Today we had a great turn out for a MUni ride in St. Edwards State Park in Juanita, WA. Eight riders, two of them new ones. Our group of both MUni and Coker riders continues to grow. Today we had Sabin, George Pendergast, Irene Genelin, John Childs, Tom Jackson, Tom and Miles Blackwood, and me. I have photos in a gallery at:
the last one being a group drop off of a loading dock at the seminary. Fortunately for you, I was the one taking photos so I’m only in a couple of them, but the SH MUni with new Kooka cranks and Wellgo B-27 pedals is at
Meeting George and having him ride with us; standard unicyclist…very cool. Watching Miles complete his longest MUni ride ever. Being schooled by Sabin on ALL of the stunts. Watching Tom Blackwood hop up a flight of four stairs, land the top and ride away. Watching JC and Irene do the 340 foot vertical climb on the steep, lake trail without falling off once. Not being hit by any trees that Tom Jackson pushed over.
We have posted descriptions of St. Edwards State Park and Big Finn Hill park in Juanita before. It’s an old seminary school surrounded by wooded park areas along the northeast shore of Lake Washington. Some of the photos are of trail areas close to the roadside. Much of the ride is deep in wooded areas as can be seen in the ladder-bridge and log skinnies area. There are good shots of Sabin doing drops off of a 4.5 foot statue platform in front of the seminary. My favorite sequence is the repeated shots of Tom Jackson watching everybody else go over a logjam. Or maybe the several shots of Miles lying on the ground. We worked that boy today.
That stuff is not built on the state park property.
The structures are built on land that is right next to the state park, but is not actually part of the park.
Awesome. Thanks ThunderHooves for posting a brief ride report. The pictures turned out wonderful.
I just developed some of the photos I took today and there are some potential winners… stay tuned.
I forgot to mention my after ride shower. Sometimes if my unicycle is dirty enough I will take it into the shower with me to clean it off. I live in residence halls at the UW, so it is not like I am dirtying up a small beautiful bathroom. I wore the pants I was wearing today as well. Usually when I shower with my Uni, no one else is around. Well, today there were three girls. Two before I began and one right after. As I was wheeling it back to my room, I thought I could escape the bathroom without her mentioning anything, but then she looked at me with the most confused look and I explained the awesome and muddy ride I did today.
What a hoot. The people here must think I am a little strange… but hey, my unicycle is so clean I could eat off of it right now.
That got my attention. Sabin was riding the profile frame with the jagur built wheel on a Suzue hub.I was wondering how that hub would take a drop that big until I realized the seat bumper was the wrong color and Sabin was doing the drop on Jackson’s KH Pro.
Was your camera not working when Jackson did that drop too? I figure after Sabin made it look easy Tom would be the next to try.
Wish I was there. Abby, John, and I schooled everybody at the Shoreline Sk8 Park yesterday.
thanks for the great ride, it was wonderful meetin’ you all! hopefully i won’t be sore for too long. i love how the photo of me on the beach jumpin’ onto the little rock makes me look like i actually made it. instead o’ the reality o’ just bouncin’ off the side…
the photos o’ sabin’s big drop turned out excellent!
i think miles finished way less haggard than i. talk about an inspiration…
-g3o
When Tom did the drop he was trying to work a 360 spin into it. I could never get the timing quite right to catch him in the air. I always seemed to catch him leaning on a tree.
For those who don’t know, Tom Jackson actually DID push over a tree on our last MUni ride. We had come to a point in the trail where there was a rolling drop over a log to try. Everyone lined up leaning on small alders on the side of the trail for the convenient head count. Tom rode up last, I think. I turned away after seeing everyone was there. I heard a crack and turned around. Tom’s tree had split and was falling down as I turned around again. Tom was scrambling to regain his balance. What a powerhouse rider. How many people can say that they’ve knocked down a tree on a ride?
I think I need to transfer colleges. Actually, I’d be happy enough finding a few females around here that like to ride. I haven’t reached level 10, but I’ll beat you to level 11.
I think I need to transfer colleges. Actually, I’d be happy enough finding a few females around here that like to ride. I haven’t reached level 10, but I’ll beat you to level 11.
Thank you Harper, Irene, John, Tom and everybody else who was on that ride for letting me join you guys.
Harper- Thoes were some pretty nice pictures you took. I like that one of John making the weird face.
Irene and John- That 1 1/2 mile up hill was insane you both have a lot of endurance and stamina. I walked the whole hill.
I hope I can come with you guys on another tiresome but fun ride.
Irene schooled me on my hill. That was my hill. I owned it. Irene just took it away from me. She beat me up the hill. I could not keep up. I couldn’t even see her at the end. I think she has been busy training for the past six months just to beat me up that hill. I’ve been “chicked” (official MTB slang for when a girl rides a section better than a guy).
Wow great pictures of a fun weekend ride! I am very interested in Muni. I just joined the list serv today. Great post. I teach a little unicycle club K-6 down here in Kelso, WA. We have about 16 riders. Where did you purchase your Muni unis?
I purchased mine through Darren Bedford. You can view a price list at http://www.bedfordunicycles.ca/. Another location to look for Mountain Unicycles is at ww.Unicycle.com.
If you come to one of the Seattle Area Unicycle Rides we can chat with you there and give our sage advice on what type of Uni you might like to have, depending upon what it is you are trying to do with you unicycle.
The red one with red cranks was made by Steve Howard. Steve is a contributor here in the forum. It’s just a prototype and not a commercially available muni.
Irene has a Bedford muni from Darren Bedford in Toronto Canada. http://www.bedfordunicycles.ca/ The price list there is not up to date. Email Darren to find out what he’s got.
Whoa, it looks like John C and I were right on responding to John at the same time.
I wanted to post one other memory from our ride last weekend. A few of us went out to eat at Pizza Works after the ride, and as we were waiting for our pizza to come we played a trivia game. Miles was reading the questions for the most part and Greg and Tom B were answering them like experts. Then I asked, “Which US President had his funeral procession from Washington DC to Springfield, Illinois?” And Miles (Tom B’s 11 year old(?) son) pipes up Thomas Jefferson! I was floored. I asked him how he could have possibly known that and he simply replied, “I must have picked it up somewhere.” What a smart kid.
