Half a Mile

[racingnismo]

Yesterday I was bold enought to bring the black torker onto the bus with me to work. In the morning I put it on the bike rack, and found that once I got to work, the brace that you are suppossed to put on the front wheel of the bike was off and the uni was just sitting there in the cradle. Not good...... so when I went home I just took the uni in with me and said "hi" to the bus driver. LOL. Fits pretty easily in front of me when sitting down in the bus.

Anyways, it is a half mile ride to and from my bus stop to my work place. Man! I have to say that I thought it was going to be easier that it actually turned out to be. Haha. Got a lot of stairs and some glares, and also some smiles. So it was all good. Had to do it at least once this summer, just so that I can say that I did it. Good fun.

[Mikefule]

You mean your local buses don't have purpose made unicycle racks? I suppose they have no room for tandems, trikes, or pentacycles either! Write to your local authority immediately!

I have never yet ridden a unicycle to work. The 1 in 6 (ish) (17%) hill and the looooooooong graual hill on the way home would be a problem. When I bought my first unicycle, though, I collected it at lunchtime and took it into the office. The incident is still remembered.

Keep up the good work. Catch the bus a stop later on your way in, or get off a stop sooner on your way home. Progressive stamina development!

[treepotato]

Mikefule what's a 'pentacycle' i'm guessing it's a bike with 5 wheels (pentagon 5 sides) this right?

[Mikefule]

Pentacycle = a cycle with 5 wheels, as you correctly deduced.

The Royal mail experimented with them about 100 years ago. I believe about 23 were made. they weren't a success. One of them is in the cycle museum in Devon.

The pentacycle had one very large wheel in the middle, approximately the same size as the front wheel on an 'ordinary' or 'penny farthing'.

The four other wheels were much smaller, and were positioned one at each corner, so that the 5 wheels were in the same pattern as the 5 spots on the 5 on a die (dice).

The idea was that the rider pedalled the big wheel, and the 4 little wheels provided infallible stability. The rider only had to power and steer it, and not worry about balance. The rider was, of course, a postman (mailman) and had to carry large sacks of mail. These sacks were suspended from the frame.

The whole effect was like the skeleton of the lower half of a dalek.

[Mikefule]

I forgot to say, the pentacycles were known as 'hen and chickens', supposedly because the big wheel was the hen, and the little wheels were the chicks.

[U-Turn]

Originally posted by Mikefule
I forgot to say, the pentacycles were known as 'hen and chickens', supposedly because the big wheel was the hen, and the little wheels were the chicks.

Hmmm.... *imagines*

Me as the Big Wheel, and four chicks always close by....