Most of you 1800’-elevation-climbing-Muniers may call it a small hill, but
being from flatland Detroit area it sure felt like a mountain to me!
I spent last weekend unicycling on Mackinaw Island, Michigan (elev.
150ft.).
After paying the full bicycle transport fee of $7.00, though I argued for
a “1/2 price unicycle special”, my Coker and I, along with three friends
boarded the jet-powered ferry for a 20 minute ride to the island.
As the boat docked I saw the huge gap. It must have been 3ft. or more
between the boat and the dock. I spent minutes pondering the problem. Gap
it with a pedal grab and a 360 degree heaton? Then I saw that the dock was
wet and solved the problem by walking my uni across the convienient plank
laid for passengers.
No motor vehicles are allowed on the 8 mile around island. That leaves
horses and cycles to get around (the horse manure?). So right away I
rented my non-unicycling friends each an old-fashioned ~500lb. Schwinn
single speed bike. I wanted to be sure and keep up with them. Half of the
time I did just that. For two days my soon-to-be-former friends huffed and
walked their heavy cycles up the “mountain” with “murder Gerard” in their
eyes, I Cokered past them from a safe distance with a
I’m-so-sorry-you-can-do-it smile on my face. Then came the downhill:
friends again! They flew by me in a blur of grins and screams as I
concentrated of the nessesary backward pedal pressure to avoid tumbling
Coker-over-broken man down the steep incline.
At the end of the weekend I walked down the “mountain” on my vibrating
jelly legs to the boat dock headed home.
It’s great to read all the muni and trails news, the U0 to U10 and
beyond!, the 7ft.gaps and 15ft.drops!, Kris unicycling on the edge of a
mountain that I would never walk near. But, I think that I’ll stick to the
basketball court. The court is sooo nice, flat, smooth and (safe?).