UniLog
- South Lake Washington Trek Complete
I finally got around to doing the South Lake Washington Loop. It was a little more than 40 kilometers.
Not knowing how much trouble I was going to get into pain wise, I decided to take it slow, or so I thought. I just tried to keep as balanced as possible. Sometimes trying to go a little faster keeps me out of a comfortable balance envelope and then I need to accelerate to get back on top. Keeping balanced seemed to be the ticket. I was spinning the whole way and actually increased my pace as the ride progressed.
I started the trip at the tiny hand boat launch park below the I-90 bridge, just below Mt. Baker. My thought was to get most if not all the climbing out of the way in the first third of the loop and then no worries. I think I took a too short cut up to the bridge and needed to walk about a block up a very steep road. The better route would have been a mile or two longer, but would be easy on the Coker, if a little more dangerous wrt traffic.
Anyway I started at exactly 1:00 p.m. and had made it across the I-90 bridge and to the Feroglia Fields park on Mercer Island (Just past the tennis courts on top of the Lid) in about 28 minutes. I took some fountain water, a swig of my salt spiked PowerAid, took a few photos and rode on.
I noted that I had just completed about 4.7Km, so it seemed very slow. My average speed was just over 12.5km/h at that point.
From there I took the known route to Bellevue and turned right at the Lake Washington Blvd. T. I continued to the bike trail that runs alongside I-405 and stopped at the top of the hill for a rest. At that point I was about an hour in in clock time, and at about 12km. Some idiot on a tandom asked if I had everything I needed, like a chain or something...
I continued on south, entering the beautiful resort area known as Renton. The road is smooth and undulates like an abused waterbed. Along this route the trail goes on and off road. Mostly there is no traffic, max speed is like 35, which I didn't appear to reach.
After another half hour, about 1:35 of clock time I reached Gene Coulon Park. Previously I had started at this point and did an out and back around the south end of the Renton Airport and almost to Seward Park. More on this section later.
Cene Coulon Park is a great place. It is a hugely popular boat launch and boardwalk type location. There is even an Ivars and Kidd Valley food court. I chose Ivars and got some 'American' Fries and a Coke. But the line was long and service slow. I lost ten minutes just waiting for food. That gave me some time to recover and figure out what was going on.
In the 1:35 clock time I had covered 20km. My average speed had gone to about 14.2km/h. I'm still focusing completely on 'spinning', as I feel no fatigue even though this is my usual practice distance. I'm starting to think that riding in attack mode on a Coker is counterproductive for more than a minute or two, maybe if you have a very steep incline to get over. Otherwise slowing down over the hills didn't seem to really eat into my average.
Once the chips and Coke were done, I headed off for the next not so fun due to traffic section. Here you head through beautiful Renton and past the Boeing facility. The only thing of interest here is a short section of trail along the Cedar river, which I mostly avoided since I didn't want to navigate the zig-zag path to cross the bridge at the end. Instead I took the airplane bridge. Not sure of the road name, probably Airport Road since it hugs around the airport until you can get onto Rainier
Rainier Ave. is a busy road. There is a wide bike/park lane, however the emphasis is on 'park'. Many cars are parked very near the edge of the lane so you either need to ride the sidewalk or go for it and venture into traffic. I chose to stick my arm out to indicate I needed room whenever I went around a parked car. This seemed to work. I also rode the sidewalk on my test ride last month. It is 'fun' but not fast. The undulations for the driveways are the biggest I have ever seen, sometimes up to two feet. But they are smooth and you can ride them easily. It makes for a fun ride, unless you want to make time. This stretch is about 2.5 miles or so and it goes by fast. It is slightly uphill, but you don't really notice that.The excitement caused by the traffic keeps you going pretty fast.
At Coulon Park I lost about 20 minutes, combined with other losses, I had started again at about 3:00. By 3:35 I had made it past the traffic of Rainier and on to Seward Park Ave. Another boat launch park provided my next rest stop.
RIding time was at 2:00 exactly and the distance was about 30km. At this point my camera batteries stopped working. I just took a brief break to dring some salt spiked PowerAid and eat an energy bar.
The next few miles were slightly uphill. You don't really notice it as uphill, but maybe a combination of the concrete pavement and the grade makes you look down to see if you have a flat tire or something. After the climb, the cutoff to Seward Park goes down. Normally this would be the last of the hills you would see, the rest being downhill or flat-flat-flat. However, I ignored a sign which pointed to the Washington Loop and climbed up a nice little hill before I decided something must be wrong. I took a road which didn't really appear to go anywhere, but it turns out it did lead me back to the lake level road. So from Seward Park on there is a thin but smooth path off the main road. I chose to ride on the road to avoid people, animals, root bumps, etc. Traffic is constant but polite. This is a truly beautiful stretch of road, and with a group, it would be well worth going slower and following the path, which at times is right on the water's edge, and zig-zags around more than the road.
Eventually the park ends and there is a sign directing bicycle traffic to go into the last parking lot and follow a sidewalk to avoid climbing a hill on the road. This is a mistake. The sidewalk is a little too steep and the road is just fine, cars can see you just fine and the road isn't that narrow. At any rate you will be back on the road once you climb this short hill, so why not just stay on the road.
Once up the hill the end of the ride is only about a quarter mile.
I clocked in at about 4:15 at a total distance of 40.19km. Total riding time was 2:35:46 , average speed was 15.4km/h.
In the future, I think a starting point further along the Lake Washington shoreline would be nice. This would allow a more gradual, and interesting ascent to the I-90 bridge along a recognized bike route. This would leave only a tiny descent to the park above the bridge where I would probably need to dismount due to the steep slope.
- Cycle Safety: Some Statistics
What is safe on a cycle? I've read many opinions, and I tend to have a few strong feelings myself.
A few days ago I ran across a good resource for bicycle safety, mostly applicable to unicycling. Links are below.
Page eight of one report has a few interesting stats:
In the model for riders 15 year of age and older, risk is also affected by surface. As in the children's model, the adult risk was higher on paved roadways. The risk on neighborhood streets was about 7 times the risk on bike paths and about 9 times the risk on unpaved surfaces. Moreover, the risk on major thoroughfares, the highest risk riding surface, was about 2.5 times the risk on neighborhood streets. ... However, there was no significant difference in risk between daylight and non-daylight hours.
For children paved surfaces were 1.7 time the risk of riding on a sidewalk.
- Stationary Skills and Backward 1-Foot
I tried out a new practice area last week. Although concrete and covered, the surface was wavy, making riding skills 'not fun'. I was stuck with coming up with skills I could practice in the space.
What I chose was to work on stationary skills. I'm deficient, so it was a good decision. I've tried with little success at idle, seat on side, and crank idle. I've also had growing success with side hopping.
This week I made great progress with side hopping. I first got down the easy variant, where you can hold the tire with your free foot. But now I can do side hopping without this help. I'm also interested in resting the free foot (heel) on the front of the tire. This should look interesting, and be the same difficulty or more than regular side hopping.
Yesterday I got much better at idle, seat on side. I have my right foot down, usually my better idling foot. Three to four times I did 5+ idles, with little prep, almost stepping right into the idle. Usually I have been pushing off a wall to get to the balance point.
I'm also improving at crank idle. It feels great, I know how to step off at any point, but the balance point doesn't stay around too long. Recovery doesn't happen.
Another stationary skill I've been working on is hopping on wheel. Related to this, I'm riding and popping the seat out front. I stop, and just as I start to stand up I pull the seat out, kind of pops out. From here I either hop seat out, or grab the seat with two hands and try to balance and then jump up and off the pedals. Sometimes I twist the seat 90 degrees. What I am aiming at is a sudden stop, and jump up to hopping on wheel. This requires minimal energy by avoiding prehopping. But looks like this requires more balance.
Hopping on wheel I get to by either stepping up (when I get tired) or jumping up. I think my unicycle needs to be stronger in the wheel/seat. I need a stiffer seat for sure.
Yesterday I also went to my riding practice area. I was tired of not getting out of one foot backward. I spend a lot of time trying to slow down, which I never do. This is because I have been trying to go back into idling one foot. This isn't working. So yesterday I started riding backward and then putting one foot on the frame and going into one foot backward. I also got from one foot backward to backward riding. This is done at speed, so I don't have to worry or think about slowing down. After only 15 minutes practice, I'm doing it pretty smoothly. I also have a higher hit rate for getting into the skill. going from idling one foot was easy for learning, but seems not good for overall performance.
- skills: Bwd 1-ft
- skills: Side Hopping
- Coker: South Lake Washington Loop
I've been interested in a 20+ mile loop around town. Now I have one: South Lake Washington, I-90 Loop. The loop goes from Bellevue to Renton, up to the I-90 bridge and back to Bellevue, passing Mercer Island. The loop is about 26 miles, so a marathon. Adding two miles from my house to the loop makes a cool 30 miles, but I might just drive down the hill to the loop to start.
This is a well worn bicycle loop. Certain parts of the loop are on bike only paths which make the loop pretty easy. There is a total of 900 feet of climb in the loop. For reference, the Mercer Island loop of ~12 miles has 700 feet of climb.
The parts of the loop I have ridden have a good qualities for Cokering: no need to dismount for traffic, relatively consistent riding surface
- skills: Coker
- Mini Album
- Mini Album
- BBR_south_lake_washington.pdf[attachment]
- JC -- Man of Steel
A thread popped up at RSU about the effect of unicycling on self esteem. Somehow the topic drifted off into a love-fest over John Childs' abilities. Hey, I agree with everything said, except John's own comments. He actually gets a thrill in stomping the competition. Personally I like being stomped, it means he considers me 'some' competition.
One example of this, although highly disguised, happened back in January or so. It snowed 4-6 inches. In Bellevue/Seattle that is rare since we are so close to the water. John shows up after having ridden for about an hour or so. He wants to go for a ride. I can't resist. I suit up and before we leave a few pics are taken. Those are linked below. We ride for about 45 minutes or so. Where the snow is thick, the effort requires seems enormous. My heart rate was out of site. I was breathing much to heavily by the end of the ride, and kind of caught a throat cold from the experience.
When we got back to my house, John refuse a ride home, even refused a beer! He just rode home, another 45-60 minutes.
- Getting ready for NAUCC
This weekend I finally sat down to look at NAUCC registration. I want to do a Standard Skill routine, plus compete in the track events. I might try the Muni events as well. But there are problems.
One: I don't have a Standard Skill routine, at least I didn't. I slapped one togeather yesterday and then tried it out. I was lousy. I probably would get a negative score and be DQ'ed. The routine is as follows:
- Mount to Seat in Front
- Seat in Front - c
- Stomach on Seat - c
- 1ft - c
- Seat in Back - c
- Riding bwd - c
- Mount to 1ft ext idle
- Idle 1ft ext
- Hoptwist 180deg
- Hopping Seat out Front
- Hopping on Wheel
- Sidehopping, foot on tire
- Touch Floor
- Wheel Walk
- WW to Pedals
- Backspin
- WW 1ft
- Seat in Front bwd, seat against body
Problem two: never ridden one foot or ww on a 24" wheel! Okay. So I did get to try the 1ft race. That went okay. Probably in a month I'll be able to reliably complete the race. I also ww about 100' down my street. Downhill isn't easy, so that seems okay, but I was way slow.
- New Semcycle Longneck Frame: gliding friendly!
I just received my new Semcycle Longneck frame. The footrest is closer to the wheel in addition to the long neck. This is supposed to help out with wheel walking and other wheel skills, like gliding. Never tried it before, but that is what I heard.
My "reason" for getting the frame was that the seatpost I am using is too short. I needed to raise the seat about 1.5 inches or more. The other option was to replace the seat post. However, then I would have a seatpost I couldn't use anymore. With this option, I might be able to upgrade Negeen's unicycle as well.
I immediately tried out the new frame and the new height in the street in front of my house. There isn't much you can really do in the street except glide. So that is what I tried out.
It seems the claims made are well supported. I think the angle you can hold your foot at, more parallel with the ground, helps, hard to tell exactly why. I think my legs are a little less cramped, that might help.
However, I was also able to lift my foot off the tire for a rev if I needed to speed up. I don't think I would call this coasting. The result is the ability to get past situations that might have caused dismounts in the past. One other new occurance was speedier gliding. It happed as a result of needing to glide into view of my camera before it stopped recording.
- glidingNewFrame.mov[video]
- glidingNewFrame2.mov[video]
- glidingNewFrame3.mov[video]
- glidingNewFrame4.mov[video]
- Sunset on Jackson Ave.
- Mini Album
- Unicycle Hanger
Where do you store your unicycles when you have more than one? Fortunately unicycles are smallish, they are easy to handle and don't have greasy parts exposed to get things dirty.
I found a space in my house, in the basement area, which has a low ceiling. But it has space between the upper floor joists. If I hung them like a bike, they would be at head height and sooner or later I would bang my head on one of them. I also didn't really find any hangers which would work very well. I decided a three point system which held the unicycles in the same plane as the ceiling would work best.
As I was photographing the system, I discovered that a slight angle actually moved the unicycle pedals higher up and out of the way.
- Quest for Gliding Shoe: Part 2
Today I spent some time looking into materials for the glide shoe. I started looking into Kevlar. This miracle fiber is as strong as steel. Unfortunately I found out that it has poor abrasion resistance, it actually self destructs from the inside out if allowed to move. A new material called Spectra, a form of polyethylene with very long and straight chains, is both strong and tough. Nylon is also very good in abrasion applications, and is probably cheaper.
But today was Memorial Day, a holiday. Every place I called to get information was closed. So I went to Home Depot. The only thing I found that might be useful was a small piece of carpet. Hey, it was free. There were two kinds of carpet samples. Most had a grid-like backing which was very stiff. If you bend it, it kind of 'breaks'. The other type is what I decided to use: it has more of a cloth-like backing. It is very flexible, and the carpet itself is very thin.
To fit this to my shoe I folded over a 3/4" edge and, using a Philips Head screw driver and a hammer, I smashed some holes along two parallel edges. I used a chunk of wood under the carpet for this procedure. Reusing the same hole helps things move along pretty quickly. I spaced the holes about 3/4" along both edges, but I only used a few of the holes.
To hold the carpet in place, I used two shoe laces. One for the front and one for the back. The back shoe lace mostly holds the carpet toward the back of the shoe. It needs to wrap around the heel because all the forces on the carpet piece tend to push the piece forward. The front shoe lace I weaved under the regular shoe laces to keep it in place.
After attaching the glide surface to the shoe I tried it out. At first I got the impression that I didn't have the same sensitivity as without the extra attachment. But I soon discovered that the carpet added an extra degree of control, mostly by providing more grip, or a wider range of grip on the tire, without requiring much extra pressure.
My recent long glide had been 180 feet. Today I quickly posted glides of 65, 135, 180, 185 and 205. During the 185 glide a car turned onto my street. I had to tack over to the side of the road and continue. Control seemed very good and natural. My Album
- Abrasion Resistant Riding Suits
- Spectra Fiber
- skills: glide
- Mini Album
- 21 Mile Burke Gilman Cruz
Taking advantage of the good weather on Saturday, I packed up my Coker and headed to Redmond. All week I used the weather (rain) as an excuse to not unicycle. So yesterday I was ready to go. I start next to Redmond City Hall. This allows me to avoid parking fees at Marymoor Park.
I like the BG because of the crowd that travels along it. Every type of person uses this trail. There is the single cyclist who is going for speed. They seem to move as if the pedals offer no resistence to their pumping legs. There are groups of cyclists. Their objective is to remain togeather and have fun. Some of these have matching jersies, indicating some form of organizational instinct among the group. There is the family, sometimes just a mom or dad plus kids, sometimes the whole family. There is the boy-girl group. I usually try to speculate on how they decided to go for a ride.
Interacting with these groups as they pass by, makes for an interesting ride.
The single unicyclist is usually absent. Saturday I was there to fill that role. It is a good role to fill, since it usually elicits genuine responses from the other groups.
The BG is also flat, so the single speed machine I use fits right in. I tried to fit in to the single cyclist going for speed group. Usually I was passed by other cyclists, those having two wheels. Although I had a rare moment where I was boxed in by a group of guys as they struggled to go up the rare hill. They had started to pass me just as the hill began. But I kept up with them, and had to slow down a little as we went up the hill. That was good for my ego. Another rare moment of ego boost came on the return trip. The wind was gusting to 25mph and steady at about 20. A boy-girl group passed me, and the boy says to the girl, "I don't think I'd have enought balance for that...". Then they just stalled out. They remained about fifty feet ahead of me for a while. Then I decide to take them. As I passed the guy, I said "hey!". No response. They eventually passed me again, but I stayed ahead of them for a mile or so.
A moment of reality hit me at another point where it took me longer than I thought it should to pass two five year olds on scooters. After I had passed them by a good way, one of them exclaimed "wow!" This is the age where most of us loose the ability to express emotion. Although some of us regain the desire to try once we obtain custody of our own children. It is possible that riding a unicycle will maintain the emotion expressing ability throughout life, if only because the unicyclist experiences the emotion in others more often than most normals.
Stats for the ride:
- Distance: 34.03km (21.1miles)
- Average Speed: 17.3km/hr (10.73mph)
- Ride Time: 1:57:49
- Max Speed: 21.5km/hr (13.33mph)
After finishing the ride, I notice an sign for the Redmond National Bank. The sign had a graphic of a Penny Farthing. Check the Mini-Album for the photo.
- Marymoor Park
- Burke Gilman Trail Map
- Penny Farthing History
- skills: Coker
- Mini Album
- Quest for Gliding Shoe: Part 1
It only took a few more minutes of gliding to wear out what has just been a great shoe. Going from great to unuseable happens too fast.
So what I want to do is attach a removable wear surface to the bottom of a shoe. Being almost midnight, I was stuck looking around in the tool/storage room for something to try out. Below are some photos. The material is "Gutter Guard", a plastic mesh. It is held togeather with a regular shoe lace.
This wore out in a few minutes. The grip was maybe too good, yet slippery on a tile floor. The back edge rolled up as the tire rolled around. So this design isn't good. But the quick installation is important. It only takes a minute to lace and tie it on. So this quality should be kept.
- One Foot Backward: slow progress
I put on hold a few weeks ago my focus on 1-ft bwd. My practice location wasn't available during the day, and I seemed to be too busy to drive to it. This location is Tillicum Middle School. They have a a three tennis court enclosure behind the school. The surface is very flat. By that I don't mean level. It has a very slight slope, but the surface is free of bumps and depressions. It also lacks the regular surface coating found on most tennis courts, which is some kind of paint to give a little texture and probably prevent slips.
However they made this court, it is the best I have ever found for practicing freestyle unicycle. Another huge plus is that there are two other courts at the school that are 'nicer' for tennis, and closer to the parking lot. I have never seen more than one court in use in my prefered area. It is a relief to have a practice area which isn't in high demand.
My usual workout is to ride down across all three courts at the middle line, half way between the baseline and the net. Three courts is about 40 yards. Once at the end, I ride backward to my starting point, and repeat this 2-3 times. Backward riding warms me up fast, which is why I start with this. Next I ride circles one foot. The circle radius is 3-4 meters, or half the length of one side of the tennis court. I like to use the tennis court as a guide. The base line is one side, and the service line and center line is the other side. Due to the slope, I start my circles at 12-3-6-9-12 and ride once around plus another 90 degrees. The next circle starts whre the last one left off. Once I complete each starting point without dimounting, I turn around and do it counter clockwise the same way. Then I switch feet and repeat the process.
- 3x Riding Backward 40 yards.
- 5x 1ft-c left foot clockwise.
- 5x 1ft-c left foot counter clockwise.
- 5x 1ft-c right foot cw.
- 5x 1ft-c right foot ccw.
- 3x 1ft-8 left foot.
- 3x 1ft-8 right foot.
- 30-45 minutes 1ft bwd.
- 10 minutes koosh koosh.
- 10 minutes ww bwd.
- Mounts: side, jump
After I finish with the circles, I do figure-8's. I complete three figure-8 for each foot, trying to start in different places in the figure-8 for each one. Figure-8's take up the length of the court, from the baseline to the net.
This warms me up for trying one foot backward. I've been doing most of my practice downhill. The slope is slight, but noticeable. Going up hill actually make it easier to stop, but I don't get as far. Today I matched my record of 14 strokes, or 70 feet. Dispite this, progress is really slow. I think I'm a little more consistent, but still most attempts don't get anywhere. I'm getting more in the 4-6 range.
Today I found that a slight forward lean might help in stopping. Seems stable, but it slows me down and I usually go less distance.
One other interesting note is that I do one foot backward with my right foot. My more stable one foot forward is my left foot. I'm also left footed at one foot wheelwalk and gliding.
I mount with my right foot back (on the pedal) and my right foot is my best idling foot. I might have chosen my right foot for this reason. In order to do 1ft bwd, I start in a one foot idle. On the other hand, I seem to have a little smoother time at one foot forward with my right foot, even though it isn't my most stable foot.
After getting tired of one foot bwd I moved on to koosh koosh. I'm getting a little better at this. I can get 4-5 small backward kooshes. The small kooshes seem better than big ones. Seem the idea here is to avoid falling sideways, but the skill is pretty safe to practice.
Today I tried backward wheel walk as well. I had tried it once before but found my feet constantly hitting the frame and messing me up. But today I did pretty good. I even went backward 3-4 without holding on to the fence. Probably a few weeks practice will give me a better idea how this is going to go, but it seems easier than koosh koosh.
- Shoe wear due to gliding
How long are shoes supposed to last while learning to glide? I've worn out one (half) pair so far, mostly over 3-4 days. Once the surface is smooth it is hard to get a grip and maintain control.
I have a few photos which compare the effects of gliding. In the photos, the green sole shoe was my first gliding shoe, the tan shoe is my current shoe, and the red pair I haven't used for gliding yet.
- New gliding record and proof of it
Today I did a record 170 foot glide[1.8M .mov], almost blowing through the stopsign at the end of the block. That is my sick goal, but I keep moving the starting line further up the road. Today was a relief. Yesterday I was very inconsistent most of the day but did manage a record 135 feet. Today it took about twenty minutes to warm up to the process, but then went 145 feet. This was followed by a couple of 140 foot glides. Before I got to 170 I had a few in the 155 foot range.
I think I put in about an hour and a half today, and my body feels it. This skill really taxes my upper body and ankles. Another thing I was working on was leaning forward a little more. I prefer to dismount off the front so I can run out of it. Falling off the back is a little abrupt. When I say lean, I don't mean a huge lean, just more upright. I can really get stuck leaning backward and it takes a lot of work to get back upright.
- 170-foot-glide.mov[video]
- skills: glide
- Mounting into glide in the middle of the road
I've been cheating: using my car as a place to mount and get ready to push off and try to glide. I always do this with a new skill. I just try to focus on the skill, not getting into and out of it. Distance is a major indicator of progress.
But today my car was in the shop. At first I used a telephone pole, but this proved to be a bad location. It was too near the edge of the road, which has a side slope. Getting out of the edge wasn't easy, so I was only getting a few feet.
So it was time to move to the middle of the road and mount up and glide[300K .mov]. The first problem was imbalance in getting on the unicycle. Finally I started to focus on a single one foot wheel walk push and then a glide out of that. The starting point was more level than yesterday's practice. Further up the road the slope is even less. The 1-ft ww start helped much and I started getting some distance: 50-75 feet at times.
Then I made a slight mistake with my foot. Up 'til now I have placed my right foot on the crown. Specifically the crease between the ball of my foot, the big joint behind the big toe, and the big toe on the front corner of the crown of the frame. I do this for every skill. But today my foot slipped.
The arch of my foot went onto the top of the crown, so my foot was 1-2 inches further forward. Suddenly I had much more control over the unicycle, and less pain. My stance was more secure. I immediately started going further and reached 125 feet.- p1010029.jpg.thumbs.jpg[image]
- p1010028.jpg.thumbs.jpg[image]
- p1010017.mov[video]
- mount-in-road.mov[video]
- skills: glide
- Cottonwood seed fluff leads to record glide
It is true, I inhailed a cottonwood seed just before a glide session. I went a record 120 feet.
- skills: glide
