Some of you have undoubtedly seen the two or three threads that I made requesting a ride while I was in New York, and well, I went on my first MUni ride with Adam (JustOneWheel) and his buddy Jeff (shibumi, I believe). It was a great trail, the Greenbelt, and totally different from anything I’d ever done before. My mother accompanied us on mountainbike, and I borrowed Adam’s KH24 (my 20" would never have worked for this type of terrain and distance). I had my first experience with a Coker, and it was great. I was suprised at how well Adam and Jeff managed MUni with a Coker! On one of the final stretches of the trail, after we’d covered about 3-4miles of uphill, downhill, switchbacks, drops, roots, skinnies, and just uneven surfaces, I UPD’d down a particularly narrow bit of trail. I was in the lead and I went over a drop that was smaller than others that we’d done earlier, but something happened and I bounced off the seat and, in the process of trying to regain control, I launched myself forward off the unicycle on the downstroke and flew a couple feet before I could no longer control my feet and fell. Putting one’s hands out to catch oneself is a reflex, so I slid on my right shoulder and stubbed my right ring finger. It swelled up almost immediately and seared with pain. Adam administered the ‘stretch test’ and we all rode back to the car thinking that I had just hyperextended a tendon, and thats what the constant sickening cracking sensation was. Back at his house he made me a ‘custom ice pack’ which really helped to alleviate the pain for a few hours. Our flight out of NY was at 8:20pm that night, so I had to ask a flight attendant for some more ice after my initial packs melted. Since it was after midnight when we finally got home, and since New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are holidays our local Medicenter was closed, and because I didn’t want to wait in line for five hours at the hospital, I went for an X-ray today and found that it wasn’t my ring finger that was broken, like I had thought, but the bone under it (the fourth metacarpal).
I have a splint that covers my forearm, wrist, and metacarpus until I get the bone re-set ( ) and casted tomorrow morning at 9:30am.
No unicycling for 4-6 weeks :o
(X-ray pics will be scanned and uploaded if anyone so desires to see them :D)
A great pair of tour-guides! Sorry about the finger, but it sounds like a good intro to Muni, especially cool that you got to try the tractor of the unicycle world, the KH24.
Oh yeah, the KH24 was amazing. I could barely believe how light it was! Noticeably lighter than my 20" Hoppley (“the KH frame is paper”, said Adam, and he’s not kidding).
Yes, I used to play piano and accordion (my grandma made me learn it).
A semi-interesting shortened version of a story about an accordionist in my family;
My father grew up in Michigan where there is a lot of Polish influence (we’re Polish too) and he played accordion in school. He met some guy and they played for a while together when they were younger. The man he met and played with ended up (20 or so years later) being “Weird Al” Yankovic’s father. We still have his old accordion and my slightly smaller one.
Luckily we got some good pictures and footage before I fell and injured myself. I would have really liked to have finished the trail…
I only hope I can type this easily once I have a proper cast on
That sucks. I’ve never broken anything… knock on wood. Good to hear you enjoyed muni, that’s all I ride really. When you own a 24", especially a KH24 with a gazz, you don’t do much trials or street. Did you get a chance to use a brake? Those add a whole new element to muni. Cokers and 29ers are fun too, I think a 29er will be my next one.
I did not get a chance to use a brake, but I did, as I stated in my original post, get to try out a Coker for the first time! I rode Jeff’s Coker for a little while as we were on the trails. It’s pretty difficult having your first experience with a 36" wheel while doing Muni. The things have so much momentum and are difficult to turn & slow down (if you’ve never rode one before). I’d love to get one…But I think, unfortunately, it’ll have to wait 4-6 weeks
Wow Joe, I’m sorry to hear that your finger actually broke. It really didn’t look that bad at the time. I called Adam a little while ago and he was shocked as well. Hopefully after tomorrow you should feel a little better.
It was great to ride with you and your mom. For a couple of “flatlanders” you handled those trails like pro’s.
Sorry about the broken finger, but I’m glad you had a great ride.
Other than the freaky accident, it was good to see you enjoying the trails.
Get well soon and we will see you next time around.
P.S. Nothing can make you as HAPPY as buying yourself a COKER! I hope I was able to show you some of the possibilities a Coker has to offer.
And to burjzyntski, welcome to the world of muni . I broke my pinkie the first time i went(your break looks and sounds much more awful though).
Landing on your hand is better than landing on your face though, i kinda got a double whammy, i broke my pinky then smacked my face on a rock which resulted in me needing 4 stitches right above the bridge of my nose. Scars make good ice breakers so its ok.
DAMN that must suck big time. Hope it get better and the x-rays don’t turn out to be too serious.Cause I have a permanent dislocated leg because i was riding my unicycle once and the tire popped and i went straight into a street pole and my right leg grabbed the pole and you hear this pop like i just snapped 100 paddlepop sticks. I was in hospital for 2 1/2 months after that. The pain was so intense that the morphine shots did bugger all.
Then again we’re only human
Hope you get better burjzyntski
Hazmat
) and casted tomorrow morning at 9:30am.
