Hello,
Today I had a very difficult uni ride to the office. It is not too far away (6km or so depending upon which route you take).
However, I was having real difficulty staying on board. Fighting all the way. Now the wind was very strong and gusty, so I thought maybe I was just being blown off course. And when I had to head right into the wind, it was like going up a big hill, I had to lean right into it. But of course the gusts came too.
Sometime after I got to the office I inspected my unicycle a bit, as another co-worker was interested in it. I noticed a spoke out of place … a broken spoke. Well, that probably accounts for the weird creaking sounds I have been hearing in the last week or so, especially as I freemount. What I hadn’t realised is how out of true the wheel had become due to the broken spoke. So, I wondered if that also made riding a bit more difficult.
As it turns out, to make matters worse, on my way home, my crank arm threatened to fall off. So as soon as I noticed it becoming loose, I stopped riding and walked home. Sigh.
Ok, does anyone else ever have a difficult time riding in heavy winds with gusts, or when your wheel is really out of true, or is it just me?
Riding in heavy winds is pretty horrible.
Also riding while holding up an umbrella in the rain is hard too because of wind resistance. Or riding and a massive truck comes by and has its own wind envelope (you know what I mean).
I’ve only had broken spoke issues on a small trials uni, so haven’t noticed it become untrue and affecting my riding.
But it could undoubtedly make riding difficult.
With the crank getting loose, this is one of the reasons why ISIS or the QU-AX splined hubs are better than cotterless hubs. You don’t get loose crank issues with splined hubs.
I don’t mind the winds, but around the Tacoma/Seattle area, anything over 40 mph is pretty unusual. Strong winds around here usually means more than 20 mph.
I always think winds are more fun. Gives a bit more of a challenge staying on. So when I see there’s gonna be a strong wind or storm, I would go out there and find a nice stretch to see if I can stay on. Sure it is a fight to ride a few kilometres in strong wind. Close to my office there is a cycle path on a dike along a river. You can ride a 3 km “circle”/ellipse, so you can taste the wind from all sides. Especially side winds are tricky. With the wind in your face, I always wonder if the wind would be strong enough to carry me, so I just lean forward some more. Winds in NL aren’t the strongest and possibly more cyclicable (if that isn’t a word, it should be) than in other parts of the world, but they are enough to play with.
@Setonix I think you are a much better rider than I am. I was noting that I find high winds really tricky, but then I also find bumpy lumpy wet grass with mud patches in it a bit tricky too. So, I am building my way up to being able to do “mountain” unicycling.
By the way, the word “cyclable” exists in English, just as you suspected. Maybe what we hope for is a word like “unicyclable”?
On the longest ride I ever made on my 27.5’', which was 55km, I was hit by strong winds on a strech with only a narrow side walk. Some parts where the wind was strongest I had to walk because I feared being blown onto the car lane. This was on the last 10km which made it even worse.
