<< i’ve been meaning to ask how much training did
u do for this ride? i’m asking because i got the
impression from your write-up that u did this ride
pretty much on ‘residual fitness’ and i wanted to
check if that is actually the case if so, how much
riding do u generally do to be able to pull off
a ride like this? >>
Dave,
I think you are correct. I was able to complete this
Coker ride mostly on residual fitness from training
for the 760 mile Paris-Brest-Paris bike ride – about
300 miles/week. Since the metric ride occurred only
a week after PBP, I did not have time to train
specifically for it. My longest Coker ride prior
to this was 32 miles, about a month before the
Labor Day ride.
Compared to the intensity of my bike rides (brevets,
in randonneuring parlance), the metric Coker was a
cakewalk – neglecting saddle issues(*). Although I’m
sure we use our muscles somewhat differently in each
activity, there was enough in common with bicycling that
I suffered no hip/knee/foot issues. And actually the
spine is in a much better position compared to bicycling
for long distances. I was also helped by the flatness
of the terrain. Hilly terrain with lots of descents
would have required more back-pedal strength, which
hasn’t been part of my workouts to date.
Good question.
-Jeff
(*) Note that I set no speed records for this ride,
so I’m only comparing it to the level of intensity
I bring to my other rides. I’m sure other Cokeurs
could ride this course with the same effort level
I ride on my brevets and complete it in much less
time.
I ran into someone on the W&OD trail today who knows Jeff (rubic), a simple google search for his name and “unicycle” found a unicyclist dot com thread. I was told that he had completed a century and was in the area now (I could have misheard though), I wonder if she was refering to this metric century ride.
I always find it weird when people say they know others in the area who do distance unicycling because I never see anyone else out on the trails or local routes!
I know this is an old thread but I’d like to revive it with the goal of using it as a “Who’s ridden a metric century on a unicycle” thread; in the same vein as “Who has ridden a 100 miles on a unicycle” thread. This is the thread for the dreamers who hope to one day do a 100 miles and are now one step closer to that goal. I’ll start the list off though I know I’m far from the first. Here it goes:
Robert Youngren, 20 September 2008, All You Can Eat Metric Century, Huntsville Alabama. 5 hours 45 minutes.
Robert Youngren, 20 September 2008, All You Can Eat Metric Century, Huntsville Alabama. 5 hours 45 minutes.
Tom Blackwood, 18 March 2008, Quy Nhon to Tuy Hoa, Uninam Tour (plus 3 other times)
Congratulations on the accomplishment. Just this year, I rode my first metric century and mile century on a bicycle, and felt like that was an accomplishment!
Back this spring, I rode my 3-wheel cargo trike in one of the local charity bike rides. This thing, specifically:
I rode the shortest route, which was 16 miles, and took 2 hours to do it, so that’s averaging 8 mph. But what surprised me is that I still passed people! Now, these folks weren’t doing a metric century, but still, it’s hard to go so slow that you don’t pass somebody. That trike also makes a good support vehicle for unicycling, as my son and I tried that around White Rock Lake once.
One way that speed affects you, though, is it cuts down on your rest stops. On my bike, I’ll ride 14 or 15 mph, depending on wind and hills. Typical rest stops are about 10 miles apart, so every 40 minutes, I’m coming to a rest stop, and that’s about right for me. But going 8 mph, all the sudden, that’s an hour and a half between rest stops, which is not good. Of course, for cyclists, the people going slow are the very ones that need them the most.
(Edit: Dang, just saw this was an “old thread” after I hit the enter button- so the congratulations are a few years too late!)
