Getting back on the big wheel again- last minute RTL preparation!

So I just got back from my first ride on the Coker since the start of last year. Apart from a quick spin around the block yesterday, I have not touched the Coker since The SINZ Unitour (www.sinzuni.org) a year and a half ago. Have been riding my Triton 29’er and bike mostly since then.

The first thing I noticed was how heavy and sluggish it felt :frowning: It was like going from a fighter plane to flying a jumbo jet. And the super long (114mm) cranks made it feel like my limbs were flailing all over the place. It needed a lot of effort to rev it up and then some. Every thing took effort…pedalling, slowing down, cornering. Even getting off! I went for my usual 30km training ride and could barely average 22km/hr. On my 29’er I’ve been comfortably cruising at 25km/hr on the flat. Anyway, it was a very hard ride and my legs are totally dead from all that high resistance effort. I bonked just as I finished the ride and basically had to sit down for half an hour. Just a couple of days before I’m due fly out to RTL. I’m almost thinking of bringing my 29’er with short cranks instead of the Coker :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyone else riding 29’ers for RTL? How’s your training for RTL progressing?

I have three days to try and get back in to Coker mode. Any suggestions would be much appreciated :sunglasses:

See you all at RTL!

Cheers,

Ken
Team NZUNI

Pray that tomorrow UDC will launch a new 36" CF-wheel with a 40 mm tyre. :slight_smile:

Hah wow thats quite a shame, but of all people I would have thought that you would have been properly preparing for RTL. I know its hard to resist riding a triton, but still!

I wish you best of luck in Canada whatever wheel you use.

I love how you call 114s super long haha.

Don’t bring the 29 because when you pass me on an ungeared 29er I will feel much worse than you passing me on a 36er. :astonished:

22km/h is probably around what I would average on a 36er with 114s over 30km. I am much faster on the geared 29er though. Now that I have been able to get a little more training in on the geared 29er since my knee has almost healed, jumping on a 36er with 114s feels incredibly nimble and easy to spin. Just jump on your schlumpf for an hour and then when you get back on the 36er it won’t feel so sluggish!

See you and team NZuni soon, don’t forget the cookie time cookies! :slight_smile:

I’m curious … why would you wait until just days before such a major event to train on the unicycle you planned to ride ??

Here’s the problem with being in your own class Ken: Not many people can relate!

It seems to me that if you go 22kmph on one cycle and 25kmph on another, that the faster one is the one to bring.

…but if you pass me on my Schlumpf 36er on an ungeared 29er, I’m going to…um…I will…well, I won’t like it!

Because he’s Ken, and he’s physically gifted so he can get away with sh*t the rest of us would never dream of.

Gonna change your vote for what uni will win the criterium? Cokers are heavy and sluggish; the things people can do on them are pretty amazing, considering how heavy and sluggish they are.

“Super long”? What would you consider normal, 50mm? And If 114’s are super long, how about 125’s? Superdupermindbogglingimpossiblyrediclullously long? And forget about even mentioning 150’s! You’d be flailing so bad your knees would be hittting your chin with every rev! ROTFL! :stuck_out_tongue: :roll_eyes: :wink:

Training? Who needs training? Haha, but obviously Ken doesn’t need to train, like mere mortals. I mean look at all the great boxers who’ve won their title fights with little or no training! Works for them!:wink:

Is bluffing allowed in unicycling racing? :thinking: :stuck_out_tongue:

Obviously, the smaller the wheel, the faster you are. So you should definitely race on a 20" or smaller!!

Ken,

Just put the small cranks on the 36 and go even faster . . . :smiley:

And now for something completely different : Any chance you, or one of the Kiwi’s, could throw a Whitaker’s Peanut Slab in your bag? I’ll pay you handsomely somehow!
As a transplanted Kiwi I miss them real bad… and you can’t get anything like them here in Vermont. :astonished:

Leaving for RTL in the morning . . see you all in a few days . .

Geoff Elder
#6 Team Balance

I believe it was because he was in Australia for a while and the 29er is easier to pack and travel with, so most of his riding was on that.

Oooh, yeah those are quite good as well. I don’t want to ask for too much, and getting a few cookie time cookies (reg chocolate chip) is going to be already amazing enough.

Actually I will be excited once I cross the border into Canada too because I can buy Smarties(the British chocolate smarties).

“I have three days to try and get back in to Coker mode. Any suggestions would be much appreciated”

See you all at RTL!

Cheers,

Ken
Team NZUNI

Your asking us for advice?

Well if you sit on it… its a start, then you pedal, and you begin to move. After a while of this pedaling lark… you will be used to it! Go!!!

Oh and 114 are too long! Simple sollution, change them to something asolutly tiny and youll ba fine.

Have fun!

Want to make a 36er seem light and nimble? Simple. Ride a geared 36er for a few hours. When you jump back on the ungeared one you’ll feel like you’re on a high-speed 20". Then put shorter cranks on it and you’ll fly. That’s why I’ve been keeping up riding the Shlumpf 36er I have on loan from Daytripper63, even though I decided not to try to bring it to NS along with my ungeared one. Plus I like the speeds I could maintain on the flats… :slight_smile:

If you don’t have a geared 36 available, ride your ungeared one on rough trails. It’ll feel even more sluggish there, but when you get back on pavement you’ll feel the improvement. That’s why I’ve been taking my Coker V2 up to an all-rolling trail in Auburn once a week and killing myself riding up, down, up, down. Last time is tomorrow!

Matty Burns is riding an ungeared 29er for the race for team tricycle, and i am pretty sure there are a couple teams going with completely ungeared 29ers.

This is an awesome thread - thanks Ken! The possible answers to your questions are so many. But I don’t see how something I recommend will help you. I do know your style and I don’t see why you were fooling with such long cranks. You did the first pass on AUT with 110mm didn’t you? Anyway, if you planned to ride a 36er you should’ve started training way earlier, like last week. Now it’s too late though. So you should probably just ride the 29er, although as others have said, it is going to suck when you pass us.

—Nathan

Ken won’t be passing me!

No, way.

I’m going to make sure he’s ahead right from the start :roll_eyes:

great idea, Ken can be at the very front! Then every one can be safe from the shame of being overtaken :D:D

I believe this is what they in New Zealand would call a ‘piss-take’

lol :stuck_out_tongue: