My first Uni-Century - Writeup and video!

[MuniAddict]

This 100 mile solo 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, http://unigeezer.com/

Here's my writeup and 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!

YouTube- 100 miles on a Unicycle! My first...

[kevinalexandersmith]

I'm impressed. Not once in the video did you complain about saddle soreness, knees, fatigue, or anything else. I rode 20 miles the other day and wined like a little baby to all my friends.

Your are an inspiration. If you were one of the X-men your terrific attitude would be your superpower.

You make me want to be a better person. Thanks for being an icon in the unicycling world.

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by kevinalexandersmith

I'm impressed. Not once in the video did you complain about saddle soreness, knees, fatigue, or anything else. I rode 20 miles the other day and wined like a little baby to all my friends.

Your are an inspiration. If you were one of the X-men your terrific attitude would be your superpower.

You make me want to be a better person. Thanks for being an icon in the unicycling world.

Wow, thanks Kevin. That's just about the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me! It really means a lot! (I do feel the after effects of the ride, the day after, but it's a "good" kind, lol!)

[Tak]

Originally Posted by kevinalexandersmith

I rode 20 miles the other day and wined like a little baby to all my friends.

+1

Congratulations, MuniAddict - awesome job!
Keep on rockin' and inspiring us!

[Harley]

Congrats Terry. Great accomplishment. You actually made that look easy.

Take a well deserved rest for recovery purposes.

[siafirede]

Congrats!

I am surprised that you didn't eat any real food during the ride, 5 power bars sounds awful. During my century I couldn't stomach any bar food after the 3rd one, at my halfway stop I had a burger and fries and a banana and it was all delicious!

Although, as I am typing this now, I realize you also ate 2 bagels. Thats more like it. I usually need to balance real food and bar food (I usually prefer oat bars over power/cliff bars) on a long ride, I think I had a burger/fries/banana at the halfway mark, and mashed potatoes and hot chocolate at the 75 mile mark (hot food/drink b/c it was in the winter).

Edit: Also, surprised that you wore shin/knee protection the entire time. Seems uncomfortable to me, especially in California.

[ally1776]

Terry, impressive. You made it look easy which I know it is not. You are an inspiration to us all. Thanks for the video diary of your trip, it is interesting to see how you handled it. As usual nice job and great spirit!

[EoinC]

Excellent job, Terry. Well done! Carrying spare spokes worked out, didn't it?!!

Thanks for the write-up and the video. As you know, it's when we step out of our comfort zone that we grow, and that applies at any stage in our lives.

That is a great achievement (as are those of the others out there pushing their personal boundaries).

Cheers,
Eoin

[ezas]

Ditto on all the congratulations you have received and will get. Some of that was ridden on my old stomping ground. I haven't heard the word "Dockweiler" in probably 30 years. Thank the heavens you brought some spare spokes. Kinda sucks you had the wrong spoke wrench. But it doesn't seem like any of that got you down.

Mad props for doing 104 to feed your cyclo-computer the 'missed' miles.

Was there a point where you thought to yourself, "I've got this" and any worry of not finishing was replaced with a 'knowledge' that you would make it?

At your 90 mile report you sounded more upbeat and that made me wonder if there was point where you relaxed and knew you would get er done.

[Chrashing]

Terry, Your made it look far too easy. Even the broken spokes seem to only present minor inconveniences. The largest perceivable strain was that your voice sounded a bit dry. Heck, you even managed to shoot a video along the way. Congratulations on completing that 100 mile ride.

In the video, that recumbent looked like a insect following you....

[mbalmer]

I'm amazed that you would take the energy to video the ride. The longest I ever rode in one day is 34 miles. I would have looked way too cranky to film myself by the 30th mile. Good to see you with gear. I like to wear all the gear with the exception of elbow pads. I've got two matching giant band-aids because of that choice. I need to come down and ride some of those bike paths. Looks like a great place to ride my age.

Congratulations on the successful century. If you make any more video of this adventure, be sure to include Morty at the end (need a kitty smilie).

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by Tak

+1

Congratulations, MuniAddict - awesome job!
Keep on rockin' and inspiring us!

Thanks Tak!

Originally Posted by Harley

Congrats Terry. Great accomplishment. You actually made that look easy.

Take a well deserved rest for recovery purposes.

Thanks, yeah I feel my age for sure today, lol! But I can't wait to go for a nice (short) MUni ride...maybe day after tomorrow!

Originally Posted by siafirede

Congrats!

I am surprised that you didn't eat any real food during the ride, 5 power bars sounds awful. During my century I couldn't stomach any bar food after the 3rd one, at my halfway stop I had a burger and fries and a banana and it was all delicious!

Although, as I am typing this now, I realize you also ate 2 bagels. Thats more like it. I usually need to balance real food and bar food (I usually prefer oat bars over power/cliff bars) on a long ride, I think I had a burger/fries/banana at the halfway mark, and mashed potatoes and hot chocolate at the 75 mile mark (hot food/drink b/c it was in the winter).

Edit: Also, surprised that you wore shin/knee protection the entire time. Seems uncomfortable to me, especially in California.

I was thinking about the food thing after my ride! Like I should've stopped along the beach bike path at one of the many little burger places. But it really didn't dawn on me and I never felt that hungry since I was scarfing down the bars and bagels! Plus with the lost time from the spoke thing I wanted to keep moving.

And I'm just used to the knee/shin guards (and I wore elbow guards too for this ride) and the weather was really cool for the whole day. Also I'd rather put up with a little extra heat than risk a bad injury. Especially when I get tired i'm more prone to upd's. Speaking of that, I feel very lucky that I didn't have many.

Originally Posted by ally1776

Terry, impressive. You made it look easy which I know it is not. You are an inspiration to us all. Thanks for the video diary of your trip, it is interesting to see how you handled it. As usual nice job and great spirit!

Thanks Ally. I would never have considered filming anywhere near as much as I did-nearly an hour of footage-if I hadn't come up with that little camera "holster" thing I installed under the handle.

95% of my filming was done while riding, and I could easily take out the camera with mini tripod already attached, hold the tripod by the extended legs and get the pov pretty well. The hollow tube of the handle was also the perfect place to keep those spare spokes!

Originally Posted by EoinC

Excellent job, Terry. Well done! Carrying spare spokes worked out, didn't it?!!

Thanks for the write-up and the video. As you know, it's when we step out of our comfort zone that we grow, and that applies at any stage in our lives.

That is a great achievement (as are those of the others out there pushing their personal boundaries).

Cheers,
Eoin

Thanks Eoin. I hope to do this when I'm 60, 70, 80...(I emphasize the word "hope"!)

Originally Posted by ezas

Ditto on all the congratulations you have received and will get. Some of that was ridden on my old stomping ground. I haven't heard the word "Dockweiler" in probably 30 years. Thank the heavens you brought some spare spokes. Kinda sucks you had the wrong spoke wrench. But it doesn't seem like any of that got you down.

Mad props for doing 104 to feed your cyclo-computer the 'missed' miles.

Was there a point where you thought to yourself, "I've got this" and any worry of not finishing was replaced with a 'knowledge' that you would make it?

At your 90 mile report you sounded more upbeat and that made me wonder if there was point where you relaxed and knew you would get er done.

Yeah I think when I finally started my last 10 miles I felt I had it. I was really trying to make it in under 11 hours, but that just gives me something to go for next time! (Actually, I just realized that if you take off those extra 4 miles, I did do 100 in under 11 hours!)

Originally Posted by Chrashing

Terry, Your made it look far too easy. Even the broken spokes seem to only present minor inconveniences. The largest perceivable strain was that your voice sounded a bit dry. Heck, you even managed to shoot a video along the way. Congratulations on completing that 100 mile ride.

In the video, that recumbent looked like a insect following you....

Thanks Ken. It was a tough challenge for sure, and there were times I wondered if I could make it, especially after the second spoke broke! I was just so filled with determination, I kept telling myself that I would make it no matter what! And those recumbents do look kinda funny, especially next to such a big wheel, haha! But Mike really can scoot on that thing! I want to try riding one of those sometime, they look like a blast!

[magnustudios]

Originally Posted by mbalmer

I'm amazed that you would take the energy to video the ride.

Yes. Wow.

I started my tour last year with the video camera, trying to film everything and put together videos. I did one. Then I quit because it took too much energy, and I was nowhere near century distance. You put me to shame!

At the same time you inspire me: We're planning on doing daily video updates on the tour this August, and now I know it's possible! I'll just think of this accomplishment whenever I doubt.

Congratulations on the ride!

[Super G]

Epic!

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by mbalmer

I'm amazed that you would take the energy to video the ride. The longest I ever rode in one day is 34 miles. I would have looked way too cranky to film myself by the 30th mile. Good to see you with gear. I like to wear all the gear with the exception of elbow pads. I've got two matching giant band-aids because of that choice. I need to come down and ride some of those bike paths. Looks like a great place to ride my age.

Congratulations on the successful century. If you make any more video of this adventure, be sure to include Morty at the end (need a kitty smilie).

You're right! I totally forgot to add a bit of Morty cat at the end! Must've just been 2 tired to remember, lol! And yes, the SART (Santa Ana River trail) is an amazing place to ride! I think it goes for a MUCH longer stretch than I have ever gone on it.

Originally Posted by magnustudios

Yes. Wow.

I started my tour last year with the video camera, trying to film everything and put together videos. I did one. Then I quit because it took too much energy, and I was nowhere near century distance. You put me to shame!

At the same time you inspire me: We're planning on doing daily video updates on the tour this August, and now I know it's possible! I'll just think of this accomplishment whenever I doubt.

Congratulations on the ride!

Thanks. I hope you will finish that video and post it for us to see! If I would have had the time to get it, I would have liked to film it all with a "gopro" hd camera with the 170 degree super wide angle lens. It would have captured twice as much of what you see than the one I used. I'm still waiting for them to come out with the add on that lets you *see* what you are filming, and also a playback/review feature.