Well, two Muni rides in two days - I must like this new tyre!
In fact, today started with me feeling a bit low. My legs were tired from a sequence of evenings that went: unicycle hockey, fencing, Morris dancing, fencing, followed by a 12 mile MUni ride yesterday afternoon. The weather was cold and grey, and it took me all morning to get into the mood to ride.
And now I have a problem choosing a wheel and a route. My regular run out towards Beeston Marina is spoiled by the roadworks that mean I have to ride for a few hundred metres on a busy main road with traffic lights. And my last experience at the nature reserve on a Sunday afternoon nearly had me selling the Coker and taking up macrame. I got in a real knot over that, you may recall.
But the other direction? Surely not more laps of the Water Sports Centre? If I ride clockwise round that big lake one more time, I reckon there will be a perceptible change in the Earth’s period of rotation.
But I haven’t taken the MUni to the Water Sports Centre for, ooh, years. Not since I had the Coker, I think. Let’s see what it can do.
So I drive down and park near the skateboard ramps. These are crowded with kids on skateboards and BMXes. (Thinks: should the plural be pronounced “Bee Emices”?)
I mount the MUni at the car, ride a short distance along the road, and through the “wiggle gate”. Here, the manoeuvreability of the MUni helps. The Coker’s wheel is too big to be sure of riding through this gate without catching it, and I have this irrational fear of falling and impaling my handsome face on a gate post. MUni wins a point. Coker 0: Muni1.
No one on the skatepark comments (good) and I turn quickly from the main path to ride along a trodden grass and mud path across the field. I concentrate on keeping the speed up, determined to learn to ride a MUni “properly” rather than plodding along and taking each obstacle slowly. Soon I am on the riverside path, and here the MUni shows its limitations. It feels painfully slow compared to either the Coker or the 28. The cranks are the same as on the Coker, but the MUni has less “flywheel effect” and it takes more effort to keep the cadence up. The 28, of course, has much shorter cranks, making it easier to keep up high rpm for longer.
Coker beats MUni on normal riverside path. Coker 1: MUni 1.
I reach the sailing club, and a “family cyclist” holds the gate open. I “sail” through with a nod of thanks, I zig zag between the boats that are being prepared on the grassy apron in front of the club house, and soon I am alongside the rugby pitch. Here, heavily built young men are jogging in unison, looking awfully manly. A young boy (from the junior team?) shouts, “Oi, mate, the circus is that way.”
Didn’t his mummy teach him not to talk to strangers? I give him a signal that might be taken to suggest that there are two circuses. I get a round of ironic applause from the rugby team, who have to stop to do this. Presumably asking a rugby player to jog and applaud ironically is like asking George Bush to walk and chew gum.
And on that amusingly satirical note, I reach the car park of the Water Sports Centre. I have a half-formed plan (more George Bush?) to ride most of my usual Coker route and see how the MUni compares.
Here’s the comparison of specifications before I ride the route. The Coker and the MUni have 150 mm cranks, and identical pinned pedals. The Coker tyre is 2.5" section, quite rounded in cross section, and with a simple tread pattern made up of small round studs of rubber. The new MUni tyre is 2.4" section (i.e. as near as dammit the same), similar in cross section, and with a simple tread pattern made up of small square studs of rubber, slightly deeper than the studs on the Coker. Apart from differences in weight, and the fact that the MUni has a handle, the two unis are very similar, with the Coker being around 38% bigger.
So, the plan goes out of the window immediately, because the nimbler MUni impulsively leads me up a rough ballast path I seldom ride. From there, there is a short and steep little climb that I don’t think I could do on the Coker, and I find myself on top of scoreboard hill, overlooking the rowing course. I can get up here on the Coker, but by a more gradual climb. Coker 1: MUni 2.
Then the MUni leads me down a steeper part of the hill than I would risk on the Coker, and I feel in control enough to let the uni have its head a little bit. Losing control on a descent on the Coker could be nasty, so I always keep it on a tight rein. Looks like the MUni is faster down short steep hills. Coker 1: MUni 3.
I then follow my normal “skyline route”, ducking under the arrow sculpture. I take a different gap in the sculpture than usual, and my wheel falls into an unexpected wheeltrap and I UPD. Hmmm. The Coker wouldn’t have tripped, but I would have hit my head on the sculpture, or chosen a different gap. Honours even? Still Coker 1: MUni 3.
The MUni eats the steep ballast track up to the top of the next hill, and I feel confident to take a steep descent I would never try on the Coker. The hill is short and grassy, and at the bottom there is the tiniest step down onto a ballast path, then a tiny little step up onto the grass and a short but steep uphill. I have ridden the Coker many many times from the first hill to the second hill, but never risked this short cut before. I do it confidently and easily on the MUni. Coker 1: MUni 4.
More grassy hills and then some muddy riverbank path past fishermen’s cars. The expected volley of commentary never arrives (good) and soon I am cutting through long grass to the parallel path which has uphills and downhills, with occasional muddy puddles crossing my way. Not much to choose here: The Coker would probably be slightly faster, but the MUni feels better balanced. I just enjoy this section of the ride, watching wild rabbits scatter before me, and feeling that I’m long way from the crowds that are, in reality, only 100 metres or so away by the main lake.
I cut through may favourite little zig zag between and beneath the trees - slightly easier, slightly less exciting, on the MUni - then plod across rough ground to the lakeside.
Next, the big test: the climb up to the back of the waterski lodge. This is the hill where I fell from the Coker and chipped a bone in my hand a couple of years back (on the easiest bit of the hill!). Before I had the Coker, I used to attempt to ride it on the MUni, but that was before I was confident at freemounting, and there were times when I was near to tears of frustration and exhaustion. Today, with a few hundred more miles under my belt, and a better tyre, I ride up the hill fairly easily. There’s just a little bit of arm waving in the long tussocky grass at the very top, but never any real danger of a fall. Then I take a steeper descent than usual to the side of the waterski lake, and approach the ski lodge. Honours even on this section. Still 1:4.
Most of the skiers move to one side, all apart from one young lady who has her back to me and is bending over to sort something out in a kit bag. For a moment, I can’t decide whether to aim for her right or her left, or something in between, but my good upbringing cuts in and a say, “Excuse me,” and wait until she has stepped to one side.
Then it’s the narrow railway sleeper bridge where I had a few falls on my last Coker ride. I make it across on the MUni, but ironically, I feel less confident than I normally would on the Coker. The problem with this bridge is all in my head.
My route then takes me back to the main lake, and I do a few circuits of bits and pieces of rough ground and poorly-trodden paths. Once more, I attempt a climb that I’ve never tried on the Coker. I make it to a summit that I’ve never reached before, and I spin down the long side of the hill, feeling very chuffed. Coker 1: MUni 5.
Back along the tarmac for a bit, and here the MUni is terribly slow, despite my determination to keep the wheel spinning. Tarmac, not good: Coker 2: MUni 5. Bored, I swerve off onto the grass, cut through a gate and along a short rough path before coming out near the main building of the Water Sports centre - all the hospitality suites and offices and stuff. I find a low wall (nil height at one end, 6 inches high at the other) and ride along the top and drop off. Mikefule, the trials god!
