Should I buy a 36” asap in order to train for a century?

[Buson_Bill]

Hello all! I’m from upstate New York.

I’ve been riding my 24” uni for about 11 days and I’ve got pretty comfortable on it so far. I practice everyday for at least 2 hours on a tennis court. I just completed a full lap of about 5 tennis courts wide (250 meters). I can’t really dismount safely or super comfortably yet.

With that being said, there is an imperial century (160 km) ride 3 months from now in September that I want to do and I feel like I should prepare for it by doing more distance on a 36”.

Is it even realistic for me to learn long distance on a 36” by then? I do have many hours free to practice everyday this summer.

Thank you, Bill

[Setonix]

It’s clear you shouldn’t ride 160km on a 24". That will take a week. You should have started riding your 36" yesterday. But if you’re to order it now, it may still take a week before you have it.
It is quite a step up, but since it only took you 11 days to ride, why not give it a try. By 3 months you will know if 160km is plausible. I think it is very soon. Just mounting a 36" is very different from a 24". Do you free-mount or hold on to a pole or wall? If you can’t free-mount, then 160km is a long sit.

[Buson_Bill]

I cannot free mount yet.

[Setonix]

when is the next Imperial Century, like after those 3 months? It took me 4 years before I felt I was ready to participate in the Dutch Uni Championships with the only aim not to be last. Then again Im just slow with it all.
You can also just sign up and even if you don’t make the 160km, you will have enjoyed some kms of it and you will have much more experience for beating it next time.
It is always great to see new riders among us. It took me 3 weeks of practicing every evening before I could ride a few rounds on a parking lot. I learned when I was 39 though.

[Maximus]

I love this idea, and want to encourage you as much as possible! That said, the timing is tight. Unicycling is harder than bicycling, so while there are completely viable 8 week century training plans for biking, that progression might be too fast for the uni. 12 weeks could be enough, but you’d have to start yesterday, and master the skills to boot! Things that work in your favor will be age, time, and especially, current fitness level.

What’s the longest bike ride you think you could do right now?

EDIT: if you try and you don’t succeed, you’ll still have an awesome 36” unicycle! The way I see it, there’s only upsides

[Buson_Bill]

I’m a pretty experienced road bike rider, I’ve done 100 miles for 5 days in a row and used to train 200 miles a week.

[SirCranky]

I would just use 75 mm cranks to save some money. As 100 km was possible on a 19", 160 km is probably possible on a 24". You would need quite a lot of practice to keep a decent rpm though.

Even if you go for 36" (which is probably the better choice) I’d recommend practicing with shorter cranks early on. 125 mm is the longest you’d want to use for a 160 km ride

[Maximus]

Damn dude! You’re an athlete. I take back what I said about timing being tight. I think you got this. Going from nothing to 250m in 11 days is faster than most, and you’ve got the fitness for it. You just gotta train your skills and those unicycle-specific muscles. Compared to biking, there’s more quad engagement, and you’ll also be training all sorts of tiny muscles around your knees and hips that don’t get much use otherwise.

In terms of switching to the 36er, I think you’ll want to get your free mounting skills up to nearly 100% success rate on the 24’’ before trying the big wheel. Mounting that thing is harder than riding it. I think it took me about 2 weeks to refine my free mounting skills on a small unicycle. You might beat me there, but given this approximate timing, I don’t think you need to rush and order a 36’’ today. Take a few days to research and pick the right one for you. There are a lot of considerations like crank lengths, seat options, brake size, and minimum inseam length. If you want any recommendations, folks here are happy to help!

[Maxence]

Hi Bill! Nice challenge that you have.

However, it seems to me that this is almost impossible to be comfy on a 36er in such a small period if you can’t freemount a 24er or ride more than 250m. Unicycling is fairly different than bicycling. It is much more strenuous, as you have to keep your balance at all time. You can’t simply let the uni freewheel as you would do on a bike to rest.

Besides, butt and crotch pain is a real thing. Even though you are used to bike saddles, uni saddles are really different and I bet you couldn’t stay long (more than a few hours) without them being too painful to continue riding.

FYI, there are not a lot of riders who have ever ridden 160 km in one go. I would say that less than 50 riders have ever done so, including all riders all over the world. There are reasons for such a small number
I have personally never done so, although it seems I’m part of the best geared 36er riders.

Anyway, if you’re still motivated, go for it and good luck! I hope you’ll achieve your goal

[MrHydra]

I saw in your “My Unicycles” list it’s a “24” cheap unicycle with a yida tire". I’m going to take a guess that it’s one of those no-name unicycles that flood the listings of Amazon, eBay, Temu, etc.

As a proud owner of my very own, *ahem*,

Ringmaster 16 Inch Wheel Unicycle...

…Adjustable Height Unicycle Bike, Training Balance One Wheel Bike Cycling Unicycles for Adults Kids, Daily Fitness Exercise, Cycling, Balance Training (Yellow)

It’s not exactly something I would trust with a century ride. Poor welds, flimsy frame, who-knows-what grade of metal, questionable wheel quality, etc. Like how bikes from big box stores are more often described as “bike shaped objects”, the no-name unicycles from big online retailers are more like “unicycle shaped objects”. Except those unicycles are possibly worse than BSOs… However, it might survive a century if you give it a once-over and throw some parts at it:

• Swap the Yida tire for… Literally anything else would be better probably if it’s like the one on the 16" I have. Ideally opt for something with less knobs, a rounder profile, and a sturdier compound. While you’re changing the tire, take a peek at the rim tape. Be absolutely sure that it’s on correctly! It’s probably a single-wall rim so you don’t want the spoke heads to puncture your tube in the middle of your ride. Get better rim tape if you can.
• Is your seat post the correct height? You don’t want to go for a really long ride with your saddle too low. If you can’t raise your saddle high enough because the post is too short, measure it with some vernier calipers if you have them. Unicycle.com should have some longer posts you can get.
• If you do need to get a longer seat post, double check the bolt pattern for the saddle on the unicycle. Does the bolt pattern look like the left or right post?
  
  
  
  If the saddle mount looks like the one on the right, then you may need a new saddle as well (which bolts into the pattern on the left). I don’t have any specific recommendations for which saddle to get, but I’ll add it might be beneficial to buy a long saddle handle that could provide some upper-body support.
• Shorter cranks are highly recommended. Cotterless cranks are pretty cheap so I’d say buy a couple sets and get a feel for them. Note that running shorter cranks will push your ideal saddle height upwards, so if you run into any issues with saddle height, read above.
• And, of course, bring spares and tools. Make sure everything is properly fastened on the unicycle too. Don’t over-tighten the bearing caps.

Now being that there’s a pretty tight time crunch between now and that ride you have planned, riding a 36er might not work out. I do highly recommend having a 36er, though in my experience it will absolutely take some time to get used to. You’ll see it described as a bit of a “beast” in reviews, and it’s not an exaggeration. Even after learning on a 26" wheel it felt like a big jump in size Even if you got it today, once the event rolls around you might only just be comfortable on the 36er. That is assuming you’ve learned how to get on it relatively unassisted.

That’s another thing… I absolutely recommend you learn how to freemount. Even if you can only successfully mount a unicycle some of the time, it will be so much better than having to walk and find something to hold on to in order to mount. On your 24" wheel you’ll more than likely be able to freemount just fine if you practice it a little during your sessions. Freemounting a 36er on the other hand is an art itself, especially with shorter cranks. Something you’ll be proficient at in 3 months time? Maybe, but not a guarantee.

I think a good “middle ground” option is to get a 26" or a 29" with short cranks. It’ll be easier to learn how to mount and ride given the time constraints, and you won’t be spending as much money. Now I’ll still root for having a 36er because IMO it’s an awesome uni to master, but that’s something that can probably wait until after the event. Of course if you wish to challenge yourself to learn to ride a 36er in a few months for the event, I’d say go for it. Just be prepared to put in a lot of saddle time getting used to it.

[Buson_Bill]

Okay thank you, I’ll keep the 125mm in mind.

[Buson_Bill]

Okay! I’ll work on the free mounting tomorrow. I made 4.5 laps around a 200 meter area so it was over 800 meters without stopping.

[Buson_Bill]

Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Any weight training exercises you recommend specifically for unicycling?

[Buson_Bill]

Okay! Thank you for the detailed reply! Everybody has been giving very prompt and thorough advice. I hiked my saddle height up all the way on my 24”, even to the height of the 36” wheel (I know it’s not the same). But I’ll still think about doing a 29”.

[Maxence]

Your knees may suffer from the way you’ll pedal on a unicycle. Because of the smallness of the cranks, this might put increased stress on the knees compared to bike cranks. So, you may want to strengthen them. Squats and pistol squats are probably the easiest exercises to do, but any lower members stability exercise is great. Besides that, I don’t know about good exercises. I mean, you could always apply standard bike exercises like interval training and so on but those are not specific to unicycling

[Maximus]

Go for the big lifts - squats and deadlifts, then follow those with weighted lunges and weighted step ups at a lower RPE. Someone told me wall sits are good for the knees, but I think you have to be a masochist to put up with those. I also concur with @Maxence on pistol squats. That combination of balance and strength sounds like perfect training for unicycling. I wish I could do those

[Buson_Bill]

Okay, so just the common squats, abductors, Romanians, calves, etc. I love wall sits! My trainer from school says those are good for your knees too. I can’t quite do a pistol squat either! Those are insane

[Bug72]

Wow, very ambitious. If physical fitness was the only factor you would have it made. Unfortunately you have to learn everything about riding a unicycle in a very short time that most of us did by progressing up the ladder to larger wheel sizes over time. it’s one thing to learn the basics but then you need to become comfortable in your riding so that you are not constantly fighting to keep your balance. With out that comfort level riding is very exhausting especially over long distances. One more factor is braking, I’m guessing this ride will cover changes in elevations so you will either need to brake with your legs on descents or use a brake. Braking with your legs is tiring and sometimes impossible to maintain for a long time and using a brake on a unicycle is an acquired skill that takes some practice.

I don’t doubt you will be completing century rides in the future I’m just not sure it will be possible for the ride you are planning on. Best of luck and prove me wrong I would love to see you make it .

[Syoten]

I started riding a 36er about three months after I had learned on a 20er. After 3.5 years, 160km is still too much for me, probably because I rarely ride longer than 20km distances. My longest one-day ride is only 60km, which burned me out.

[Syoten]

Don’t develop quadriceps tendonitis, which I experienced during my first year of unicycling. I believe it was caused by my eagerness to ride longer distances.