I am a forty year old resident of Boone North Carolina who has been riding a coker for the past year. I would love some advise from the over thirty-five crowd concerning distance cokering in the mountains, Blue Ridge to be precise. My longest Coker ride has been twelve miles, the biggest problem I had was a sore crotch. {DUH}.
I put seven inch cranks on it a couple of months ago, this helps with hills. I have learned to carry a backpack of drinking water, and I have searched this site five different ways to try and make sure I wasn’t asking the same old stuff all over again; though I know in my heart I am.
If you choose to answer this posting, please search jugglingdb.com for coker and carjug first. This will let you know a little more about my situation before you share your information. Besides, you may laugh your head off…
carjug@yahoo.com
considering buying bicycling britches…
carjug,
I am young, only in my mid-thirties, but after a 3-mile ride on my “new” Coker, I too experienced some soreness. I bought some gel shorts from nashbar.com on sale, but haven’t tried a distance ride yet, just around the block. I think they may help with the padding and the way they grip your legs. Nashbar also has some liquid filled cushioned shorts. No, I don’t mean the entire short, just the important area! I’ll test the gel shorts and report back, hopefully tonight.
I’m young and in my late 39s, and I have a Coker (this is getting like middle-aged Cokerholics anonymous…) and I found from my first attempt at a real distance that the Coker is good for a steady10 mph, taking into account stops every half hour or so for a couple of minutes.
From the start of a ride, I reckon to do 40 minutes or more without stopping at all, but after that, the stops get more frequent. It isn’t an iron man challenge, it’s a thing I do for fun, and whilst there is satisfaction in covering distance, or achieving a high average speed, there is also relaxation in stopping for a few minutes to admire the hard-earned view.
Ironically, my longest recorded rides have been on the Pashley 26 and the Nimbus II 20 inch (!) but the Coker is easily good for 10 - 15 mile blasts round on flattish roads or tracks. Just build up steadily. I can see no obvious reason why a reasonably fit individual couldn’t do 30 mile days comfortably and confidently. Just don’t stay in the saddle until it hurts.
And whatever you do, enjoy it.
Riding comfortably for long distances on a unicycle has much more to do with " lots of riding" than it does with comfy high tech equipment. The more time you spend on your unicycle, the tougher your crotch will get, no matter the shorts, or saddle. Unfortunately, one can’t ride occasionally, and expect to be comfortable doing long distance rides.
If one rides an average of 3 or more hours a week, he or she should be able to do a 12 mile ride with most ANY seat/cycling short combination, without experiencing moderate to severe discomfort (pain supersedes fun). Since at least some of your 12-mile ride was in mountains, which suggest riding up and down hills, some body weight shifts from the seat to the legs, making it easier on the crotch. " Flat riding" on the other hand, when done properly, requires entire body weight on the seat, and almost none on the legs. So doing 12 miles, which is less than 2 hours for most people, on crotch friendly terrain, suggests that it may be that you simply need to spend more time on your unicycle.
If you are riding 3 or more hours a week and still experiencing moderate to severe discomfort then you may need to make some equipment adjustments. Having ridden several different types of saddles, including air, I have concluded that by far the biggest contributor to crotch discomfort is “chafing”, not pressure. Chafing and pressure are easily confused. Pressure is a spot or spots that are uncomfortable due to inadequate weight distribution as a result of an improper saddle, or not enough time spent riding for your crotch to adjust. Chafing on the other hand, is repetitive rubbing caused by improper shorts, or again may just simply be a matter of ones skin needing to be toughened up with more miles.
Before purchasing additional equipment, make sure you are spending enough time on your unicycle for your crotch to toughen up. Before purchasing a high-end saddle, get yourself a good pair of cycling shorts. If you are experiencing chafing with cycling shorts, try using “Bag Balm”. This ointment not only lubricates to sum degree, but contains an analgesic, and antibacterial. The numbing effect associated with the analgesic helps considerably with chafing.
With proper training, one should be able to ride for 2 hours comfortably “without a dismount” on most any saddle provided he or she is wearing cycling shorts. Air saddles help with rides lasting longer than 2 hours.
dan
Re: Coker advise please.
“trsrdr” <trsrdr.8kfpn@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote
> Nashbar also has some liquid filled cushioned shorts. No, I
> don’t mean the entire short, just the important area!
I remember when I was a kid having liquid filled shorts. I soon grew out of
it though. It was far too embarrassing…
If you are getting saddle sore, definitely try cycling shorts. If you have
not done one already, an air seat conversion is worth it’s weight in gold.
Wayne.
Re: Coker advise please.
Wayne van Wijk <wvanwijk@gil.com.au> wrote
> If you are getting saddle sore, definitely try cycling shorts. If you have
> not done one already, an air seat conversion is worth it’s weight in gold.
<strokes nice ‘n’ comfy air seat>
Seconded… I recently converted mine; a bit of a pain to do but
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! It’s so nice…
Phil, just me
“Cattle Prods solve most of life’s little problems.”
Thanks guys, I will start riding more during the week and I promise to get the bike pants. Its nice to know other folks have been-there-done-that.-----------------carjug---------
Re: Coker advise please.
On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 09:13:49 +1000, “Wayne van Wijk”
<wvanwijk@gil.com.au> wrote:
>an air seat conversion is worth it’s weight in gold.
But then the weight of air is pretty negligible.
Klaas Bil
Returning to the original point of the thread, I did my longest Coker ride yet, yesterday.
About 10 miles of smooth path along the canal/river bank, then some muddy and slightly bumpy path for a couple of miles, then some very narrow slimy bumpy single track, then back onto smooth path for a while. This got me to a place called Trent Lock, Sawley, where there are two pubs and a tea room. It was a baking hot August day, 11:30 a.m. and all three watering holes were closed. Only in England…
A few more miles of tarmac, then a mile of rough bridle path, followed by a couple of miles of river bank - all bumpy tussocky grass which is difficult to ride on. By now, ridng the uni is becoming more like a battle than a dance, so I rest for a while.
Then onto the tarmac and the first proper hills. Nothing too serious, and I’m impressed at how a Coker will steam up smmooth tarmac hills - it feels faster uphill than on the flat, because if I get the cadence high, the uni doesn’t feel like it might overtake me! Stopped for a pint at a pub - it tastes so much better when you’re hot and tired!
From there, more tarmac, then a really nasty steep up and down bridle path made of gravel embedded in slime. plenty of UPDs here, and I had to walk one short section.
And from here, something like 10 miles of tarmac.
I haven’t worked out the total distance yet, but I estimate it was somewhere either side of 40 miles. This took something over 5 hours including stops for refreshment, so probably 4 1/2 hours’ riding.
Muscles above the knees were hurting, and the Viscount seat was causing pain. By the end of the ride, I was stopping about every 10 minutes or so.
So, the answer to the original question is, even at quite an advanced age, it is possible to do respectable distances on varied ground, just by pacing yourself, but the comfort of the seat becomes a factor after the first few hours. Get out there and do it. It’s a great feeling to ride further on a uni than most people would do on a bicycle.
What?… You mean that pint didn’t help the seat discomfort any? It works better than the air seat for me. Unfortunately, pubs are hard to find around SLC. With a pub around every corner like you Brits have, you all should be doing hundreds of miles without any seat discomfort. Must be comforting to know that anytime any annoying discomfort comes along one can pull over almost at any point in the ride and get it taken care of.
On a more serious note, yes after two hours of riding one will experience seat discomfort. I don’t think we can get around it. Air seats, handlebars, or whatever help to minimize it, but some discomfort will always be present. The challenge is to become better at finding ways to ignore it.
Typically older people are better at ignoring pain. Distance unicycling is an activity where older people have an advantage. Since I don’t have any pubs around here, I can’t wait until I get old so I can enjoy myself a little more.
dan