Fear and Loafing on the Road to RTL

Kyle here on the road with the Chas-man. We’re currently in Massachusetts on our way up to Maine to join up with the other half of Team Unicycle Max. The drive up from Philly can be a grueling one, but we’re both pretty psyched up for the race. Driving hundreds of miles is nothing when you got good tunes and lots of laughs. The DeMilners have never been short on either. We’ll be staying in Portland tonight before catching The Cat ferry up to The Lobster. If you happen to drive through Portland and see a UnicycleMax sticker on a stop sign or two, we had absolutely nothing to do with it. More from the road to RTL to come. Stay tuned.

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And now a word from our sponsors…

Our friend Bill Merrylees and his team, American Mojo, just scored a sweet sponsorshipfrom Coker Cycles. Bill is a great guy who helped Max out quite a bit during his 2006 New England tour, so I’m happy to see the custom red white and blue Big One go to someone who really deserves it. He’s done a lot to spread the sport of unicycling in Vermont through weekly club meetings. Are we worried that American Mojo, now with the support of a major unicycle manufacturer, will run us off the road and claim victory over Team Unicycle Max? Not a chance. Besides, Joycone has our backs.

Step 1: Lookin Good

As Max mentioned earlier, the official Team Unicycle Max jerseys and t-shirts are in. Great Graphics in north Philly hooked us up with an excellent screenprinting job. So now no matter how we finish in the race, at least we’ll be do it in style.

 

Drunk Driver Ruins Bike Race in Mexico

The numbers continue to tick away on the countdown to Ride the Lobster, but this isn’t the only game in town. The beginning of summer marks the beginning of the summer bike race season. The 2008 Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling starts today in Allentown, PA which is always a big event arount here. Philadelphia is a pretty cycling-friendly city, better than average anyway. Still, drunken idiots are everywhere, and the tragedy that happened in Mexico over the weekend could unfortunately happen anywhere.

 

MONTERREY, Mexico – A car plowed into a bike race along a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others.

The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race Sunday, police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez said Monday (AP via MSNBC)

Be safe out there kids. Keep your head up and watch out for idiots. This is a terrible tragedy, but I hope some good comes out of it and the rest of the summer cycling season is safe and fun.

Crank-a-tron Update

What a difference 20mm makes. That’s how much shorter my new cranks are and the difference is dramatic. I was quickly able to hit a new top speed of just under 17mph, with a good maintained average speed of about 14 – 15mph. Of course this was all on flat to slight downhill road. I avoided my usual 6-mile loop that tackles all the major hills in the area because even though the shorter cranks make allow you to pedal a little faster, they take away a lot of leverage for hammering up hills. Luckily, it sounds like this race will be mostly flat, so shorter cranks are definitely the ticket. Plus we have a sweet little 29er in our uni arsenal should we encounter any truly heinous hills to climb.

I just realized that we’ll be on our way up to Maine in 2 weeks and had a mini panic attack. This race is going to be here and gone before we know it. Cheers.

-Kyle D

Shorter is Better in the Long Run

Ride the Lobster is less than 3 weeks away, which means it’s officially crunch time. Just 3 short weeks left to turn the training knob to 11 and to get our equipment overhauled and pimped out. For Max, his uni has the most miles on it by far. He has also done quite a bit of riding in the snow during the long Maine winters, so his unicycle has some badly needed maintenance before the race. For myself, I just need some shorter cranks.

Now we’ve all had the unfortunate experience of fighting with cotterless cranks, getting them to stay on the square tapered hub without coming loose every 10 minutes, pounding them with a rubber mallet to get a nice tight fit, or improvising a shim to fix an ill-fitting crank wobble. However, I have the luxury of a new ISIS hub on my wheel. That means stronger, more reliable, and a heck of a lot easier to change the cranks. I had my first taste of it last night and I couldn’t believe what a breeze it was. The ISIS hub and cranks are quickly becoming the standard in new unicycles. I was lucky enough to score the only Nimbus 36″er with the ISIS system. It was a custom creation from the folks at unicycle.com and I’m so glad they hooked me up. Not that I’m doing any crazy trials on my 36er or anything, but with the ISIS cranks, I’m not worrying about bending them or tightening them everywhere I go, something Max knows about in the worst way. During the final leg of his New England solo tour, he encountered some major crank failure, which is not very fun in itself, but when it happens in the pouring rain and in the middle of nowhere, a failure like that is miserable.

So my new cranks went on in a snap. I’ll take them for a spin later today. They should allow me to go faster on the flats and downhill sections. Hopefully I still have enough leverage to tackle all the ridiculous hills around my neighborhood. Stay tuned for a full report.

-Kyle D

We Are Here to Go!

Welcome to the new Team Unicycle Max blog. This is it; Uni Central, HQ, your number one place for exclusive Team Unicycle Max content. We’re gearing up for the big race less than a month away. 35 teams are now signed on to ride the crustacean-shaped Canadian providence. Plans are coming together, jerseys are being printed, the wheels are in motion. We’re all very excited, not just because we get to participate in such an epic global unicycling event, but because we get to ride as a family. The Max Man himself was a big inspiration for the organizers of this race, so just riding with THE UnicyleMax is awesome. The race is approaching fast, so check back often with www.unicyclemax.com and www.ridethelobster.com for the latest news and updates.

K-Man out.