The Coker came in the mail today when I was at work. By the time I arrived home, it was 3am- so naturaly I put it together. The seat/post/pedal box was not attached to the outer box and had slid over the wheel; consiquently, it was over 2cm from true. Not one to go to bed frustrated, I put on my armour and crept out to the road. This would be a country road, flanked by heavy ditches. There is no place neer by for an assisted mount, so I spent the next hour lerning a new mount. On my 24", I’ll start with ether pedal down, balanced on the down foot, and ride off. Trying this on the Coker was a fantasy. Oh, it can be done, but not reliably by me at 4am. I had some interesting experiences riding backward fast at a steep angle.
A small digression: I’m just starting to reliably iddle. Riding backwards is ushualy a short trip, but no big deal. Drops are a chalange, but do-able. Level pedle mounts scare me. I wana do 'em- they just are a bit intimidating. All I can see is the pedal lodging in my shin and the wheel firing out from under me. There, I said it.
Well, at 4am with a new toy, and images of Joe Marshall mounting his wheel fresh in my head, I am trying a new mount by moonlight. The rolling mount was out- I just could not manage it. After 45 minutes and a heavy sweat, I managed to lug my tired bones up into the sadle. Right foot back on pedal at 12 degree below horizontal, leap way way way up by launching with the left, landing square in the sadle and get that left on the pedal and going forward right away. As ushual, greater success when mounting closer to center and less cross momentum- keep it tight.
Learning is such an exagerated physical effort on a Uni- I love it. Skill is such an awsome reward!
I took the big wheel out for a moonlight cruze. 4 miles round trip out to the interstate and back. Lots of tree cover kept me from seeing the road clearly. Pot holes came out of no-where, but the coker ate 'em up and spit em out- I just concentrated on keeping up with the wheel. It was wierd. The coker is so heavy, you pump energy into the wheel then just concentrate on perching on the energy bubble.
So, the new toy has taught me a few new skills. Perfect.
I’d like to thank John over at the Unicycle Source for talking me out of getting a Coker as my first Uni in 11 years. I would have been ill prepaired for it were it not for this last month on the United- I also would not have developed so many new skills.
Time to sleep. While this morning was a great adventure, it was also very stupid: riding a strange new Uni at night, while fatigued, wearing all black, with no light.
I’m glad I did it.
'Night.
I said that it could be