 2.3 tyre, and a
handle. I rode myself into the ground, got mudded up to the eyeballs,
and woke up this morning still on a high about it.
But the negative experiences? Why write up negative experiences? There
might be something to learn.
Last Tuesday evening, I took the Coker into Sherwood Forest. The Coker
has 150mm cranks and no handle. On mixed cross country and tarmac, I'm
good for 20 miles in a couple of hours or so, and I like to think of
myself as a reasonable rider. I've ridden it in the forest before, but
not for a long time.
So what went wrong? Well, first of all, I wasn't really "up for it" as
my legs were tired, but that's no excuse. It took me three goes to
freemount it, which is unheard of these days, but I put it down to the
fact that my last couple of rides were on the MUni.
But then into the forest... my natural inclination takes me down the
narrow single tracks among the trees, and I'm sitting that bit higher
up, and having to duck to avoid the low branches. That slows me down,
and I find myself picking my way from hazard to hazard, never letting
the wheel gain any momentum.
Then there are the uneven muddy patches, where the rolling resistance
can vary unpredictably. A Coker is great for smoothing out the bumps,
but only if the bumps are fairly predictable. As soon as you start to
hide "wheel traps" under mud, water of leaf mulch, and you add a few
tight twists and turns, and some low branches, the big wheel becomes a
liability. Yes, it's challenging, but it's not what it's really for.
The Coker isn't easy to accelerate, and constantly trying to speed up
and slow down for each obstacle is twice as much work as plodding along
at a steady speed on the MUni.
I ended up very tired and demoralised, and returned to the car after
only 5 miles or so. If I'd stayed on the wider tracks, or been less
ambitious in my choice of obstacle, I'd have been OK, but the problem
was I had an open country and distance unicycle and was trying to force
it into a MUni environment.
Then today, after my "awesome" MUni ride of yesterday, I decided to try
something different, and took the 20 out for a spin. The 20 has 110 mm
cranks and a freestyle tyre.
"Spin" is the operative word. The 20 takes ages to get anywhere. It is
soooo slow. On rough ground, it's hard work because the tiny wheel has
only a small "rollover factor". On smooth ground, it's hard work
because there is virtually no resistance to the pedalling action, and
you keep spinning out and having to regain balance. In fact the best
bit of the ride was sprinting up a smooth tarmac hill, where I had
something to push against.
I once did 20 miles in a day on a 20 (the same one, actually, but with
125 mm cranks) but that was as part of an all day event, stopping at
various pubs, and being cheered on by friends. Today, I did about 5
miles, if that, and by the end, I was tempted to get off and walk. And
this was on old familiar routes that I ride several times a year on the
28 or the Coker.
So the lesson? It's pretty obvious, but sometimes you have to try these
things anyway: choose the right wheel for the right job. I would have
enjoyed the forest single track on the MUni; I would have enjoyed
today's ride on the 28 or Coker.
And, annoyingly, after spending many hours learning to ride one footed
on the 20 I seem to have forgotten how because I haven't done it for so
long.
--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling
Everyone should be fatuous for 15 minutes.
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