After a great start to this year and logging just over 200 miles I had my first upd. I headed out this evening after earlier storms to get a quick ride in before dark. I hopped right on the 32 felling great when I hit a slight incline and right hand sweeping turn. Before I knew it I was heading head first instead of running out of it Because of the incline I stumbled forward into what I assume was a proper roll, not because I intended to. I stopped, dusted my self and my pride off, put my unicycle back on my truck and went home. Right now I sitting here wondering what is going to be hurting in the morning.
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Hopefully nothing, fingers crossed that itās the opposite of when you wake up in the morning with a bruise that you donāt know where it came fromā¦
200 miles and first UPD. That is very impressive. I always UPD for numerous reasons. While riding my mind is elsewhere I donāt notice inclines or bumps or I just doze off and then tumble. Though I never go very fast, so always land on my feet. Now that Iāve been riding very much on the 24, the free-mounting has become very easy. So I just look around if nobody saw me and step on and continue my ride.
Do you record the distance of every ride? I have no idea how much I ride in a month.
I have had a few that I have run out of but not many, this was my first hit the ground crash upd this year and hopefully my last. I record my milage on a cycle plus GPS speedometer that I reset to zero miles at the start of the year. I have a garmin watch but I track my unicycle rides different than my bicycling to keep them separate. with the watch Sometimes i unicycle and record as a run if Iām going distance, if Iām on and off different unicycles I record as cardio.
After a good nightās sleep Iām pleased to say Iām really no worst for wear. I have an odd pain in the arch of my left foot much like a cramp and some aches in my lower back which is not unusual for me. I think the arch pain stems from my left foot hitting the ground and hyper extending my foot. Weather permitting I will be back on this weekend.
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Glad it was nothing.
I had my weirdest UPD on a 30-mile ride today - pushing past my limits as I do every year about this time to get back to 50-some mile days in the fall. Iām used to ignoring the arthritis in my knees and using my schlumpf strategically to change cadence to reduce hip flexor strain or reduce stress on the knees if itās starting to feel like more than just the ānormalā arthritis. But this oneā¦
I was dismounting in a thin strip of grass along the side of a trail, where thereās a decorative cement block wall about waist-high. Misjudged how the tire would behave on the grass. The wheel didnāt have enough momentum for me to do the rear dismount Iād planned, wound up in that odd ābalanced with no leverageā state because I had nothing left in my gas tank to force the issue, and slowly bailed off the frontā¦ hitting the corner of the block wall with my thigh. I wound up with the uni seat leaning on the top of the wall, sort of weeble-wobble rolled over on to the wall so that I rolled back on my butt and was just ā¦ sitting, wondering what the heck just happened.
The last 6 miles back to the car were not fun. Weāll see how it is tomorrow! Iām betting (hoping) bruised and forgettable. Iām telling myself itās just like having walked into the corner of a table, which seems to happen more these days than Iād like to admitā¦
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Jeez 30 miles. I thought I had a long ride today of nearly 20kms (13 miles) on my 24"uni, which took me 2 hours with break, but the wind was really strong as an added challenge and at some point it even blew me off.
So very well done Iād say. Sorry to hear about your fall.
13 miles is long on a 24! Thatās a great pace though. This was on my geared 29, which makes the distance a little easier. Should have been just under 4 hours (my comfort zone is around 9-10 mph on the g29, with typical stops pulls me down to about 8) but it was 4.5 (that last 6 miles was really terrible, lots of slow riding and taking breaks I shouldnāt have needed).
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one of the worst feelings in unicycling for me is when Iām coming in for a dismount and my legs are exhausted and rubbery. itās a brief moment of anxiety and doubt. I experienced this on an extremely hot day when I headed out and noticed a couple miles in that I left my water bottle behind but rode on. Sure as can be I became dehydrated and the last few miles back I was really struggling and as I approached the parking lot I veered off into the grass pretty certain I was going in for a crash landing. fortunately I dismounted safely and walked back to my truck lightheaded with my legs wobbling.
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I just finished an audio book on audible titled āJust Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bikeā by Grant Peterson the founder of Rivendell bikes. this book really spoke to me and I feel it could really help some of our older riders that are just learning to keep going and put their riding into perspective. I feel we loose some riders along the way as they lose the desire to ride because they didnāt learn tricks or become the next Kris Holme or Ed Pratt. in his book he addresses the influence bicycle racing has had on the average cyclist and the cycling community. I could write here all day trying to express the main subject of the book but I wonāt, instead I recommend that you either read it or listen to it. his thoughts are very interesting truly a different persctive and very relatable with the unicycling community. I listened to it over two days probably just a few hours total. There are 80 plus chapters but they are very short. it is available on audible to listen and on Amazon as well as other retailers to read.
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just give us some points you learned from it 
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Grant Peterson , an icon in the bike industry has been riding bikes daily since 1970 and has worked in the bike industry including designing bikes for Bridgestone and founding Rivendale bikes, he is an enthusiast and He has also been a racer. Basically he brakes down How the bike industry using racing, tricks the every day rider into buying impractical gear and clothing tailored for Tour De Fance style bicycle racing. You can see this on any bike trail on any givin weekend where mamils ( middle aged men in licra) gather to squeeze them selves into bike shorts with tight cycling shirts accentuating their shapely middle aged guts, with aerodynamic helmets and carbon fiber or full suspension dream machines. These non racing riders whether they know it or not are being influenced by the bike racing industry telling them how to dress and what to ride. They then proceed to mount their over prices over equipped bicycles and ride off.
The point is to simplify, ride to your skills and abilities, choose your equipment for efficiency, fit and comfort. Basically learn to love the ride and the experience based on your abilities not someone elseās image of what you should be. Ride like you did when you where a kid when you hopped on your bike in what ever you had on and ride with a sense of fun and freedom.
It is easy to watch you tube videos one after another of highly accomplished trials and muni riders and long haul 36erl unipackes effortlessly practice their craft and imagining yourself in their place. You may or may not ever get to that point especially as an older rider. my take from the book is ride for yourself, dress like yourself, ride unicycles that you are comfortable on and match your skill level and just get out there and do it for you and have fun.
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Oh boy I should get rid of half of my unicycles, which are all way above my level of expertise. Same as the EUC. My thinking behind quality products is that since my usage is way below whatās capable, then they will last a long time. Though I did sell my geared uni, as that was not for me.
But yeah I reckon that counts for everything. People may want to look more professional or maybe feel they can get better by getting all top-of-the-shelf equipment.
You asked me to give you some points and I did , if you want to really experience what Mr. Peterson is getting at you will just have to read the book. The quality of the equipment is not the point, infact I highly recommend buying good gear and so does Grant peterson, Iām as guilty as any one else for having multiple unicycles. my hope is that by reading or listening to this book novice riders will not be intimidated or feel the need to over gear. How many riders do you think quit riding altogether because they failed to learn complicated tricks or rip down trails like riding down a paved street.. The books is a positive look at how everyone can enjoy biking, I related to it and could see coriltions with unicycling.
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I think just learning to ride unicycle already separates people who easily give up from people who just go for it. My daughter who is 12 years, almost 13, gave unicycling a go, but she expected to learn it in a few hours and since she couldnāt she lost interest right away. Since it took me 3 weeks to learn, I already knew that any trick will take a long time to really nail. I suspect other unicyclists know this as well. Learning to ride Ultimate Wheel took me a whole lot longer, but if there is something you really really want, you stick at it until you succeed.
The chance of people giving up with 2-wheelers is much bigger I think.
Letās say that unicyclists are all winners and many bicyclists are just losers 
Thanks for sharing an inspiring read. I do like the message of get out riding and have fun regardless of your level and gear.
And I am also relieved that Peterson recommend buying good gear - it just feels so good riding on good gear!
Luckily, I do not think that we as unicyclists are exposed to pressure from the unicycle industry nearly as much as the bike-cyclists are from the bike industry. And I think that most of us have accepted that we just stand out - regardless of gear and clothes. The few unicyclists that I know seem to be pretty casual about their unicycle outfit.
There are unicyclists with fancy gears, handlebars and carbon rims but if you have gear like that you are usually also quite good.
Where I think we as unicyclists stand out is the amount of unicycles we own. In that respect I know several that might be considered hoarders. Why is that?
I will have a look in or listen to that book. Maybe it will get me out riding when the weather is less comfortable or I am tired after a days work.
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I think where the pressure with unicycling lies in getting to that skill level that is required to muni, freestyle or ride large wheels apposed to clothe and equipment mentioned in the book. Most bike riders over fifty are doing pretty tame stuff and have the skills needed to hop on a bike and go from the start even if they had not ridden a bike in a very long time. Unicycling is inherently more difficult and dangerous even while doing tame riding, you can not just hop on a unicycle and go, the learning curve is quite steep. What people see others doing and desiring to do the same and acquiring those skills are two separate things. Peterson would call those with those with elite skills as racers and the rest of us as non racers. itās ok to be a non racer. He also addresses the concerns you mentioned of pushing to far or to hard at the expense of your enjoyment.
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Can you really do that with unicycling. Right now I have decided I want to participate in the Dutch Unicycle championships and like with all championships, whatever the sport, you need to put in the hours. Even though I havenāt ridden any of hoarded 15 other unicycles and only ridden the 24" freestyle for the past month, it has brought be a lot of joy in that I feel much more stable than I ever have on that wheel and free-mounting has become so easy.
@UniKirk It is not really hoarding, because there are tons of unicycles out there that I am not interested in owning. I think ever wheel size has its proās and cons and I have the freedom to ride whatever I feel like.
As for clothing, I generally just wear jogging pants and a TShirt, because they feel comfy and when doing my asphalt rides, I donāt wear any protection, because so far Iāve always just stepped off. I donāt go so fast. And if I do fall, then Im sure my body can cope with a few bruises.
I used to sell b!kes a while back. I have always loved them, and I have a really old mountain b!kie that I kept at the shop. I wasnāt on commission, so when āmomā or ādadā would come in to buy a bike for a child and would stress over what bike to get, Iād show them my old bike. It wasnāt a cheap one, and it wasnāt an elite one ā¦ it was just a semi-good, affordable one that had lasted for 20 years.
I ride with some guys (in lycra, and on bikes that would be a sizeable chunk of my yearly income). When we ride, some of them are faster than me on my clunker. I still love my clunker. Iām just out for the forest views, having some people to pace me, and someone to share salty snacks and soda with at the end of the ride. The key (for me) is enjoy the activity. If I focused on competition and having the most modern bike - I would have quit decades ago.
I would like to read that book though.
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I saw a Norco unicycle in the window of bike store in 1977 and absolutely HAD to have it!! My parents bought it for me for my tenth birthday and after about a week of working my way between my parents car and the carport wall, I started to get to the end of the car and continue riding. For about another week it was make it to the end of the driveway, then make it on to the road then make it to the stop sign etc.
I was hooked. I rode my unicycle to junior high and high school on every opportunity I had. I would make excuses to ride to the corner store, the grocery store and petty much anywhere else I could ride. I even slowed traffic down one day when I decided to ride my unicycle home from high school and practice trombone at the same time.
Unicycling for me was an escape and a challenge. I was a competitive figure skater growing up and balance was never an issue so as soon as I could ride, I started doing drops of things, bunny hoppy onto things and put an aggressive BMX tire on my uni so I could follow my friends down dirty trails.
When I moved to Ontario 25 years ago, I was driving to Ottawa to ride with a huge group of people that used to meet downtown and street ride. The used to hold a competition every year called the Ottawa Unicycle Invasion ( OUI) it was lots of fun too.
In the 49 years I have been riding I have been able to acquire a giraffe, a 29, a cro-mo KH 20 trials. I donāt do much trials right now, as my back is bad but I am starting to ride my 29 again in hopes of rebuilding my core to help out. Like most of you, I have health issues that will sometimes keep me off my uni but my back is bad lately and I need to get out and ride to build my core again!
Thanks for posting this thread, it has inspired me to get my fat ass off the couch and get riding.
Beener, 49 years of Keepinā It Wheel!!
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