Kentucky Muni Weekend...



C

chirokid

Guest
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 ****. 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!" :D 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 ****. 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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Well, that pretty much answers the PM I sent you earlier today, so don't
feel obligated to respond.

If I go next time, make sure you scout out some trails sans horse ****.
I am a baby about mud, I don't even want to think about a face ful of
horse $hit!:D Did you have access to showers!

Sounds like you had a good time, and I have a lot of work to do before
getting schooled by the both of you. Bad enough I got taked to school
be everyone in Memphis, but now I have to add Bill to the list as
well.

So did the Uni survive the tree unscathed? What about you? I am
putting in a request early for a rainfree weekend. ;) I thought
Memphis was were you went to paly in the MUC.


--
bugman - Survivor 2004 Wolfman Duathalon
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Ditto. It was a great weekend! I think at times we actually had more
fun because of the rain. Saturday was beautiful as was Sunday morning
for most of the ride. So the rain didn't ruin the fun. Chirokid
charged into the thickest deepest mud he could find while I looked for
the "cleaner" route around the mud. I was surprised at how well he
could plod through even the thickest mud. It was fun to watch him fall
into the mud too!

Chirokid didn't mention the many wildflowers that were in bloom. We
estimate at least 20 different flowers were in bloom. What a beautiful
area. Even when we had to walk a section it was fun to be in the woods
and enjoy the scenery.

My photos are still in the camera, on film. I think I'll get them
developed and put onto a disk also so I can post the good ones. I
haven't done a gallery set up yet, but I'm sure I can learn.

Chirokid gets the award for most improved over the weekend. His hill
climbing improved dramatically when he started to hold his saddle for
extra power.

I'll post pics soon, but still have to use up the rest of the film.
Time to get a digital camera.

Bill


--
billham

Direction is everything, distance is secondary.
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Hi Bill, time to finish up that roll of film. How about the video, was
it good or not? Did little BillieHam enjoy seeing her daddy riding in
the mud/woods?

Bugman, Bill and I really had a great time. Sure wish you could have
had the weekend off so you could have made the trip too. And yes, we
did have showers. There was a bath house right beside our campsite.
Hot showers were plentiful. Billham pulled his pop-up camper to the
site and we stayed in it. Having the bath house right next door make
getting clean easy.

You asked if the tree hurt the unicycle. Not at all. One piece of the
tree actually was standing up through the spokes of the wheel. I
thought the limb had hit perfectly between the spokes, but it had not.
The spoke actually split the limb longways. It was truely amazing to
see. Again, the limb/tree was rotten, but still it was amazing to see
the limb just split around the spoke. Again, no damage to the unicycle.
--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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Chirokid

I finished up the roll of film tonight and will get it developed. Video
looks good, but is on tape (non-digital) and I have no way to transfer
to computer. I'll send you a copy of what we shot. It'll be sent when
I get the photos developed. I'll send them all together via the US
Postal service.

My daughter liked what she saw and wants to go next time. I told her
she needs to get better and now she wants to ride more. We went to the
park tonight and she did many long rides with her best at about 250
feet. That's my girl! Now I need to get her motivated to work on her
fremount.

By the way I added some video of her to the copy of the weekend. A
little bonus footage for your girls to watch. I think we may need to
plan a family get together so the girls can ride together.

Bugman, Tommy T and all other Tenn people - you gotta join us the next
time. Any riders out there from Kentucky?

Later,

Bill


--
billham

Direction is everything, distance is secondary.
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Hi Bill, I can hardly wait to get the video. Sounds like your young
daughter is going great with the riding. 250 ft is awesome. My 5 year
old has been getting in some great rides too.

A family friendly ride does seem in order. I eagerly await the videos
and pictures. --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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Nice write-up, Chiro. I missed this thread the first time. It is good
to see more people getting together for rides.

Scott


--
S_Wallis - Back in the saddle

"I am always doing that which I can not do,
in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso
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