Today was the first time in a year and a month that I rode a two wheeler. After all that time one wheeling it was a bit of a shock to ride on two wheels again. It took a few minutes to get the hang of turning and longer than that to get the timing of riding in traffic down pat again. Really it did feel rather odd.
After a couple of hours of riding, though I enjoyed the freewheeling, I did get a little tired of being hunched over and I could feel the pressure on my wrists and hands more than I expected…
I know what you mean. Since I have started uniing, I have only rode my bike a few times. Almost every time was for some sort of organized long ride (ex. 100 mi or 100 K). I found that in spite of the fact that I never trained on a bike for the rides, I was in pretty good condition. I must say that doing the long rides on bike and training for them on the uni has worked very well for me. It has reduced my back and neck pain associated with being hunched over handlebars. I also find Uniing much more fun the biking so I find myself “training” more often.
My goal is to start doing the long rides on uni, but I don’t have a Coker yet.
Re: Two wheeling for the first time in over a year!!
I know what you mean. While I was training for the Norway trip, I didn’t
ride a bike - that was March 15 through July 1. This month I’ve been
comuting on bike and it’s quite different. But I stuck the Hunter36 together
today and went for a 1 hour ride - it was great. As I’ve always said, both
bikes and unicycles are great.
Yes, the unicycles have unseated the love of my life – bicycling. I had ridden between 10K and 13 K miles a year for about 27 years (missing only one year when I was living in South America). However, about a year and a half ago I went to a bike club, holiday party and somebody pulled out a unicycle and challenged all to give it a try. I was horrible at it, as you can imagine, but I decided that it might be a good way to avoid the wet and dark of winter – for a month or two – and still get a reasonable workout. That was the beginning of the end of my bicycling.
So I now, still, ride for at least two hours a day but I no longer count miles – just smiles. I ride two wheels, now and then, only to play with my wife on our tandem. I don’t miss the often intense challenges of being on the road. I love the fact that I can play as hard as I want and still be within a block or two of my home the entire time. I love the fact that I can play as hard as I want with others of different physical ability (and riding) levels and still be together and not be resentful at they are taking me away from my precious time of high heart rate workout. I love unicycling over bicycling, too, because the folks that I have an opportunity to associate with are awesome.
I’ve been riding my bike for past couple of weeks and really enjoying it, they’re amazing forms of transport that can get you through town faster than a car during busy times.
I also like the anonimity of them i.e. you can ride down the road and no one is going to pay any attention whatsoever, unlike on a one wheeler where you become a minor freak show.
I’m going out on the Muni this afternoon and it’ll be interesting to see how it feels after a 2 week lay off.
Erin, I can relate to your strange ‘new’ experience. I’ve been invited to go mountain biking with good friends after work today. Last night I when to check on my bike since I couldn’t remember when the last time I rode it was. I flip it over to pull off the mud tires and notice it wouldn’t stay up with only one handle bar extension. After scratching my head wondering what could have happened to the other extension I realized it was on my 29er holding the brake handle. My poor white legs won’t know what hit them as I go out in the sun with out leg armor. Last time I rode (there was snow on the ground) on two wheels I ran into a tree at high speed because I was trying to turn with my hips. I muni alone everyday, riding with a pack is going to fun, I just wish this pack had half the amount of wheels.
Bikes are so hard to turn on and those darned handlebars take up your hands. You have two wheels to control, which makes it hard. I definitely prefer uni’s.
Re: Two wheeling for the first time in over a year!!
I can’t imagine it taking more than a few minutes for me to re-acquaint myself to bicycling. I have never been away from it for too long, but if people can get on unicycles after 20 years, I think I’ll be okay with a bike.
I learned to ride a bike without training wheels when I was five. I still remember the experience. Between then and 12th grade, my bike was always near. Even after getting hopelessly sucked into unicycling, the bike was still in the background; the vehicle to take you on longer or faster rides.
In the past year or so, I have only used my bike for commuting to work sometimes. It’s always going to be faster than the unicycle. If I ride the unicycle more, and faster, I’ll be in better shape to speed on the more-efficient bike.
But though my Miyata Triplecross (1989 model) is a so-called hybrid, I haven’t ridden it on any proper mountain bike trails in years. One of the last rides I remember was trying to follow Brett Bymaster down the Confluence Trail on his much fatter-tire, front suspension Trek. That was a mistake for me, on my non-suspended, skinny-tired bike, and because Brett on a bike is insane. That was the only time Brett and I rode bikes on trails, except for scouting Northstar for MUni Weekend in '97. That time I rented a proper suspension bike. I may use one again to scout Rockville Hills Park for MUni Weekend this year. But then again maybe not…
Now I ride my Coker to work, on those days I don’t drive. Yesterday I rode home in 106 degree heat. It’s supposed to be the same today, so I’m taking it easy in an air-conditioned car.
But back to Erin’s original quote, above. She mentions hands and wrists, and the hunched-over feeling. My Coker, with handlebar, has me riding in a quasi-aero position, hands on my baby bar-ends, in a position similar to a bike. Oh well…
The most difficult thing for me while riding a bike is trying to turn and braking with your hands. I also have a terrible time getting started because I hate gearing down.
It frustrates me when I get to a location that I should be able to turn around very easily in, such as on a sidewalk or at a corner, but I have to get off the bike and lift it up to do a 180 turn. So strange.
Still, that speed factor… Maybe I’ll have to get a Coker.
Re: Two wheeling for the first time in over a year!!
Erin wrote:
> Today was the first time in a year and a month that I rode a two
> wheeler.
<snip>
> I did get a little tired of being hunched over and I could feel the
> pressure on my wrists and hands more than I expected…
Hunched over? Pressure on wrists and hands? Oh, I get it, you must
have been riding one of those funny upright things
Re: Two wheeling for the first time in over a year!!
“paco” <paco.qs652@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:paco.qs652@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> The most difficult thing for me while riding a bike is trying to turn
> and braking with your hands.
> It frustrates me when I get to a location that I should be able to
> turn around very easily in, such as on a sidewalk or at a corner, but I
> have to get off the bike and lift it up to do a 180 turn. >
I remember my first ever go on a bicycle, I must have been about 10 or 11.
I borrowed the bike from the kid next door, and rode it unerringly into a
large wooden lamppost. No one had explained to me that you had to lean in
order to turn. Without the lean, the handlebars just would NOT turn. I was
too terrified to release the handlebars enough to grab the brakes of course.
Both I and the bike were undamaged, but I suppose it qualifies as my first
UPD.
Young Zyllan was also saying that when he first re-tried a bike after 18
months of unicycling, he had forgotten how to ride it, and so hit a wheelie
bin. Not fast enough to have generated a “You’ve Been Framed” situation
though.
MikeFule: Interesting to read that on the penny farthing the tail dragging
wheel goes light. Is this the case even though the seat, if I am correct,
is mounted on the frame that goes down to that wheel? Do you think that
it went light because you were riding with your unicycling experience
affecting your riding style? Or would many of the Victorian riders have
been perfectly happy on a coker, once they reached escape velocity?
I must ask our local penny farthing enthusiast for his thoughts , next time
I see him riding around.
Naomi
–
There are 10 sorts of people in this world; those who know binary, and
those who don’t…
( stolen and modified from whoever said: “there are three types of people,
those who can do maths and those who can’t” )
…Or should it be: “There are 11 types of people, they who can count to 10
in binary and …”?
