Nope, but I have ridden several consecutive 8hr+days on a bike, which is much more physically demanding than doing the same on a unicycle.
On a unicycle, I have done several consecutive rides with 8hr+ days. The AUT springs to mind. It doesn’t matter if you ride 100miles in 8hrs or 50miles in 8hrs with lot’s of stops, you’ll still be just as tired for having done 8hrs.
As for support, it depends on the support crew.
It’s definitely doable, and no more difficult than many cycle races done on bikes.
ill do it.
hey ken 20 bucks says i beat you
Hate to have to disagree with you Ken, but I think that you might be uni-centric and thereby unable to recognize right-off that this isn’t so. Lots of people (myself included) have done dozens, some have done hundreds(!), of consecutive 8+ hr. days on bicycles.
Eight hours on a uni taxes me far more than on my bicycle. Bicycle factors include being able to; coast, ride hands free and comfortably get-off saddle for extended periods.
At race pace the dynamics might be different - but I bet not favorable to the uni.
Maybe I need to become more uni-centric!
Dear Ken, while I do worship and idolize your uni abilities and mutantly endurance, I have to take exception to this statement. A bike allows many more ways to rest/use alternate muscle-groups while riding. I always get a better workout and feel more tired from uni’ing than I do from biking, per a given time period.
Hi Connie,
I’ve done two (12mph avg., 95’s - but x-tra 5 each day would have been easy). Was feeling good on day three though and that morning did 10 mi. Race pace is a different animal though . . . I don’t think that I’d be up for it. There might be too much pacing (and less racing) for most of the solos.
The reason I say that is because a unicycle generally only has one gear. As such, it tends to be geared slightly on the low side. You spin fast but with relatively little effort. On a bike, you have multiple gears so tend to push higher gears at lower cadences.
My longest singleday bikeride 320km. That took about 11hrs and was much harder from memory than doing 11-12hrs on a unicycle.
I spend more time riding a bike than I do riding a unicycle, so I don’t think I’m unicentric.
It’s possible to stand up and alternate muscle groups on a bike provided there are plenty of hills.
The hills thing, I did 100 miles on the flat and it was hard from about 60 miles onwards.
I did 98 miles in gently rolling hills last year by mistake, just cos I kept going until I got bored and then camped. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as the 100 miler. I dunno how long it took though, I wasn’t really timing it. I was cool to ride the next day, although only had 50 miles left to go.
Both times I was riding kind of fast for me, the sort of speeds I’d envisage doing in a race. I think riding at race-pace on a bike is harder than riding at race pace on a uni. I’ve done multiple 10 hour days in a row on a bike, but they were touring, chilled out rides, where the ability to coast made a difference. We have bunch roadie rides here, which are ~2.5 hours long, and done at slower pace than the big road bike races are, no way could I do that for 10 hours, I can just about do it for 2 hours.
Personally I’m not convinced by the solo thing though, it seems like a silly idea to cream off some of the fastest riders into their own category, rather than have you guys competing in the race proper.
Joe
o cant wate fore that race ther going right by my house i thinck …
Some voices of wisdom and moderation (not to mention a bit of good old fashioned fear) make me much more hesitant. I won’t rule anything out, but it would be a bit pointless to take anything away from the great potential of an event like this. Maybe after RTL has happened we’ll have a better idea of what direction things like this could take?
I do think the distance would be doable solo, even fun, but to do it a maximum speed and alongside an even faster race style wouldn’t be ideal. I guess this kind of daily distance is more naturally touring than racing for non-professional cyclists. I could still be convinced, but maybe another time.
As for hills, I’ve not had a lot of chance to ride on flat all day, but I am quite happy when there are less hills! Grinding up and down hundreds of meters at a time is never going to be less effort than doing less elevation, in my experience. After 90 miles of riding, I’d feel easier seeing a flatish landscape than a great big hill to go up and down. I do love a bit of gently rolling road though.
Sam
(Glad I’m not a politician - otherwise the tabloids would be screaming “Unicyclist performs U-turn”.)
I am sure that this is one of the factors contributing to your great success. I hope that most young cyclists won’t pledge allegiance to uni to the exclusion of bicycles. The co-benefits are astounding to me. Bicycling can only help for Lobster riders training to excel.
Picked up a copy of Guinness 2007 hardback - for our US edition you’re on pg. 92. Very nice!
[ot]Not to mention the fact that a bicycle is perhaps the most efficient form of transport.[/ot]