This is finals week, which means that I have no classes and a lot of take-home exams. I decided yesterday that the best possible place to take an exam was in the mountains. So I packed a couple meals for myself, hopped on my unicycle, and headed north. I was even feeling organized enough to snap a picture of myself:
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| I'm actually pretty happy with how this shot turned out. |
Three miles later, I hit the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park, which contains a beautiful 5-mile mountain trail. The base of the trail was a little shady, and the temperature hadn't yet risen above 60 (in the middle of December! Seriously, SoCal, I'm disappointed in your inability to stay warm...), so I decided to head upward.
A few notes on mountain unicycling:
1) Mountain trails are steep! It's difficult enough to bike up them - unicycling is downright crazy. But I got great traction, and managed to stay on the unicycle for pretty decent chunks of time. The biggest problem I encountered was free mounting (getting onto the unicycle without a wall) on a steep incline. When I couldn't make it any further, I generally ended up getting off and walking up to the next (relatively) flat spot.
2) If you ever need an ego boost, ride a unicycle on a busy mountain trail. The crazy looks, spontaneous laughs, and complements make all the hard work worthwhile. I even had one group ask if they could take a video of me...
3) Uphill is hard, downhill is terrifying. Once, I almost passed a bicyclist. I was very impressed with myself. Then, we hit a downhill bit. The bicycle has brakes; the only way I can brake is by never going too fast in the first place. I'm pretty sure I went slower downhill than up because of that.
In any case, I had a great time. I was riding uphill, focusing on not falling, and looking for a nice place to stop and study chemistry. I looked up for a moment, and was practically blown off my feet (off my wheel?). The scenery was beautiful!
I also caught a glimpse of Claremont, which was apparently a little foggy that morning:
I found a nice place to sit and study chemistry, then went a little further on and found a place to take my chemistry exam (which I'm not allowed to discuss until 5:00 pm today - I may update this post after that). I read a little, munched on some trail mix, and then tackled the remaining 3.5 miles of the loop. Yes, I could have just turned around and gone 1.5 miles back, but the way I'd come was pretty steep, and I wanted to see the other portion of the trail. It was an amazing ride. I'll certainly be returning to the park later this week or next semester.
In any case, I eventually got back to campus, after a grand total of around 10-11 miles of unicycling. I was checking out my unicycle and brushing off the dust when I spotted a little pebble lodged in the tread of my wheel. I flicked it out, then heard the sound all bicyclists dread: pshhhhhhhhh. I now have a completely flat tire, which is rather sad. I'll have to see if I can find a patch before the end of finals so I can return the unicycle to the club. (Yes, I'm still using a borrowed unicycle. I'm hoping to get one of my own over break - I have my eye on the Nimbus 26" Mountain unicycle, which gets awesome reviews and is actually designed for mountain unicycling.)
Edit (13:00 Dec. 12): Thanks to the Pitzer College Green Bike Program, the unicycle has a patch and is rolling as usual again! Hooray!
Further edit (11:45 Dec. 13): False alarm! It appears I have another hole in my tire, as my wheel is completely flat again this morning. Unfortunate.
Further further edit (19:30 Dec. 13): Hooray! I paid another visit to Green Bikes this afternoon, where I found a nice little thorn on the inside of the tire tread. I've removed that, patched the tire again, and tightened all of the loose bolts on the seat. I'm glad to be returning the unicycle in better condition than I found it.
On a somewhat related note, I found an awesome blog by a mountain unicyclist: Unplanned Dismount. The author has a great sense of humor, and it sounds like he does a lot of the same kind of riding I'd like to be able to do someday. He also gives a lot of reasonable-sounding tips, though I can't try them out at the moment thanks to my little experience with a thorny pebble.
A few notes on mountain unicycling:
1) Mountain trails are steep! It's difficult enough to bike up them - unicycling is downright crazy. But I got great traction, and managed to stay on the unicycle for pretty decent chunks of time. The biggest problem I encountered was free mounting (getting onto the unicycle without a wall) on a steep incline. When I couldn't make it any further, I generally ended up getting off and walking up to the next (relatively) flat spot.
2) If you ever need an ego boost, ride a unicycle on a busy mountain trail. The crazy looks, spontaneous laughs, and complements make all the hard work worthwhile. I even had one group ask if they could take a video of me...
3) Uphill is hard, downhill is terrifying. Once, I almost passed a bicyclist. I was very impressed with myself. Then, we hit a downhill bit. The bicycle has brakes; the only way I can brake is by never going too fast in the first place. I'm pretty sure I went slower downhill than up because of that.
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| Mountains all the way! |
I found a nice place to sit and study chemistry, then went a little further on and found a place to take my chemistry exam (which I'm not allowed to discuss until 5:00 pm today - I may update this post after that). I read a little, munched on some trail mix, and then tackled the remaining 3.5 miles of the loop. Yes, I could have just turned around and gone 1.5 miles back, but the way I'd come was pretty steep, and I wanted to see the other portion of the trail. It was an amazing ride. I'll certainly be returning to the park later this week or next semester.
In any case, I eventually got back to campus, after a grand total of around 10-11 miles of unicycling. I was checking out my unicycle and brushing off the dust when I spotted a little pebble lodged in the tread of my wheel. I flicked it out, then heard the sound all bicyclists dread: pshhhhhhhhh. I now have a completely flat tire, which is rather sad. I'll have to see if I can find a patch before the end of finals so I can return the unicycle to the club. (Yes, I'm still using a borrowed unicycle. I'm hoping to get one of my own over break - I have my eye on the Nimbus 26" Mountain unicycle, which gets awesome reviews and is actually designed for mountain unicycling.)
Edit (13:00 Dec. 12): Thanks to the Pitzer College Green Bike Program, the unicycle has a patch and is rolling as usual again! Hooray!
Further edit (11:45 Dec. 13): False alarm! It appears I have another hole in my tire, as my wheel is completely flat again this morning. Unfortunate.
Further further edit (19:30 Dec. 13): Hooray! I paid another visit to Green Bikes this afternoon, where I found a nice little thorn on the inside of the tire tread. I've removed that, patched the tire again, and tightened all of the loose bolts on the seat. I'm glad to be returning the unicycle in better condition than I found it.
On a somewhat related note, I found an awesome blog by a mountain unicyclist: Unplanned Dismount. The author has a great sense of humor, and it sounds like he does a lot of the same kind of riding I'd like to be able to do someday. He also gives a lot of reasonable-sounding tips, though I can't try them out at the moment thanks to my little experience with a thorny pebble.
I am in awe of your mountain unicycling. Seriously. Also, jealous of your proximity to mountains. Also, jealous of you and everyone else not at MIT for being done with finals before I am. Yep, that pretty much covers it...
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