Wizards 50th Birthday

Quote: Wizard

Keep in mind that Terry is much stronger than me and lives in a flat area. If I lived in the LA area I would probably switch to the 135mm cranks tomorrow.

He was about your age when he began (other than messing around as a kid), and from all appearances he does it as his primary income now. He does have the advantage of geography.

But he is very careful in his video studies. I would like to see him do that in reverse order from smallest to largest cranks to take physical exhaustion out of the mix.

Okay, what do think of my video? All due praise for the production to Heather of Vegas Aces.

Your arms remind me of beginner skaters lol. Is that a common cycling thing, or is it just because the wheel is huge and you're not used to it?

Thinking ahead to the 50 miles, having arms up like that has got to be exhausting. I couldn't do it.

Quote: Face

Your arms remind me of beginner skaters lol. Is that a common cycling thing, or is it just because the wheel is huge and you're not used to it?

Thinking ahead to the 50 miles, having arms up like that has got to be exhausting. I couldn't do it.

My arms flail all over the place when I'm getting started, turning, and going up/down a steep hill. However, if I'm just going straight on level ground, I have some dignity and they are either at my side or holding the front of the seat.

Hopefully I will look more graceful with experience.

It's not about dignity. Seriously, for the hours it will take to do 50, that's a lot of energy wasted.

Maybe my thinking is too biased towards my own beat up body, but I couldn't do that for 10 minutes. You ever do the invisible buckets? Lock your elbows so your arms are dead straight and hold them out at your sides perpendicular to your body, so you look like the letter "t". Don't hold anything in your hands, just hold that pose. I'd bet you couldn't do that for a minute, and I'd almost guarantee that no one you know could do it for two. It's exhausting. Now thinking of waving your arms around over for, what was the time frame, 8 hours? Man...

It's just a lot of energy. And you're already doing a marathon.

Just something to think about.

The video is great. I appreciate the multiple angles. I thought it was interesting that you actually roll backwards for a bit, then come to a dead stop for a second before you transition forward. I think the dead stop is where most folks will lose their balance.

Are your pedals made of plastic? They don't look like the traditional molded black rubber, or steel traps. I wonder if toe clips would help, since you could "pull" with your feet, as well as "push". It would be tricky getting them to unlock quickly if you have to dismount in a hurry though.

I have trouble mounting my office chair. This
video is of little use to me.

Quote: Face

It's not about dignity. Seriously, for the hours it will take to do 50, that's a lot of energy wasted.

I just said, "However, if I'm just going straight on level ground, I have some dignity and they are either at my side or holding the front of the seat. " On a 50-mile ride most of the time I'll be on fairly level ground going straight.

Quote: Ayecarumba

The video is great. I appreciate the multiple angles. I thought it was interesting that you actually roll backwards for a bit, then come to a dead stop for a second before you transition forward. I think the dead stop is where most folks will lose their balance.

To be honest, I didn't realize I did that so much until I saw the video. I think that is a bad habit I carried over from mounting my smaller-wheeled unicycles, which necessitate a different way of mounting. What I find harder than getting on the unicycle is starting to get moving once you're up there, which isn't easy to do on a 36", because the unicycle weighs about 16 pounds.

After you comment I had a closer look at how the UniGeezer does it, and not only doesn't he roll back, but he says not to. Jump to the 2:09 point in this video:

.

Quote:

Are your pedals made of plastic? They don't look like the traditional molded black rubber, or steel traps. I wonder if toe clips would help, since you could "pull" with your feet, as well as "push". It would be tricky getting them to unlock quickly if you have to dismount in a hurry though.

Yes, they are a light plastic. I have another unicycle with metal pedals, I think aluminum.

Nobody really uses toe clips any longer as they have been replaced with clip in pedals. I use those on my street bike. The down side to those is you would hurt yourself on a unicycle being basically stuck to it in the event of a fall. I've heard of serious long-distance unicyclers trying them and they all went back to normal pedals after sustaining injuries.

Quote: Wizard

After you comment I had a closer look at how the UniGeezer does it ...

God that is annoying. I keep expecting him to say now I activate my anti-gravity device until centered and begin pedaling.