I think I found XC unicycling nirvana, and it's practically in my
backyard!! 😎
There was a 36er ride today, a Rob's Ride to be exact, but I didn't go.
I got caught up in some drama at work and couldn't make it in time.
Having just bought a WTB Exiwolf 2.3 for my KH29, I decided to go try
it out. I told myself I'd ride up the less of the steeper graded roads
near home--it's only about 8% grade average and around 4 miles long.
So, I pumped up the tire to 25 psi which felt pretty good for my 140
pound body, and I headed down to the highway, about 350 feet elevation
drop from home.
When I got to the bottom, something in me decided to turn left instead
of right. To the right is the less steep road, to the left is Alba
Road, my nemesis with an average of 10% grade and about 3.5 miles long.
I rode the mile or so to the bottom and started up it. About half a
mile up a the first big surge of steepness, I UPD'd and was out of
breath. Unwilling to quit I pressed on. In all I counted about 5 big
grade surges before the top. Each one had relatively short sections of
lesser grade that were still solid uphill but just long enough to catch
my breath while riding seated. I made it with only one dismount!!
Clearly, the Exiwolf rides well on the road for an offroad tire--it's
definitely my new favorite 29er tire!
Just like last time I went up Alba Road I continued to the summit of
Empire Grade and hooked up with the Lost Empire trail. I ran into some
local hikers shortly after starting it, and they expressed how awesome
my unicycling on a trail is. I guess the "no bikes" signs don't hold
much weight for the locals.
Unlike last time, when I got to the Big Ben Tree, I turned right
instead left. Left goes down to a very scenic trail that follows the
creek, but it's not a very exciting trail MUni-wise. And, there are
fallen trees with around 4 feet clearance that force a dismount every
several hundred feet or so. Right turned out to be incredible with
plenty of less than eighteen inch drops, what I would consider good
sized for XC MUni. I didn't clear most of them, but it's something I
can work towards. There were long chutes that were clearly carved out
by bikes, not too steep but plenty technical.
Unfortunately, around this time I realized that it was quickly getting
dark, and I was descending deeper into a thickly forested valley. So I
started hammering which resulted in some UPDs on some more technical
sections. I spanked my bum on a log, and I'm sure I'll have a nice
bruise tomorrow. The worst UPD happened right as it got so dark I
could barely see without a light. I did an unintentional coast, and
one of the pedals caught my left shoe and flung it down the side of the
mountain. Fortunately I didn't fall too hard, and my shoe stopped only
about fifteen feet down.
I took the opportunity to pull out my cycling headlight. I covered the
remaining few miles of trail walking the rockier parts and riding when
I could. Then, an adventure by itself, I rode the windy two lane
highway back home, shining my headlight in the road so the cars could
see me riding the barely-a-shoulder in some sections.
In all, I was gone for about 3 hours, I climbed at least 2500 feet
elevation, and I'd guess that I rode around 15 or more miles. It was
quite the epic ride for a weeknight!
So I guess I should explain the trollish subject line. The last three
rides I did were on my N36 with 152 mm cranks. All three times left me
with a wrecked right knee. It felt like I had seriously pulled
something in the joint to the point that even walking was hard. I
thought that it might have been from too high of a saddle, but I'm
certain that is not the case now. Louise, one of the local riders,
clued me in to considering the q-factor. I was using the Sugino cranks
that have quite a bit of q-factor. So, with them, my N36 has about one
inch more q-factor than any of the other unicycles I have. So I now
think the large forces required to ride such a heavy wheel offroad
combined with the extreme q-factor is what left my knee hurting so
badly. After all my riding today, heck yes I'm sore, but my knees are
fine! I'm convinced that the performance to weight ratio of the
current 36ers is way too low in rough conditions.
It's not really that I absolutely hate my N36. It's a relative hate,
relative to how much I like my KH29 and the rides I can take it on.
I'm still planning to ride my N36 for the Tour of San Francisco this
weekend, but it certainly will have shorter cranks with less q-factor.
So, who else hates their 36er? :p
--
phlegm
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