This post will be very long. Don't say I didn't warn you before you
started reading.
Billham (from PA) and I (chirokid from TN) decide to get together for a
Muni ride. We did a little research and picked a location in NW
Kentucky. This made the drive about 5 hours for both of us.
A State Park in the Daniel Boone National Forest called Zilpo Recreation
Area was our destination. We both arrived late on this past Thursday
night and headed back to our families on Sunday afternoon. This gave
Bill and I a full 2 1/2 days of Muni fun. We managed to get in 19 miles
of great Muni riding over this time.
Early Friday morning we rode around a trail that bordered the edge of a
peninsula, looking out across a beautiful, yet choppy lake. Just before
we hit the trail, a strong storm blew in, complete with thunder and
lightening. We made about a mile before we both agreed, soaking wet, to
seek shelter. Bill seemed to ride great in the rain, even over the
slick roots and rocks. I, on the other hand, was totally intimidated by
the wet stuff. Later in the day, after much rainfall, we were ready of
our next adventure. We drove to the "top" of the park, a place known as
Tater Knob. Right on top of Tater Knob is a fire tower. After climbing
to the top of the tower, too look at nothing but total cloud coverage,
we were off for some trail riding again. We rode our Munis the lenght
of the Tater Knob access road, then swung onto the water logged trails.
What a mess. Just to get on the trail required riding through what
looked like a swamp. But, we had a great time. At the end of this
trail, a gentle winding single track, we arrived back at the Tater Knob
Parking lot. From the edge of the parking area, another trail shot off
"DOWN" through the wood, and Bill was Gung Ho. I followed along. What
a great trail. We got to experiment with long down hills. Hills that
were totally covered with mud, rocks, roots, tree limbs and plenty of
horse [censored]. When we finally reached an expecially nasty looking section
of steep down hill, we decided to turn around and HIKE to the top. I
say hike because that is what I mostly did, Bill rode a lot of the way.
He took me to school on how to ride up hills, thanks Bill! Bill is also
great at jumping over logs. I walk over logs. 🙁
Day Two brought extremely wet conditions, but we were in for some great
fun. We had decided to use both vehicles, therefore being able to set
up down hill rides for the whole day. Our first ride was down Zilpo
Mountain Trail. This was a gentle trail of very narrow and tight single
track for the first 3 or 4 miles. This section of trail included a ton
of creek crossings. What a blast to ride down the creek bank, through
the creek and up the other bank. Well, actually, I watched Bill do this
over and over, I just attempted them. This ride then turned into double
track for the next 2 1/2 miles. This double track was in the woods,
crossing the stream many more times and crossing several fields. We
rode up on two Turkey hunts that were stunned by seeing two guys on one
wheels in the woods. By noon, the trail was fading to just fields and we
came to a dead-end at the lake. We took a well deserved break and had
some lunch. Afterward, we reversed the trail and rode about 1/2 way
back up the trail, then took the Tater Knob Trail STRAIGHT UP to our
awaiting vehicle. From the lake to the tallest Mountain top Tower in
the area, what a morning.
We then shifted the cars around for our next ride. This ride was an
extremely steep ride over mostly horse trails. The trails were still
wet and muddy, with large rocks everywhere. Roots would have 12" to 18"
drop offs on the far sides, with the edge of the trail rolling off the
side of the mountain. (Yes, Bill and I both took our tumbles off the
sides of the trail). We were both riding very good by this time, riding
off most of the drops cleanly. We were cleaning sections of trail that
upon first viewing we would say, "No way!" Then we would both proceed
to ride perfectly. The rocks, the drops, the skinnies... we were having
a great time. Then we discovered the trail from the Moon. This trail
was a crossover trail that was STRAIGHT DOWN. No switch backs at all.
The higher we toted our unis up this trail, the more we laughed. Could
we ride back down this trail? When we finally turned around to attempt
the decent, we both had great rides. We took some really good pictures.
I hope Bill can figure out how to share them on this forum soon.
As we were riding out the bottom of this valley, me met 4 guys on
horseback. They were so taken back by what they were seeing, I thought
they might fall off their horses. They left us with almost every
Unicycle cliche you have ever heard. Just as the last horseback rider
was almost out of sight, I heard him say, "I've seen it all now!" 😄 A
few rolling hills later I had a UPD as I rode throught a long mud
puddle. Where did I land, but square in a pile of horse [censored]. Whew,
did my right hand STINK!
Our final day of riding was to be short, so we could both get home in
time to see our families. What we decided to do was repeat this 3 mile
down hill ride again. That is exactly what we did. Overall, we had a
great Muni Weekend. Tons of riding, tons of fun!
Oh, for those of you still reading, just one more tid-bit. On the Trial
from the Moon, I was about to ride into a deeply cut-out section of
trail, very steep and just before a creek crossing. I UPD'ed on an
invisible something and slam into a 5" diameter dead tree, then I flip
off into the ravine. My uni staying on top of the drop-off. Then,
KaBoom!!! The top of the dead tree that I have just slammed had broken
off and lands, in three pieces, right on top of my Muni!!! We took some
pictures, but you had to be there to believe it.
Bill and I are already talking about the 2nd Annual Kentucy Muni
Weekend, April 2005. Anyone what to join us in the fun? --chirokid--
--
chirokid - Wolfman 2004: Unicycle Catagory
"Other than that, the best maintenance is to keep riding it as this
helps to keep the eccentric nut on the saddle in optimal condition."
quote by Mikefule
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