IHD on the IHT

I've also added a few pics in an International Harper Day album in my
'unicycling photos' (http://www.hayope.smugmug.com/Unicycling%20Photos)
gallery.

It was a really enjoyable ride, as always. The Iron Horse Trail is a
big-wheel dream: 20 miles long, 2% downhill the entire way,
200-foot-high railroad trestles to ride over, lots of shade, and a 2.25
mile long spooky-ass pitch-black railroad tunnel to ride through.

Harper was relatively well-behaved given this was His day. He demanded
a round of Happy Birthday in the tunnel, then pouted when we didn't get
a quorum of singers. Then at lunch--when the group did sing--it was
more demands. "Louder...Faster...now in French!!!" Still, we bring
him along every year, and will continue to do so until one of the other
Seattle Area Riders buys an open bed pickup truck that can haul all the
unicycles.

Kudos to Tyler for being the official photographer of this year's
event. Some great shots, and I love the tunnel video. Tyler also
ruled...riding the whole thing on an ungeared 29-er and leading the way
over the 36-ers much of the time. Top speed for the day went to Jeff S
on his Schlumpf. He turned it on a couple of times, and I lost
distance against him even at my top speed. I want one of those babies,
but I'm afraid I'd never take advantage of its potential, as I'd be too
skeered of falling when riding faster than I can run.

Travis and John maintained 3-club patterns for much of the ride, which
was very impressive. Even more impressive was their ability to convince
their friend Ward to come along with a bicycle, and to conveniently
haul nine juggling clubs in his paniers the entire way. Ward kicks it.
It was nice to have the chance to pass during our breaks. Kudos also
to Gary, who became the Pit Crew leader in executing the critical tire
repair operation on Ward's bike.

Finally, huge thanks to An'So for traveling from France by way of BC to
join us. It was great to have a true international uni-tourist among
us, and she went above and beyond the call of duty by enduring not one
but two Greyhound Stations as part of the process.

Looking forward already to next year's event...

--
tomblackwood

Tailgate at your own risk...
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harper said:

Yesterday the SARs celebrated the fourth (I think) annual International
Harper Day on the Iron Horse Trail.

Ahh, happy memories. The Iron Horse was my first long distance coker
rider and inspired me to get a 36" wheel. The trail is a fantastic
unicycle ride and Harper is one of my favourite riders. From the
photos it looks like you had a great time. I am envious!

--
peter.bier

-Peter Bier
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peter.bier said:

Ahh, happy memories. The Iron Horse was my first long distance coker
rider and inspired me to get a 36" wheel. The trail is a fantastic
unicycle ride and Harper is one of my favourite riders. From the
photos it looks like you had a great time. I am envious!

Thanks, Peter. I'm one of my favorite riders, too.

'Jeff Sloan took the best group shot.'
(http://home.att.net/~unicycle/sars/Into_the_tunnel.JPG) If any more
photos show up, I will provide a link to them.

--
harper

-Greg Harper

*jc is the only main man. there can be no other.*
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Sounds like a fun day with fun things to do when you stop. It's the kind
of ride I'd like to do one day, but it always seems that I'm on the
wrong side of the Atlantic pond.

tomblackwood said:

Top speed for the day went to Jeff S on his Schlumpf. He turned it on a
couple of times, and I lost distance against him even at my top speed.
I want one of those babies, but I'm afraid I'd never take advantage of
its potential, as I'd be too skeered of falling when riding faster than
I can run.

I wouldn't worry too much about that Thomas, as my personal geared 29er
speed averages only 11mph, with a GPS-recorded peak speed of only 15mph
on one occasion. It helps if you regard the purpose of the gears as not
to speed you up, but just to make the pedalling speed more bearable to
keep up with the 36ers.

harper said:

Bicycle: Miles Blackwood, Adrian, Jenn, *Ward*, Gary Allen, Simon.

*Ward*, Travis, and John brought clubs and juggled a great deal of the
way.

Hmmm... first time I've heard of someone juggling clubs while riding a
-bicycle-...

--
gkmac

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, take the pictures." - tomblackwood
"As it only hurts when you walk, will you be riding everywhere now?" -
mikepenton
"Well, not everything is as practical as making your cranks flip around
I guess." - Brian MacKenzie
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gkmac said:

Hmmm... first time I've heard of someone juggling clubs while riding a
-bicycle-...

Unlike Travis and John, who both had several drops, the clubs never
touched the ground when in Ward's posession. 😉

I wish someone got a picture of the club-toting bicycle pannier setup,
but I didn't see one. It was pretty trick, and carried 9 clubs w/ room
to spare.

--
tomblackwood

Tailgate at your own risk...
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'Got my pics up.' (http://tinyurl.com/2fhtb4)

Twas another great day. I think 5 hours is a record to go 22 miles
though. At that pace the legs do stay fresh, although staying
comfortable in the saddle seems to be more distance dependant.

--
UniBrier

Steve

Hop Drop & Roll

“If something is to hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just
stick that guitar in the closet next to your
shortwave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle and we'll go
inside and watch TV.” – Homer
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Great pics Steve...I'm glad someone got a picture of Harper with the
birthday candle. I love that shot, and how An'So is the only one
sitting at the table. All the veteran IHD riders knew what was coming
with the nasal blow, and retreated to a safe distance.

--
tomblackwood

Tailgate at your own risk...
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Wasn't that the 5th annual IHD?? And, had I been in that dark, dank
tunnel with you, not being proficient at Haiku, I would have sung as
follows to the tune of BeeGees' "Staying Alive":

Well you can tell by the way I ride my wheel,
I'm a uni man: No time to fall.
Bearings loud & saddle warm,
I been U-P-D-ing since I was born.

My road rash cured, now it's OK,
And you may roll the other way;
We can try, a big crank grab,
On a picnic table I'll take a stab!

Whether you're distance
Or whether you're trials,
You're staying alive, staying alive.
Feel the spokes breakin'
And your tire a shakin,
You're fifty-five, fifty-five.

Ha ha ha ha, fifty-five, fifty five
Ha ha ha ha, FIFTY FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVE!!!

--
unisk8r
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Happy birthday. These are the first pics I have seen of you without all
that hair. I hope you did something good with it like donate it to wigs
for cancer patients or give it to GILD.

--
Jethro

New Blog:'Unicycle Nation' (http://unicyclenation.wordpress.com/)

I Unicycle for Squirrels. I have't gotten one yet, but I keep trying.
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Jethro said:

Happy birthday. These are the first pics I have seen of you without all
that hair. I hope you did something good with it like donate it to wigs
for cancer patients or give it to GILD.

You should see some elderly cancer patients wearing my hair soon. I was
surprised that they wanted gray hair but, when you think of it, most
cancer patients have gray hair. It's just that the kids get all the
press. If I had been thinking I would have shipped it to GILD. That's a
much better idea and would have been a greater benefit to mankind.

It's double nickel day today.

--
harper

-Greg Harper

*jc is the only main man. there can be no other.*
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harper said:

If I had been thinking I would have shipped it to GILD. That's a much
better idea and would have been a greater benefit to mankind.

It's double nickel day today.

Do I still have the opportunity to respectfully decline?

Happy birthday Greg.

--
GILD

'three short gs and a long e-flat™'
(http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/beethoven_sym5_1.wav) - 'unihoki'
(http://www.sinco.hu/data/pic/size_1/session_061007_26.jpg)
'if i'm murdered, don't execute my killer.'
(http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1539/)
'harper' (http://tinyurl.com/c9epx) 'mikefule'
(http://tinyurl.com/yh6vna) 'bluntrm' (http://tinyurl.com/2bq8ol)
'NAMASTE!' (http://tinyurl.com/4qcxw)
'Dave' (http://www.lyricsdir.com/d/deep-purple/child-in-time.php)
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I'm disappointed that Harper didn't take the opportunity to go for the
bald chrome dome look. If you're going to go from long long to short
short you should go all the way (at least for a week or two).

--
john_childs

john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com
Team Never Wash Your Muni
Gallery: http://gallery.unicyclist.com/john_childs
'Unicycling Bookmark List' (http://backcountry.unicyclist.com/) ::
'World Clock' (http://tinyurl.com/2blym3)
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