proper long proper muni

Who else out there does proper long muni rides?

I'm meaning not the sort of riding you can do on a 29er, obviously
loads of us have done 50-60 miles offroad on a 29er. Proper muni, with
technical trails, big hills and big downhills? Done on a 26 or a 24.

What's your longest proper muni ride?

Todays ride was I think my longest ever continuous proper muni ride* -

51km (31.7 miles)
1360 metres of ascent (4365 feet)
1330 metres of descent (4461 feet)

Was nice - I got up at 8:30 and got the train out to the hills, and set
off at 10:30am, with a massive hangover thanks to Spencer (semach the
monkey) forcing me to drink ridiculous amounts at his house last
night.

The ride started off with a 170m in 1.5km road ascent, a good way to
cure a hangover for sure. Then I hit the proper muni a bit too
literally - round the first corner, past some gawping walkers, then hit
a wet muddy rock, slid out, and landed face down in stinging nettles
(ouch). Fortunately on my pride was hurt, and I got to continue through
the woods, through a gently uphill singletrack, littered with wet rocks
and roots, and interspersed with 1.5 foot deep waterbars that took
quite a bit of power to get through. This ended with a slidy mud
downhill to a river bridge, then an enforced short walk up a stupid
steep slidy mud hill. Through a farmyard, then out onto a super rocky
super steep 4wd track, winding up a hill, taking all my power to stay
on. I got a new record on this section, only falling off 4 times, and
riding 95% of the track. A few of us have ridden this, and no one has
cleared this section on a unicycle yet, but I reckon it's only a matter
of time now.

At the end of the track, I'm suddenly out on the high moor, and a quick
easy fire road takes me across to another wood - this has a steep and
surprisingly technical little downhill in it - that if you're not
careful, lands you going full speed into a mud pool. Inevitably, I'm
not careful enough, and I'm soon covered in mud. Out of the woods, and
back on the moors again - this time an easy bridleway, through a whole
load of cows and through a gate, at which point it plunges downwards
and suddenly turns into tight singletrack, heading down and then
rollercoastering up and down round the hillside. I come out onto a
road, and decide to explore an unknown track that is marked on the map,
higher up than the trail I usually ride. 150 metres higher up it turns
out - it's an okay track, but some sheep seem to have strayed onto it -
I try to get them to go past me, but in the end it turns out the only
way to pass sheep without them running down the trail in front (to come
out in the town below - which I didn't want) is literally to power up
and overtake them, at which point they peel off backwards.

At this point, a brief steep downhill over a bumpy previously ploughed
meadow takes me down to the valley, and I head across on the road to
the other side of the valley, only pausing a a level crossing to watch
a steam engine driver take the 'token' from the signal man, which lets
him go through a single-track section. There is something reminiscent
of a Ride the Lobster changeover in the way the train goes past the
signal box without stopping and the fireman grabs the token using a big
loop attached to it.

Now, I'm in Snitterton, possibly one of the the best named places in
the world, (with the exception of F*cking in Austria, Dildo in Canada
and Blubberhouses in the UK), and I have to head up another silly steep
uphill, this time off road. Unfortunately some cows have decided to get
in the way, and I have to ride much of this. Having said that, I've
never made it before, it's probably too steep to ride. At the top, I
wolf down a cake, and headed into Bonsall, and then down a steep and
rather scary descent next to a quarry that takes me into Cromford.

After a quick visit to the sweetshop, I check the train times home, and
head off up the hill out of Cromford - another rocky track, going past a
biker who seems someone put out by being overtaken. I'm aiming for some
woods where I know there are decent trails - unfortunately the direct
route is down a footpath that is too much hassle (and illegal) on a
unicycle, so I take a road detour which turns out to involve 150 metres
of descent and coming back up the same amount, up a really steep road. I
really should remember to check the contour lines.

Coming down to the woods, I notice something odd, the stile seems to
have been knocked down. After 20 metres, I see a whole bunch of cows
completely blocking the trail, who have obviously knocked down the
stile, and appear to be somewhat ****ed off. So, instead of heading
straight down the footpath to the train station, I have to head up
through the woods, on a new to me track, which turns out to be a
super-duper, narrow, rooty singletrack, first going steeply uphill, and
then contouring round. I narrowly avoid losing the unicycle or myself
down the cliffs here, which is always good, and whoosh down past some
houses suddenly finding myself popping out of the singletrack onto a
trail I know. At a junction here, there's an uphill I've been meaning
to explore for ages, I head up that, and find a satisfyingly steep and
scary downhill coming off it, full of roots, little drops and steps,
which is a great way to end a ride.

Phew. I hadn't noticed until I wrote it down, how many cow and sheep
encounters were involved in this ride!

Joe

*I'm counting a 'ride' as being a single unicycle journey, without any
shuttles / ski lifts etc. in the middle of the journey - ie. I'm not
counting big ass purely downhill rides I've done in the Alps, or lazy
American & New Zealand shuttled downhilling that I've done.


--
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What kind-a cake did you have?


--
Inigo Montoya

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it
means."
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Inigo Montoya wrote:
What kind-a cake did you have?


I was sort of wondering the same thing... Do tell.

But anyway, that sounds like a good ride. I think I should invest in a
MUni soon so I can explore the Niagara region when I move around there
next month.


--
CoreTechs

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For me, it's not just about the distance, but the entire experience. I
prefer many good drops and tech stuff along the way, and good ups and
downs with variety of terrain. All singletrack is a total snoozefest
to me. Trees and shade cover is a must for me, unless it's a 5am or 5pm
start. I ride MUni mostly every day and I average around 8-10 miles
only. But then again, there is no way I would want to ride 30+ miles on
my 24" muni everyday lol. Something that long would be a special
occasion. Sounds fun though.


--
MuniAddict

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great write up Joe your a great source for inspiration,after riding with
you at Manly Dam the bar was raised considerably for me and my riding
and fitness have improved as a result.I'm not at the stage of doing
epic rides like yours but I have done a few 18km rides and at least 8km
once a week averaging around 8kmh.My speed is up ,rest stops down and
I'm climbing most things instead of walking.Thankyou.


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dangerdog

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30+ miles on a 24 (ungeared) MUni? Sounds like a lot of pedaling. I
don't think I could find a 30 mile route around here that would require
a 24 MUni. I've done a fair amount of big hills and technical trails on
my 29 MUni. Most of the trails around here with big drops have
alternate rolling routes. For me, the main differences between a 24
and 29 MUni ride are that I tend to pick the rolling routes when on a
29 and don't stop to play on the "trials features" on the side of the
trail.

Sounds like you had fun though.


--
phlegm
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My longest proper muni ride has been about 18ish miles and 4000+ feet of
climbing and descending. That's far enough for me. I don't have the
endurance to do much more than that in epic style. I like to keep the
rides short enough that I'm having fun the whole time but still pushing
myself a little bit further.


--
john_childs

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joemarshall wrote:
- round the first corner, past some gawping walkers, then hit a wet
muddy rock, slid out, and landed face down in stinging nettles (ouch).



I understanding that urine is supposed to be an effective topical
treatment for stinging nettles. So the next time you land face down,
you could always...oh never mind.


--
Kerv
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Kerv wrote:
I understanding that urine is supposed to be an effective topical
treatment for stinging nettles. So the next time you land face down,
you could always...oh never mind.





--
Tulsa
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Do 24 hr races count? I did 5 laps of about 8miles at the Lifestyles
race last May.
ro


--
rolandisimo
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