NOTE: All timestamps are in the future because WE are in the future. The care takers of Midnight Ridazz.com reserves the right to remove, edit, move or delete anything for any reason. None of the opinions expressed on these boards represent the Midnight Ridazz nor can anyone purport to speak on behalf of Midnight Ridazz.
This 100 mile solo unicycle ride was one of the most exciting and challenging experiences of my life! I actually did 104 miles, and 58,240 wheel revolutions! No wonder I'm achy the next day, but it was for such a great cause! I'm leaving the donation page for the American Cancer Society open for at least another week, so people can still make donations. The link is on the home page of my website, [url=http://unigeezer.com/]UniGeezer[/url]
Here's my writeup and the link to the video documentary is at the bottom:
At about mile 25 I heard a loud "pop" which turned out to be a broken spoke! This instantly made the wheel wobbly and unstable. Luckily, I had brought 3 spare spokes, so I was able to replace it, but my spoke wrench was too small to tighten it! (I just assumed it would fit! ) After about 15 minutes I was able to find someone with the right tool, and was up and riding again.
Then, 15 miles later ANOTHER spoke broke! Now I was down to only one spare. I decided to loosen each spoke 1/4 turn to reduce tension, and from then on had no more spoke problems. Fortunately for me, not really knowing how to true a wheel (But now I will learn!) it was still in decent true!
I did the extra 4 miles because when the second spoke broke, I must've inadvertently moved that little magnetic sensor disc that reads mileage on my cycle computer! It was only after I'd gone about 4 miles that I discovered it was not registering, so I stopped and re-aligned it to the transmitter thing.
So at the end of my ride, even though I would have gone 100 miles, the computer would have only logged 96 due to that 4 mile glitch. So I decided to ride the extra 4, just because I wanted it to show 100 miles, lol! So 104 total.
I met two really nice cyclists along the way; a guy named Michael Castro on his 3-wheeled recumbent; he rode with me for about 40 miles, and later, a guy named Jerry on a 24" schwinn unicycle tagged along for a little while.
Summing up, after starting my trek at 5:30 am, I finally completed my ride at 4:34pm, 11 hours and 4 minutes later! This total time included the spoke repairs, breaks, slowing for traffic lights and congested bike paths and some pedal hole changes on the last leg: I tried to get it under 11. Oh well, maybe next time I can shoot for that "100-10-1" thing! Two out of three ain't bad I guess!
And although I stuffed myself with 5 power bars, 6 energy gels, 2 bagels and about 12 pounds of water during the ride...and a WHOLE pizza after the ride, I woke up this morning THREE pounds lighter! But then again, I probably burned tons of calories on the ride, and probably some more while I slept!
I look forward to mapping out more uni-century rides, at least once every year now. I'm hooked!
As funny as it sounds, I have created satirical posts on MR on the subjects of "nowheelers" and "unicycle centuries" in response to the, at the time, HUGE preference and piousness of track bike riders arguing for their hopeful superiority in long distance riding---this was in 2006 or 2007, I think.
Well, what the fuck!!??? You have made my satire into a reality. I have to give my shout of approval to you. You are awesome.
p.s.
Also, I admit this: those three tough, motherfucking, unknown(up until then) Irvine fixie riders did the unthinkable. They beat me in the first Wolf Pack Century by like twenty minutes.
p.s.s. You might not be the first man to do a unicycle century, but then again, you might very well be this man. It doesn't matter. In my book, you are awesome.
And responding to tern, while I'm not the first person to have done a uni-century in one day, I am the oldest, lol! A fellow uni buddy is going to attempt his own uni century as soon as his pelvis injury heals. He's 8 years older than me at 62! :)
You say, "lol" regarding your achievement in being the oldest person to finish a unicycle century in one day. But, I say "You are the Greatest," regarding your achievement. You should be recognized in a better way than I am recognizing you. This is my best:
You are an incredible person....and an awesome unicyclist.
Thanks for keeping Midnight Ridazz up to date on your noteworthy accomplishment.
tern responding to a comment by UniGeezer
07.12.10 - 5:31 pm
Tern, I truly appreciate your kind words. I think I'm going through those "middle age crazies" and am trying to make up for lost youth! I used to ride a uni as a kid in the 60's, but then quit and didn't start riding again until in 2006, almost 40 years later! I know my time is limited, but I feel there's still a lot of "catching up" to do! =)
Geez,
My apologizes for not riding out with you at the start, which was near my abode.
Other issues came up at the last minute, and I wound up not riding at all on Sunday.
Sorry I missed this epic event.
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
