I found that using waist, chest and compression straps made the riding a lot easier. When the terrain on my way to school and work gets too easy maybee I’ll loosen/remove the straps.
A lot of my riding is at night as well, so I wear a florecent cycling jacket (strap it to the pack if it’s too warm), flashing lights on my valve stem, helmut and pack, and reflector tape on my uni. (I added much of these after a series of bike accidents, one fatal, all because the driver did not see the cyclists.)
I’ve tried using a helmut mounted light but it just distracted me too much to be of any use. I’m thinking of getting a HID flood headlight, but they’re $200 for a Nickle metal hydride and $500 for lithium-ion battery.
It is not a problem to wear a backpack while unicycling. I wore a backpack with sleeping bag and lots of clothes for a Coker ride in the norwegian mountains. If you have a large backpack with lots of room it might restrict your movement a bit. Just go for it.
Yes, I think that this is very feasable, as I have done many day trips to many places. I suggest that you try and find the most comfortable seat out on the market. (Sorry, I have no suggestions.) I personally ride with a camelbak full of food Items and 1.5 litres of drink. My recommendations for you is find a good position that you can hold for a long time, and make sure that it is comfortable. Also, I recommend wearing something that is tight to the skin, and bone dry, so you will not suffer from saddleburn. I suggest some cycling pants that are padded. Hope this helps. Ride on.
After packing to leave school for christmas break I rode my uni to my car carrying two guitars, my laptop, a suitcase on my back, and dragging a suitcase with wheels on it behind me. Yea its difficult, but definitely possible.
I take my uni (Torker 24) on the bus almost every day. Then I ride with a backpack (10 lbs or so?) almost daily from the destination bus stop to my office. It’s about a mile. I keep an extra pair of pants at the office to minimize the weight. I use a ecko backpack that has the single strap across the front and a waist strap. It’s not a big deal. I have only been riding for 6 months. If I can do it, anyone can…tom
Seemed to work just fine. On shorter trips I use a 30 litre ski pack. On more technical sections, doing drops with an overnight pack is a bit hard on your back, though.
Here’s a photo from the Kinetic Sculpture Race; the backpack contains an inflatable kayak, a sleeping bag, and a 3-liter Camelbak bladder, and has a PFD, paddles, and a regulation 12" warning triangle attached.
The road flares, compass, toothbrush, and bribes are in the rack trunk, and the teddy bear is bungeed to the bottom of the rear rack.
The most you should even be walking a long distance in is 30% of your body weight. I’d say you should be able to do that on a uni, unless you’re on a Coker or something, in which case mounting might be a problem. So if you, like me, weigh 150-ish pounds, you shouldn’t carry more than 45 pounds riding. But you should be able to ride with 45 pounds; I’ve done short distances with 110 pounds (2 kids).
