Anyone ever go out and uni at the beach, out near the waves where the ground is slick and somehow both wet and hard at the same time? I go down to the Outer Banks every year and last year tried this. If you ever want to and ever have the chance, try going in towards the waves and see how long you can stay up (but if you make it too far, you might as well surrender and start over again). It’s a real balancing challenge. This year maybe I’ll get a picture or two and try and get it on the site.
There is a nice photo of Frank Bonsch riding through a lake or river for training on his homepage at the bottom. This one is the English version.
And that is what those savage unicycles are for.
-David Kaplan
RE: On the surf
> ever want to and ever have the chance, try going in towards the waves
> and see how long you can stay up (but if you make it too far,
> you might
> as well surrender and start over again). It’s a real balancing
> challenge.
The difficulty level is a factor of your tire size (fatter tires make a big
difference), and sand density. I guess rider weight is a factor as well. I
think a tire like the 3" Gazzaloddi would take most of the challenge away,
except on the dry or underwater sand.
In early 1985 a group of us experimented with this at Jones Beach on Long
Island. We found the wet sand to be just barely doable, and the dry, fluffy
sand nearly impossible. Long Island beaches are known for their fine white
sand, which probably packs better in the wet part of the beach.
We were riding 1.75" tires on 20" and 24". Except one guy. He had a 24 x
2.125" tire on his Schwinn, and the sand was clearly easier for him. He was
Ken Fuchs, and a picture of him doing this was the cover image on the first
issue of the IUF’s Unicycling Magazine a few months later.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
“If people want to truly understand mountain biking, they have to do two
other things: ride a unicycle, and master the trampoline.” – Joe Breeze,
one of the originators of mountain biking, in a conversation with Tim Bustos