11.5 mile ride

[heavy metal unicycling]

I am going an an 11.5 mile ride in about, oh, 2 hours. It is not that long, but I am doing it on my 24 inch and it will take me about 2 hours. Any sugestions?

[Unitik908]

have a comfy seat, and when your butt and whatnot starts hurting push down on the seat to releave presure, you should be fine

Chase

[heavy metal unicycling]

Thanks Chase I have an air saddle, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Unitik908]

oh then you will do just fine,

ps. SLIPKNOT ROCKS no one seems to like that kinda music here cept me

Chase

[underdog]

I like those lycra bike shorts for longer rides as well as a comfy saddle. The seams in my regular shorts or pants tend to cause a bit of pain after not too long. 11.5 mi. is a good ride on a 24. Longest I've done on my 24 was 5 mi. Took an hour. One break at half-way point but no UPDs. Yeehaa.

[unipsychler]

Hey Heavy Metal,

I've been UniTouring for a while. I ride a modified 28" unicycle. The two most helpful modifications I've made to my ride is the air saddle, which you already have, and a set of brakes.

I had my local muffler shop weld a pair of braze-ons for a cantilever style brake. Instead of using a conventional brake lever, I installed a tensioner from an exercise bicycle under my seat. I use the brake on steep downhills to save my quads from exploding, especially on long rides. I adjust the tensioner, which looks like a shift lever, just enough to give my legs some relief from the back pressure. I've found it to work wonderfully once I got used to it. A few times I've applied too much tension and went for a ride.

I'm also running 5" cranks which give me an extra mile-per-hour than the stock 6" ones. In some geographic locations their able to run 4" cranks on a 36" wheel but there are too many hills where I live for a crank that small.

Hope this helps.

www.ridetheunicycle.com

[gerblefranklin]

Originally posted by heavy metal unicycling
I am going an an 11.5 mile ride in about, oh, 2 hours.

A bit late now, but a good rule of thumb is don't wait until 2 hours before a ride to figure out what kind of rig you'll ride and what you'll do to make it through the ride.

It's hard to advize you when we don't know what kind of ride it is. 11.5 miles on San Francisco hills is not something to thumb your nose at, even thought it's still not technical or difficult, and Unipsycler's advice would be rather poor since 5" cranks for SF hills means you'll walk. On the other hand, his advice is excellent for a flat ride somewhere else. Ride planning is really very circumstancial.