Unicycling from Burlington, VT to Farmington, NH

[johnsjaunts]

Hey everyone. I just finished a ride over memorial day and would like to share it with those who may be starved of unicycle activity based off the last few months of global health crisis / may be planning a distance ride and be a bit interested in some ideas.

I should say that this ride is manageable in about 4 days time, which we found out since we were actually on a bit of a time crunch, and would average about 50 (80-81 km) miles a day to achieve such. Would I have preferred to have taken a few extra days? Yes and No. My body (you can guess where) was ready to be done about 10-12 miles (16-19 km) before we ended each day and it would take a 10-12 mile start each subsequent day to actually warm up a bit. Hauling all my gear wasn’t graceful nor was did it make life any easier, but I strongly encourage that if you have any interest in unicycle touring/packing then don’t be afraid to dive right in.

The Inception:
The idea came to me and a friend of mine after a charity ride we attended the year prior in Sussex, NB (Canada) was cancelled due to the global health issues. The border is still closed to U.S. citizens I believe so we weren’t going to make it anyway. The ride is to raise money for athletic scholarships for local women athletes to use towards schooling to remember a rider who had been struck by a car while out one day. Last year, 2019, was when the province unveiled their new bicycle safety guidelines for everyone to adhere to and even though it had to come at the expense of an amazing woman’s life, it was a beautiful occasion to see change occurring to protect lives. It also makes me realize I took for granted all the laws in the U.S. I figured were prominent all over.

We wanted to have our own ride to raise money for the cause in whatever way we could and decided that riding across rural Vermont and the New Hampshire White Mountains National Forest and Lakes Region would be a great way to do this. We put out the call to two of our other friends (because they were the only people we knew who also had bikes) and we started planning.

But wait. You said bikes? Yes, that’s true. My three friends were on bikes and I was planning to do this on a unicycle. A unicycle I did not own yet.

The Planning:
Well John, you big dumb idiot, what have you gotten yourself into. The ride was planned for the U.S. holiday of memorial day and I was planning to ride a 36er I hadn’t owned yet. We made the plans April 13th and I decided it was time. I ordered it pieces, because I didn’t have the capitol to buy it all at once and I wanted to customize it without having 3 seats and crank sets floating around (although you can never have too many). I didn’t have the complete unicycle until the first week in May, to which I was completely oblivious to how little time I have to learn to ride a unicycle that is unlike anything I’ve ever ridden. I’ve spent over a decade riding unicycles, everything from 20’’-29’’, and I felt like a baby deer after first attempting this minotaur of a machine.

To make matters more interesting, I had to master free-mounting the 36er with nothing but myself, then learn to mount it while carrying 4 days worth of gear. Admittedly, I used a lot of shoulders and walls to get on this thing during my ride. I’m going to be honest right now. I COULD mount this unicycle fully geared but at the end of some days the fatigue was either too much or the anxiety was too much. Stage fright is my worst enemy when unicycling and trying to remount this thing with people watching really threw me off my game mentally. It was stressful being the only person on a unicycle and feeling responsible for the group not moving as fast as they could (but you inherently can’t). A lot of my failed mounts were from stress and trying to move too fast. If you’re reading this, know, you are good enough to do whatever you want. Just maybe practice more than 2 weeks on a brand new machine fully loaded with camping gear and clothing.

Also, also the setup I had been using for my 29er was completely failing. In April of this year I completed my first touring ride. It was 2 days/1 night in Lexington, Virginia through Goshen Pass and George Washington National Forest. A great place to try something new if you live in the area and want to try some unipacking. I used a tandem stoker and a seat post to hold a rear bag I had sewn. It fit around the frame of my 29er. I found out days before my trip it DID NOT fit the frame of my 36er. I had built, designed, and sewn a bag just for this trip to the specs of that stoker fitting and when it didn’t I panicked. My front handle bar set up carried a rear bike bag (I just put it in front) as well as my tube bag. On my 36er the tube bag didn’t fit on top and so had to sit underneath the handlebars and the bag didn’t fit at all without hitting the wheel. Soo, nothing was working. I swore, a lot. I also got olive oil on everything trying desperately to grease some holes to make some things fit. whispers it didn’t work whispers

I’ll work on posting pictures, but as of now, they keep coming in upside down. Which is both bizarre and infuriating.

So, what did I end up going with?

The Gear:

My gear was heavily ad-libbed and I’m convinced this ride would have been monumentally easier if I wasn’t riding with a set-up that wasn’t actively working against me. But, it was a fun little “will today be the day everything breaks” kind of game that one can only enjoy being 25 miles away from anything without cell reception or visible car traffic.

So as I said, my old set-up was not going to work. So I modified some things because if there is one thing one has to be as a unicyclist, it’s creative. My rear holder was a some cheap, garbage REI brand clamp that attaches to the seat post I got on Craigslist. I hate these things with every fibre of my being. They are unacceptably heavy, only are rated up to 20 pounds (~9 kilos) of carrying capacity, they never interface as well as I would like them to (tighten the trash heap all you want it will still swing side to side as you go). And swing it did. I rode 200 miles (~322 km) having to reach behind me every 5-10 minutes to make sure it hadn’t swayed perpendicular to the seat post and if it did I had to brace myself and shove it back into place. I was actively pushing my self over trying to move it back into place knowing it was sway again. It literally could not go tighter and still it swayed more than a palm tree in a tropical storm. These things are better used as clubs to wail on junkyard cars to relieve stress.

My front handlebar setup was the only thing that did work, which was a godsend. I found some scrap parts at a local bike store and attached a male/female stem (I think) to a seat post with metal screws and at the end of that attached a double female stem to one end of the seatpost and another one to a pair of handlebars. I found a pair of clamp attachment aero bars and attached them to the handlebars. I really love this setup both because it functions well and has the “perfect mess” kind of look I’ve come to associate unicyclers with.

To these contraptions I attached:

Front

• A tent (which sat under the aerobars)
• A tube bag (which sat under the seatpost extender of the handlebars)
• A stem bag (One I sewed myself that carried my phone, food, bibs and bobs)
• A front light on the handlebars

Back

• A rear bag I had hand sewn to fit the dimensions of my last setup. When I couldn't get it to work, I just bungie corded the thing to the luggage rack and it was ugly and sad that I couldn't show it off better but it worked just fine
• A saddle bag (pint sized)
• A pair of Tom's shoes that were used as post ride shoes that have seen much better days. Perfect for cramming under bungees and potentially not coming back with

On My Person

• REI fanny pack
• Bike Jersey (back pockets)
• And cycling shorts pocket

Gear I carried

I’ll work front to back

Like I said, the tent was on the front of the machine under the handlebars. It was my heaviest single item and worked wonders to counter balance the back. The stem bag carried food (a crushed avocado) and my phone (covered in avocado) as well as electrolyte tablets. Most days ranged from 85-95 F (29-35 C) with full sun exposure so keeping these on hand was very helpful.
The tube bag carried a spare tube (which is massive), a portable battery to charge a phone, and the phone charger.

My fanny pack carried:

• Food. Almost all of my food was stored here. Peanut butter packets, fish pouches, bean packages, meat sticks, stroopwafels, poptarts. Ironically, panic shopping a few months prior at the onslaught of the pandemic meant I already had all of these things on hand. Saved me a trip to the store which was huge. I didn't eat entirely out of my pouch. We stopped at a few small town country stores which never cease to blow me away when it comes to what they offer and the quality of what they offer. These places are hidden gems of massive subs, cold drinks, ice cream, hot foods (which would be good if not it being hotter than sin) and some crazy stories from locals.
• Water filter and filter bag. This came in clutch during longer periods of time without access to water. With COVID-19 being an issue, it was increasingly difficult to find places that would let us re-fill water and finding a safe place to filter water wasn't always easy in flat, agricultural land with cattle run off. If we found a place to get water, we wanted to be prepared.
• Knife
• Matches
• Toiletries and first aid kit
• Spork
• Headlamp
• Glasses (to see)
• Sewing needle and thread
• Tiny jar of honey
• Instant coffee powder
• Two water bottles (1 litre each)
• a Mini bike pump (Schrader)
• A set of earbuds/headphones

The fanny pack was heavy, admittedly. I really underestimated its affect on my circulation. Water is much heavier than I anticipated and two full bottles was noticeable.

Rear Bag

• I held all my clothing items in here [LIST]
• Wool long sleeve
• tights
• wool socks for sleeping in
• 2 pairs of socks for riding
• 1 cycling skull cap with brim
• 1 headband
• 1 buff
• 1 pair of cycling shorts
• 1 pair of running shorts (post ride shorts)
• 1 cycling jersey
• 1 wool goobalini (post ride)

My tent poles and stakes

A mini towel

Wet wipes

A pillow

A sleeping pad

A sleeping bag liner (it got cold some nights, as far down as 32 F/ 0 C)

A buff to protect my neck and wear as a mask in case I needed it to go into a store. It was super tough by day 4 to have to smell it while wearing it as as mask. Do what you gotta do. [/LIST] On top of my bag I strapped my sleeping bag My shoes dangled off the back of the luggage rack My tiny saddle bag hung off one side and held:

• A set of allen keys
• a pedal wrench
• spanners
• patch kit
• spare cash
• wallet (ID and 1 Debit Card, Medical insurance as well in case I needed a hospital)
• A single hex wrench of unknown size that interacted with most of my setup and was easier than using the set of 10.

I also had a pair of sunglasses that I wore for most of the ride. I wore a watch as well and had 2 hair ties. The shoes I wore were a pair of 5 10 Impact Boots. They were perfect for this ride (you'll see a bit later) and I love the way they interact with my pedals and provide the ankle support I never really knew I needed or wanted while operating a unicycle.

Lastly my unicycle.

It’s 36 inch Nimbus Oracle frame, steel disc brake hub with brake, and a nightrider tire with foss tube. I wanted to try out the Kris Holm Pivotal Seatpost/Saddle set up but UDC was out of stock until the day before I left and I ended up using a Fusion Free Ride Saddle for the whole trip. Did I lose circulation? Yes. Was it because of the saddle or because I was riding 20+ mile (32 km) stints? No clue.

I had to hacksaw the 300mm seatpost down by an amount I am unsure of at the moment. I guess I am shorter than I expected for this. I used 125 mm cranks which felt great to use but probably affected my mounting success rate. I’d say I was mounting 85% successful in practice runs fully geared and was less than 50% on the actual ride. No big deal though since I really didn’t dismount much once we got out of major cities. But getting out of Burlington VT was a nightmare. The stress was real and the performance anxiety was more than I bargained for.

Here is a picture of us before we left the Park in Burlington.

It will be here that I leave you until I mentally prepare to fill in another 5 pages worth of words to explain how the days went.

To leave you fun cliffhangers:

• yes, that is a hardwood box on the front of that bike holding my one friend's stuff
• Yes my other friend decided to bike across New England with nothing but a giant basket in the back
• Yes, my shoes are shown in the front of my handlebars. They make moves as time progresses, trust me.
• Wait, where in the blue blazes is Farmington, NH?

See y'all in the next installment

[johnsjaunts]

​Day 1:

At 7:30 we woke up in Farmington grotesquely hung-over and mostly unpacked. Two of us went to get the rental van while the rest of us packed for the tripped.

At 9:20 we disassembled everything, shoved it in the back of a minivan and headed for Burlington.

We arrived in Burlington around 1 pm at Oakledge Park and set the bikes up. We also went grocery shopping and dropped the van off and probably didn’t leave until 3 or so. By 3:01 the basket on the back of one of our bikes broke. We stopped to fix it with one of the screws from a reflector. By 3:15 we were out of the park and by 3:16 we made a wrong turn. By 3:30, once we crossed Route 7 and had crossed a bridge in a nearby park when we got our first flat…It was here we mulled over the idea of spending a few days in Burlington drinking at a bar.

Admittedly, driving 3 hours to Burlington one way, ditching the van, and instantly having two mechanical malfunctions within the first 2 miles was definitely not a morale boost. Also, with the sheer amount of stop lights, traffic crossing, and tight turns, I had fallen off my unicycle at least 10 times not used to the weight shifts. Mounting was anxiety ridden and I looked even more like a dumb idiot since I had chose to do this and was struggling a bit. The bar was sounding very good at the moment.

With the help of a monkey wrench and a wall, we fixed our bikes and I managed to get on the unicycle. We continued to Route 2 and rode on to Williston. The cross vermont trail is a verifiable pain in the tookus to follow in at the beginning. Or we were vastly under prepared.

We turned down a dirt road, a continuation of the Cross Vermont, and rode past a mountain bike camp. Here we were able to refill water bottles behind a barn where a old couple caters to mountain bikers. They offered to let us camp in their field, an offer that was a bit tempting if we had managed to cover more than 10 miles or so. They were fantastic people.

We continued riding from this point along the dirt road. It was full of rills and ruts but the views were stunning and their weren’t any cars to run us over. A good trade off.

This road came to an end after a few miles and brought us back onto Route 2.

Before crossing the tressle bridge we made a right onto the road that can be seen in this above picture. We traveled a dirt road with a few steep hills. The hills themselves weren’t so much an issue as much as the poor conditions of the road. Rivets in the road made for an undulating experience every time I road over the them which through off the rhythm and momentum required to keep forward travel while fighting gravity with 20+ pounds of stuff on the the machine. The dirt road led to a washed out path and wooden bridge that was snapped in half. We had to walk the bikes the rest of the way until we made it back to the main road. One of us tried riding before the main road and caught his backpack against a fallen tree. He couldn’t unclip his shoes in time and ended up having an incredibly slow fall over onto his side. From there it was onward to Waterbury. The sun was setting and we were about an hour away from Waterbury.

To clarify, an hour was about 10-11 miles down the road. It was about 7 pm with an expected sun set around 8 to 8:15 pm that night. I forgot to get a picture of the bridge into Waterbury, but it was a beautiful view. It crossed the Winooski River reminiscent of a drawbridge leading into a castle. Also Ben and Jerry’s is here. It was closed but one could hope. We ended up buying the essentials of a 35 mile ride. Powerade and PBR. When we were riding into Waterbury we spotted a sandy despositional beach along the Winooski River. It was directly off the main trail of Cross Vermont Trail as if people had intentionally pointed travelers to this spot as a silent nudge in the direction of a great camping spot.

There were about 1000000 toads at this spot when we were there and they screamed for the entire night. At the end of the night, I think we were more tired from the stress and travel of the day more than the 35 miles we rode of the planned 200. I came to find the following days that riding for 8-10 hours is absolutely exhausting, but not today. On Day 1 we were still riding the thrill of doing something new and managing to get out of Burlington. Finding this camping spot was also a fantastic way to end the First Day.

[Quax1974]

Good stuff! keep the reports coming!

[johnsjaunts]

Well dang, here we are. I admittedly slacked on posting any new information and then the forum updated and well, here we are. Where we left off.

The last picture from the previous post shows where we woke up Day 2: on the side of the Winooski River in Waterbury Vermont. If I had to guess I’d say we left around 8:30-9 that morning and followed the Cross Vermont Trail into Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont.

It was here that one of us determined that it would “be, like, totally possible to make it to New Hampshire that day” and he was militant on this idea. We stopped only twice that day, once in Montpelier for coffee at 11 and once more around 1-2 for lunch and he was on our behinds tighter than spandex riding shorts to move as quickly as possible. While we had noticed he had eaten and drank little, we said nothing. We figured he must have had something while we weren’t looking, but it was clear that he was not eating enough or hydrating properly to push a 50-60 mile day (80-97 km) let alone 3 more of those days. More on that later.

Montpelier was a really beautiful city and had a small stretch of bike path largely unimpeded by traffic which made navigating the city that much easier.

After Montpelier we came across the steepest hill of the trip so far. It was not just steep but also incredibly long. I physically couldn’t make it and another of us also needed to stop and push. The rider with the wooden box rode in a zigzag up the hill stopping to take breaks when needed. We remounted and headed on barren highway to where we found lunch. It was also on this highway I got to experience what a 12% downhill grade felt like, which is absolutely horrific.

After we stopped for lunch at a small town convenience store, which actually had a full-functioning grill/restaurant and was the best middle-of-nowhere food joint I’ve ever found. I’m not even sure the town had a name but their food was good. I also replaced a water bottle here because it was cold. Leaving this town put us on an entirely dirt road that, while technically a state highway, was little more than a more heavily trafficked fire road. The views were nice, though and the riding was surprisingly bearable. The best part of unicycling was that I could use my hands to take some snapshots of the scenery without having to stabilize any handlebars.

This was the last time we had stopped for the day before riding the final 20 miles (32 km) or so into NH. I was so determined to get to there and so tired of getting back on the unicycle that I remained in the saddle for the rest of the 20 mile push into New Hampshire.

We arrived in New Hampshire probably around 5-6 pm and immediately swerved into a pizza place. It was only the second time I had ever crossed state lines through the power of my own body and something I have only done a total of 3 times so far. Note, 92 F is about 33 C. Surprisingly hot for Northern New Hampshire in May at 6 pm IMHO.

We left this small town in NH and continued about 3 miles up the highway until we stumbled upon a snowmobile trail head along the Connecticut River. It was here we found, what I could easily argue, the greatest cowboy campsite I have ever stayed at

We called it a night here. Our friend that forcefully marched us across Vermont and ate/drank little to nothing all day was in bed before the sun even set. The rest of us sat by the fire until ~9pm when fatigue had been too much to enjoy the rest of the beautiful night. We had made it to NH and the following day we were planning to tackle the Kancamagus Highway, the road that would take us from Bath NH to Conway NH, literally across the entire state horizontally. Less 3-5 miles between leaving VT and having to continue into Maine, of course. What a day that would end up being. Until then, keep on riding.

[WeaponizedBacon]

Looking forward to the next installment

[johnsjaunts]

Day 3: Spanking the Kanc

Day 3 we awoke on the side of the Ammonoosuc River (A major trib of the Connecticut River (I misspoke last post)) and broke camp. We schlepped all of our stuff back up the hill, I mounted in the dirt lot and rode in the opposite direction until it was safe to hang a U-turn at the Church of the Latter Day Saint’s up the road and join everyone toward NH State Highway 112. I found this was easier than trying to mount the bike on the highway which was on a hill and full of traffic. It was also easier than trying to pull off a 270 degree turn in the dirt (I had a wide turn radius).

So it turns out I wasn’t entirely faithful in my last post. The Kancamagus Hwy only comprises about 35 miles ( 56km) of NH 112, which is about 60 mi (96.5 km). The split occurs in the town of Lincoln but both are technically considered to be part of the same 112 stretch.

NH 112/Kancamagus Hwy runs in and out of the White Mountain National Forest as well as the Pemigewasset Wildnerness. Likely much more scenic in the Fall months when all the birch trees are changing leaves, but in the Spring the view of the mountains and rivers are still very much welcome.

NH 112 has two distinct climbs, one before the town of Lincoln and one as soon as you get out of Lincoln. The first one, Kinsman Notch is within the Lost River Reservation and is a location where the Appalachian Trail crosses near Mt. Moosilauke. Kinsman Notch hits height of land at 1,870 ft (570 m). The climb wasn’t entirely dreadful, but I was still shocked I made it up without having to push. We actually all managed the pedal up to the picnic area where a few of us jumped in this base of the mountain lake and refilled some water.

The town of Lincoln was all downhill, great for everyone else and not terribly fun for me. Another 12% grade for John

I didn’t get any photos in the town of Lincoln but it was kind of uneventful. We stopped, ate lunch, and charged our phones at a restaurant. I left the outdoor seating of the place we stopped to eat and stumbled across the street to a bakery where I bought an eclair and ate it in the middle of the road. We drank a bit too much at lunch, pounded a coffee, and found out that one of us had called our support crew to be picked up about 30 minutes prior. He hadn’t told us until we were preparing to leave. We aren’t sure what reason he had for leaving, but that was that. One of us was not going to make it back to where we had started a few days prior. And worst of all it was the friend who had marched us across Vermont into NH. Nothing like forcing a fast pace and then dropping out.

Slightly buzzed and newly broken, we rolled out of Lincoln perhaps a bit too invigorated by stopping to eat something that wasn’t jerky. We set an honest pace to the Lincoln Woods Trailhead and began the climb up the Kancamagus Pass.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I feel like I am in good enough shape for someone my age. In 2014 and 2015 I ran at the NCAA Div 1 National Championships in the Steeplechase where I finished 8th and 19th. Qualifying races were held in Jacksonville, Florida where it was about 82 F (28 C) and 70% humidity at 10:50pm (when the races were held because it was too hot during the day). I’ve covered 3000m in just over 8 minutes, 5000m in about 14 and a half minutes, and 10,000 m in 30 and half minutes. We trained in temperatures as low as 0 F (-18 C) and as high 100 F (38 C). I’m a certified rescue scuba diver and one of us has made it through Navy Dive School.

Nothing seemed to prepare me for this climb. It was about 12 miles (19km) and was a progressively aggressive ascent up hairpin turns, fully exposed roads where wind kept blowing us, we saw snow towards the top (which was kind of cool), and motorcyclists were driving about 1,000,000 mph (1,609,344 kmh) and heckling us. We stopped twice before the top, each time struggling to the nearest viewpoint where I practically fell off the unicycle from cramping.

Towards the top of the climb my hips started to cramp and convulse, my quads were already massively anaerobic, and the tears were flowing. There I was, about 1 mile left to the top and just crying in sheer will to the top.

Movement was mechanical, just pedaling forward out of habit rather than desire or want. I knew if I stopped, I wasn’t going to start again, so it was either push to the top or ride up. My hips has started to convulse a bit unexpectedly at the top and it eventually caused me to lose balance and step off the unicycle right before the “Kancamagus Pass Top” sign. Always the bridesmaid. I sat on the side of the road while my two friends finished the ride to the top, one of them actually did have to stop and walk.

To be honest, I’m not even sure if this was a steep climb, the Kanc Pass is only about 2,855 ft (870 m) at height of land. But it was arguably the most taxing single physical endeavor I decided to take on, to date. Or at least it’s just freshest in my mind.

We descended the pass and rode along the Swift River and National Forest. The downhill was actually a sweet spot where it was just donwhill enough to carry me forward without making me lose control. Probably the most ideal situation for tired legs on a unicycle.

We rode into Conway about an hour before sunset, kind of still not believing we rode the length of the 112 in a day, literally across NH. Funny enough even with a hard double climb, stopping to eat lunch and drink beer and coffee and eat eclairs, and stopping to enjoy the views, we still managed to ride the 60 mi (96.5 km) in a day (without our friend forcing us to literally not stop). We ate some pizza in Conway and drank some Shipyard’s. Our friend said he knew a place for us to stay along the Saco River where we wouldn’t have to pay. Another sand beach along a body of water and covered bridge.

While in Conway eating pizza we met a man outside the pizza place who was probably in his 60’s. He saw our bikes and asked us what we were doing/ where we had ridden from and where we were going to. He shared his stories with us about when he was younger (in his 20’s) and he had rode across the country with his friends. He camped in graveyards and front yards of nice people he met along the way and spoke with such fond memories of doing such. He wished us all the best and we parted ways to the campsite shown above. I’m fairly certain we were asleep before the sunset.

[johnsjaunts]

Well, as much as I hate to say it, Day 4 was probably the least eventful. It started off well and then became a lot of NH 16 (the busiest road I ever want to be cycling on), back roads and powerlines, and a 3+ mile (5km) stretch of dirtbike trails that the GPS said was state highway. It was largely loose soil, large rocks, craggy hills, and one part was underwater. Woof. And here is the call back to the first post, when I said I was wearing 5/10 impact boots and they were very handy. Here is why. Because we had to walk out cycles across a large stretch of dirt and rocks and where cycling shoes failed, my boots were very nice to have. So, disclaimer aside, let’s talk about the ride from Conway NH to Farmington NH.

We woke along the Saco River and stopped to eat breakfast in town. Conway, specifically North Conway, is a large winter attraction area for skiing (and is near Fiddlehead campground if you’re a degenerate) but in the summer/spring it is much quieter but still offers some quaint places to find food.

We stopped here for breakfast and reminded our friend that he had been cycling since Day 2 with a bottle of Maple syrup he bought thinking it was genuine Vermont syrup and it ended up being imported from New York. He was heart broken but still determined to cart it around. Having a giant wooden box on your bike allows for some storage space. On our way out of town we snapped a clear shot of Mt. Washington still covered in snow.

We road from Conway to Madison to Tamworth to Ossipee, what is considered to be Lake Country in NH. The landscape ranges from wealthy lake front homes to warehouse industry and some definite tourist trap destinations (looking at you Pizza Barn).

We had our closest scare on NH 16 when we stopped to get ice cream from a McDonalds. A pick em up truck was on their phone and drove into the shoulder and proceeded to drive the speed limit down the shoulder as if it were the lane. I ended up bailing into the grass in front of a restaurant and was far enough away. One of us who had been closer was actively swerving out of the way but the truck, still unaware of their drifting, was swerving in the same direction. Essentially he was trying to get off the road and they were actively also driving off of the road. Close call when they finally noticed, it could have been really bad.

Here is a photo from the 3 mil (5km) stretch of dirt road we hiked across. This lake had flooded the road and, while beautiful, it was very much unwelcome at this point. After praising the merits of tarmac, we road out of Ossipee and into Wolfeboro. A bit of a bougie town. We drank a beer at lunch and got sandwiches from the local grocery store. We rode into an outdoor seating arrangement into a pack of young kids playing around on some wooden jumps on their bikes in the grass nearby. One younger kid actually was also a unicycler and we had a great conversation about the sport. Great to see the next generation showing an interest.

From Wolfeboro was a myriad of some very unforgettable roads. Side streets full of greenery, the occasional house, and maybe a small town. We reached Farmington a bit unceremoniously and rode through the town proper. We waved the patrons at Farmington House of Pizza and blasted through a stoplight to the final hills before the start point. Here I stopped twice to walk up the final hills. We pulled into our friends house to zero fanfare and ate pints of ice cream while falling asleep on the couches. A solid trip non the less. We woke the following morning on Memorial Day and met a few friends to celebrate the day off.

These two pictures were taken in front of a farm near our friends house. Is it the reason it’s called Farmington? Maybe.

The trip comprised a bit over 200 miles (322 km) over the course of Four days. Three full days of riding and one half day. We covered about 60 mi (96.5 km) a day and about 30 mi (48km) the first day. The trip, while occurring back in May is still something we continue to talk about to this day (even if it was only 7 months ago) and is something I encourage everyone to try at some point in their lives. Not necessarily this distance or trip or even an overnight but take your unicycle and go see the world around you. It will, literally, take you places. The people you’ll meet, even during COVID, and the stories you hear are ones I guarantee you’ll never forget. If you ride with someone and don’t kill each other by the end, I truly believe it has the power to bring you closer. Smell the air, see some sights, don’t pull into the NH 16 McDonald’s in downtown Ossipee. With the shifting weather and other interests, I haven’t been able to complete another multi day ride since. I would love to talk about my initial test ride in April and maybe will make a posting about it. While I likely wont do another overnight until 2021, I’m already planning out all the places I would like to go. Good company, good views, good times.

Happy Riding

[johnsjaunts]

Here is a hastily made and lazily constructed map loosely defining the route we took. For those a bit unfamiliar with this part of the world, it might still mean nothing to you. North of Jay VT and Pittsburg NH is Quebec, Canada (for some context). To the right is Maine and across that big Lake Champlain is New York State which continues on north to Ontario, Canada.

[Quax1974]

I loved your report, thanks for sharing!