Muniing in California in January.

General
1

My wife and I are thinking about visiting Cali in January, the first week to be exact. Where might be a good couple of places that we can travel to that are relatively close to each other and that she might enjoy walking as well ( she has a bad back ) ? We heard the weather can be quite different depending where you go. We are mainly going for a vacation but I would like to get a couple of days in on the dirt. I am a begginer intermediate rider ( emphasis on begginer ). Any help would be appreciated. If anyone can recommend a nice area to stay that would be close to some tourist hot spots and good muni spots that would be fantastic. Thanks in advance.

Wayne.

2

Re: Muniing in California in January.

“shabby” <shabby.vobwp@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:shabby.vobwp@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> My wife and I are thinking about visiting Cali in January, the first
> week to be exact. Where might be a good couple of places that we can
> travel to that are relatively close to each other and that she might
> enjoy walking as well ( she has a bad back ) ?

If you choose Southern California you can go to Laguna Beach. There are 3
different parks circling the town:

  1. Crystal Cove State Park
  2. Aliso and Wood Canyon Regional Park
  3. Laguna Coast Wilderness Park (Weekends only)

All have great riding oppportunities - very popular with bikers and hikers.
Up to 1000’ climbs with ocean views. Fireroad and single track. Beginner
to advanced.
I would suggest a So-Cal Muni weekend there anytime.

> We heard the weather can be quite different depending where you go.

January is great riding weather - the only issue is the rainy season
sometimes starts then (not in the past few years though).

> We are mainly going for a vacation but I would like to get a couple of
days in on the dirt. I am a
> begginer intermediate rider ( emphasis on begginer ). Any help would be
> appreciated. If anyone can recommend a nice area to stay that would be
> close to some tourist hot spots and good muni spots that would be
> fantastic. Thanks in advance.

Laguna Beach is very nice.
San Diego is about an hour south.
Hollywood and the LA scene are about an hour north.
Lots of other things nearby.

David Winston

3

California is a big state.

Where do you plan to be in California ?

By the way, Dave Winston listed some good places to ride in Orange County.

If you get to L.A., try Topanga Canyon. That’s one of my old stomps from the two-wheel days.

4

Re: Re: Muniing in California in January.

Hmmm. I’d love to help you set one up someday, if you’re interested. I could do the dirty work while you figure out the rides and schedule. I think I’ve only seen you once since you moved to CA, and it’s long overdue!

David Winston posts here occasionally, but also came to the early UNICONs, and came in second in Men’s Artistic at UNICON II. His act included juggling clubs on a B.C. Wheel.

If you come to Northern CA, there are lots of trails around the SF Bay area, especially around Santa Cruz. For the area of Sacramento to Tahoe, there’s the Trail Page:
http://www.unicycling.com/brett/

In Sacramento it can be very rainy in January, but when we ride, it’s usually still in shorts and T-shirts/jerseys. Up in this part of ths state you also have access to the Tahoe/Reno area, with world-class skiing.

5

Re: Muniing in California in January.

“johnfoss” <johnfoss.vpnd1@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:johnfoss.vpnd1@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
> > I would suggest a So-Cal Muni weekend there anytime. *
> Hmmm. I’d love to help you set one up someday, if you’re interested. I
> could do the dirty work while you figure out the rides and schedule. I
> think I’ve only seen you once since you moved to CA, and it’s long
> overdue!

Thanks John, I would enjoy doing that. I will talk with you about this
further via e-mail.
Though I probably should have attended one of your events first to get some
ideas before suggesting this :slight_smile:

I was actually planning to come up last weekend but had to hold off on
committing until the last minute due to some projects at work.
Then when it looked like I might be able to break away, we had a death in
the family and I ended up going to a funeral instead.
Next year for sure…

> David Winston posts here occasionally, but also came to the early
> UNICONs, and came in second in Men’s Artistic at UNICON II. His act
> included juggling clubs on a B.C. Wheel.

Thanks John for the plug - it’s also nice to see that enough other people
have picked up on this unicycle sub-species to warrant its own page in the
Unicycle.com catalog!

Though I admit to having done quite a few things on one, I was not involved
in naming it, nor will I not comment on my preference of names so as not to
start any new arguments :slight_smile:
However I do feel that the creative names used to describe it made it more
intriguing for me to want to learn it.

I want to credit Sem Abrahams for riding the first one (I ever saw), and Tom
Miller for bringing a very sturdy one to USA Nationals in 1985 and letting
people try it out in the gym. Tom had the wide angled metal platforms that
the Bedford and Yuni are only using now, and wooden poles with rubber tips
(which I personally think is the best way to learn on). Using Tom’s I was
able to learn very quickly. Later that summer, I built one out of a BMX
front wheel and moped footpegs and was instantly hooked on this gadget. The
problem was I didn’t have any poles and pushing the tire with your hands
every few feet made it not very fun to ride and limited your mobility.

Where I will take credit is for coming up with the rolling jump mount. This
opened up the ability to go longer distances (and looked much cooler).
Being a former skateboarder, I was brave (dumb) enough to repeatedly try
landing on something which had the potential to shoot out from under me and
kill myself and others in its path :slight_smile: Once I had this down, I dreamed about
adding a lawnmower pull cord to go even longer distances. But I had no idea
how to design this (maybe Harper has some free time?). So instead we used a
tow rope and pulled each other around from the back of another unicycle.

In 1986 I decided to add juggling clubs to the mix just to be a bit further
“out there”. I wasn’t sure too many people understood what the heck I was
doing at the time. But it was fun.
Maybe one of these days I will post a photo of that original wheel and make
a video of me doing the clubs for old times sake.

David Winston

6

BC Wheel (was Muniing in California in January.)

David, Thanks for the bits of unicycling history.

There was just a short-lived thread on a Sprag Wheel: http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=28362

7

Wow, that is great. I have been so busy at work that I just got a chance to view the replies today. I unfortunately don’t have time to even read them now. I am writing to thank all of you for your effort and I promise to read the response soon.

Thanks again, Wayne.

8

Okay, I finally got some time. We are planning to land in LA. We might drive to Las Vegas at the end of our trip and fly out from there. We plan on renting a car so mobility is not an issue. Any other places to ride in or near LA besides Topanga Canyon or on the way to Vegas? We don’t mind driving say an hour or so out of LA on a daily basis to muni (hike for my wife).

Thanks again, Wayne.