This being the first evening without rain or aching knees since my 29er became one, it got its first proper run tonight.
The route involved a little bit of everything; a fairly zippy flat off-road section to start with, lots of country lanes and a short section of very tricky mud-fest where the muni would have been much more appropriate.
I was absolutely delighted with it - it’s incredible how far you can go with a unicycle with a large wheel. I don’t have a computer on it and I didn’t take the GPS, but according to the map I did 11 1/2 miles. I’ve only done over that on a couple of occasions on the other wheels, and they were all-afternoon rides; for an “easy-going” evening ride that was amazing.
The tyre was grippy, so wasn’t phased by mud; the wheel is large enough to ignore roots going downhill, although they were the root cause (badumtsch) of a few UPDs going uphills. Having said that it climbs easily on the smooth; it maintains momentum vastly better than the smaller wheels, so you don’t end up jerking up the hill needing loads of effort for each pedal stroke. Along the country lanes I was very nearly keeping up with a couple of bikers who rode past.
The only downside was not tightening the bearing holders enough, causing the frame to wiggle slightly going down hills. Some muppet took an 8mm spanner instead of a 10mm one. It made for some creaky descents, but fears of having to walk back from the farthest point remained unfounded.
Next ride, I shall attempt to work on my mounts. It’s alright with lots of space, where you can jump on from walking; on narrow rutted tracks I found it rather tricky sometimes.
This, however, is the point where it gets difficult. So many unicycles to ride, so little time!
Phil