Tweet Tweet

Sometimes I search Twitter for tweets with "unicycle" in them. It's just kind of funny what people say when they see one.

I searched tonight for "unicycle" and "snow" and this one from yesterday caught my eye:

"I just seen a dude riding a Unicycle....in the snow! WTF !!"

I clicked on his username, leading to his Twitter page, leading to his personal homepage, and email address. A google search of his email leads further into his web page, showing his name. A whitepages search leads to an address in Webster, and sure enough it's in a neighborhood I rode through!

It's kind of funny to find a tweet about you from a random stranger!

Another Snowy Road Ride

Another good weekend for riding the snow packed streets. I strayed into some more distant neighborhoods. It was about 19°F (-7°C) out.

Nothing too interesting happened. I saw my neighbor Chris along the way.
I heard some guy telling his kid, "Look... a bike." He looks again. "Oh it's single bike." Getting warmer!

My cycle computer agreed with my GPS again. 9 miles.

Snowy Road Muni - 2011-01-22

Snowy Road Ride

I doubt any local trails would be very muni friendly right now. It has snowed too much in the past few days. But when I cleared the driveway yesterday, I noticed the road looked pretty good. The plows and cars have left a layer of hard-packed snow. It was about 20°F (-7°C). Brrr.
So today I suited up as if to go to the trails but headed off down the driveway instead.

I rode in my neighborhood and in a neighboring neighborhood. As usual it took some time to warm up. The wind is gusty today and my ears were feeling it. At first I wish I had worn my balaclava, which I did bring in my pack. But knowing I tend to warm up after about five minutes, I waited and was good without it.

I only UPD'ed about five times, and I ran out of all of them. Every one was caused by hitting a thick soft packed patch of snow.
I saw a lot of people shoveling and snowblowing, and some groups of kids playing.
I got one peculiar comment from a guy shoveling, "I guess you get more stability on the ice." Huh? Umm... no.
I almost got run over by a woman backing her SUV out who didn't bother looking. But I saw her.

It was good to get out and keep the muscles working.
My cycle computer and GPS agreed this time at 6.6 miles.

Snowy Road Muni - 2011-01-16

Koxx-One Black Domina II

I've been wanting to play around more on my uni and try to learn some more skills. Buying a 20" wheeled uni crossed my mind every once in a while.

I saw a great sale on Koxx-One (K1) unis, so I picked one.
The Koxx-One Black Domina II:

Camouflage seat. A must have for all uni riders.


A 20" wheel uni is generally used in flatland, street, and trials.

- Flatland or flat is basically performing tricks on flat ground.
- Street focuses on performing tricks on a variety of urban obstacles like curbs, ledges, stairs and hand rails.
- Trials focuses on trying to overcome various obstacles such as ledges, gaps, and skinnies.

I don't plan on concentrating on any of these styles but I'd like to learn certain skills from each: improved hops, riding SIF (seat in front), still stands, skinnies, wheel walking, gliding, crank flips, 180 and 360 unispins, and more.
Some skills might help me ride my 24" muni through more technical trails, and some might just add some flare to my ride. That's the theory anyway.

Snow-free Winter Muni Ride

I took a few hours of vacation this afternoon to ride at Whiting and Webster Park. Most of the snow around here has melted and the temperature was just above freezing.
The trails at Whiting and Webster were generally clear, but some areas still had hard packed snow and ice. All of these areas were flat, so it wasn't too bad. One exception was the field area at Whiting. There must have been about four inches of hard packed snow riddled with footprints, and it went around the entire field. Getting through that was a workout.

There were also frozen boot-prints wherever mud had been. And much of the trails top inch or two has heaved upward from freezing. That creates a lot of bumps and ridges. It's kind of worrying to see. But I know the trails will recover in the spring.

It all made for a bumpier ride and more of a workout.
With that and the battle of breathing cold air, and getting hot and cold, I decided that one of my usual laps was enough.

I was very happy to make it up all my challenging hills. Hopefully I won't lose much endurance over the winter.

I rode 6 miles according to my cycle computer. 5.8 miles according to my GPS. And it looks like I went about 4 or 5 mph, a bit slower than usual.

Muni at Whiting and Webster Park - 2011-01-04