Long overdue, but here’s my small share of photos taken during the trip with commentaries!
I think more from Kee and Jiahui will come up soon as soon as they can get their asses off the procrastination couch.
It’s interesting how perception works. When the 3 of us first got our 29″ unicycles, they looked massive beside everyone else’s 24″. I played hockey once with it and the speed was ridiculous. The turning radius too for that matter. The first time I rode it, I had 170mm cranks on them and the few people who were cycling (ie on 2 wheels) alongside me remember my being a hindrance, speedwise - I can’t keep up and my saddle felt like planks.
I pretty much jumped at the idea of heading to the ride the moment I heard of it. There weren’t large unicycles here and to ship them in cost a great deal. I was actually prepared to ride the race on a borrowed 26″ and that’s partly the reason why I went for the cross-Singapore ride on a 20″ (and kept up with everyone else on their 24s and 26s for that matter). The other reason was because I’m not very bright and had very little in the common sense department.
I think I’d have still done the race on a 26″.
Because I wouldn’t know any better.
… it’d be nice if we could jump for joy.
Except we haven’t really got the joints to do that.
Photos and stuff to be updated in a couple of days.
Weds 11th of June 2008.
D-day for me and JH as we will embark on the greatest adventure of our lifetime yet.
Physically we might be roughly prepared (or as prepared as we’ll ever be), but logistics wise, it’s a nightmare. I’ve only just packed my unicycle and have not even begun to make a list of the things that I need to bring of the whole trip. There are some parts of the trip that are still not settled yet, like transport and accomodation, that we can only settle once we get to the US. A lot of things seem like it’s going to be very fluid.
But still, we’re really looking forward to this race. To be able to not only compete with other world class atheletes in completeing a grueling 800km race, but as a personal acheivement.
People ask about why I unicycle. Part of me tells them it’s cause I get to have that sense of one-ness, or being alone, being one with nature when you ride in the great outdoors. Another part of me will tell them that it’s the great people that I meet along the wild adventure. Come what may, this 2 things will be fulfilled at RTL.
Indeed, gearing up for Ride the Lobster would require preparations of the utmost. So how do we steel ourselves for the grueling task that is RTL?
Well as far as I know (which is probably very little), Jiahui rides to work, not mainly for the excercise that she needs (her thighs make the Thunder God blush) but rather for the attention. Go figure. But remarkable nevertheless.
Kee rides along East Coast Park, not mainly for the excercise that he needs (*ahem* Who didn’t complete the runway cycling, eh?) but rather for the ’sights’ that East Coast Park has to offer. Go figure. But remarkable nevertheless.
Moi? Serving the compulsory national service, I have yet to find a weekend that I can even deign to cycle without having to book into camp that same night, even for all the excercise that I need. My butt is starting to envelop around my saddle already. Go figure, and not remarkable at all.
We shall affix bunny ears to improve our aero-dynamism. That’ll be our secret weapon. Shhhh…
Ride the Lobster, the inaugrual 800km unicycle race over Nova Scotia, a.k.a Lobster Island is about to start in 10 days.
Are we prepared? How will we fare?
Numerous questions are racing through the head now. We will be competing against illuminaries like Ken Looi and John Foss, not to mention numerous other unicyclists who have completed 24 hour bike and mountain bike races, who have held records, who have won races.
It’s all really terribly exciting.
I can’t wait.
Status - online. Wheeeee!
Let’s start with a brief introduction of my - and my team-mates’ - ride and distance riding on a unicycle.
That’s the unicycle on the right. The one on the left is still waiting to grow up.
Unlike bicycles, unicycles haven’t gears so instead of switching from a smaller gear ratio to a higher one on long roads, you’d switch from a smaller wheel to a bigger one. Very uneconomical if you ask me but it’s tons more thrilling than what you’d get from a bicycle - and this coming from someone who rides predominantly a small trials unicycle.
Most distance riders ride Cokers. They’ve wheel radii of 36″ and look very intimidating. Because people are always experimenting with parts and customization, there’s now a lot more options for unicycles. For even FASTER speeds on long roads, there are now geared unicycles which simulate a 54″ tire on a 36″. There are also handlebars that you attach on unicycles to rest your arms on and take weight off your ass-crack during rides AND people have found ways of putting brakes on a unicycle not so much to stop it but rather to slow it down during crazy downhill rides, taking the effort off your knees.
In Singapore, unicycles are about as common as cold weather. The shop which kindly brought our unicycles in for us isn’t ever going to bring in large unicycles again in the foreseeable future. We couldn’t get our hands on 36″ unis and hence are riding 29″ ones. Which is just as well since it’s honestly freaky riding a large unicycle.
So there you go, boys and girls. I’m going to fit brakes and a handlebar on it in the coming week or two so stay tuned for the pimped up pics.
I might get butterfly decals…