Savage Man hits the trail....

The Registered Nurtz received a temporary upgrade today. I was feeling
pretty frustrated because our local riding group was shredding at
Gasworks Park and I had too much work to do to make the trip downtown.
After several hours of sweating over the keyboard, I decided to pop out
for a muni ride in my local trail system.

Things felt pretty good right away, and I decided today would be a day
for some climbing. After a light uphill on the trail out of my
neighborhood, I dropped down a short hill and into the woods trail that
circles the Queenslake Bog, a low-lying swampy area of forest that’s
been mostly unchanged for the last 10,000 years. Not far into this loop,
a paved trail drops in from a nearby neighborhood to join the dirt
trail. The paved trail isn’t long—50 yards or so—but it’s super steep.
My first/last experience on this hill was trying to ride my muni down it
on a damp day…I hit the steep part, tried to slow down, and the damp
moss on the pavement just slid my wheel out and I landed HARD on my
arse. Ouch! That was a year ago.

But today was dry, and I was at the bottom of the hill instead of the
top. Decided to give it a try, with zero expectation of making it. The
Moab climbing last month must have helped, because I was able to dig in
and roll it all the way to the top. There were a couple places where I
b-a-r-e-l-y got the pedal over the top, and I was pulling on the handle
with all my strength. It was easily the steepest sustained climb I’ve
made, so I rode back down to the bottom (with no arse crunch this time)
and tried it again to see if first time was fluke. Nope. Topped it
again, then once more just for the sake of the workout. I’m certain if
it was dirt or gravel, I’d never get up it.

Deciding to quit that one while I was ahead, I jumped back onto the
woods trail. The first mile or so of this trail has always given me a
hard time. Lots of short curvy uphills with roots, a combination that
always seems to take me down. Today was different…I still had a couple
good UPDs, but got through the challenging section without having to
stop for air, and with only three root- or log-induced dismounts
compared to my usual 8-10. Yeah, feeling good now. Pedal on Garth.
After clearing the rooty section, the trail smooths out for a mile or
so, eventually crossing a set of ball fields where I practiced a bit of
curb-riding to test out the “balance with your core instead of flailing
your arms” advice from a recent RSU post. Seemed to work, although I
was incapable of doing one without the other. Flailing is still the
default…

But on to the next hill. The trail now enters an area of heavier jogger
and b*ke traffic, and changes from dirt to paved. There’s one hill here
I rode a lot in preparing for Moab…the sidewalk climbs the hill via a
series of six switchbacks, while a gravel/dirt trail goes straight up
beside it. You can see this gravel trail—and my son riding down it—he
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuw44/munishots10007. The paved trail
winds back and forth just out of sight off the left side of the photo.

To prep for Moab, I'd ride up the long paved hill, then down the
shorter, steeper gravel trail. Then one day in mid-March I decided to
try to climb the gravel hill, with zero expectation of making it. I
surprised the heck out of myself when I rolled it all the way up, and in
the month since, I’ve been using that as my training loop: Power up the
gravel hill, then ride down the paved switchbacks to catch my breath,
then up the gravel hill again. Repeat until nauseous. Today I decided
to run it a couple times, and started right in. It’s not real long, but
climbs about 40-50 vertical feet over a couple hundred yards (I think).
The first part of the hill is steepest (photo), and at the crest of this
section there were four youth, age 17 or so, standing in the trail.
They had clearly just finished some illegal smoking (yeah I can tell)
and had moved on to more legal Marlboros. I was fully expecting a “dude
where’s your other wheel” as I rode through their cloud of smoke.
Instead one of them said “Hey, is that hard?” “Brouftht!” I replied as
I passed them, sucking wind so bad from the climb that I couldn’t even
say the word Yes. As I continued pedaling away, desperately trying to
stay on the pedals, another one yelled “That’s savage! You’re savage,
man!”. “Thamfts!” I huffed, this time able to get slightly closer to
the word I was looking for.

That left me feeling pretty good, so I headed for the final climbing
session of the day: the Impossible Hill. It’s this one dirt hill that
has always given me a terrible time. It’s easily accessible from my
neighborhood trail system, so I’ve had many opportunities to try to
climb it, and just as many opportunities to fail. So many failures, in
fact, that my son and I gave it the Impossible moniker. The nickname
made me feel better about my continuing string of failures, until the
depressing day last autumn when I took some better local riders—Harper,
Unirene, and John Childs—out on these trails. “This hill's tough", I
said. "I’ve never made it all the way up without falling”. “What?”
they said, as they all rolled it without missing a beat. I’m amazed I
ever found the motivation to try it again. But I did…and did…and
did…again and again without success. The little train that couldn’t.
Insert Card...Credit Declined. But the persistence finally is paying
off. As of last weekend my record was 59-0. As of today it is 63-2.
Things are moving in the right direction.

Miles: 5.01. Average speed: 5.4. Top speed: 9.2. Pedal Time: 55 minutes.
It was nice to hit the trail today, and for a change not have the trail
hit back.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

If it makes you feel any better I got spanked by a hill during my Coker
ride today. I almost made it to the top, then one foot decided to
levitate off the pedal and I UPD just feet from the top. It's one of my
challenge hills and I always want to make it to the top.

Too bad you don't have a Coker. Tom Jackson and I went for a Coker
ride to downtown Seattle from Gas Works Park. And then had some of
Chris' Rockin' Jambalaya at 'Dad Watsons' (http://tinyurl.com/2khka).
Maybe you can join us for a ride some time.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
Gallery: '' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

john_childs wrote:
*Too bad you don't have a Coker. Tom Jackson and I went for a Coker
ride to downtown Seattle, then had some of Chris' Rockin' Jambalaya at
'Dad Watsons' (http://tinyurl.com/2khka). Maybe you can join us for a
ride some time. *

In theory, I _do_ have a Coker, it just hasn't arrived in my mailbox
yet. Unfortunately, it's been a buyer's market for used Cokers, so I
made the mistake of letting my stock one go before my custom one
arrived. All I can do is stare at the picture below and sigh....some day
it will be mine, and I'll spend the next 500 miles making up for lost
time.

In absence of a Coker, I'll crutch if necessary to join you at DW's. It
ain't K-Pauls' jambalaya, but it's tops in the Emerald City.


+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Attachment filename: tom blackwood coker 022 (small).jpg |
|Download attachment: http://www.unicyclist.com/attachment/205650|
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

Nice writeup, Savage Man.


--
U-Turn - Member of Generation XO

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.

'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)

'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)

'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)

-- Dave Stockton
------------------------------------------------------------------------
U-Turn's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/691
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

U-Turn wrote:
*Nice writeup, Savage Man. *

Thanks Dave. At the risk of jacking my own thread, seeing your post
reminds me I need to give credit where credit is due. That fine red
roadbeast whose picture is debuting above is my new custom 36",
featuring a GB4 36 frame, U-Turn's "Strongest Coker Wheel in the World",
an extension handle that I believe is a collaborative effort between
those two, Magura brake for my ancient knees, and overall build-up by
U-Turn. It looks nice there in U-Turn's house, and will look even nicer
next Friday when it's sitting in my garage in Seattle. Expect more
complete photo documentation and some ride notes once I get the thing
out on the road.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

That is a beautiful unicycle tomblackwood. One I would love to own
myself. I know the angst of waiting for something so fine. It kind of
reminds me of when I was engaged, but away from my fiance for an Army
school. My heart was so focused on what I wanted that I had some
trouble with my school work! Hopefully you're able to concentrate on
your work etc. BTW, my knew red Profile Wilder should be here
tomorrow.


--
elmer - uniimpaired

"At 40 life begins...to show."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
elmer's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/5193
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

tomblackwood wrote:
*
when it's sitting in my garage in Seattle. *


Tom, a gorgeous ride like that needs to be in your bedroom, not in a
cold/hot dirty and cramped garage.

Great ride write up too. Keep climbing those hills. --chirokid--


--
chirokid - Wolfman 2004: Unicycle Catagory

"Other than that, the best maintenance is to keep riding it as this
helps to keep the eccentric nut on the saddle in optimal condition."
quote by Mikefule

------------------------------------------------------------------------
chirokid's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4140
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

chirokid wrote:
*Tom, a gorgeous ride like that needs to be in your bedroom, not in a
cold/hot dirty and cramped garage.
*

Tom doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to have to have to give his new
Coker a thorough going over before he can ride it. I'll have to make
sure that it's up to snuff and that everything is going to be OK for
him. This checkup will take a couple of days. I'll store it indoors
while I've got it. I know Tom will understand. It is, after all, for
his own good. It's just terribly unfortunate that Tom is so much
shorter than I. I'll have to fit a longer seatpost and may have to
lengthen the brake hose. It will be a lot of work, but I feel I'm the
best qualified to do it.


--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo

john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
Gallery: '' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028

Nice writeup, Mr S. It is a great feeling to get up those supposedly
"Impossible" climbs isn't it? I SO know what you mean when you say you
barely made it and you were pulling on the handle for all you're worth.
That used to kill my fingers - such that they were sometimes not even
healed by the next weekend. So I started working on reducing the power
used in my arm. That and reducing the flail-factor will allow you to
ride up those hills casually (and eventually hands-off).

---Nathan


--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
nathan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/251
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/32028