I’m considering trying to complete a 50 mile Mtn. Bike Race on my muni in early September.
The terrain is mostly single track, lots of up and down - over one thousand feet in elevation change over the course.
I’m not sure but - I think it will be possible - I really like long Muni rides… The ride takes off in the early AM – my goal would be to finish before sundown.
What are the longest muni rides ever completed in a day?
Thanks!
Gullypunk
Black Hills, SD
my longest was 40km, and boy I was beat at the end!
I was beat at the middle 
What type of unicycle would you plan to ride? 29er, Coker, 24x3, 24x2.6, 26xSomething?
How many laps of the course makes 50 miles?
I don’t know what the longest off-road ride on singletrack is. Ken Looi did a 50k MTB race on a 29er. The 24 hour solo racers have put in a lot of miles in one day.
Brett Bymaster has done over 40 miles in one day, but was walking at the end of that. This was around Folsom Lake (CA), with lots of ups and downs, probably amounting to well over 1000’ in that distance.
For those that are interested he started with the Dike 8 trail, and continued along the edge of the lake through the Sweetwater and Salmon Falls trails.
As for me I don’t know if I’ve gone over 20 miles or so on dirt. Depending on the nature of the trail, that’s a lot. Some of the longest trails I’ve ridden are Mr. Toads Wild Ride, the Tahoe Flume Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail and the Downieville Downhill (4000’ of down).
It may be too late to “build up” to the distance that you need.
I bet you could do it…BUT to do it, you would probably have to train for it a lot, and I’m thinkin it’s too close for you to be able to plan on doing it. if it’s an annual race, then you could work at it, and be ready in time for next years race.
50 mile Muni ride?!? I’ve done many long, grueling MTB rides, and none were that long. I can’t imagine those rides on a Muni, without any coasting or higher gears in the flat parts.
Unless you’re already doing 60 or 80 miles per week ON TRAILS, you’re going to find it extremely challenging.
About 178km in 24hrs
I’ve done 40 miles in a day on a 26" with a gazz 2.6" tyre and 150 cranks. That had two 3000 foot hills in it, although I didn’t go right down to sea level between the two. I think at least 4000 feet of climbing and the same of descending, almost all off road.
I’ve done 50 miles on a 29er with 125s no problems several times with about the same climbing as yours.
On the coker, I did 76 miles in 24 hours off road once, I reckon 100 miles would have been alright if I hadn’t crashed.
It very much depends on the terrain, I also did a 30k race once that was really hard work, it had 3000 feet of climbing in the 30k and was pretty continuously rocky and technical singletrack.
If it’s a lapped course, then definately go for it, cos it’s no hassle to drop out half way, and 25 or 30 miles is never going to be a problem if you like long muni rides, you could walk 30 miles in the time you’ve got. If it’s supported and there are drop out areas where you can get picked up if you can’t go on, then again, go for it. If it’s a completely unsupported race without laps then it may be a bad thing to enter if you’re uncertain.
The other thing to think about is how competitive it is, most long races are things bike riders do for fun, they’re great for uni riders. There are a few races, mostly short ones, that are very competitive and which it possibly isn’t appropriate to enter on a uni. Over here, the National Points races are like that, as they count towards rankings, chances of getting on the national team etc.
Joe
I went .7 of a mile last night on my sun 24’’!
wow you guys are crazy i just did a 6KM ride yesterday on my new 24" Onza and i was pooped at the end im gunna do it again today plus maybe trie some gliding because trere is thise huge newly paved road right before the trail
I’ve done 6 miles (10km) in approx 50 mins on my 26x3" Muni, using 140mm cranks & a 15-20min rest stop. I’m hoping to boost that to 10 miles in 1 hour with some training & my new 127mm cranks. On a 26" Muni I’d expect you to finish by mid afternoon with no training (I’ve not trained for my distance), maybe early evening depending on the state of the single track & crank length.
Loose.
Doing long distance requires experience in pacing yourself. You need to be fit, but you also need strategy. If you get the strategy wrong, you end up (in that vulgar colonial phrase) “pooped”.
I’m not a big distance rider but on mixed terrain (some road, some flattish cross country) I’ve done
24 miles on a 24
20 miles on a 20
30 - 35 miles on a 28
50+ miles on a Coker. (Once and once only.)
The 26 MUni is my least favourite distance machine, but I’ve done some 15 odd mile rides on it. As Rob can confirm, I’m not the briskest of riders, though.
When I first had the 28, it had 110 mm cranks, and I spent a happy afternoon doing about 18 miles off road in the forest on it.
However, hills and extremely rough ground have the effect of doubling the difficulty of a ride, and as you get tired, you will UPD more, start to lose accuracy with your re-mounts, lose rhythm and get very tired and fractious. Add to this an element of competition, and pressure from other riders, and you could end up having a miserable experience.
In my view, an enjoyable ride is when you think, “I could have done another half an hour,” not when you collapse in a crumpled heap and can’t walk for two days.
Farthes I’ve ever rode is 8 miles now. You guys are cool for going so many miles. I get tired too easy for that though.
Terrain matters a LOT.
I’ve done 4 miles and been unable to walk for a week.
I’ve done 11+ miles and wanted to ride more.
~10 miles (16km) beat me up pretty good. My legs were fine the next day, though. Terrain is possibly the most important factor, if not physical conditioning and training.
Dave
when i was younger and fitter i did few 30 mile hilly muni days. But i had built up to them so they didn’t feel really BIG, untill i did 3 back to back on the south downs way- that flatterned me totally.
sarah
Thank you all for your help and advice!
thanks everyone!
I’ll be riding this on a KH-24
The course is not lapped, but there is support - and several crossings of major roads and highways where I can bail-out if needed. I’m going to start just after the Mtn bikers, so I won’t really have any traffic on the trail to contend with.
While I haven’t been building up a lot of long rides I think I’m in pretty good shape. So, I figure I might just give this a try. I personally really enjoy pushing my self to the limits - If I just get on and persevere, I think I have a chance at finishing - and If I only make it 15 miles - Oh well at least I tried!
I understand that many of the Muni-festivals and competitions have shorter XC-courses - I’d love to see a long 15+ mile muni-race sometime.
Just an update to all who posted here on their longest off-road ride ever…
On Sunday I completed a 50 mile mountain bike race (The Dakota 5-0) on my KH 24.
http://www.blackhills.com/ridgeriders/
I was damn near dead at the end.
But it was fun!
Thanks again for all the great advice from everyone!
cmr
Way to go!! I’d say I’m envious, but I wouldn’t want to feel the pain after such a long ride. I am envious of the locale…I just drove through there a week ago and can imagine the riding would be spectacular. My longest off road ride is around 14 miles. My 661’s rubbed my leg raw above the knee…I’ll have to figure something out with that. Were you in protective gear? How did that work out for you? Congratulations on a super uni-complishment.