It’s that time of year again, the adverts are on tv for pedal for Scotland. It’s a route of around 65miles from Glasgow in the west to Edinburgh in the east, all for Scottish charities.
I was wondering if anyone has ridden this event on a unicycle? I certainly wouldn’t be able this year, around a mile is my best ride without upd, and 2.5 miles my longest total ride. However, I would like to think I could do it next year. To help motivate me, would anyone else come along?
As I say, this is just an idea for the future for now, and I’m just seeing if there’s any interest in the idea.
Yeah, I reckon I’ll be financially stable enough to make it next year with you 
I reckon I’d have to look at 36" for that distance too. Still, 13 months should be plenty time to improve my riding & get myself a big wheel!
I rode the 47 mile ‘Challenge’ route in 2014 and it took me 7h20m. I know the guy who rode it the year before and it took him 10 hours, or there abouts. He did it on an ungeared 29". I did it on my 26" Geared KH Muni. To my knowledge we’re the only two to have ever done it.
It was a good challenge, even if it did involve me being overtaken for the whole time by thousands of cyclists, but it was very satisfying over taking some of them on the short sections of uphill on the course! The cyclists gave me a lot of kind comments and respect - it was tiring coming up with new witty replies after 6 hours of riding though!
In training for it, I built up longer and longer rides during July and August, regularly doing 30 miles or so. As part of my preparations, I also did the 24 hour challenge ride, organised by JUST at the end of July, and managed to ride 100 miles in 23h50m, over two blocks of 50 miles (with sleep in between)!
The biggest lesson learnt was figuring out how much and how often to eat to be able to keep going for such a long time. There are only a few official food stations on the Pedal for Scotland route, so another challenge was to be able to ride it ‘unsupported’ so I didn’t have to rely on their food and water at all.
If you want to know more, then please just ask!
Hi ScotMuni, sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. Out of interest, where in Edinburgh are you based? I work for the royal botanic gardens Edinburgh, but at the Benmore ‘outstation’ so I’m through occasionally. Are you in the city?
On a side note, where I live I think will be perfect for muni as I improve, so give me a shout if you’re ever on the west coast. Around here we have lots of gravel surfaced forest paths, good for riding in all but the very worst weather. The mtb scene is big and there are no issues with shared-use trails.
Do you know of many other uni/muni riders in Scotland? There seems to be very little online, and the facebook group I found seems to have been inactive for about 2 years!
I am based in the Merchiston/Polwarth part of Edinburgh.
There are lots of Muni routes along the Water of Leith and up into the Pentland Hills around Currie and Balerno. Beyond that, there are the 7stanes MTB centres at Glentress, Peebles, and throughout the Borders that are great. You can start off on the Blue Trails and aim to be able to do the downhill sections of the Red Trails. See more at http://www.7stanesmountainbiking.com/
There are several Unicyclists in the Highlands, up near Inverness. One of them, Alan Hogan, ran a Unicycle Tour of the Isle of Skye in June. See more here.
I know of one Glasgow based 29" unicycle rider who rode Pedal for Scotland the year before I did - I can pass him your details if you private mail me, as he’s likely to be closer to you.
Did you?
Hello there, I am picking up this thread several years later as I am looking for riders in Scotland.
I am new to this all, having started less than a year ago with a break over the winter but now looking for a challenge to push myself on.
So, the question is: did you ride it? How was it?
I am tempted to try this year. Did a wobbly 10k a few weeks ago on a 24 and once I get the hang of my 29er…
Anybody training for the ride in 2019?
Cheers
I am in Scotland, in the North East, between Aberdeen and Inverness, so a reasonable distance from you in Glasgow.
Riding something like this for me at the moment would be aspirational to say the least, from both the perspective of staying on the uni for 65 miles (!) and general fitness. It is basically dark by the time I get home from work for six months of the year and time to practice is basically non-existent during that time. However I would really like to do something like this at some point.
You’ll have seen in your searching that there are (have been) a few Scottish folk on here over the years but it seems pretty quiet just now. Personally, I have never even seen anyone else ride a unicycle in real life, YouTube and Vimeo is as close as it gets.
I’d imagine there may be more Scottish unicyclists on Facebook but I hope never to have to have the need for an account on there so I don’t know – it might be worth a look though if you use it.
Hello DrD,
Yes, the G to E ride would be very ambitious for me, too. But that’s sometimes what I need to get off my backside.
I am not keen on the social media, so this forum is my only way to find out about other riders; although Scotland seems to be a barren land in this respect. 
Will update on whether I made it or not.
Cheers
So, I read just now that 2019 is the last year of Pedal for Scotland G to E.
It is 45 miles, mainly flat, and I guess this will be make or brake for me if I ever want to ride this on a unicycle, and there are no other rides ‘locally’ that I know of where you get 8.5 hrs of closed road for 45 miles.
I’d better get (used to) a larger uni double quick …
I didn’t realise that it was a closed road event, I had a look at their website earlier, it is a pity that it is the last of these when it has been going for 20 years. They do say that they are going to do more, shorter, rides around the whole of Scotland now though.
It’s a shame the 32" wheel didn’t fit your Hatchet frame, I guess this is what you had that in mind for. This is probably a good enough reason for you to invoke that (n+1) clause for *cycle ownership you mentioned – last chance and all that – and also read the “How do you train/prepare for a long ride” thread a few times .
You could always get the 32" wheel and a frame and swap the cranks, pedals, brake, saddle, seatpost/handle from your hatchet – an Oracle 32" frame would add £85 on top of what you would have been for the wheel and tyre.
[QUOTE=DrD;1706033 It’s a shame the 32" wheel didn’t fit your Hatchet frame, I guess this is what you had that in mind for. This is probably a good enough reason for you to invoke that (n+1) clause for *cycle ownership you mentioned – last chance and all that [/QUOTE]
Exactly.
And I applied n+1. Big style. Literally.
A Qu-ax Marathon 36 is due to arrive tomorrow, and I will either learn to ride (or should that be: mount) that thing soon or ride with the Hatchet and a highly pressurized Jumbo Jim. 
You tempted to join in? 
Excellent – to paraphrase somewhat, “Go big, or stay home” .
I’m sure you’ll be able to mount it fine, I was surprised that I freemounted my 32" on the second attempt when I had not long learned to freemount my 24". (I am just 5’7" so a 32"er is probably big enough for me!)
Am I tempted? Well yes and no – ‘yes’ because I’d really like to be able to do it, and ‘no’ because I know that I wouldn’t be able to given my current ability and fitness.
Anyway, enjoy it when it comes tomorrow.
That was a little scary at first…
But I can now ‘freemount’ (with the help of a moderate curb) and, once up, the beast just keeps rolling; it is so smooth and steady.
So, this is where I need to start getting the miles done, and worry about finesse later.
But I really do need to work on that rear dismount. 
Good stuff, you’ll be sorted now 
I’ve never tried stepping off the back of my 29"er and 32"er, I have a bit of a mental block with dismounting from the rear; with the smaller wheels it sometimes feels completely natural, then it seems like I just lose it and can only step off the front. Early on I came off the back when I stopped and ripped the back of my leg up a fair bit with the pedal pins so I think I just need to get past that (and practice more). Given the potential for mishap, you’d think I’d be more willing to step off the back than off the front over a handlebar with sticking up bar ends!
I’m sure you’ll make good progress, good luck!