Starting to Idle

I've been practicing idling a bit over the past few weeks. Something started to click over the past few days. I probably only average 2 or 3 rocks back and forth, but I did the most tonight. How much is that? Seven.

Hojack

Whenever I ride the Webster Hojack trail I try to have no dismounts. Today I rode the entire length and back and had to dismount only two times, once in each direction. The first was a mud hole, and the second was because of heavy traffic at a crossroad. I also stopped at the west end to take a break, but that was the plan.

Mj was considering joining me again today, but wasn't sure. She texted me during my ride to say it wasn't happening, and I managed to reach behind me, unzip the bottom section of my CamelBak, get my phone out, read the basic idea of her texts, memorize her phone number (my phone sucks), called her back, and talked for a minute, all while continuing to ride! Haha... well I guess that's not so hard to do on flat trail. But for a lot of it I wasn't even looking where I was going!
I also took some pictures while I rode.


The section of trail of the east end that leads to the Hojack was crazy muddy. I walked the edge of it. It would have been fun but not worth the mess this time.

First KH24 Ride

The weather has been awesome all week, and then of course it's in the 40's and rainy this weekend. Grrr! But I had to get out with my new ride.
Mj, one of the other local riders met me at the Whiting Rd trails. It was good to have another rider on the trails. Thanks Mj!

My new uni is working out well. I found a hill to experiment with my new brake. The results weren't so good. While the brake works very well, my technique was lacking and in the first 5 seconds I leaned too far back and found myself on the ground. A my left arm met up with a root.
I'm glad it's just an abrasion.
Overall a good time!

KH24

Today my KH24 arrived! Did I mention I was buying one?
As if I didn't spoil myself enough I got 150/125 dual hole cranks and Magura brakes too.
I rode it enough tonight to know that I'm going to love it. I don't have any downhills in my yard or neighborhood to try the brakes on yet. The trails are calling me.
I also got a second rim. Hmm... why would I do that?

New Railing

Last weekend I built a new railing for the kids to practice with. Actually, I'm finding myself using it to learn idling and riding backwards. Not much progress for me yet. Sydney used the railing today and made some good progress. I think she got a few full rotations several times.

Unibaby?

Another potential unicyclist has entered the world!

Kessa Quinn
She weighed in at 10lbs 8oz!

Need For Speed

Yesterday I rode a few miles in the neighborhood on my 26" Nimbus. As usual, I really wanted to go faster than it would allow.

For unicycles, there are two primary ways to go faster.
Choice one: Ride a bigger wheel.
Unicycle frames are built to handle a certain wheel size. Typical sizes are 12", 16", 20", 24", 26", 29", and 36".
- 12" and 16" are typically for kids.
- 20" are often used for trials and street.
- I have a 24" and 26", which are often used for muni.
- 29" are used for muni or road.
- 36" is pretty much for road.

Obviously a bigger wheel makes you go faster, as for each pedal rotation your wheel travels its circumference.
Unfortunately unicycles are expensive.

Choice two: Geared hub.
Another option is a geared hub. Currently there is only one real choice for this: The Schlumpf hub. It allows you to ride as normal, or shift to a higher gear. The wheel will then travel 1.5 rotations for each pedal rotation. Of course, the wheel size is an important factor still. A 24" wheel will ride like a 36". A 26" wheel will ride like a 39". Sort of. Bigger wheels ride more smoothly, so the ride isn't really the same.
Unfortunately Schlumpf hubs are crazy expensive.
That seems insane but they sound like a lot of fun.

I haven't decided what I really want. I need to ride my 26" on the trails to see if I like that size better than 24". It would be cool to have one of those with a Schlumpf hub.
But it would also be a lot of fun to ride a 36" in the neighborhood or on bike paths. Or may a 29" or 36" with a Schlumpf.

It will be some time before I can ride the 26" on the trails, so I won't be making any decisions for a while.