Unicycle Skyline Drive - Shenandoah National Park, VA

[chuckaeronut]

Hey, I've been thinking about coming out, too... it'd have to be in the future, though, becasue I'd need to first make some money and then get myself a plane ticket. $230 looks like it'll do the trick for me to get there and back. I'd spend $130 in gas to get to Northern Cal and back to do a coker ride here and there, and.. that road looks beautiful as hell, so $230.... methinks I could do that.

I've been all lonely out here with no geared 36ers I can ride with. Going 9-11 mph for four hours doesn't really cut it anymore, and the roadies out here are still about 4 mph too fast for me with a 1.54 gear. :-P

I'd vote for carrying only what food we can fit in our jerseys and saddlebags, and just cranking all 105 miles in the first day... it'd be tough as hell, but it'd be pretty epic. I know I'd be dead... 100 flat miles with a little headwind was enough to do me in on my first geared coker ride. Add in 10,000ish feet of climbing... that'd be an undertaking, to say the least.

Is this still on, though? How are your knees working out, James? What if we went in early 2009 or something? I might be able to schedule my classes to get four day weekends :-D. And by then your knees might be good to go. If we did all 105, not only would it be a pretty crazy awesome day, but we wouldn't have to carry anything but food and maybe 50 miles worth of water (about a camelback, or 4 bottles of water).

What'ddya think?

[siafirede]

Originally Posted by chuckaeronut

Hey, I've been thinking about coming out, too... it'd have to be in the future, though, becasue I'd need to first make some money and then get myself a plane ticket. $230 looks like it'll do the trick for me to get there and back. I'd spend $130 in gas to get to Northern Cal and back to do a coker ride here and there, and.. that road looks beautiful as hell, so $230.... methinks I could do that.

I've been all lonely out here with no geared 36ers I can ride with. Going 9-11 mph for four hours doesn't really cut it anymore, and the roadies out here are still about 4 mph too fast for me with a 1.54 gear. :-P

I'd vote for carrying only what food we can fit in our jerseys and saddlebags, and just cranking all 105 miles in the first day... it'd be tough as hell, but it'd be pretty epic. I know I'd be dead... 100 flat miles with a little headwind was enough to do me in on my first geared coker ride. Add in 10,000ish feet of climbing... that'd be an undertaking, to say the least.

Is this still on, though? How are your knees working out, James? What if we went in early 2009 or something? I might be able to schedule my classes to get four day weekends :-D. And by then your knees might be good to go. If we did all 105, not only would it be a pretty crazy awesome day, but we wouldn't have to carry anything but food and maybe 50 miles worth of water (about a camelback, or 4 bottles of water).

What'ddya think?

Hey, yeah it would be awesome if you came out here. You'd definitely have a place to stay.

I still really want to do all of Skyline Drive, it is on my life long unicycling goals list. I would hope my knees(well really just my right knee) would be better by early next year, and I am sure with enough warning my sister could help out and meet us halfway to bring food/sleeping bags. She is out in Harrisonburg, so it wouldnt be much of a drive for her to meet us halfway and make it a semi-supported 2 day unicycling tour. Two days is far more doable than one, but still very difficult. 3 days is probably ideal (to enjoy Shenandoah National Park while riding), but takes more effort to organize. One day - as you said would be crazy epic.

As it is now, I am not doing any long distance unicycling with the ungeared 36. I am giving my knee as much time as I can and I don't have any pain now, but I am just paranoid that I will aggravate it, so I have just been biking to work instead - about 2 times a week to maintain my muscles and hopefully help out my knee. I am still doing muni, because for some reason, I have no problems with my right knee at all when riding muni.

So I am giving myself a bit more time, and I really don't want to do any long distance riding till I get my KH/Schlumpf hub back from Florian (I sent it in 5 months ago for upgrades). Corbin thinks we should be getting our sent in hubs back pretty soon since new ones are going out now.

But yeah...$230 is a pretty cheap flight price, and you could hang out in the DC area and have a place to stay after the ride. I'll see how my knee feels once I get my KH/Schlumpf hub back, and we can hopefully organize something.

[MuniSano]

Wow that sounds like such an awesome epic! I wish I had time to join y'all! In stead I'm planning a far easier 100 mile epic closer to home next month when I'm through with this semester. Riding all of the Silver-Comet / Chief Ladiga Rail-Trail from Atlanta, GA to Anniston, AL. Not too far away for me and I'll have some two-wheeled company. When I do finally get my KH/Schlumpf hub outfitted in my KH24 I'm going to do an epic ride out in Lake City, CO this summer that I've been dying to do for years...

[chuckaeronut]

You're putting your hub in a 36, right? I think I remember you saying you were going to build up a KH36 a while back. And oh, five months! WOW! You must have sent it in in June? I only went without my hub for one and a half months, and it felt like an eternity. And yeah, going back to ungeared just wasn't the same. :-(

That really sucks about your knee, but it's good you're keeping on the bike. Moreso than the uni, because pushing 102 or 114 cranks on a singlespeed 36 just isn't the same as munching down on 150s with a gear. I think the geared riding is much easier on things like knees, if only because of the extension from teh longer cranks. (Maybe that's why your knee doesn't hurt doing MUni or while cycling, but still does on the coker?) Get better soon!

[siafirede]

Originally Posted by chuckaeronut

You're putting your hub in a 36, right? I think I remember you saying you were going to build up a KH36 a while back. And oh, five months! WOW! You must have sent it in in June? I only went without my hub for one and a half months, and it felt like an eternity. And yeah, going back to ungeared just wasn't the same. :-(

That really sucks about your knee, but it's good you're keeping on the bike. Moreso than the uni, because pushing 102 or 114 cranks on a singlespeed 36 just isn't the same as munching down on 150s with a gear. I think the geared riding is much easier on things like knees, if only because of the extension from teh longer cranks. (Maybe that's why your knee doesn't hurt doing MUni or while cycling, but still does on the coker?) Get better soon!

Actually I think it has been closer to 4 months than 5.

Yeah I am definitely putting it in a KH36, I have all the parts sitting in my room waiting for the hub. I also think that the short cranks are affecting my knees more, and yeah biking should be more like riding a geared 36 with 150s, so hopefully it won't be a hard transition. The geared 36 seemed a lot easier to ride than the geared 29 when I tried yours out, so I am sure I won't have a problem adjusting. I just have to be carefull not to overdo it right away and watch my knee.

[chuckaeronut]

I just have to be carefull not to overdo it right away and watch my knee.

+1 on that. Don't hurt yourself any more. You might consider running the 165 moments if you're worried about your knee? All it does is make you more bike-like. (i.e. easier on your knee) When I changed from 165 to 150, I'm not sure I gained any speed at all. Maybe half a mile an hour worth of cruise speed. The 150s just made me able to spin a little faster going downhill, which is rare enough that I almost kind think 165s would be at least as good as the 150s, and less stressful on joints... if I cared only about downhill speed, I'd probably be struggling with 125s, haha. 150-165 probably doesn't make too much of a difference, though, so if you don't have them, it's not worth it.

A big w00t for 36ers, though!

[steveyo]

I lived in NC and loved Skyline Dr. With our Panama Evo of Balance trip in January, it's doubtful I could make this ride, depending on when it takes shape, but I would try to be there. We know a bunch of folks in DC, so a family trip might make it work.

[joshben]

wow, didn't expect this kind of interest!

if we want to do a tour, i guess i was thinking sometime between late february and early May. I am pretty open to other seasons (next year), though. after reading James' input, i realize that we won't be able to ride with my bike friends, but i think it would be fun to start at the same time. one thing that seems like it would be cool is to start at opposite ends and meet and camp together one night in the middle.