Sunday morning, bright and clear... I decide to take the
MUni up into Debyshire. I drive up to Black Rocks, Cromford,
and set off along the High Peak Trail - an old railway
trackbed converted into a cycling and walking route.
A short distance up the trail is My Own Personal Everest
(MOPE). This is a long 1:7 (14%) incline with a surface
which varies from compacted mud and grit to loose gravel
to rough bedrock. When it was a railway, the waggons had
to be hauled up on a cable pulkled by a massive static
engine at the top. My best ever effort was to ride up MOPE
in 3 stages, on a 24 with 150s. Today, I'm on the 26 x 2.3
with 150s.
How do you assess the difficulty of a ride when describing
it to others? It's so subjective. There are so many
variables. Let's put it this way: a few days ago, I did well
over 2 hours and well over 20 miles on the Coker without a
dismount or UPD. I don't lack stamina, determination,
technique or concentration. However, I doubt I will ever
climb MOPE without a stop - unless I "cheat" and do it on a
20 with 150s.
I set up MOPE with vigour and enthusiasm... with
hindsight, far too much of both. By about a third of the
way, I'm breathing so deeply that the trees keep swaying
towards me, and old people have to cling to their hats to
stop them being ripped from their heads and drawn into my
tortured lungs.
I get flustered on one of the uneven sections and UPD. I
take the opportunity to regain my composure. This is the
most technically demanding section, so I'm still in with a
chance of doing the hill "in two".
Yeah, right! And the Pope never goes to church. After a
third of the rest of the way, I'm so out of breath that I
step off the unicycle and throw myself onto the verge in
despair. It takes me a long time to recover.
Part way up the hill, I meet a pair of volunteers who are
doing minor repairs to the trail. One steps across in front
of me with his spade and says, "I'll just move this stone
for you." He flicks the tiniest of pebbles out of my way. I
thank him.
"How far are you going?" He asks. "To the top," I respond,
through gritted teeth.
Another UPD only fifty metres later, and this time, it takes
me a couple of attempts to remount. Wherever I try, there's
always a difficult bit
(e.g. a discarded match stick) just too close for me to get
my rhythm going in time.
And then another UPD and two or three failed mounts. I'm
overtaken by a couple of elderly pedestrians.
Eventually, and with no feeling of achievement at all, I
make it to the top.
To put this into context: the first two or three times I
attempted this hill, I turned back around half way up. This
current attempt was probably my second best on the 26.
Perhaps cruising up it (I exaggerate!) on the 24 has given
me inflated expectations.
Anyway, there's a small shop at the top, and I purchase
Lucozade and a Snickers (the Bar formerly known as
Marathon). It takes me a good 20 minutes to get myself back
into a state fit to ride. My hands are trembling and I feel
like I've been fencing all day with no food. As a former
bicyclist, I've experienced the "Dreaded Knock", also known
as "The Bonk" (before that meant something else!) and this
is something different. It's like I've started digesting all
next week's meals, only to find I haven't eaten them yet.
Eventually, I remount and turn to ride back down the
hill. The first few yards of my ride take me past the
cycle hire shed, where whole families are getting ready
to set of on mountain bike odysseys, still in that stage
of excited anticipation before the grim reality of
differing expectations, sulky children, and uncomfortable
seats sets in.
One witty hirer remarks, "Look... he hired that at
half price!"
As I reach the top of the hill, ready to descend, I see the
notice that warns cyclists not to ride down the steep
incline. I may well have pointed out before in this forum
that INclines go UP, and DEclines happen after you hit 40.
I make the whole descent in one. It takes a certain amount
of care, but it's not too demanding. I then turn off towards
the quarry, the scene of my chin splitting UPD of a few
months ago. Will I have the courage to attempt the same
obstacle? Or the sense to refrain? Both possibilities are
left hanging because there is a huge family nearby having a
picnic, and I really don't want to spend the next few
minutes being the subject of loud and ironic commentary from
the males in the group.
I ride back to the car park, feeling a little disconsolate.
The ride up MOPE has taken it out of me physically. There's
not an awful lot nearby that I can play on, and there are
far too many people about - who would have thought it on a
Bank Holiday weekend? Don't they have a coast to go to?
I decide to ride off into the woods a bit. The first stage
takes me past a small flat grassy area where a group of
people are playing in a slightly bored fashion with remote
controlled cars. "Whizzz!" go the cars. Then they go,
"Whizzz!" This is followed shortly by a "Whizzz!" This seems
to be all that they do. One of the men tries to make it
marginally more interesting by aiming his R/C toy at me and
playing chicken. I'm tempted to run over the bloomin' thing,
but I restrain myself.
So, off into the woods, where I ride a challenging packed
mud incline, weaving between or riding over a few roots and
the odd stone. Soon I get to a bit that's too hard to ride,
and I get off and push. I generally head up hill, half
planning to ride the descent. I come to a slightly flatter
smoother bit, remount and ride until I UPD for no good
reason. Morale is getting low. I sit down for a while and
listen to the birdsong and watch a rabbit. I decide the time
has come to turn back, mentally and physically burned out.
I ride most of the way back with only a couple of UPDs on
the tricky sections. Only 3.76 miles covered - some of that
walked - and I'm more beaten than I was after my 22 miler on
Tuesday. Am I getting unfit, or did I just bite off more
than I could chew? We'll see.
--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling
Some days you're the fly; some days you're the windscreen. When you're
the fly, you get to eat [censored].
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikefule's Profile: unicyclist.com879Open ↗
View this thread: unicyclist.com32235Open ↗