Sub 1-hour 25k TT on the unibike, and a 40k TT as an afterthought.

General
1

New recipe for speed – Add a little dead weight (safety wheel); remove a little risk; and pedal like hell.

I don’t know what category this would be placed in. I’m still in the odd-ball category. Dan, does the unlimited category include one wheel rides with a spare in the air?

Anyway, after a little speed work on the Tammany Trace (the train track turned bke path with many stop signs), I went down to New Orleans to test my 25k time at Audubon Park where there’s a loop with a dedicated bke/roller blade lane. Many obstacles to negotiate, but it’s a loop, about 1.5 miles, I think. After reaching the 1-hour point and slowing to a cool down pace for a couple of miles (still on one wheel of course) I found myself near the 30k point with a little bit of a second wind, so I continued on to the 40k mark to see what the time would look like. My posterior didn’t appreciate the idea. And it wasn’t a very decent time due to the long cool down, but it’s a start. The next time I try for 40, I’ll go out slower and concentrate on the longer distance from the start. After I install the Azonics seat and see how it works.

Stats:

10k----------------22:38 (avg 26.51kph)
15mile/24.12k------56:09 (avg 25.77kph)
25k----------------58:12 (avg 25.77kph)
1-hour distance----25.75k (avg – I’m not gonna type it twice)
40k----------------1:41:30 (avg 23.64kph)
heart rate----------avg 180bpm (this is excellent exercise)
cadence estimate—90-100 (counted periodically when I got bored)
butt pain-----------much

With all of the traffic (b*kes; roller bladers; and sometimes cars, pedestrians, children and dogs that wander into the lane accidentally) I won’t be trying to repeat this without the front wheel at Audubon Park. The first time out (last week), at about 45 minutes into the ride (while running 27kph) someone decided to run the only stop sign in the park, just as I reached the intersection. That was the third time I thanked myself for installing the forks and front wheel. After slamming the front end down, jamming on the brakes, and swerving toward the rear of the vehicle, I missed the apparently blind young lady by about an inch. Without the front wheel, I would have been in serious trouble. And the same thing happened two days later in Mandeville.

Am I invisible on this thing? :thinking:

This high-speed one-wheeling may not be a good idea. It requires too much restraint when one nearly gets killed by another’s carelessness.

And some would say I’m the reckless one. Well, maybe more than some.

2

Impressive as always, Jeff. How does it feel to ride something that makes even unicyclists look at you like you are crazy? I can only imagine the comments you get. Or maybe you don’t get many comments, I’m not sure I would know what to say if I saw you (and wasn’t aware of what a well balanced individual you are). :slight_smile:
Do you do any shifting on these rides, or start in the gear you want and leave it there? I am aware of the difficulty of shifting while on one wheel, but I do remember you saying you do shift it sometimes. Maybe with the “spare” on you shift more?

I think you need to find a safe place to ride, put on lots of armor, take off the spare, and go for it! :astonished:
Report back, but not with a photo like Rhysling’s.

Scott

3

Re: Sub 1-hour 25k TT on the unibike, and a 40k TT as an afterthought.

This is fabulous! At some point, you’ll be getting to a speed where
wind resistance is an issue, so you’ll need som TT wheels & one
of the silly helmets like Lance Armstrong wore

Could you afford a recording HRM/cadence/speed monitor like the Polar
720i or equivalent? It would be cool if you could post the graphs on
your web page somewhere. Perhaps you could even borrow one, or
get Polar to “support” you on your quest for a world record.

If you go to Polar’s web site, you can see some of the graphs from
the Tour de France.

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:24:09 -0500, unibiker
<unibiker.u4hth@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>New recipe for speed – Add a little dead weight (safety wheel); remove a
>little risk; and pedal like hell.
>
>I don’t know what category this would be placed in. I’m still in the
>odd-ball category. Dan, does the unlimited category include one wheel
>rides with a spare in the air?
>
>Anyway, after a little speed work on the Tammany Trace (the train track
>turned bke path with many stop signs), I went down to New Orleans to
>test my 25k time at Audubon Park where there’s a loop with a dedicated
>bke/roller blade lane. Many obstacles to negotiate, but it’s a loop,
>about 1.5 miles, I think. After reaching the 1-hour point and slowing to
>a cool down pace for a couple of miles (still on one wheel of course) I
>found myself near the 30k point with a little bit of a second wind, so I
>continued on to the 40k mark to see what the time would look like. My
>posterior didn’t appreciate the idea. And it wasn’t a very decent time
>due to the long cool down, but it’s a start. The next time I try for 40,
>I’ll go out slower and concentrate on the longer distance from the
>start. After I install the Azonics seat and see how it works.
>
>Stats:
>
>10k----------------22:38 (avg 26.51kph)
>15mile/24.12k------56:09 (avg 25.77kph)
>25k----------------58:12 (avg 25.77kph)
>1-hour distance----25.75k (avg – I’m not gonna type it twice)
>40k----------------1:41:30 (avg 23.64kph)
>heart rate----------avg 180bpm (this is excellent exercise)
>cadence estimate—90-100 (counted periodically when I got bored)
>butt pain-----------much
>
>With all of the traffic (b*kes; roller bladers; and sometimes cars,
>pedestrians, children and dogs that wander into the lane accidentally) I
>won’t be trying to repeat this without the front wheel at Audubon Park.
>The first time out (last week), at about 45 minutes into the ride (while
>running 27kph) someone decided to run the only stop sign in the park,
>just as I reached the intersection. That was the third time I thanked
>myself for installing the forks and front wheel. After slamming the
>front end down, jamming on the brakes, and swerving toward the rear of
>the vehicle, I missed the apparently blind young lady by about an inch.
>Without the front wheel, I would have been in serious trouble. And the
>same thing happened two days later in Mandeville.
>
>Am I invisible on this thing? :thinking:
>
>This high-speed one-wheeling may not be a good idea. It requires too
>much restraint when one nearly gets killed by another’s carelessness.
>
>And some would say I’m the reckless one. Well, maybe more than some.
>
>–
>unibiker - What is that thing anyway?
>
>Jeff Baker
>unibiker@unicyclist.com
>______________________________
>
>Favorite comment (from a child) ‘You can’t do that. That’s impossible.’
>‘Unibike Pics Here’ (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albun01)
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>unibiker’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/473
>View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/27862

4

Scott,

Surely, unicyclists don’t think I’m crazy. But maybe we’re all a little ‘off balance’, at least when we’re doin’ what we like best.

Actually, I do a lot of shifting on this thing. Shifting the front derailleur is not very dependable. Upshifting is very clanky, and when it binds, it causes an instant drop. Downshifting the front is no problem. However, I’m constantly dancing around on the rear cassette, front wheel or no. It has to be done carefully, but so does everything else while riding this contraption. I always start out at a very low speed or from a dead stop, and shift up to a comfortable gear for the situation.

For speed riding, I step through the gears and settle into the gear that provides the most efficient power at near maximum effort (at the most efficient cadence). This optimal gearing continually changes (up or down) as my legs get warmed up or worn out. I just have to leave a little reserve power to keep from falling forward (a lot of reserve power if I’m riding without the front wheel). The more power reserved, the less intense the workout, and the less improvement, I think. This reserve power is obviously not necessary while on two wheels, so I have no hopes of approaching the speeds of bicycle racers.

Hbaker1,

The wind resistance is already an issue (sometimes good; sometimes bad), but an aerodynamic helmet won’t help while I’m sitting straight up. In a 10mph headwind it’s difficult to reach 15mph, but on the return ride I get to exceed 25 for the same effort (less work; more adrenaline!). And while running a loop, I always have a noticeable change in the balance envelope as the wind changes from a headwind, to a sidewind, to a tailwind, etc. In a headwind, it’s very easy to drop forward since I have to ride quite a bit forward of the balance point to keep the speed up. The side winds try to take me out when the front end tries to turn with the wind and my body doesn’t. Of course everybody likes a tail wind, but a tail wind from an angle is the worst steering scenario (it seems to have more leverage on the front end, and I’m less able to compensate). Fortunately, this isn’t a problem if I’m riding faster than the wind speed.

As for the Polar monitor, I’ll take a look at it, but I’m leaning toward the panoramic model that displays everything on one screen. My wrist mount (and chest strap) heart monitor works fine and I only glance at it periodically. However, I do have to slow down quite a bit to controllably (emphasis on control) mess with the speedo mode button with one hand and monitor the brake with the other. With the cateye, I can only read the speed (kph or mph, but not both) and one other value (distance, time, avg speed, or max speed). I’d like to see them all at once. I currently strap a watch to the handlebar during the TT rides so I can see the time, speed, and distance all together. But I still have to slow down periodically and rotate my sweat band to keep the flood of perspiration off of my glasses. An automatic forehead drier would be nice.

5

Great time, Jeff. Did you ever post a photo with the front wheel? I thought I saw one and it was a tiny little thing.

6

Re: Sub 1-hour 25k TT on the unibike, and a 40k TT as an afterthought.

unibiker <unibiker.u4hth@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>Stats:

>10k----------------22:38 (avg 26.51kph)
>15mile/24.12k------56:09 (avg 25.77kph)
>25k----------------58:12 (avg 25.77kph)
>1-hour distance----25.75k (avg – I’m not gonna type it twice)
>40k----------------1:41:30 (avg 23.64kph)
>heart rate----------avg 180bpm (this is excellent exercise)
>cadence estimate—90-100 (counted periodically when I got bored)
>butt pain-----------much

Congratulations! Very impressive!

Sincerely,

Ken Fuchs <kfuchs@winternet.com>

7

No, I for one think you are an athlete and innovator, and the information you are gathering could help lead us to some advanced unicycle designs someday. Keep it up (pun intended).

Scott

8

WOW

How long did it take you to learn to ride Uni-Bike?

It is really cool,

Joe,

9

I don’t have any with the mini wheel. Someone else may have posted one. It’s a 16-inch wheel. Catches less wind.
[B]

Ditto on those Coker times.

Advanced danger?

Years. Many years.

10

Re: Sub 1-hour 25k TT on the unibike, and a 40k TT as an afterthought.

WOW! Of course it counts. 56:09 stands as a record. Amazing that you maintained a good speed for 40K.

Both you and Ken are in great shape. One has to be at a high level of fitness to be able to do it.

Congrats. I will add it to my record sheet. Again, I will be back next year with vengeance.

Dan