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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