Today, the local mountain organizations in San Antonio put on the 12 Hours of McAllister Park Ride. Being one to never miss an opportunity to introduce our 2 wheeled brethern to the sport of Muni, I enlisted the help of S_Wallis (Scott) and a new member here at RSU, mkuhfuhl (Matt) to assist me in a one wheeled ride at the event. Little did they know of my plan to actually register us for the event as “Team One-Wheel”
The event drew a large number of mountainbikers from the area and most were quite surprised to run upon us out on the trail. I personally was treated with the utmost respect by the 2-wheelers. The origianl plan was to just go out and ride the course together, but Scott got into a good flow and soon disappeared. Matt patiently held back for me and we rode the course together. Shortly after mile 6, my left crank arm came loose and we took a short cut back to the staging area to acces the tools necessary to put my Muni back in order. As we arrived there we ran into Scott and the 3 of us headed back to the point where I had left the course so that Matt and I could complete the loop.
I originally had high hopes of riding two 10.5 mile loops, but near the end of the first loop, my inexperience (just over 6 months of uniing) and the Texas heat dashed any hopes of me going out for a second loop. Scott had work awaiting him and had to also depart after the morning ride.
I believe we left a very positive impression on the group and were credited with 3 laps for “Team One-Wheel”.
Matt and myself ended up with right at 11 miles and Scott put in over 14 miles on his Wilder.
I will be working on my distance riding some more, but for now, I’m quite satisfied with this, my longest ride to date.
I was hoping we would get a post-ride update. Sounds like a great time by all.
BTW, I was feeling pretty out of shape even thinging you guys could do 21 miles of trail, makes me feel better that you just did one loop. 
One day I will Muni ride, but for now, it’s smooth riding only for me. --chirokid–
Nice ride
Whish i could have made it but was just a littel to short of notice for me else i would have loved to have been there. Also how was the track comparitively to Emma long of any of the trails here in austin. we need to get you all up here for some foot hill rideing
Great Job and thanks for the invite
Nate
There is nooooooo comparison to the trails at Emma Long Park. McAllister Park is relatively flat with mostly sweeping trails. The course was designed with beginner mountainbikers in mind, so that made it very Muni-friendly. It will be quite some time until my skill level has reached a point where I would even attempt to ride Muni at Emma Long. Along with McAllister Park, we have O.P. Schanbel Park that is also Muni-able. O.P. also has some trials-type areas and rocky creek bottom that are much more challenging than Mac
The ride on Saturday was a lot of fun. Thanks to Kenny for reminding me to go. He rode well and did a good distance. Kenny seems to know all the mountain bikers in the area so there is never a shortage of conversation when you are at a function with him. There was a lot of interest in the muni thing among the bikers.
It was also great to meet and ride with Matt. His ability and enthusiasm were both impressive. I was amazed how fast he was able to cruise on a small-tired 24” with 170 cranks, a uni he borrowed from Kenny. His years on a 20” have really developed his spin. Part of the time I was riding Kenny’s 28” that he had brought along, and I could barely go any faster on it than Matt did on the 24”. Still not sure how he did that…
He is going to have a lot of fun when he gets a muni, and I have a feeling it won’t be long. Matt also entertained us with his furious determination to learn to ride my ultimate wheel in his first time to ever even see one. He wore us out just watching him, but within 15 or 20 minutes he had ridden 15 feet or so, and after I left he went farther than that. (I told him to keep the UW for a while). Mind you, he was doing this bare-legged. The kid has potential.
I went there planning to just trail ride a little, not do any timed laps. The course was smoother and faster than the terrain I usually ride, but also had some choppy rocky sections, a big downhill, and a couple of good climbs. I was trying out my newly installed wireless cyclocomputer, so, yes, I found myself wanting to see how fast a speed I could maintain and how far I could go between dismounts. I have the computer display mounted on the strap of my waist-type hydration pack so I can glance down and see it anytime. It worked great. I found I cruised at 7 – 8 mph most of the time on the smooth stretches with some bursts at 10 mph when trying to keep up with the passing mountain bikes just long enough to freak them out. I did 3 miles without a dismount at one point, and then I didn’t UPD, but rather just needed to “readjust” some things to end the excruciating pain coming from the saddle area. I usually ride technical terrain where dismounts are more frequent, and where I am up off the saddle climbing and descending much of the time, so saddle pain isn’t as much of a problem. I did the 10.5 mile loop in a little under an hour and a half. For the total ride, my computer says I did 12 miles on my Wilder, and we did 4 while I was on the 28”.
As is often the case, this was a last minute thing (for me) that turned out to be a lot of fun. We need to get all the area riders together soon. Our numbers are (slowly) growing.
Scott Wallis