When the only riding area nearby is an old train track turned bike path with swamp land on both sides and crossroads that have the right-of-way, the traffic on which is not visible until the last second, due to Louisiana’s heavy tree growth. The unibike doesn’t do too well with surprise stops, and after a few near crashes with vehicular traffic, I …uhh… (sheepishly) put the forks and training wheel back on (don’t everybody throw rocks at once). Now the poor thing looks like just a regular bke again (well, as regular as any bke with three brakes on the rear). The training wheel has already saved me twice. That’s two crashes that might have been. Hind sight being 20/20, I think I made a wise decision for now. I’m not in a hurry to add my name to the growing list of uni-patients.
It’s not all bad though. I didn’t realize until I got back up to speed, how much I missed the higher speeds that are achievable when I don’t have to conserve a lot of power to prevent a catastrophic leg tangling crash. There’s also a lot more passing going on, once during which a new question was recently asked - What’s the other wheel for? I’m only averaging a few mph faster, but on one wheel, that’s enough to boost the adrenaline level quite a bit. And I’m getting a better workout. The unibike weighs over 30 lbs with a fork and training wheel. Yeah, I’m back to avoiding windy days because of the steering problem produced by the weather vane blowing around in front of the handlebars. But at least it’s not collecting dust like the Muni’s.
This area of the country seems to have only two riding surfaces: pavement and swamp. Who was it that had a wooden unicycle with an ATV tire? I could use that kind of traction down here.
I’m looking forward to an upcoming trip through Memphis where I can hopefully hook up with the grand master and his great group of one-wheelers.