corbin said:*Bronson, Scott, Mike, Chris, Megumi, Beau, Nathan, John, Corbin,
Daniel, Mark, Scot, Shel, Mark.*
Last names will cost you extra. 🙂
I rode the whole 25 miles with Scott Bond, a little less than half with
Mark and Shel (Michelle?), and about 2 seconds with Megumi.
The original plan was for Jacquie to join me on her recumbent, possibly
with her sister. But we kept getting rained out of every training ride
we planned, and Jacquie hasn't actually ridden her bike yet this year.
So she bailed, but I still wanted to go since I've missed so many rides
out in that area. Much as I'd love to do the 100k, without training for
the higher mileage, I know my knees would start to fall apart before I
could finish.
The 25 miles Scott and I did turned into more like 30, as we made a
wrong turn somewhere and had to backtrack. We were both proud to ride
the whole thing, including some pretty steep climbs. I was very glad to
have my brake, and got my first really serious use of it on some long,
steep descents. My 125 cranks are great for cruising, but pretty bad for
anything steep. Beau is an animal for doing all the ups and downs on
his!
At the (Turkish?) rest stop, which was the only on on our loop, we
caught up with Megumi, Mark and Michelle. They had really good baklava,
pita bread with spread, and other cool goodies.
Then Scott and I rescued a bike from between a small tree and a car that
had rolled into it. The bike was leaning against this little tree (less
than 3" diameter) and a parked car, which had been left in drive, rolled
back and smooshed it. Ouch! Destroyed front wheel, bent fork and
handlebar. Ride over for that guy. Good thing for that little tree. If
it were not there, the car would have rolled another 50' or so to the
street, picking up speed all the way, and who knows what would have
happened!
Megumi said she was worried about being slow, which was why she started
before the rest of us. She took off again on the way back, and was the
first unicycle to finish!
Scott and I rode with mark and Michelle for a while. They've only been
unicycling for six months or so, so they were doing really great to be
on Cokers in such a long ride. Riding at their slower pace was much more
relaxing than what I know I would have done on my own, which would be to
try to ride the same speed I do on my 8 mile commute. Which doesn't have
hills.
All in all it was a great ride for me as well, and I still felt great at
the end! Then it was back to Santa Cruz to pick up Jacquie and friend,
and do two rides on the Giant Dipper roller coaster. That ride is great
from any seat!
--
johnfoss - The wilder Wilder
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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