I had a great ride on my new 29er yesterday. First time that I tried to do any distance on her.
I walked (didn’t like to chance the padestrian infested pavements) down to the beach and then rode 5 miles (there & back) along the prom. It was a beautiful evening. Very still. The tide was out (so the dogs were on the beach) and the sea was absolutely flat.
Also everyone I saw made positive comments - the only remotely “where’s your other wheel” type comment was quite amusing “Give me a ride on your crossbar”. Everyone else - male or famale and any age, were very positive. (I don’t know whether it was because of the weather or just the bigger wheel has that effect).
On the way home (having gained some confidence during the ride!) I even rode on the pavements without injuring anyone.
It was fantastic. Wonderful to ride quicker than the speed of walking!
I only have 3 problems really
1 - My left knee keeps clicking (any ideas what I can do about this?)
2 - I need to get some different cycle shorts. The ones that I was wearing has a ridge where a woman shouldn’t have a ridge (although they were specifically women’s shorts). And they cut off the blood supply to my varicose veins - now I have a big bruise. I don’t suppose many of you will have this problem.
3 - i’m having a problem getting my left foot onto the pedal when freemounting, it lands sort of half on and half off. Then I can’t move it cos they are pinned pedals and the ridges under my shoe are caught on them. Would using plastic pedals for a while sort this out or is there a better way? (practice, practice, practice per chance?)
> 3 - i’m having a problem getting my left foot onto the pedal when
> freemounting, it lands sort of half on and half off. Then I can’t move
> it cos they are pinned pedals and the ridges under my shoe are caught on
> them. Would using plastic pedals for a while sort this out or is there a
> better way? (practice, practice, practice per chance?)
As your foot comes up to and over the top of the circle, you should be
able to lift weight off it and adjust its position without altering your
riding.
Sounds like you had a good ride! I’m desperately trying to clear my credit
card down so I can allow myself to buy a bigger wheel.
Nice, Cath! It’s amazing how many people see a 29er and find it the “Wow, that’s biggest unicycle I’ve ever seen” (which it probably is!).
Adjust your seating… rotate your foot on the pedal to change your knee angle… press your knee more towards or away from the cycle’s centerline… wear a neoprene knee sleeve… change your seat height… try a different saddle…
Try a different brand of shorts… try a different size of shorts… try shorts with a longer leg… stretch the bottom leg band so that a few threads snap and the band is looser…
Over these I wear nylon shorts. Usually something like Columbia water shorts or outdoor shorts or canoe shorts (can’t recall). Often simply men’s bathing trunks. Similar construction and besides, I look ridicoulous in women’s bathing suits. [Talk about comments!!]
The ridge created by denim material can be 1/8 inch thick. Bad for all humans with crotchal zones, M or F. The nylon seam is almost flat. These pants also have pockets. I carry water (typically a recycled gatorade bottle, I use these for months) in the back butt pocket. Any other pocket and it joggles around. But in a [deep enough] back pocket it rides quietly.
Men’s swimming trunks also have that mesh liner. So if I have to, I can take off the drenched b*ke shorts and just wear the bathing suit. Nylon dries quickly too. This is good for when I’m riding to someplace I’ll stay for a while.
Cant do much about your clicking left knee. …Try using your right knee. Oh, one footing is doable on a 29er. Many positive comments from Muggles will result. I like U-Turn’s advice.
I agree with earlier comments re: shifting foot position. Its a little tougher with pins, but you’ll get good at it. You’ll need the pins on XCountry excursions. Don’t switch.
Differnt shorts sound like a good bet. I’m really picky when i buy cycle shorts and look at the pad first, then the price, then the style. Some of mine are “womens” some are “mens” I don’t think the manufacturers have given any thought to the pad design in some so called womens shorts, they just make the legs shorter - as if we more mature women want to expose MORE of our upper legs! - and the waists sizes smaller.
Edingburgh bicycle co-op do a good line in mail order if your LBS is rubbish, I have some of their 3/4 length cycle tights and thier great. Also it was no problem to return a pair of shorts that were not quite as the web spec described ( the pad had a seem in the wrong place) and get a promt refund.
Thanks for those comments Sarah. I have bought a couple of other styles to try. One particular style seems to be much more comfortable. Never thought of looking at men’s though, I just assumed that women’s would be better shaped for women. I also find it hard to get women’s shorts big enough. They seem to thing that only teeny tiny women want to cycle.
Oh well.
I had a similar problem when I first started riding Muni. My knee didn’t click but it would hurt. I originally thought that I was going to have to give up unicycling.
When I would free mount, wherever my foot ended up on the pedal, it would stay in that position. Sometimes it wasn’t as straight as it should have been and would stress my knee on every pedal stroke. After a few weeks of knee pain I, realized what was happening and was able to relax and lighten up my “grip” on the pedal. Doing so allowed my foot to adjust to the correct position. Pain went away almost immediately
I am finding that I am going to have to invest in a pair of shoes more suited to spiked pedals. I normally use lightweight hill walking shoes, but they have quite an aggressive sole, and repositioning the foot on the pedal is really hard. If I had a sole with out the heavy grips, then I would be able to reposition my foot, without the worry of it coming off the pedal.
I wear flat soled tennis-style trainers. The soles are soft enough that the pedal pins grip, but smooth enough that I can easily reposition my feet when necessary.
Nice to read of your enthusiasm for the ride in the first post on this thread, by the way. <<down to the beach and then rode 5 miles (there & back) along the prom. It was a beautiful evening. Very still. The tide was out (so the dogs were on the beach) and the sea was absolutely flat. >> paints the picture with just the right number of brush strokes.
Yes, great description of your ride - I’m glad you are enjoying the 29er. I haven’t been on the forum in a while, so what kind of 29er did you wind up with?
I find that I ride my 29" more often than I ride the Coker or the 26" these days.
As to your 3 questions:
My knees click too sometimes. I’ve learned to ignore it. Of course my knees will be 50 years old this year, so I have finally learned how they work. If your seat height is proper and you aren’t having any other knee problems, the occasional click can be dealt with!
I can’t really comment on cycle shorts - the obvious gender differences, and I am really bad about just going for a ride wearing whatever I happen to have on at the time. I do a lot of rides in blue jeans or cut-offs, but I really don’t recommend that anyone do the same. Well fitting and well-worn padded cycle shorts work much better, but it is such a personal thing!
Keep riding with the pinned pedals - you’ll thank yourself for learning to ride them when you get caught in a sudden rainstorm, or anytime conditions get a little slick. It is much better to learn to “one foot” at least enough to position your feet than to wind up doing the “unintentional one foot” when the pedals get slick. The “unintentional one foot” almost always ends up in a spectacular UPD!
Good luck, and keep giving us these nice write-ups on your rides.
Thanks Chuck and Mikefule (an honour coming from you, if I may say so).
The kind of shoes I wear are basic ‘trainers’ with some grip underneath but not alot so I’m going to try harder to move my foot when I’m riding now.
My 29er is the Nimbus model with the big Apple tyre. I did buy a knobbly tyre to because I thought I would like that better but the Big Apple felt so good that I haven’t taken it off yet. In fact, it has made me more enthusiastic about slick tyres so that I’m now not going to sell my Nimbus 2 with hookworm tyre because I’m enjoying riding that again.
What a wonderful hobby/sport/obsession this is. Last night I went up to the nearest mountain and was practicing up and down small grassy hills on my onza. Once you’ve got yourself a fleet of uni’s there’s just so much variety and fun to be had.
Tonight I will be taking my 20" nimbus 2 to the circus club and practicing my idling and juggling while riding (which I managed to do the length of the hall on monday, much to my great delight).
And one thing I’ve found is whatever I do on the uni helps whatever else I do on the uni, which is generally about improving my balance I think.
OK Cathy, you’ve really got me wanting to get out there on my 29er and master that nasty steep hill that goes down into our village, and then up to the other end of the village!
You seem to be making so much progress I’m beginning to get worried about whether or not you have been neglecting your family lately…
But anyway, well done you!
[edit] I notice you call your 29er “her” - I think of mine as the “big boy”.
Yep, my 29er is a ‘she’, the onza is a tank and so is definately a ‘he’, the other 2 are ‘it’.
You needn’t worry about that Steve, I’ve always neglected them - they’re used to it now. (They have to follow me to uni conventions to even talk to me these days!)
