I have started a new thread, to save people having to search through the old one.
Well, what can I say?
Wow! What a weekend!
I was totally gutted when Kit, Pete, Joe B and Matt couldn’t make it and I thought the weekend was going to be a disaster. Jo and I spent most of the week tidying the house to make room for people to stay, at least the house is tidy now! Ha Ha!
I went to bed Friday night a little disappointed to say the least. When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt good, but the sun wasn’t shining and it looked fairly miserable. However the weather forecast was good, so I piled the uni,s onto the car and headed off to collect Leo. We loaded up the car with all Leos bits and bobs and headed onward, to the woods!
Due to Leo’s “relaxed” nature, we were a little late and had to drive “rally style” to gain a few minutes! We got to the woods and were met by Rob. Leo ummed and ahhed about which uni he was going to use (His 19” trials or the 26” with 100mm cranks!). After a while of trying to tell him that he wouldn’t be able to ride muni on a 26” with such short cranks, he decided on the trials uni!
So, at last we set off! We talked as we rode, getting to know Rob and just riding a very gentle route through the woods. We got to a giant dip in the woods and attempted some of the steeper slopes with varying degrees of success. Although Rob told us that he was having trouble with some descents, I thought he did fine and was taking some slopes with more control than Leo and me. I was also impressed with his one footed muni-ing!
We messed around in the woods for a little while longer, then started to make our way back towards the starting point. Not before finding and riding through the six gates of hell!
We got back to the car park and café, stomachs rumbling. A quick bite to eat and we were joined by Andy, Robs friend, who lives round the corner from me, although iv never seen another unicyclist in town! After eats we set off past the monument along the wheelchair track, we took the interesting route that wove in and out of the trees and found some more dips to play in.
We decided to ride to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon, which is a rather tall and windy hill, just outside of the woods. It didn’t take very long to get there, but because we had been riding all day we were getting tired and numerous UPD’s followed! We got to the base of the beacon and Andy shot off up the hill, only stopping once halfway up (I think)!! Once at the top we decided it was a little too windy to hang around, we started the descent! Rob, who had never made it down before rode it hard and made it all the way to the bottom in one go!
Really tired now, and doing more walking than riding, we made our way back to the carpark, about halfway Rob and Andy rode ahead because they needed to get back. Leo and I limped back to the car. Talking about the days riding and how much we had enjoyed meeting Rob and Andy.
Despite there only being 4 of us, I really enjoyed myself Saturday. Its been ages since I had done any Muni and I am definatly going to get out on it more!
Leo stayed round mine Saturday night and despite us waking up early we were still rushed to get to the coachway on time to meet AJ. We met up with AJ and drove to the city centre where we planned on meeting the rest of the group. We arrived at the meeting place with about 10 minutes to spare. GK arrived pretty much bang on time, and after waiting for 10 more minutes, decided to move closer to the train station to get out of the wind!
After a slightly worrying wait, we spotted uni’s being unloaded from a car, we made our way over and said hi and introduced ourselves. It turned out to be Ivo, Jamie and Euan, 3 really cool dudes and good riders! After everyone had got padded up, we were ready to ride! We made our way to the first spot, a giant set of stairs! Leo rode the set a couple of times, whilst people messed around attempting crankflips and the like.
I was riding a bit of BC, and was trying to hop over a strange automatic ramp thing in the entrance to the car park with limited success! Soon after, I was just riding my uni and hopped and BANG! My seatpost snapped! I thought “Noooooooooo! My seatpost snapped at the first spot!” I was really looking forward to riding the skatepark too!
We rode to the next spot where there were various walls and benches. People were learning crank grabs, which was really good to see, AJ pulled several good ones by the end of the day! Leo was doing his huge rolling hops here, there and everywhere! We were met by Tod and his mates who had found us! Really cool guys, good to meet you all! We got fairly hungry by this time, so decided to move on for eats! A quick stop at subway, then Ivo, Euan and Jamie decided to head off. We said our goodbyes, with talk of meeting up to ride some northshore sometime.
The skatepark was next, which is were Tod and crew left, due to the crappy weather I think they all got pretty cold and wet trying to find us! Hopefully we will see you guys again, it was good to ride with you! We rode the skatepark for a while, until some roller bladers started getting in our way and we could no longer stand the cold. After the skatepark, we moved to one of the many underpasses in milton keynes. By this time it was Gavin, AJ, Leo and I left. We sat and chatted, GK taught me to idle better and gave me some tips! AJ practiced his crank grabs and Leo was messing around on his freestyle uni. It was getting on and the wind was cold, GK decided to call it a day and when he left AJ, Leo and I did too.
After an uneventful drive home (With AJ in tow), we collapsed on the sofa and watched the video footage and looked at the pictures. My girlfriend, Jo and I cooked dinner (I was STARVING!) and we chatted as we ate. After dinner, we took Leo and AJ home, when we got back Jo and I collapsed into bed and I was almost asleep before my head hit the pillow!
Despite there only being a fraction of the people that I had hoped there would be, I feel that the weekend was a huge success! I really enjoyed myself and I want to say a huge thanks to everyone that came along! It was really good to meet up with GK and AJ again, and it was awesome to get to know some new faces!
PICTURES!
Leo, No footer
Jamie (I think!), Bailing down the steps!
Euan and Ivo getting ready, while GK enjoys the sunshine!
AJ!
Leo, hop up to bench.
Socialising!
Me, Breaking it down!
Rob, cranking up a hill!
Leo, riding a handrail!
And finally, the newest member of the one wheeled club. Charlie, my two week old nephew!
Full set here!
Im sure GK and others will chime in with some better pictures, I have more, but I will post them when I get home!
Phew!
Rock on!
Edd
