The place: Triviz. The time: Last Saturday. The crime: Riding my unicycle on the sidewalk.

I was trying to round up everyone for the trash pick-up last week, and was told a few people were on Triviz. I promptly went over and rode my unicycle trying to find people (on the sidewalk, since the trash pick-up was on that side of the street). An old man flagged me down. Thinking he was another one in the group, I got off my unicycle to talk to him. Instead, he asked me what something was as he pointed to the street. "It's a bike lane," I replied. "Then why aren't you in it?" He then complained how he couldn't walk someplaces because of dogs, and he had almost gotten hit by bicyclists on the sidewalk. Of course, this wasn't necessarily relevant because I was on my unicycle (he did finally bring that point up, that he didn't know whether it'd be a vehicle or not). As he walked off, he said he could report me ("I'll let you go this time").

I almost wish he did try to report that. "Hi, officer. I'd like to report a bicyclist unicyclist riding on the sidewalk." I'm sure that would make that cop's day.
( Cycling and the Law )

I've decided I want to do a century ride. On my unicycle.

Yes, I realize that's 100 miles in one day and quite possibly certifiably crazy. Even more crazy, some unicyclists have the goal of doing a 100-10-1 challenge: 100 miles, 10 hours, 1 wheel. I'm not going to try for that. I want to leave room for plenty of breaks, take my time, and slightly painfully and sorely enjoy the 100 miles.

On my bike, the most I've ridden in a day is 50 miles. That would sound a lot more encouraging if it had been one single trip. It was split between a 20-mile ride in the morning, and a 30-mile ride in the evening. On my unicycle, the most I've ridden in a day is ~13 miles or so (some of which I actually ended up walking because it was partly on a mountain --cycling trail).

I do have some work to do. I'm going to start by doing a 30-mile ride on my unicycle. Also in my "to do" list prior to doing a century will be to ride up to the top of a mountain pass (probably on my bike, eventually on my unicycle- once I get the brakes installed and know how to use them so I don't fall off as I'm trying to slow down). That'd be roughly a 40-mile roundtrip ride (much easier on my bike than my unicycle, at least coming down from the pass since I can coast on my bike). I figure if I do a couple of other 30-40 mile trips on both unicycle and bike, that'll get me nicely into shape. Slowly, I'll do longer trips (already have a nice 60-mile route planned, although that's partly off paved road, so I'm not sure).

If I seem to be able to handle those rides okay, I'll probably go ahead and try a century ride on my bike. After that, and some recovery, I'll do it on my unicycle. It'd be a bit more challenging on my unicycle, mostly because of the extra time needed. It could take from around 10 hours (not likely) to 16 hours, depending on how long I take at breaks and what not. As a result, I'll have to figure out a nice lighting system for my unicycle.

This really is meant as a "long term" goal that I'm not setting any specific date to attempt it. I'll have to do lots of research and preparation for it, in addition to some distance training. It might even be nice to talk some local bicyclists into doing this with me, at least the bike century. I figure I'll do it when "I'm ready," if ever- it's mostly just something to give a goal to work for as I'm riding around.

"What happens when you repress something?" "It goes away?"


That's what I'm hoping. This will be a random update to completely not think about what I'm actually thinking about right now, as that would involve emotions and stuff. Also, I'm not going to write the next line of the above quote. Nope. Things go away when you repress them. Yeap. Totally. With that... random musings of my mind as I try not to think of unpleasant stuff:

I invented a new word today: Ratscals. I don't think any of the li'l ones were actually doing anything rascally at the moment, but as I was talking cute to them, it slipped out. The last things I've had to to try and stop them from eating and/or running away with included a pear and a coupon.

Earlier this week, I set a new record on my bike for total distance riding in a single day: 50 miles. This was actually two seperate rides (20 and 30 miles), with a three-hour break for lunch and to avoid the heat. This was also completely done for one single geocache. The caches were actually very easy to find, and would have been required no more than going about 150 feet from the road if you were driving. The stages of the multi-cache were just very very spread out.

A few weeks ago, I was in Denver visiting my brother. I got to do some uni-caching there (caching while on my unicycle). That worked out pretty well. I couldn't take my bike up due to lack of room, but my unicycle fit in the truck just fine. It sure beat walking around from my brother's place to City Park.

A few weeks prior to that, I hiked up to Organ Needle (the highest point in the mountains by my city, and the county). It was a long hike, particularly since I was with my dad. He managed to make it almost to the top, but didn't try going up the final crux. That last bit was a bit nerve-racking, as it was my first time doing more serious "mountain climbing" as opposed to just scrambling, although I didn't use any rope or equipment to get up. It was just a bit more vertical and exposed than what I usually do on my hikes.

I can't think of anything else too exciting that's happened in the past few weeks, at least this temporarily distracted my thoughts. I guess I'll just have to play some Civ. Bwahaha.


P.S.: "It comes back all crazy and pissed off."

What would you do if you walked into a store and a clerk told you that you had to leave your bags up front? This just happened to me at Hastings. I walked into the store with two panniers (bags to attach to my bike rack) and my backpack. I had initially gone along with what the clerk had asked- I handed her my bags and proceeded to look around. I wasn't happy, though. I felt uncomfortable about it. Within a minute, I walked back up to get my stuff.

(paraphrased greatly because of a bad memory)
Her: You can finish looking around.
Me: I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable leaving my stuff up here.
Her: That's our policy.
Me: I was just in Best Buy and Wal-Mart, and had no trouble there. I understand why you have the policy, but it just seems ridiculous. I'll just have to shop elsewhere.
Her: I'm sorry you feel that way.

I wonder what would happen if I was a women with a purse, or a parent with an infant (with food, diapers, and whatever else is in a baby bag).

Despite that little incident, I had a really good morning. It started with a bike ride to "A" Mountain (didn't go around it on the bike trails there- just biked to the shelter). It was actually pretty fun. It started off tough, just because of the initial elevation gain on my way there. I almost thought I was crazy for attempting it. Once I got passed that, it wasn't too bad- elevation gain wasn't that steep. Coming down was where the real fun was, especially with the added breeze. I felt great.

After that, I got to bike on a very smooth, well-oiled, new road. My city just extended one of the roads a couple blocks. They even remembered to put in bike lanes. While they were at it, they also put in bike lanes on the existing part of this road all the way to the mall. It's especially nice because now there is no parking along the side of the street, so it can actually be used by bicyclists (if people comply and don't park there... like someone had today). Oh, how great that felt to be on that nicely oiled road.

While I was at Wal-mart, I saw a super great deal: X-Files 2-season bundle for $19.99. TWO seasons. Sadly, they only had a 1&2 combo. It's still a great deal for those any x-philes out there.

Technically, this was yesterday. I guess I've been one, but yesterday was my first "big" day as a commuter cyclist. I rode approximately 23 miles total. It wasn't all at once, but just getting around town to do various things: going to the park for Earth Day, participating in the bike ride there (I took the short bike ride- only 5 miles as opposed to the 25 mile long ride), going to the post office to pick up a package (alas, from Amazon- but I ordered before everything happened last weekend), and going to the university for the poetry open mic/hip-hop thing going on there.

Cycling yesterday was fun- a bit tiring at times. I didn't realize the slope the city sits on, and all the hills, until riding. I enjoyed it, though. I've mostly had good results riding my bike around town. There have only been a few problems (for example, a couple of close calls with cars). The biggest dangers on my route are cars at intersections (pulling out too far because they didn't slow down fast enough or starting to pull out because they don't see me), cars backing out of driveways, and parked cars (they reduce visibility from side streets, car doors could open, cars could try to get onto the street). Oh, and parking lots- people drive insanely through parking lots. There seem to be no rules here, pure chaos. Generally, though, it's not too bad. For the most part, I've learned some good routes for riding around town and (apparently) can even go long distances.

The Earth Day event was okay. The ride was fun, but very slow and leisurely. I hardly had to pedal (but didn't resort to peddling at any time). Nothing wrong with that. It was actually slow enough I could have probably done it on my unicycle (if I was able to get on it a bit easier). It was nice to see kids out biking in this event (riding their own bike, in a trailer, or even a "bike" that connects to the bike of a parent). I loved seeing the different kinds of bikes: one tandem, an electric bike, the different trailers. Sadly, no unicycles. I even asked someone in the organization who sponsored it. That might change soon. The rest of Earth Day involved walking around to booths, talking to folk about various things happening- nothing super super cool, but still enjoyable.

The open mic event was also fun (especially nice to sit down inside after being outside after being outside all day). One girl decided to sing a song, playing a ukulele while in her bathing suit top. Then there was the usual slam poetry, a rant by a vet, and a few other performances.

The interesting thing at the hip-hop thing on campus was the emcee battle. You basically belittle your opponent while boosting your own image. It was surprisingly entertaining, although the homophobic remarks were disappointing. I have no idea why they would imply the other emcee would get down and perform fellatio on the other (and use that as an insult), but that's hip-hop I guess. I guess I should make a reference to an Ill Doctrine video related to this. There's also the Gay Hip Hop forum, which conveniently has links to gay hip hop artists.

It's now time to lounge around and spend time with the rats before I clean

Yesterday, as I was riding my bike home from the grocery store/work, pedaling away, some kids watched me. One of them called out to another, "See, this is what you're doing wrong!" The other then yelled out to me, "I like your motorcycle."


My bike


My other bike... err... half my other bike?

You have to pedal fast enough to avoid being hit.

Seriously. Tonight I almost got hit twice. The first time, someone ran right through a stop sign. The road I was on had the right-of-way. They made a right turn without stopping at all. In their defense, the sign was hard to see- but that's not comforting to me, as they almost hit me.

The second time, I was riding my bike and was essentially "forced" into riding down one of the busier roads in my city. Granted, at 19:00 (7pm), traffic isn't bad at all. I started out on the rightmost side of the street, as bikers should be. After a while, I found the road I wanted to turn left onto. I looked back and thought I was mostly clear. There was a car in each lane, but far enough back I could easily switch lanes. The problem, of course, is that I'm a lot slower than a car. I got over fine, but with my slower speed, the car who I got in front of wasn't happy. They switched lanes, passed me, and flicked me off- yelling, "Fucking faggot!" as they did. I'm really not sure how they could determine my orientation based on me riding my bike, but I'm sure that's what was said. Then again, I was a bit busy trying not to be hit to really pay much attention to what was being yelled at. Legally, I think I was in the clear, since I was switching to the left lane to make a turn. Practically, however, that was a stupid idea on my part and I should have found another way to get around this road.