2015 Unicycling Anniversary

Amy and the kids surprised me with a unicycling anniversary cake!  I had forgotten!

Before cake we had a unicycle jam session in the driveway.  Syd's been favoring my 20" trials.  Kyle's been riding more and is more stable.  He free-mounts sometimes too.  Unfortunately he's so tall he wants my seat post raised too high for me, so it makes sharing difficult.  Perhaps he needs a uni of his own!  He does ride some of the cheaper 20" unicycles I have, but the seats aren't nice.

Kessa's tiny unicycle that I got her for Christmas 2013 is actually too small.  It's too bad the seat height isn't adjustable.  It was a cute uni and very well built, but not at all versatile.  It's good if you can actually get a 3 year old to ride it, but that's not realistic.  I didn't expect her to, but I thought it would still be rideable at age 5.  A few weeks ago at the Empire State Muni Fest, Robi let us borrow his small uni, which is actually a 12" wheel like Kessa's.  I swapped the cranks with Kessa's, which were slightly shorter, and shortened a seat post from Syd's first 16" uni.  This made it an acceptable size for Kessa.  I too can ride it! lol  I think I had more fun on it than Kessa so far.

Empire State Muni Festival 2015

My family and I spent this weekend at the Empire State Muni Festival in Austerlitz, New York.  It was basically a repeat of last year's event.  That's a good thing because it's a lot of fun.


The drive there on Friday afternoon was memorable as we passed through a number of thunderstorms. We eventually got ahead of the torrential rains and lightning and arrived at Fox Hill campground in time to set up before the rain came.  Thankfully the weekend was dry.

I rode with the group at Beebe Hill State Forest on both Saturday and Sunday. The trails had occasional mud, but were generally in fine condition.  We rode many of the same trails as last year and new one.  All were a lot of fun.  There are so many challenging, but optional, features.  I wish I could ride there regularly.

It was great to be with an awesome group of muni riders.

The peaceful view from the fire tower:

GPS ride 1
GPS ride 2
GPS ride 3
GPS ride 4

Robi Comes To Town 3

Robi came to visit for his third tattoo appointment.  We rode today at Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area (apparently it's a recreation area, not a park).  Robi knew that two other Albany area riders were going to be somewhat near Rochester and so we added Jim and Diane to our group!  I had met Jim and Diane at last year's Empire State Muni Festival.

HHS is where the Suicide Six mountain bike race is held.  It's tough with plenty of climbing and technical trails.  Robi and I had talked about riding some tougher trails so this was good.  Jim is an amazing rider so he was game.  Diane planned to ride what she could and at her own pace.

It was a gorgeous day with thunderstorms predicted in the afternoon, so we met up at 9 am.  The trails were in great condition, damp and only muddy in spots.  These trails are serious work!  I hadn't ridden in weeks thanks mostly to being super busy at work.  My cardio had weakened and I wasn't really well rested.  I felt a bit of vertigo at times when I stopped to catch my breath.  I'm pretty sure I was just tired... but not two tir.. oh never mind. :P

The trails are a lot of work but a lot of fun too.  After a respectable distance into the trail Diane decided to ride at her own pace.  The rest of us broke away and followed the nicely marked S6 trail markers.  I has never seen those before so I assume they were put up since I last rode there over a year ago.   Some of the trail was new to me too so  I guess the race course has been extended. I rode my fat tire 26 and was happy I did.  The fat soft tire gave me some much appreciated suspension!

After riding the 3 mile south-west portion, Robi, Jim, and I headed back to the parking loop to reconnect with Diane, assuming she probably headed back.  We weren't able to find her, so we decided to backtrack the trail we just rode.  Riding it the other way is always different.  It wasn't until we were back at the parking lot that we found her again.   After a break we all agreed to be insane and ride some more.  We continued the ride up the east side which has some good fun flowy parts, followed by more challenging climbs and technical.

At the end of the trail we followed the crushed rock road back to our cars.  On the last hill climb my quads cramped like they have in the past.  Even though I drink a lot of water during the ride, maybe I'm not hydrating enough in the day or so before riding.

This year's Empire State Muni Festival is happening this weekend and I believe Jim, Diane, and Robi are going, so I'll likely ride with them again very soon!