First long ride on 36er or why I still suck at this.

Unicycles and Equipment
7

I totally feel your pain!

I have, on and off, for years considered what it would be like to ride a Coker. Many of my more skilled uni pals have said to me, 'Ah, c’mon, just get one, you know you’ll love it!" But I dunno, I envision more of an experience like yours, to be totally honest.

Recently, as a compromise, I approached a few local owners to see if someone would lend me their big beast for a month or so so I could really spend some time on it before deciding if it was for me. But the Coker riders are either too active on their 36 inchers or not so out of riding they don’t even get back to me…sigh. I just won’t want to commit to owning this big wheel without being sure I was actually going to have an enjoyable relationship with it.

I have commuted the 24 km round trip to school many times on my 24 inch and then later on my 29’er. Its a great ride and when I am in the zone it is a purely magical experience. But to be perfectly honest, if my mount were the big wheel, I’m not sure the Coker would behave herself and I can imagine reaching my destination as exhausted and disheartened as you did on your first ride to work.

That said, I applaud your determination and have to agree that if you want it badly enough you will blast away at the skills until you have what is necessary to tame the wheeled beast. Keep us posted - perhaps you’ll inspire the likes of me to, someday, follow in your footsteps…errr, make that, your tire track. :slight_smile:

8

Cathy, you’ve been a long standing inspiration to me. You’ve never made a secret of your shorter stature and I’ve often wondered, with some awe and admiration how you’ve managed a Coker. I too feel like I’m a bit balance challenged and it’s never been an easy thing for me to do, but it’s always been a very rewarding thing.

Uni57, the rolling mount is a good suggestion and is one that I too MUST use when I get tired. The only way I can manage a static mount on the 36 is if I’m fresh and going slightly downhill.

Erin, I know that the Coker isn’t for everyone. And ultimately, it may not be for me either but, it seems like the right direction to go. I’ll keep at it and I’ll let you know how it’s going. Then, maybe one day, you’ll be ready to give it a try. There’s nothing wrong with a 29er. Of the 5 unis I own, from 20 to 36 my 29er is still my favorite.

Thinking of changing my username from Underdog to Rubberlegs.

Thanks all, for the words of encouragement.

9

I was getting tired and scared too. It’s great that I could just walk it.

Underdog, I was thinking about your post today while out on my ride and practicing my own mounts. It really helped me stick with it longer than I might have. And by the time I came in I had several successful mounts (ok… it’s only a 24… but it might as well be the moon if I can’t get it. :smiley: )

I like reading posts about struggles and frustrations. I like hearing about the successes too.

10

I couldn’t mount the coker reliably for the first month or so of commuting through London. I used to practice mounting at home, and at work, so once at each end, but generally if I got to a traffic light or had to get off, I’d use a lamp post or railing or something to get back on. Like you say, taking 1hr 20 to commute just gets old after a couple of times.

For the shortarses amongst you, remember 2 of the top 4 coker riders in the world (by unicon standards anyway) are shorties too. The coker takes practice for everyone, but once you’ve got it, no matter how tall you are it’s great fun.

Joe

11

Your story sounds so familiar!

Your story was great, and if I was as good a writer as you I would have written the same story a year ago. I got my Coker Deluxe for Christmas 2005, and around Mar06, when the snow was a bit lower I tried it out on my 2 mile commute. What a disaster! And so embarassing when 20 or 30 cars of work buddies honk as they go by, while I try and try again to mount. I finally learned how to do the rolling hop mount, and it works almost every time now.

I hear your pain on the hill climbs too. For a while I thought there was something wrong with me because I could not make it up a hill that I could MTBike up in middle chianring. But that too improved with practice and the hill technique is getting pretty good.

Christmas 2006 Santa brought a Nimbus 36er frame and an HS33 hydraulic brake. I’ve had a wonderful time riding my 36er down in Erin’s area (Vancouver BC), and am looking forward to a great tour around Lake Tahoe in June with 3000 other cyclists. Only about a dozen are unicyclists, though. Underdog, why don’t you keep practicing and come join us in the “America’s Most Beautiful (Cycle) Ride” June 3?

Erin, you know you need one, so bite the bullet and buy yourself a 36er, then come join me in the Nova Scotia “Ride the Lobster” ride next year. You can do it. By the way, my daughter and I went riding tonight, she on your old 29er. It’s still a great uni!

DonO

12

Great write-up, and thanks for not sparing the details on the parts that sucked. It’s important to talk about that stuff, and you’ll get better quality of responses the more detail you share. I know it feels really discouraging, but I also know from experience that it absolutely gets easier with time and mileage. Especially the hills… Mounting…eehhh…it gets better, but there is always that hit or miss element, at least for me, despite lots of practice.

When I read your post above, I thought to myself “I remember responding to some other guy that was having mounting challenges…maybe since I was thinking clearly then and I’m not now, I should go find my old post and add some of that here, instead of trying to re-create what I said before.” So off I went into search land, and I did in fact find the post. Then realized it was written to you. I refer you again to Points #3 and #4. :wink:

One other thought to that point, I’m not sure the kind of roads and terrain near where you live, but you might try devoting some coker sessions to particular goals. I mentioned the mounting one previously, but for hills, maybe you could find a decent hill with some variable pitches and someplace at the bottom for mounting self-assist (so you don’t burn your energy on that). Just go and take a few runs at the hill, with rest in between, so you can just focus on climbing technique. Then on a different day, go out the country or someplace where you can get in 15 miles or so on relatively flat, isolated roads w/o intersections and bozos. Just to get the saddle time and the spinning practice. Focus on each separately, and perhaps they’ll come together better on routes like your ride to work that have all those elements.

But most of all, keep riding that thing. There is a distance rider in you…that is clear. He just needs some more miles before he’ll take over.

Good Luck!

TB

13

Hey Don, Tom, Joe, Unidog, Underdog…

you guys are indeed inspirations!

Don, you temptor…“Ride the Lobster”?! That’d definitely be some Coker goal, wouldn’t it?!

BTW, glad to hear that the Gazelle is still behaving itself for your daughter. :slight_smile:

14

I find that setting goals that are just barely within the realm of possible to be incredibly motivating.

Just commit to “ride the lobster” and then you’ll find yourself performing the actions that will get you there.

15

It’s true Erin…you know this in your heart. If you’re unconvinced, come down to Seattle and hang with us for a couple days. Miles and I both have Cokers set up to rock in the “short and stubby lifestyle”, and you can absolutely get some miles in out here w/o a lot of interference. Try a new Nimbus that’s set up for a shorter person. Miles rides it comfortably, and I think you still have the edge on him size wize (although not for long). We have some great routes, much fun.

Plus when you get sick of us, there is muni at St. Ed’s as you know, riding Harper’s Blueshift, all that jazz.

TB

16

Mounting uphill can be annoying. One trick that a lot of riders do is to either mount perpendicular to the road, or to turn around and mount going down the hill first and then turn around. This seems to help me a lot on some of the steeper hills I encounter.

17

Tom, I remember your previous advise to me very well and think about it just about every time I ride the 36. I have yet to develop any consistancy and some days are better than others. I like your idea of focusing on one aspect at a time. I sorta take a similar approach to practicing in general. I just need to narrow it down a bit more.

You’re right about that. Before I became obsessed with unicycling, road biking was my life. I spent my whole year training for and riding in century rides, typically those charity rides like MS150s and such. I definitely want to be able to do miles on the uni. I have hardly touched my bike in the 2 1/2 years since I started to uni. Every time I go out to the garage and look at the row of bikes hanging from hooks and the row of unis hanging from hooks, my eyes always seem to focus on the unis. Poor, poor neglected bikes.

18

As has been discussed at length, it sounds like mounts are the key for you. There’s definitely a big difference between riding to work on something you don’t have to think about mounting, and something where the mount may cause big problems.

Not to say I don’t have to think about mounting mine, but I’m not worried about it. I’ve had a 45" big wheel since 1982, so a Coker was never a mounting issue. When I first attempted the 8 mile ride to my work, my knee gave out on the way home (sometimes it wears out from overuse) and it took me a while to build the confidence to do the ride again. I did a lot of bike commutes to get my knees into the swing of longer rides.

Unfortunately my office closed, and now work is at home. My mileage has suffered greatly and my weight has increased. :frowning:

For mounts, I’m sure there’s been a lot written but I’ll briefly describe how I do it in case there are any differences. I walk several steps to build momentum, and jump up as the pedal is coming up toward rear horizontal. While jumping up the wheel is not moving, but my body continues its forward motion with the intertia that was already there.

The key is getting up there reasonably centered over the wheel. I was very aware of this yesterday as I did lots of starts and stops on a dirt semi-trail with lots of rocks in it, and 125mm cranks. I tried to concentrate carefully on jumping up in line with the bottom of the wheel, so I wouldn’t have to make any big corrections to get going.

Anyway, when you get up there, make sure you don’t stop yourself directly above the wheel. That will make it harder to keep going, especially if you stop a little short (you’ll have to backpedal). You need to get a little ahead of top dead center and start pedaling immediately. At the same time, if you need to make any side corrections these can be done in the form of a little twist to the left or right, just before you start rolling.

As you practice more, it will be easier to tell which direction you need to twist for a smooth start. Also, try to minimize arm motion when you’re practicing. This will help you gauge your improvement. If you can do it without flailing, the control is getting better!

I used to be a motorcycle instructor. One of the most overlooked aspects of safe motorcycle riding is getting the starts and stops down. I would drill my students on those until they got sick of them. If you’re not good at starts and stops, you’re much more likely to drop the bike. You can apply some of this to the 36er, if you want to dedicate some time just to mounts. See how many you can do in a row. Track your progress as a percentage, based on how many successful mounts you make in each 10 attempts. This is a good way to practice dismounts as well, as they’re part of the process.

Last but least, consider your crank length. 125 is great (for me) for relatively flat riding. Now I’m using them on some trails & things, but I’ll still go back to the 140s for the San Francisco tour this fall (steep hills!). If you’re not using 140s or longer, consider trading up, at least until you get the mounts more solid. 150s are great for learning. For me, anything longer is only good for major hills (or multiple knee surgeries).

19

advice taken: I have been learning to freemount my Coker for 4 years! and I still don’t make it! but I won’t give up :o
edit: last year I used john foss method and it worked … until I broke my toe

20

almoost every post is by some old guy. its hillarious. no kids at all.

21

Johnfoss, thanks for the advice. Your description sounds exactly like what I do when it’s working right. It’s just that the “working right” part still isn’t consistent. I spent about a half an hour in front of my house last night just practicing mounts. It’s just gonna take time. For the next week or so though, I’m gonna be focusing on my 24" getting ready for Moab. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sticking to the novice trails but it’s still bound to be a great time.

Sorry to hear you lost your need to commute to work but working at home is a pretty sweet deal too.

BTW I’m riding on the 150s that the uni came with.

22

Good note. My Nimbus 36" has been ordered, and I can’t wait for it to arrive. I ordered 150mm cranks because there’s not a single flat spot in Colorado Springs. Just putting 125s on my ancient Schwinn made it a completely different animal, I imagine I’m in for a similar experience (though probaly in spades) going to the 36".

Roak

23

And the “kid” posts seem less than useful… :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s true, the big wheels and road riding seem to appeal to an older crowd. The youngsters, here at least, are mostly focused on Trials and Street. Part of what makes those activities more accessible to people who can’t drive is that you can do them close to home. MUni trails usually aren’t close enough for easy access without a car

But that’s what’s funny. Many of us “old” folks are using our Cokers and 36ers to ride to work, or otherwise to replace the car for some trips. I wonder why more younger riders aren’t as interested in this?

24

I see I’m not the only one with a belief that there’s a pretty good correlation between age and wheel size. I should imagine it is partly to do with transport issues, and also that kids love the adrenalin buzz of throwing themselves down a set of stairs, knowing they’ll heal quickly if they wreck, but older people know if they break their legs trying to land the quad backflip they won’t be able to work and support their family (yes im stereotyping here). I find the attraction of riding trials wanes as I get a little older, and the nimbus 36 looks increasingly inviting, am I now one of the ‘oldies’?

EDIT: And if I’m not an oldie I like to make a hopefully useful contribution on behalf of the kids. I recently swapped to 125s (from 150s) on my 36 and it really isn’t that different to ride, I’ve not managed to exceed my previous max of 16mph yet, and my cruise speed isn’t up much, but holding the uni at a fairly fast sprint, but not flat out (say 14mph ish) is a lot easier and more sustainabe. The alloy 125s +14g stainles spokes + airfoil setup certainly climbs much easier than the steel 150s + 12g steel spokes + steel rim.

25

Perhaps because the purpose of the thread was to share concrete details and useful advice about unicycling… :wink:

OMG!!! LOL!!!

26

The Nimbus 36" has arrived!

Whoooo Hoooo! Got here last night at 8:30pm (I have no idea why UPS was working that late). Cut down the seat post and made it ready to roll this morning.

Mounting against the garage I got two false starts and then I was off – rode to the end of the road and back (maybe 0.1, 0.2 miles, nothing to write home to Mom about) but it basically was in the “indefinite riding distance” range so I was psyched! Far from relaxed, (in fact, pouring sweat from concentration) but relaxation will come with experience. Decided to try and shoot the moon so away from the garage I put the right pedal back, grabbed the wheel and hopped up – and rode off! So now that my mounting percentage is 100% on it I think I will never, ever try another free mount. :slight_smile:

I’ll be taking it for a spin in the company’s parking lot this afternoon and work on the free mounts because that one time was by no means easy, nor do I have any confidence in my ability to pull it off again.

One thing that helped a lot is that a couple months ago I put 125mm cranks on my old Schwinn Unicycle. The hysteresis that the short cranks introduced on that Uni is very similar to that experienced on the N36 so it turns out that it was a good training platform.

I got the Uni with 150mm cranks and I would not recommend anyone with an inseam less than 34” get those length cranks on the N36 – the seat currently is as low as it will go. I expect to raise it slightly as I get used to it, but it’s basically bottomed out at the moment.

Gawd this thing is nice! I hope to start riding it to work after my fitness improves a bit more. Might have to add brakes in short order as well, even slight downhill’s cause my legs to burn.

Roak