Worst Coker wipeout yet

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Well. It had to happen.

Having no computer on my Coker, I finally found a passing cyclist who had a computer. I asked if he wouldn’t mind clocking me.

I told him my top speed goal was 20 mph (30 km/h) (coker w/127’s) and my average riding speed was 10 mph (16 km/h) (to best judge how long my 170 km for MS ride was gonna take…so I could best judge how long I was gonna be sitting on that Velo seat )

I found my average riding speed to be 13 mph (21 km/h)

going for my top speed, I heard him read out from his bike comp…
15 (mph)
17
18
19
19.5
20
20.2

At this time, the crank hit my ankle bringing my foot off the pedal (you know the feeling) I flew off the Coker and my foot hit the ground, with enough force to throw me into a somersaulting leap onto the grass (thank god).

No broken bones, but here’s the results from the crash…

I broke my left wrist guard (5 days old. not the plastic, but the material tore open, rendering the protection unprotectable) Looking at the torn material and all the stripped threading, I think to myself, ‘whew’

I hit my head on the ground (luckily my head made it to the grass) hard enough to give me a 30 minute headache, but not enough to crack the helmet (whew x 2)

As I slid across the pavement to the grass, my shorts pulled down (one cheek only) enough to rub my outer thigh to bleeding (in two places)

This sliding slid my Roach pads down enough to expose my knee causing my most serious injury. it’ll scar, but it’s more road rash than impact. Still, this was yesterday, and it still REALLY hurts. (I just justified a purchase of KH pads when they are available)

I landed on my camelback that still had enough water to cushion the fall, but the grass/dirt stains aren’t going to come out without a machine washing (the pack being quite a bit more resilant than my bare back)

This was my worst unicycle crash to date, but I’m ‘relatively’ unscathed, and it blew the biker’s mind, so all’s good.

Man I love unicycling!

2

Wicked Wreck…

Sounds like you might need to lay up on the Sofa a while. :smiley:
Maybe I don’t need a Coker.

Hope you heal well. --chirokid–

3

Re: Wicked Wreck…

Hogwash

(I had already been riding for 5 hours, and was quite tired. This had a lot to do with my ‘incedent’ I’m sure

4

Re: Re: Wicked Wreck…

I agree, that is Hogwash. I still want a Coker!!! --chirokid–

5

Cool. You can still write about it. Excellent. I, too, enjoy having a Camelback for high velocity falls. Carry a few Balance Bars in there next time for added padding.

6

Ouch! And it all happens so suddenly, doesn’t it? :astonished:

20.2mph is impressive stuff. It blew the biker’s mind? Presumably you’d left your own mind at home?:stuck_out_tongue:

7

Don’t ya just LOVE it when the Roach rides down? LIKE EVERY TIME YOU CRASH? Anyway, I consider the Camelback as an integral portion of my armour, too. What brand of wrist protection did you rip-a-sunder?

20 is smok’n dude- what length cranks you do that with?

I’ve become and accomplished faller from my Coker. If you become well practiced, you will eventualy want to invest in sholder pads.

Wal-Mart has cheep everything- including cycling computeres- try it again and take your own reading.

-Christopher

8

Well Brian I almost wish I had been there to see this all go down, too bad I finished the ride so soon, or maybe it’s a good idea seeing as I may have cercome to the same fate eventually. NOT saying I can go that speed though.

Good luck on your ride for MS , and it just shows you should
never leave the comfort of your couch without that protection.

9

True, I just bought a Schwinn Computer for my Uni two days ago. $9.97 with tons of features. --chirokid–

10

Walmart doesn’t seem to have comps that will work with a 36" wheel. Or down to an 18" so I could use two magnets)

Jamie: This was right by those tennis courts, so it was about 10 minutes after you left…you missed a good show!

The wristguards are typical in line ones with the splint. The splint is still intact, and I’ve managed to sew it back together. I think I’m gonna sew some leather over top of of it…for added wear and tear protection.

This was the first time the Roaches failed me, but it’s a good wake up call!

I have 127’s on it.

Everything seems to be fine now, I’m going out riding

11

Hard shell in-line skate knee pads are a better choice for Coker riding. The knee pads with a hard plastic shell will slide on the tarmac and stay on your knees. Knee pads with a fabric outer shell (like Roach) will grip the tarmac and want to slide off your knee during a crash.

I’ve crash tested Rollerblade knee pads in a high speed Coker UPD and the knee pads stayed on my knees as I slid on the tarmac.

12

That’s interesting, John. I think I’ll look into that!

13

Walmart’s Schwinn Odo-computer should handle a Coker’s 36 inch wheel. I’ve got one on the 29er and another on my MUni. You dial in the circumference of the wheel (Coker = between 2870mm and 2890mm probably)(circ in inches x 25.4)

your circumference will be 113 or more inches. (I don’t have a coker here but isn’t 2 x pi x radius = circumference?)

The 29er is 90 inches(2286mm), the MUni is 77 inches(1956mm).

Point the valvestem straight down, mark this spot, sit on uni, make one revolution till stem straight down again, mark this spot, measure. The instructions say sit on uni to compress tire as normal rider.

computer reads in KPH or MPH, your choice. Tell distance, max speed, average speed, and more. Also tells present speed but since its on the frame of the Uni, I’m afraid to bend over and look.

14

Sofa: The Schwinn 12 Function Cycle Computer I just bought at Wal-mart for $9.97 allows you to put in a tire circumference of 3999 mm.

I don’t have a Coker, but I just measure the circumference of one of my daughter’s 35 inch hula-hoops and it measured out at 2930 mm. Hope this helps.

One last thought, this computer has a really cool feature that allows you to program in 2 bikes (Uni’s for us) and switch it back and forth between which ever you ride. --chirokid–

15

Computer Link…

Here is a link for the Cycle Computer that Mud and I are talking about:

http://www.schwinnbike.com/products/accessories_detail.php?id=53

–chirokid–

16

Hi Sofa,

Congrats on a “relatively” successful high speed crash. More imoportantly though, I’m gald to hear you haven’t lost your sense of humor. That was a hoopie bit of thinking when you mooned the biker during your crash! (grin)

Cheers,
Jason

17

nastiest unicycle crash ever

hey all,
that sounded like a pretty nasty crash you had there, but i’m sorry to say that is nothing compared to what happned to a kid in our school circus whilst riding a uni. Riding in the school quad a few days ago this kid was pushed to give him a “boost”, as you most already know this simply makes you crash, he managed to keep on it long enough to get himself closer to some pointy edged teird seats then he stacked it. First we thought that he was just winded but he was taken to hospital then flown by helicopter to Sydney for treatment. What had actually happned to him was that he broke two of his ribs which in turn sliced his liver in a 12cm gash. So far he’s looking at 3 weeks in hospital, and another week in observation in Bathurst. All this was done on a 20" indi australia cycle, so i would’nt like to see wahat would’ve happned on a 36" Coker. :astonished:
bye all,
Mark

18

Re: nastiest unicycle crash ever

Ouch! Something for everyone to remember. Never push a unicyclist from behind, it usually makes them crash going faster than if you hadn’t. It was always prohibited when my friends and I played Sumo or Gladiators.

And Sofa may have already thought of this, but after riding 5 miles and being tired, you have to be extra special careful trying something like testing your max speed. Yup. Glad you weren’t hurt any worse!

19

Re: Worst Coker wipeout yet

johnfoss wrote:
> Ouch! Something for everyone to remember. Never push a unicyclist from
> behind, it usually makes them crash going faster than if you hadn’t.
> It was always prohibited when my friends and I played Sumo or
> Gladiators.

You set rules when playing Gladiators? Only to the West of the pond …

Not that there’s much point pushing someone from behind when playing
Gladiators. It very seldom works, because people are expecting it and
it’s very easy to recover from when you’re expecting it. If you want to
get someone off from behind, the best bet is to grab the back of their
seat.

–
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny )
Recumbent cycle page: http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine

20

Re: Worst Coker wipeout yet

>Don’t ya just LOVE it when the Roach rides down? LIKE EVERY TIME YOU
>CRASH?

Just get ones that fit and they dont ride down at all.

Dylan