Qu-Ax, Qu-Ax

I just bought a racing unicycle (which I will NOT be referring to as a 'runi'). It came from a member of the club who bought it recently and then quickly decided it wasn't practical for him. He only rode it five or six times.

The unicycle is a Qu-Ax brand 26", but it's made so that a thin tire allows it to meet the maximum racing dimensions. The rim and the tire are really thin (less than an inch in width), and the wheel is made to withstand really high pressure (it's at 110 psi). It feels like I'm riding on wheelchair rubber. That's great for a racing uni but not good for a ride-around-town unicycle. I'd be afraid to go up or down a curb on it. It's really light (I was told it's only about 8 pounds), and I'll make it lighter still by chopping off part of the seat post.

I only race a few days a year (at the annual convention), but I've always been envious of those who have really nice racing cycles. I've always done ok on whatever I rode in the past, which was usually either the 24" cheapo uni of mine or a slightly better unicycle that I might borrow from a friend. It's not that there are a lot of competitors in my age group. Many of the guys in the 30-39 enjoy competition for its own sake, as is true in any age category, but my group is a lot less competitive than the younger bucks. However, I've always liked racing, and ever since I was a kid, I've always done pretty well. This unicycle will only contribute to that. I'm curious to see what happens when I race in Tennessee this summer. I'll be racingnot only against my peers but also against my previous best times. Interestingly, I've actually gotten faster as I've gotten older, probably because my balance has improved and because I've done a great deal of riding lately (in my daily commuting), so my legs are probably a bit stronger.

In the meantime, I'll practice riding it at the Tomb so that I can work on my technique.

My Racing Unicycle

This afternoon I bought a racing unicycle. I was the beneficiary of someone else's decision that racing isn't for everyone. He bought this uni recently and only took it for a few rides before he realized that he should have spent his money on something more practical. So is a racing uni practical for me? Well, I do race every summer (since 2001) at the annual uni conventions, so... uh... sorta. And I had been talking recently with a few club members about what to look for in a racing unicycle. I had also brought this up with master unicycle builder Tommi Miller of Indiana. We didn't get too far in our talks, but he did instruct me about some key points.

This unicycle has a Qu-Ax brand frame and some light cranks and plastic pedals. The unicycle weighs about 8 lbs (17 kg), which is really light for a uni. It has a super-thin rim, and the tire, which is equally thin, gets inflated to an extremely high 110 psi, which means that it's like a band of solid rubber. The spokes were quite loose, so my new uni is sleeping tonight in the bike shop near school. I'll pick it up tomorrow afternoon, but I can't give it a real test drive until the NYUC meets again. Grant's Tomb has a really long, smooth section that's ideal for racing (that is, once the twigs have been swept to one side).

My First Unicycle Club

Joe Merrill and I started the NYUC in early 2001 after we realized that New York needed a unicycle club. Later we found out that there had been one back in the mid-1980s. I believe that John Foss (he's one of my links) started it. But as it turns out, I actually started two unicycle clubs in New York before that. The current NYUC is my third unicycle club!

My second club was not too interesting except for my partner. It was at Fieldston High, and I decided to ask my school for $100 to pay for a unicycle and some juggling equipment. My partner, Cindy Friedman, was the juggler, and I taught kids to unicycle. We never had too many people join us, so we hung out with those who did and worked on our respective hobbies. Cindy went on to change her name to Cindy Marvel after college and became one of the best jugglers in the world, earning honors for being the only woman ever chosen as Juggler of the Year by the International Juggler's Association.

But my first club started a few years earlier still. I had started riding in 1980 at the age of 13 1/2. Within a few years, I had influenced many of my friends to get unicycles. My brother started riding in late 1980 at the age of 10. His friends joined in, too. By 1982 or 1983, there were at least 7 members of the group. We bought tee shirts and had them fashioned with iron-on letters that read HELL ON WHEEL. I'd love to find an old photo of our gang, but I'm not sure one exists. The group consisted of me and John as well as my good friends Russell, Paul, and Ben, and John's friends Jean-Christophe and at least one other. In addition to our shirts (blue, with red letters), we wore white shorts and white sneakers. We all had Schwinn 20" unicycles, many of them bought at Angelo's Bikes or Bicycle Renaissance, both of which were then located on 83rd Street off Columbus.

We used to get together of a Saturday and ride from my mom's apartment (81st and CPW) into the park. Often we'd spend time watching and getting to know the performers who put out a hat at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (just across town). Occasionally we'd knock over a bank.

No, that's a lie. We didn't even pretend to be cool. We just liked hanging out and being a bit geeky together.

10% Faster

I've pedaled over 4,000 miles on my Cokers but only about 720 on my guni. That's still enough, however, for me to say that the guni is about 10% faster, if not even more.

I'm basing this on my commutes home and on my park loop racing. On my Coker, the commute used to take at least 25 minutes. 24 was a rarity, and 23 never happened, even with shorter cranks. Then last week, I rode home in 20.5 minutes on the guni. Part of it was that I'd chosen a better route, allowing me longer straightaways that more than made up for the extra two tenths of a mile in distance. Even though there is a considerable climb in each direction, which favors a unicycle like a Coker, my legs are now strong enough to handle the elevation so that I can accomplish the entire ride in high gear.

I also noticed that I was able to pedal around the Prospect Park bike loop in just over 13 minutes, which is quite a bit faster than the fastest speed on my Coker. I think that I could break 12 minutes now that I have greater confidence on the guni.

Riding in the Rain

I decided to ride to my tutoring students this morning (rather than drive) despite fairly steady rain. Why? I guess I felt that I needed the exercise. And I figured that I'd be fine if I wore nylon waterproof pants over my shorts and a nylon raincoat over my tee-shirt. I failed to take into account two things. Firstly, the rain rolling off my pants was enough to soak my socks and sneakers (even if I hadn't ridden thru some huge puddles that were up to my pedals), and secondly, 'waterproof' should really be called 'water resistant.'

When I arrived at my first student's house, my shirt was a tad moist, mainly in the chest area, so I assumed that rain had gotten in where my coat was open. My student's father put my socks and sneakers in the dryer (the sneakers on a special rack), but 45 minutes wasn't enough to dry them out much, especially as I had forgotten to wring out the drenched socks.

My students are only a few blocks apart, so I was none the worse for the short trip, and anyway the rain had nearly stopped. But it resumed in earnest during our lesson, so that when I left, the rain was a pretty much coming down in pails (if not buckets). By the time I arrived home about 25 minutes later, my clothes were completely soaked despite the rain gear, my socks were tattooed to my feet, and my sneakers looked liked they'd been dunked in a tank. That last bit was pretty much the case, really, due to two six-inch-deep puddles that I hit in short succession as I neared home. The puddles were so deep that they caused unplanned dismounts (UPDs), my feet landing in small lakes each time.

I was still changing out of my togs when people started to arrive for the open house. I guess driving would have been a better idea today after all.

22 MPH

Last night, I hit 22 mph on my guni, according to my very reliable cycle computer. My GPS watch only showed a top speed of 20.4, but it tends to miss those small bursts of speed that the cyclo catches. Even 20.4 is impressive to me because it means that I was able to maintain that speed for a short while.

I rode around Prospect Park in record time: 13.20 or so for the 3.35 miles of the course, averaging 14.8 mph for the ride. I kept the uni in high gear even for the heavy-duty uphill part -- I think that downshifting would have slowed me down considerably -- and could not have gone much faster, but I'm sure I can get the time under 13 minutes. I'll give it another try this evening.

I can tell you one thing: That ride wore me out! When it was over, I went for another 3.5 miles over a different route, and most of that time I could barely manage 10 mph. My watch is programmed to chirp if my speed goes below 10, so after my super fast ride, the rest of my exercise was punctuated by the unpleasant reminder of my own exhaustion. My watch is also programmed to alert me if I ever exceed 20 mph, but I didn't hear it due to the volume of my iPod combined with the rush of the wind. Bummer. I did want to hear that sound. I'll have to try for that one again today!

Switching Gears Made Easy

I finally learned the best way to switch gears on my guni.

Up till yesterday, I had found it fairly simple to shift up into high gear on the new hub. Because it has 12 internal gears, it takes no more than a twelfth of a rotation before the gear kicks in (the first-generation hub, with six gears, took upto twice as far before the gear shifted). Shifting into high gear means shifting when the wheel is rotating fairly slowly; I've always found it much easier. In recent weeks, I could upshift about 95% of the time.

Downshifting, on the other hand, has always given me difficulties -- that is, up until yesterday. Initially the hard part was that on the original hub, shifting of any sort was considerably harder (and not just 'twice' as difficult) because the free-wheeling often resulted in the cranks being in a poor position. The other problem was that I started using pedals with pins.

Pinned pedals are fairly crucial for geared unicycles. They make up for the fact that the wheel takes so long to get around, leaving the rider more vulnerable to UPDs. The problem is that pinned pedals also make it really hard to swivel your foot at just the right moment in order to knock the button with your ankle.

So the revelation for me was that I could hit the button with my ankle bone rather than with the inside rear part of my sneaker. What I learned to do yesterday was to lean my foot inwards and to let the button smear my ankle as it passes. This turns out to be necessary only for downshifting because I can easily upshift the 'old' way. Also, I tried smearing into an upshift and fount that it was painful to my left ankle.

After the accidental discovery, I was able to shift on alternate half-turns and to downshift successfully about 90% or more with only one UPD.

Next, I worked on shifting at various speeds. Earlier, using my GPS watch, I had found that I could upshift at about 7-8 mph. Yesterday I was able to upshift at about that speed or just under, and I was also able to downshift at up to 6 mph, a huge change from earlier riding, where I almost had to stop in order to do so.

To me, this was huge. I can now look forward to shifting with ease in order to suit the conditions. It also means that I can shift rather than looking for something to hold onto or having to ride in a small, jerky circle in high gear.

I look forward to riding home tomorrow to test out my shifting.

The GPS Watch: Lessons Learned

I've had the GPS watch for about a week and have logged about 50 miles on my geared unicycle while using it. Here is what I know now about the guni (and the watch):

GUNI
1. It's far faster to ride up even the steepest hills in high gear on my guni than to switch back and forth between high and low gears. This is probably because it's hard for me to downshift, so I lose time trying, and because when I'm in low gear, the guni becomes nothing more than a heavy (and high-priced) 29" uni. In high gear, on the other hand, even slow pedaling can keep me going at least 7 mph.

2. I can ride uphill faster than I thought. This morning I decided to ride to a student's house in high gear the whole way. There is a steep hill that levels off only a bit and goes on for nearly a mile. I was able to maintain about 8-12 mph depending on the grade and the traffic.

3. Riding downhill, I hit 15 or 16 mph, which is a little dangerous considering the conditions. I could have attained higher speeds, but that would have been too dangerous.

4. Perhaps motivated a bit by the watch, and definitely because of the speed of the guni, I achieved new records for my trip to Packer from home (23 minutes, a few minutes faster than my previous fast times on the Coker) and for my trip to that student's house (11.5 minutes rather than the 13-15 it usually takes me)

WATCH
Some times, it takes a minute or so for the watch to locate the satellite. It depends on where I'm standing and whether I'm standing still. I've decided to have it show me the current speed, elapsed time, distance covered, and my max speed. That last category is a bit odd because there is a large disparity between the watch and the computer on this reading. I've noticed that the cycle computer usually has a reading 10-20% higher than the watch, but it's hard to know which one to trust more. A speed reached for a fraction of a second may not be worth as much as one that's been held for a few seconds.

GETTING SET TO GO
Ironically, altho I'm using it to measure my speed, it slows me down if I wait for the thing to kick in before riding. I also have to reset the cycle computer on my uni (that only takes a few seconds) and, if I want music, I have to set up my iPod. Of course I also need my helmet and wrist guards, so in all, it can take me 2-4 minutes to get ready.

The watch cost a bit over $200 and is worth every penny.

My GPS Watch

This week I ordered myself a GPS watch on eBay (saving $50 on buying it from the company's website).




Do I need a GPS watch? Of course, just like a fish needs a bicycle (or a unicycle, for that matter).

But it's fun. It's nice to compete with myself while riding over the same course on my commute, and I like knowing how fast I'm going at a given moment. Cycle computers can tell you average speed and maximum speed, but it's impossible to check the current speed on a cycle computer while you're unicycling because looking down is a lot more dangerous than looking at your watch. And in my case, even looking down does not help because the computer is under the seat and out of view.

The GPS watch is pretty thick and clunky. For comparison, I laid it next to my normal watch. The GPS is roughly the same size but is much thicker. It makes it hard for me to wear my wrist guards, but I manage. The only annying thing is how long it take for the watch to locate the satellite, but it never takes more than a minute if I stay put.

I found out one thing: The GPS watch isn't as accurate as I'd expected. Although it frequently receives the signal from the satellite, it often misses little bursts of speed. So when I want to know the true maximum speed, I rely on the cycle computer.

Photos of Queen Gunivere

Some time ago I named my geared unicycle "Queen Gunivere" as a joke. But I never got around to taking pictures of her. Here she is in all her glory.





Maybe not 'all her glory,' but there you go. You can also see the hub, which is much fatter than normal hubs on account of the many little parts housed within. The hubs have serial numbers, and mine is #80.

You can just make out the gold button on the side of the hub. That's where the magic happens. I have to wonk that button with my left ankle in order to change gears while I'm riding. If I decide to downshift, I hit the button on the other side of the hub with my right ankle.

Speed Stats

On my Coker, the fastest I've ever gone, according to my cycle computer, is 21 mph. That seemed really really fast. It was a speed I could only maintain for a short time because the hill was leveling out and because I was holding back a bit -- it's never good to go as fast as you can because then you can't speed up for a second if you suddenly lean a bit too far forward. The nice thing about a Coker is that the heavy wheel creates its own special 'flywheel' effect that keeps you pretty balanced. In other words, it wasn't too much work to get the uni up to the speed or to maintain that speed for a short time.

On my guni with the original hub, I once got it up to 22 mph. That's really really really fast. The difference is that on a guni, you create a wheel with a large 'effective' size but your pedals (and therefore your feet) are still pretty low to the ground. The bad news is that if you suddenly lurch forward (like if you hit a dip or a bump in the road), your feet have less time to get into position, and you have a pretty good chance of having a hard fall. In fact, I had a weird spill like that three years ago while testing Greg Harper's fixed-gear unicycle (a 24" uni that rode like a 36") called "uni.5." I was riding uni.5 uphill one day when I suddenly lost balance and leaned too far forward. Normally I'd have run out the UPD, but this time I found myself toppling to the ground. If that happened to me on the 29" guni (that rides like a 45" unicycle), I could find myself in a heap pretty fast.

With the new hub, I've only put in a relatively small number of miles: 40. With more practice on the guni, I should be hitting 20 mph on a downhill again soon. More importantly, I can maintain a higher rate on the guni than on the 36" Coker...at least on downhills and flats. Uphill or on bumpy roads, or riding in pedestrian or car traffic, the Coker wins easily.

The other thing I've noticed is that the guni feels like it has a lot of drag. That's because it's harder to get that wheel going due to the inertia of the higher gear. It's easy (but fairly slow) to ride it as a 29" uni in 1-to-1 gear, but when I shift into high gear, it's like swimming with flippers on: You can go really fast, but you have to put in a lot of muscle to do so.

GUNI Repair Report

Well, it turned out to be a lot simpler than I'd expected.

For reasons owing to the unique design of this hub, I thought that the cranks were attached a lot differently, or at least that one of the cranks was somehow connected to the hub while the other was not. So when I was at the bikeshop and the mechanic and I couldn't remove one of the hub's outer buttons, we never assumed that we had to play more with that button.

Yesterday I handed the guni over to Dave Bagley, the only other guni owner on the East Coast (he's from Joisey -- are you from Joisey?). He admitted that the button over the loose crank was a bit stuck, but once he got it off, the rest of the job was a piece of cake -- just a few turns of a wrench and the crank was tight again.

Apparently there was something wrong with the first crank I had -- or maybe it was simply not tightened enough. Anyway, Dave had an extra set of cranks, so he gave them to me -- just to be safe. We put them on in place of my cranky cranks.

Since then, I haven't really tested the guni more than to ride it around a bit at the club. In an hour, I'll ride home (less than 5 miles). Given the fact that I'm not staying at my mom's any longer (the paint job on our house is almost complete), I won't be riding Queen Gunivere for more than 9 miles a day (whereas last week I was riding it about 20 miles a day). At that rate, I won't know how well the crank is staying on for a few weeks, but I'm confident that it's going to last for some time AND that if it does loosen, I will be able to fix it on my own!