Here’s a reminder about the upcoming 5th Annual Unicycle Tour of San Francisco. This ride was conceived by Gary Kanuch who did a large amount of research to come up with an optimum route. It is a great tour of San Francisco that takes in MANY of the popular tourist destinations, including riding across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Here is the ride history:
Aww, damnit. I was totally stoked for a second to join y’all on my bike and possibly show a few extra routes, but of course it has to be after I leave. Have fun anyways. (How many of you have glided down the Clarendon side of Twin Peaks?)
I really want to go…and I’ll have a coker by then!! I’ll see if I can get on good enough terms with my seat for a ride that long…and try to get in shape.
Mike is right. If you use 125s, make sure you have a good brake. The year Beau and I did it without it was really hard, especially Lombard St. Since it is a decent distance, I prefer doing it with 125s to longer cranks though. It’s been done with 125, 140, 152 and 170mm.
Dang it again! For the third year running, this conflicts with the Washington edition of the MS Bike Tour that I’m riding in. Despite being on the organizing committee of the event, I have been unable to get them to change the permanent scheduling of being the first weekend after Labor Day. Perhaps a few well-placed bribes to the San Francisco organizing committee could get the 2008 ride changed to the second weekend after Labor Day?
That way I’d have a great escape weekend after all the MS training, AND I’d probably be in good enough shape for all the San Fran ups and downs.
I did Lombard st. with 125s and no brake on my coker as well on my own little tour through the city, and yes it was very tough. I think it would have been harder for me with a brake though from previous experience…i need more practice and a better braking surface and a better frame in order for it to work.
What will the route be? I believe I started at the Embarcadero(sp?) and unicycled down to fishermans wharf and then up a street and then down Lombard and then back along that bike path towards the Golden Gate…over that to Sausalito to have lunch and then to a redwood tree park (I forget the name) and then over to Tiburon and I took the ferry back. It was a fun day.
EDIT: I just realized that you posted the route above, sorry.
PACE:
I’ve only done the ride twice. The pace is brisk, but we stop a lot. It had been my farthest ride in years before I did it in '05, and I survived the whole thing just fine! Some riders have skipped the big climb up Twin Peaks and waited for us to come down (we could set up a meeting place) to finish with us. That eliminates some of the climbing, but there are plenty of other big ups.
In the past I’ve changed from my 125s to 140s, and I have a brake. I would not attempt Lombard St. without it!
I’ve done this ride twice now, and I plan to ride it again this year. I’ve done it on 125s and 152s, both without brakes. I’m planning on using the 152’s again this year. The pace is pretty quick, but I was able to keep up without much trouble because of the frequent stops.
Although we take 9 hours to ride 40 miles (average pace 4.4mph), we ride at a “normal” pace, say 11mph on the flat, faster on downhill and slower on uphill. The long time is due to so many stops. There are simply so many cool things to look at, so many interesting view points and photo to take.
No one will be dropped and everyone has the map and turn by turn directions. If you are a slow rider though, make sure you study the route in advance as we don’t wait everywhere. So be a little self-sufficient and you’ll have no problem re-catching up and some incredible scenic spot.
The pace is quick? 9 hours seems like a really long time to complete it, so yeah, there must be lots of stops along the way. About what average speed are you riding?
I am hoping to be there.
It seems like all the Uni events I want to attend fall on dates that coincide with something else, like Moab… I have been trying to go but for the last 2 years it falls on my wifes B-day and the Streets of San Francisco ride last year was on my 12th wedding anniversary ( although I went anyways, and it did not score any points with the wife even when she said it was ok ) this year the ride is Sept 9th and my anniversary is the 10th, but guess what, the wife wants to go somewhere for our anniv. Soooooo I suggest that we go to San Francisco;) and welllllll we will see if it works.
