Tryon Stop Me

Surprise!  I rode again at Tryon today!  It was a good ride though I had a mix of good and not-so-good moments, which kind of made it an overall ok ride.  It was nice and cool out.  We've got some hot days coming up, so it was good to get out before those.

I rode out to the dump trail again.  Somewhere in there I saw a pack of mountain bikers regrouping and just starting to ride again.  At that point I caught up to the their last guy, though none of them saw me.  It took all of about 15 seconds for them to disappear.  I admit I tried to keep up, but it's not much use.  Later I saw them in the middle of Tryon in the rock ring.  They just ride through like it's nothing. Stinkin' two-wheelers coasting their way through life.  lol

Next ride I'll probably hit some other trails.

Addicted to Tryon?

Last year I rode at Tryon twice.  Same for 2013.  In 2012, three rides.  I'm surprised these numbers are so low, but I guess the difficulty of Tryon was always a turn off.  I rode there again this afternoon.  This is my fourth Tryon ride already this year, and all within 12 days.  I feel like the difficulty but do-ability (it should be a word) is what's making it so addictive.  Our relatively dry and, ideal temperatures, at least lately, help too.

I rarely avoid hill climbs and on this ride I also tried to avoid taking the path of least resistance in terms of trail surface.  I sometimes navigate around rocks and roots when that option exists, but this time I tried to at least hit the intermediate options.  It adds to the fun.  I generally felt like I rode better and stronger than last time.  Riding every other day might be a good thing.

At the southern point where the Browncroft apartments are, I usually turn around and head back.  But I know of the "dump trail" that starts right there on the town/county access road.  I had ridden it in the past but I always felt a bit lost in there.  Today I rode it, found my way just fine, and had an absolute blast!  I was able to find a nice route that reconnected me back to the trail I know.  It's a real nice loop with a good number of log-overs, rocky outcrops, and hills to keep my interest.

At the end of my ride I sessioned a steep hill climb just off the parking lot.  It was pretty close to my limit and I was proud to make the climb on my fourth try, especially after a long hard ride.

I enjoyed it so much, I'm pretty sure I'll be back for my next ride.

Tryon, Yet Again!

I guess I'm just really diggin' Tryon!  I went there this afternoon because the weather was so nice.  Cool, low-humidity spring days are the best.

I hit the rocky trail I mentioned last time, and also the "rock ring" which is more technical.  I thought I did quite well on both.

At one point I passed an older woman and her dog, and then over the course of 10 minutes I'd ride until I was spent, then just when I was about to go again I'd look back and see her approaching slowly through the trees.  It was like something out of a horror movie!   It also made me feel like I was no faster than an old lady, which I guess is almost true. lol  In actuality I was taking the more winding technical trails and she was on the easier trail that intersected.

I am liking Tryon so much this year, I might just ride it again!  It's not far from home, it's technical, has hill climbs, and works well with my current 24" set up.  Plus I like how it has many parallel options with different terrain that lead to the same place, so I can keep mixing up my ride.

Cool Ride at Tryon

I had hoped to ride during the week but I felt too tired.  Finally I caught up on sleep and rode today.
I hit Tryon again.  This time the temperature was cooler, in the mid-60's I think, and humidity must have been low.  I even felt a cool breeze at times.

I rode just about the same route as I did on my last ride.  I was hoping to see a significant increase in my performance, specifically on hill climbs, but really I did about the same. Tryon is just a tough place.  Still, I might try yet again to do better.  Several of my failed hill climbs were caused by unlucky UPDs, though I probably would have ran out of steam momentarily anyway.

One notable moment in my ride was when I was moving fairly quickly down and around a left turn.  There's a fork in the trail and I normal go left because it's the main trail.  To the right is an unknown trail that gets closer to Irondequoit Creek. Long ago I'd tried several of these off-shoot trails and was disappointed to find they were short hiking trails that led to a fishing spot and were sometimes dead ends.  As I sped toward my normal trail to the left a couple and their dog appeared and were caught a bit off-guard but started to move over.  But I instantly made the decision to avoid them and headed right.  It was a much more technical trail embedded with jagged rocks along its entirety.  I impressed myself with the distance I was able to go without a UPD, though I did end up with a few.  Those hikers had a good view of the first portion and I knew it, and sometimes that helps me give a little extra to put on the best show I can.  I'd rather have observers leave thinking "Wow, that's impressive" versus "See, what kind of idiot thinks he can ride a unicycle here."  I always wonder what observers are thinking, because before learning about muni I would have been blown away.  Anyway I'll be adding that trail to me regular mix.

Hot Ride at Tryon

For my weekend ride I skipped Saturday because we had an unseasonable high of 90°F.  Today I rode in the morning to beat the heat the best I could, but it was still in the 70's. I guess our 5 days of spring are over.  My 24" ungeared muni was ready to go, and since it's kind of too slow for Webster and Whiting, and I was just at Bay Park West, and I didn't want to drive far, Tryon seemed like a good choice.

The ride was on the hot side, and difficult, as expected for Tryon.  I saw some new-to-me trail reroutes and rock reinforcements.  Trail fairies are awesome!   Otherwise, it was just me pushing through the best I could.  There are very few hill climbs in Tryon that I can make without stopping.  I need to go back sometime and just session some individual climbs.  Usually I'm going for some amount of respectable distance, so when I fail a climb I rest a minute or two, remount and continue.

Not long after I got home I got one of those headaches I've gotten in the past, I guess from being too hot and pushing too hard.  I even took electrolyte pills and drank lots of water on my ride.  Excedrin and a few hours seems to have gotten rid of it.

Stelber Unicycle

A friend of mine (and of Webster Trails) called me yesterday to say she saw a unicycle thrown to the curb not far from my home.  She didn't really know if it was worthy of picking up.  It wasn't much of an investment in time, so I drove there and found it.

It was a vintage uni made by "Stelber".  I've never heard of it and I'm not really into old unicycles but I took it before the scrap metal guy did.

The tire has no air in it and the wheel turned with a horrifying metal grinding squeak.  Being an old unicycle, it has lollipop style bearings.  I dismantled it enough to access the bearings.  I squirted some of my Schlumpf grease into them.   Using grease intended for a state of the art nearly $1500 unicycle hub on poorly engineered bearings of this cheap ancient unicycle kind of blew my mind.  I worked the grease into the bearings and reassembled.  The wheel turned about as good as I'd expect.  The tube still held air, so it was ready to ride.

It's basically built like a toy.  I think most old unicycles kind of were compared to today's standards.  Perhaps this one was especially because it has a thin one-piece crank that you'd only see on modern tricycle for a 3 year old.  How anyone could think that would be strong enough for even a 10 year old to put weight on is beyond me.  "They don't make 'em like they used to."  Good thing!  Even today's cheap unicycles are way stronger than this crap, but comparing this unicycle to something like a modern Kris Holm muni... again, mind blowing.   We've come a long way.

And then there's the saddle.  Sydney's first comment was, "Oh my god that seat looks like it would hurt!"  And since I thought of this as a toy, I asked Sydney to ride it in case my weight crushed it.  She found it too difficult and complained the seat wiggled too much.  After a few unsuccessful tries I rolled my eyes.  Come on, it can't be that bad.  I confirmed to seat was wobbly because of its poor engineering.  It was just riveted to its base.  But I was sure I could ride it.  Nope, not really.  It was wobbly and one of the cranks was bent in a bit.  I probably could with enough trying, but I didn't bother after a few attempts and only about three rotations.  I feel sorry for anyone trying to learn on such a turd.


I may try to sell it.  I picture it bolted to the wall of an interesting bar or restaurant.

Robi Comes To Town 2

Robi came back to town again for more work on his tat.  This time we rode at Dryer Park in Victor.

It was in the 60's and low humidity and trail conditions were perfect.  We rode about 80% of last year's Fat Tire Festival course, but then broke away from it.  I think we both had the most fun on Owl's Maze.  We were both riding 24" wheels but Robi rides faster and seemed to have endless energy.  After leading for a minute, I let Robi pass.  I kept losing ground and it wasn't long before we were passing by each other in opposite directions.  Owl's Maze is rather awesome like that.  The trail winds so much and keeps passing by a place you were just at a minute ago.  It seems never ending.  Looking back at my GPS, it took about 8 minutes to get down.  It must have taken some real dedication to build that trail and to make it fill in the all the space that it does.

Robi had asked what size muni to bring and with Dryer in mind I thought I'd ride my 24".  My 26" fat tire wouldn't be ideal because of the fat tire, and I think my 29er is too big for me on tight hilly trails.  Robi brought his 24" but in hindsight thought his 26" would have been better.  I too thought a bigger wheel would have been smoother.  I sure could use a non-fat tire 26" muni, don't you think?

Another Ride

I rode at Bay Park West today.  It's the same old story a great cardio workout.

I noticed some nice trail improvements and some signs that asked people not to use the trails when they're wet.  At this point they are 100% perfectly dry and in great condition.

I saw a new trail, which I was aware was being worked on, but it hasn't been opened yet and I didn't have the energy to check it out.

I believe it was about 65°F out, but it felt hotter.  I wish it would be in the 50s every time I ride.