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Santa Barbara MUni visit

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rec.sport.unicycling
Published
23 May 2004
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25 May 2004
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vivalargo
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  1. Original post
    vivalargo
    Archived post
    #1

    Hey, all:

    Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving up (from LA) to Santa Barbara
    and hooking up with Matt and the Santa Barbara gang for a spectacular
    Muni ride (my first with a group) down a sheer granite mountainside. The
    entire ride took us a little over three hours (all descending) and
    demolished our legs. Through the course of the ride I learned the
    following things:

    1. When the trail narrows to 2", goes into a hairpin turn, angled at 45
    degrees and littered with boulders and shale, lean into the mountain as
    opposed to trying to ride straight up and down. That way it you UPD,
    you won't plunge to your death over the vertical cliffside at the edge
    of the trail.

    2. When the single track turns to sand and drops down an incline steep
    as an Olympic ski jump, don't slow down or the boys will run you over.

    3. The definition of an "honest" descent precludes stopping at
    vertical, circuitous, rocky sections to hop over obstacles. That's like
    a downhill ski racer side-slipping the tough sections. The "honest"
    descent requires you to "bomb" even the gravest terrain, the faster the
    better.

    4. The only way to bomb exceedingly rocky sections is to keep the
    wheel moving so fast you won't get hung up and you can roll over
    anything smaller than a Bradley Armored Vehicle–though you might still
    get bucked off and swan dive 100 yards down a thorny palisade, or peddle
    directly off the trail and freefall to the next switchback (I almost did
    both).

    5. When the very edge of the single track turns to sand and is like the
    brink of El Capitan, and the Forest Service has shorn up the margin with
    2 X 6's to keep the trail from simply falling into the void, don't dare
    Christian to hop onto the 2 X 6 and ride it down the 40-degree incline
    because he will.

    6. Allow the boys to vastly overrate your true abilities. This will
    give you the gusto to go for–and possibly make--something you'd
    otherwise blow off as suicidal.

    6. At all times, encourage each other to take even greater risks, no
    matter the consequences.

    Thanks, boys, and I'll see you next weekend.

    JL

    --
    vivalargo
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  2. myocardial
    Archived post
    #2


    Quoted message said:

    Allow the boys to vastly overrate your true abilities.

    Don't let JL fool ya. For someone whose been riding for such a short
    amount of time he was absolutly amazing out there. I'm always amazed at
    what great people you meet riding these things. I have no doubt in my
    mind that the group that rode this weekend will be sharing some great
    muni adventures this summer!

    Quoted message said:

    The entire ride took us a little over three hours (all descending) and
    demolished our legs.

    This is an understatement! I can barely walk today and basically had to
    pull myself up and down all the stairs on campus. The crazy thing is,
    I'm sitting here hoping that they'll be ok for next weekend so we can do
    it again! 🙂

    matt

    --
    myocardial - I fell into a burning ring of fire.

    Matt Wilhelm
    Illustrated One Wheeler
    Santa Barbara Unicycle Club
    [email hidden]
    <http://www.sbuni.org>
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  3. gerblefranklin
    Archived post
    #3

    This sounds a bit like downieville. Ben Plotkin-Swing and Beau Hoover
    lost their unis off a cliff (they retrieved them). John Hooten also had
    to get his helmet after it fell. Also, some of the exposure sounds like
    the Amasa Back trail in Moab. I bottomed out my pedal on a rock while
    riding Dan Heaton's uni and biffed hard with a 200' drop into the
    Colorado(?) river on my left. I fell to the left and clawed at the
    gravel for dear life. Earlier on the trail I mearly lost Dan Heaton's
    muni off the side of a cliff as hne walked 10' behind me. That was
    scary. How long was the ride?

    --
    gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

    Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
    army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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  4. myocardial
    Archived post
    #4

    This trail drops 3000 feet in less than 4 miles and from what I
    understand is way more technical than downiville. There are some very
    unforgiving spots on this trail where the single track gets about 1'
    wide with a wall on one side and 200-300' drop on the other.

    The first part of the trail is fast down hill switchbacks on loose shale
    with alot of those unforgiving drops. The second half is super
    technical rocky sections alongside the creek. Eyal, who was in the back
    of the group at the time, went over the side of the trail at a large
    drop but luckily held on to a small seedling to keep from falling and
    pulled himself up. His unicycle was not so lucky.

    We're working on documenting the local trails here (with unicyclists in
    mind) and will hopefully post soon.

    [image: http://www.socamtbr.com/trails/san_ysidro/san_ysidro_map.JPG]

    --
    myocardial - I fell into a burning ring of fire.

    Matt Wilhelm
    Illustrated One Wheeler
    Santa Barbara Unicycle Club
    [email hidden]
    <http://www.sbuni.org>
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  5. vivalargo
    Archived post
    #5

    Hey,

    I must add that Eyal was remarkable per the terrain he could power over
    first try. We're talking a super steep, thin trail littered with
    bowling ball sized rocks, always clanking your cranks and peddles while
    trying to b-line through the maze at a speed so fast that you'd
    dislocate your hips if your legs were moving any quicker. The fact that
    Eyal went Muniing the next day (Sunday) blows my mind. I had my legs
    packed in ice.

    JL

    --
    vivalargo
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