I wonder if the bikers were all saying… “Well, yeah… he can do it because he’s on a unicycle. Try it on a bike!”
He makes it look easy. I wish I could be there to see what it’s really like. Knowing what’s possible helps with motivation.
I can’t help but wonder sometimes if I’m trying to do the impossible.
I wish I had a park with never ending hills of every degree of incline.
Riding with other people is a massive help for this - I know before I rode with other people ever, I thought some things were impossible which I’d now ride easily. I’m sure the same is true of people I’ve ridden with since, riding with other people is one of the best ways to get better.
Joe
That’s a pretty crazy looking uphill. It didn’t look too bad until Beau comes past the camera and you can see the angle, and the rocky surface. Awesome climbing.
There is a lot of advantage in having excellent still-stand balance skills, as you can have a bit of a rest between rotations, even on angled surfaces.
And of course, given the Unicon 14 uphill race results - where Beau was not top of the list - there are people like Tony Melton and Seisuke Kobayashi who make it look even easier. There seemed to be a certain step-change in those results between people who could make it all the way ‘clean’, or almost clean; and those who took twice as long with many dismounts. I was definitely in the second batch, and was lucky to make it to the finish at all!
Sam
Yeah, Tony is pretty good at muni isn’t he. I think trials and general balance skills make a big difference to muni riding beyond just being good at riding and very strong and fit.
Joe
Don’t bet against Beau in Wellington; he’s a stronger climber now than then. (He is 17 years old, after all.) At California MUni Weekend he was outclimbing Kris Holm at 8000’+.
Here’s a bicycle map of the Presidio:
The trails that bikes aren’t allowed on are marked in brown.
Basically, it seems to come down to this: While riding my cross bike on these trails I’ve never been stopped or hassled. As long as I’m polite and give right of way, most folks don’t seem to mind sharing the trails with me, though some definitely do and I’ll occasionally get the stink eye from 'em. Even that’s enough to make me hesitate to ride my bicycle out there. I’m a bit flexible when it comes to following the rules, but I don’t want to trouble other folks.
On the other hand, everyone seems to get a big kick out of seeing me (try to) unicycle the trails. I feel entirely welcome.
I have decided not to listen to music while riding the trails so that I can greet folks I meet and answer questions. Seems better this way.
(Legally, it looks like most unicycles aren’t considered bicycles in California. However, I’m not really concerned with the legality of things. More important to me is whether my actions are adding or detracting from the lives of the people I share the trails with.)
I’ve been riding off road with 167 cranks. I’m going to try 150mm because while the longer crank gives me more leverage it also forces me to push through more dead spot. At least that’s how it feels on steeper stuff.
Longer cranks are great for the type of steep downhill where you daren’t let go and spin out.
Other than that, I find they reduce my riding enjoyment. I took 165s off my KH24 and put 150s and can still ride everything I could ride before, plus some extra stuff.
Fewer pedal-strike UPDs too.
Wow. That’s just stunning.
So much for the question of whether my little hill is possible!
Thanks Tom, that’s certainly the best uphill climbing video I’ve seen, much better view of his technique than in the other clips I’ve found.
Now I really can’t wait for my Kris Holm to get here so I can try playing around with 150mm cranks. Until then I’ll keep at it with the Torker and it’s 170s. I figure anything I can learn to do on that will be even easier on the KH.
Oh, and I’ve dropped you an email about Sunday. Sounds like fun!
Uphill is the rewarding bit, downhill is the reward. I remember the hills I’ve climbed in one.
Also, it’s been repeated on this forum often enough, learning some basic “trials” skills such as hopping in place and up/down objects really helped me become a better up hill rider. Like MuniAddict already addressed, when the going gets steep just focus on half revolutions at a time and pausing in between for a short “rest.” This sort of skill is where having the trials skills really help. Before I learned to do this I’d just try to hammer up the trail and get as far as I could w/o stopping. Either I’d make it up (rarely) but then almost pass out from going too anaerobic, or else I’d fall off earlier and then have to walk up. Learning to think in terms of one rev or half rev at a time makes it so much easier. As always, practice, practice, practice!
Tom, do you know if Beau was on his usual 125’s or did he switch to 150’s for that MASSIVE climb?
this thread has me thinking there are not enough uphill muni vids. I think that will be my next video will be exclusively climbing (despite the fact that hills are always flattened out in video footage). I have started my training regime for UNICON which includes climbing the trails on Mt Majura close to where i live- it has some really steep fire roads and some less steep but much more technical singletrack. I have got to the stage where by muscle strength gives out before my aerobic fitness does and am not sure where to go from here with my training. I finish my university degree in 2 days so hopefully i will be able to post something soon after that.
mark
I don’t remember what he was running that day. I think it might have been 150s.