Today is Tom Blackwood’s 44th birthday. He just got back from the California MUni weekend and he’s going to do a metric half century on his Coker. A few of us are going to try to meet up with him on his trip. Those of you who have met him at MUni weekends know what a cool guy he is. Those who haven’t should try.
In U.S. track vernacular the 440 yard dash event is a quarter mile. In honor of Tom’s birthday I, personally, am going to ride 44 of the 440’s today. 44 440’s for Tom’s 44th.
Happy Birthday Tom. I will take 44 swigs of beer in your honor this evening. And I’m right behind you by two months.
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
Tehe you’re as old as my dad!
Now that I’ve made you feel good:
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday! Where can I send these 44 posters of harper to you?
Happy Birthday Tom! It was great hanging out with you (and Greg and everyone else) at the cabin at Northstar. Good luck on your ride.
—Nathan
Happy birthday Tom!
Don’t worry, you aren’t even close to the same age as my dad. It was too bad we couldn’t meet up in Hawaii. But, I guess it gave me a good excuse to come to CMW.
Daniel
Happy Birthday, Tom! I enjoyed seeing you again and riding with you. Have a good Coker trip.
Scott
I want onto this “Happy Birthday” wagon too!
That’s because I’m too tired to ride next to it.
Happy birthday!
Can I sing another round of Happy Birthday to Tom?
Tom made it. It was his goal to have 500 miles of riding on his new Coker by his birthday. When that glorious day finally arrived he still needed 53 miles to reach his goal. That meant that he needed to ride at least 53 miles in celebration of his birthday. That is more than 20 miles further than his previous longest Coker ride.
I joined Tom a little after the halfway point of his ride. I conveniently joined him right at the brew pub where he was planning to stop for lunch. What a way to start a ride. A pub lunch and a nice pint of cask conditioned porter.
Irene Genelin joined in on the happy birthday to Tom ride a few miles later. Then Harper joined in a few miles after that. I was initially planning on riding the entire 50+ miles with Tom, but I managed to find excuses at the last minute. I was too tired to wake up early after driving all the way back from the California Muni Weekend and then I still needed to change the cranks on my Coker (it still had 170’s on it and I didn’t want to ride with 170’s for 50+ miles on a long flat bike trail).
A big congratulations to Tom for surviving a 50+ mile Coker ride. 50 miles is a long ride on a unicycle and it takes conditioning and stamina to do that many miles. My longest Coker ride so far is a little over 62 miles (a metric century) and I was wonked at the end of that ride. I know Tom was a bit wonked after this ride.
Hey, thanks everybody! Pretty cool to come back from such a long ride and see so many birthday wishes. Since my fingers are the only part of my body still functioning, I can at least manage to type a reply and thank you.
My original goal–which John alluded to–was to put 500 miles on my new GB4 36 “this summer”. I started in May when I received it from U-Turn, and had my first 100 on June 21. The 200 mark came on July 22, and the 300 on August 21. You can see there my problem…averaging 100 miles per month with only one month left and 200 miles still to go. Time to double down on the riding, which I did with the help of a couple Iron Horse rides with the Seattle gang, and a lot of 10-milers after work. Since today was the Last Day of Summer and also my birthday, it seemed like I pretty much had to suck it up and ride the 54 miles I needed to reach the 500.
I lucked out in that it was a gorgeous day in Seattle and the weather held…never a guarantee this time of year. I also lucked out in that three of my riding heroes–Irene, Greg, and John–all joined me for part of the ride. It was actually pretty funny–I was picking up unicyclists left and right along the trail. John caught me at mile 32, Irene joined in at mile 36 (after having already ridden about 12 miles to get there), and Harper jumped in about mile 46. Not only are these three all great riders, but true friends…their support on the last section of the ride was amazing, and is probably what got me to the finish. I was really struggling the last 10 miles or so, and between the muscle fatigue, crotch distress, and setting sun in my eyes, it was tough just staying on the thing at times. Their encouragement made all the difference.
Final stats: 55 miles, average speed 10mph (down from 10.5 at mile 33), total pedaling time 5 hours, 31 minutes. My previous longest ride was 33 miles. The ride was a combination of the Burke-Gilman Trail and the Sammamish River Trail. The B-G starts in Ballard in downtown Seattle, connects to the SRT at the north end of Lake Washington, then runs to Marymoor Park in Redmond. Total one way distance 27 miles. Here’s a link: http://www.metrokc.gov/parks/trails/trails/burke.htm
So now I’ve done a metric half and a standard half. I’d still like to get in a metric century one of these days, but that’s going to take some serious prep. Maybe next summer. Definitely not tomorrow.
A tall glass of Chimay awaits. Thanks again for the wishes and over 'n out.
TB
Perhaps the most enjoyable part was to back off with JC at the end and watch you cross the finish line in front of us. That was an unbelievable accomplishment, especially right after the Cali MUni Weekend. You own the entire trail, we just watched the transaction. Happy birthday.
Happy Birthday Tom! I was happy to be able to ride with you on your longest Coker ride ever. The weather was perfect for riding. The good company made the last part (er… 1/2 half) fly by.
–Irene
Happy Birthday to Tom! Thanks for being my shuttle from the bottom of the Tahoe Rim Trail back up to my car. It was nice to meet you. -erik
Hey Tom!!
Way to go buddy! I got to meet Tom at CMW this year. Yes, and what a cool guy. He’s full of uni info and juggling info. Really enjoyed listening to what he had to say.
Very impressive. 53 miles by 44. It’s almost like Harper at level 5 before 50.
Kudos to your friends, for helping out, too.
Way to GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TOM!!!
CHEERS!
Tom
Happy Birthday! Great way to celebrate 44! I was going to write a verbose post, but you’ve inspired me to go out for a ride on my coker instead.
Congrats!
Bill