I live west of Kokomo Indiana, where it is mostly flat cornfields. I’m trying to get ready for the Hilly Hundred bicycle ride in southern Indiana where it is very hilly. I emailed the director of the ride asking if anyone has ridden on a uni and if I would be welcome. He said he was not aware of any such attempt, but if I could ride in a group and up and down hills, I should give it a try. I haven’t gone more than 10 miles at a time before, and that was on flat gound. I don’t have much experience riding with others either.
Yesterday, I decided to ride 7 miles west to a hill I did a bicycle time trial on almost 30 years ago, when I was in high school. The route is rolling hills. I’ve avoided this route before due the percieved danger of cars not seeing over the hills. I head west having no problems with the rolling hills, but wondering if I would have enough when I got to the “big one” at the end of the ride.
At a couple of miles I ride past Marcus’s house. He’s an avid member of the local bicycle club. I think he has raced across Indiana before, something like 150 miles. He’s in his yard working a chiper/shredder and I can’t get his attention. Marcus is a mechanical engineer at the same company I work for. Another mile west and I dismount to cross a busy road. I hit my mount with no problems. The rolling hills continue.
I find that I sometimes get a good rythem going. When that happens the coker seems to float under me. The traffic is a little worse near a housing development. Most people slow down to watch me. After the housing development, the road narrows and is lined with trees. Quite beautiful. A woman is walking her golden retriever. She leaves the road for me and smiles “Hello”.
A few curves and I’m now going down to the creek. The big hill is on the other side. A man is playing catch with his son. I hear them talk about me and I wave. The downhill is steep, so I’m busy getting in the braking position. I finally reach the bottom and cross the creek. They put a new bridge here. It used to be called “Stonebreaker Bridge” I don’t know why. I was reminded of this when I visited my high school friend. The local bike club phone directory had a picture of 3 of us who won as a team climbing this very hill. I think it was called “Velocio day” after a famous bicycle hill climb. Anyway, I came across this friend at a soap box derby, and he offered to let me try his 6’ giraffe. I didn’t know he unicycled. I stopped by his shop and managed to ride the giraffe, but never got confidence to get far from the wall.
I had planned to rest before the hill, but I go on. Now I’m past the bridge and thinking that the hill is not so bad. Then I round a corner and see it continue for some distance. I’m not feeling too bad and I pump up the hill. I see a girl up ahead check her mail box. I wonder if she would get me a drink of water. As I get to the house, she is calling for her brother to see this sight. I pass the house and the hill gets steeper. A hundred yards or so and I’m at the top! I remember when I was just learning, my legs were burning after only 100 yards on flat ground. I was totally floored when a fellow engineer said he rode 2 miles in a parade when he was younger.
I stopped at the top to rest for a minute. The girl and her brother disapeared. It’s good, because I had a terrible time mounting. Going down the hill wasn’t too bad, I reach the creek at the bottom and start up the other side. I only make it about 1/4 of the way. I walk to the bottom and try again. While I am walking, a couple on bikes crosses the bridge. As they pass, I hear them shift to low gears and slow. I try the hill again and don’t make it any farther. Why didn’t we use this hill for a bike race? It’s much steeper. I walked up the hill, and continued. I can see the bikes over the hills for some distance, but they finally disapear. What’s this I hear about uni’s being better than bikes on hills? I guess I have more to learn.
I stopped at the busy road to rest a minute, and a young woman has car trouble. Her car stalls when put in drive. After several stalls and a cell phone call. I decide to give her some advice. “Give it a little gas”. She’s soon on her way.
Its about a mile more to Marcus’s house. There is markings on the road “SAG”. I remember this means “rest stop”, but I can’t remember what SAG stands for. There were other marking on the road, along the route. It looks like this route was used for a 100mi/62mi/35mi bike ride. I shout to Marcus. “How far are you going?” I answer 14 miles. “Wow” he replies.
I reach home in not too bad a shape. A month ago I got back totally exhausted from a 10 mile ride where I averaged about 10.5 mph. I find the speed really makes a difference. I wasn’t going for speed this time.
Still wondering about the Hilly Hundred. I’m sure I will have to walk some hills, but my boss went last year on a bike and walked 5 hills, so I guess that’s not too bad.