A Solo Coker Century

Good morning,

Yesterday I took a half day vacation and rode 100.02 miles on my 36" unicycle! I
rode 64 miles at one location and then drove my car to another location and
finished the 100 miles. I started the ride at 12:50pm on 3/1 and finished at
1:00am on 3/2. The ride included 9hrs 29mins and 13secs of pedaling. I averaged
10.5mph and hit a max speed of 16.6mph.

My pre-ride goal was 70 miles,but as I got close to this I told myself that 70
was just a number(why not 100?) I thought about quitting at many points during
the late stages of this ride, but the closer I got to 100 the more I seemed
determined to keep going.

The ride was exclusively on well-maintained bike paths with few turns and even
fewer hills. I heard many car horns and got many stares and smiles from people
using the trails. I drank at least 2 gallons of water and ate beef
jerky,chips,dried pineapple and peanuts on the ride.

I felt a lot of pain in the 40 to 50 mile zone which came back strongly after 70
miles and got progressively worse until the end. Not only my legs, but my
neck,shoulders,arms,feet and hands were sore when I got through. The last 20
miles I "stood" with both hands on the seat and more than normal weight on the
pedals. I also gave up on freemounting after missing the entire pedal with my
"weak" foot and falling hard on my butt. After that, I just used posts and poles
to prop myself back up and go. I took many short breaks and two 15 minute breaks
and one 20 minute break while driving my car from location one to location two.

My feeling of achievement was clouded by my dissapointment in pushing myself
this hard to finish. At least I feal better after a few hours sleep, but my legs
are still VERY stiff. The only witness to the number of miles I went was my new
CAT EYE cyclecomputer calibrated at 284 cm. and verified at 3 seperate locations
by "known measured miles".

I don't think I even want to touch a unicycle for a couple of days.

-Mark

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[color=blue]> Yesterday I took a half day vacation and rode 100.02 miles on my 36" unicycle![/color]
[color=blue]> I rode 64 miles at one[/color]

Congratulations! Any 100 mile ride on a unicycle is a difficult feat, and you
should be proud.

[color=blue]> finished the 100 miles. I started the ride at 12:50pm on 3/1 and finished at[/color]
[color=blue]> 1:00am on 3/2. The ride included 9hrs 29mins and 13secs of pedaling. I[/color]
[color=blue]> averaged 10.5mph and hit a max speed of 16.6mph.[/color]

In 1979 I think that would have been a world 100 mile record. At the end of 1980
it was 10:37 with a 40" wheel (Cathy Fox). In 1981 it was 9:20. In 1987 it was
raised to 6:44 by Takayuki Koike of Japan. Of course all of these times are with
the clock running from start to finish, so you have to compare them to your time
of 12:10. Considering you weren't out for a record, very impressive indeed!

Stay on top (but okay if you wait a few days), John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone (reply
to jfoss@unicycling.com) http://www.unicycling.com

"I meant to do that." -- Pee Wee Herman, after crashing his bike

mark stephens <markastephens_2000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:20000302144632.23274.qmail@web1602.mail.yahoo.com...
[color=blue]> Good morning,[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]> Yesterday I took a half day vacation and rode 100.02 miles on my 36" unicycle![/color]
[color=blue]> I rode 64 miles at one location and then drove my car to another location and[/color]
[color=blue]> finished the 100 miles. I started the ride at 12:50pm on 3/1 and finished at[/color]
[color=blue]> 1:00am on 3/2. The ride included 9hrs 29mins and 13secs of pedaling. I[/color]
[color=blue]> averaged 10.5mph and hit a max speed of 16.6mph.[/color]

Fantastic Mark! Way to go. Once the pain wears off (very soon), it will become a
memory you can treasure forever.

Just two questions for you: What type of seat? How much training - what was your
previous longest ride?

Congratulations,
Nathan

On Thu, 02 Mar 2000, mark stephens wrote:
[color=blue]>Good morning,[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]>Yesterday I took a half day vacation and rode 100.02 miles on my 36" unicycle![/color]

Amazing! Congratulations, Mark! But...you want ME to go for a ride with
you??? <grin>

But...you did leave out the part about your regular training routine, you know
the 30 miles most days? I'm sure that makes the 100 a lot easier!

I went for a ride at lunch yesterday on my Coker. According to my car odometer
it was 2.9 miles. I wasn't sore later, but I was feeling some saddle soreness
when I got done. Oh yeah, and given the distance and amount of time I think I
was riding, my avg speed was only about 6 mph. Looks like I have some training
to do, eh?

Greg

Thanks to everyone who replied and everyone who's helped me out with advice.
I'm glad that I took up unicycling more seriously last year. I'm planning to
go to NUC this year and want to meet as many of you as possible. I'm using
the Semcycle seat w/air tube and 5 inch crank arms on both my uni's.(Also
ride 28" Sem)

I've ridden 2400+ miles on uni's since July 99 (2100 on Coker) I really like
long rides- 4 days over 50 miles 9 days over 40 miles at least 30 days of 25+
miles Last weekend I rode 107 miles(65 on 28" Sem)

Also,I worked with a Schwinn Recumbent (exercise bike) during the cold winter
days which has helped a lot with my unicycling.

My legs feel good again and I might not be able to wait for the rain to quit
before I go riding again....

-Mark

--- Nathan Hoover <nathan@paper2net.com> wrote:
[color=blue]> mark stephens <markastephens_2000@yahoo.com> wrote in message[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
news:20000302144632.23274.qmail@web1602.mail.yahoo.com...
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > Good morning,[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> >[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > Yesterday I took a half day vacation and rode[/color]
[color=blue]> 100.02[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > miles on my 36" unicycle! I rode 64 miles at one location and then drove my[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > car to another location[/color]
[color=blue]> and[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > finished the 100 miles. I started the ride at[/color]
[color=blue]> 12:50pm[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > on 3/1 and finished at 1:00am on 3/2. The ride included 9hrs 29mins and[/color]
[color={usenetquotecolor2}]> > 13secs of pedaling. I averaged 10.5mph and hit a max speed of 16.6mph.[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]> Fantastic Mark! Way to go. Once the pain wears off (very soon), it will become[/color]
[color=blue]> a memory you can treasure forever.[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]> Just two questions for you: What type of seat? How much training - what was[/color]
[color=blue]> your previous longest ride?[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]> Congratulations,[/color]
[color=blue]> Nathan[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
[color=blue]>[/color]
__________________________________________________
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