Hello, everyone! Today is the day I began the journey. Got a nice and early start in the morning. Not hot or cold. Rained last night. I’m so excited! It was quite the adventure today. May the one wheel be in my favor!
I was feeling so great and felt like I could keep going forever in the beautiful weather and everything. Also, today’s ride I’ve done before in my training, so I was very familiar with the route. “Yeah! I feel good! Whoo! I can ride forever!” However, around 7 miles, Kris Holm Uni (as I’ve named my unicycle, Uni for short), got really tight and stuck that I couldn’t turn the wheel. I kept going a little bit and as it was going down the hill, it started going again. At mile 15 it started grinding. The frame had bent a bit, so I got off and tried to fix it by bending it in again…only I bent it too far and it wouldn’t fit anymore! Oops… We called unicycle.com and ordered a new frame to be shipped to our destination overnight.
Uni at 8:30am, Day 1. Great start….
BUT! That didn’t stop me! After fixing it enough and getting fueled up again, I kept on going. Still a really nice day out! It started getting a little rough again, but I kept going. And going. And going. And then it began to rain…and I kept going. And then it began to hail. “Ouch!” Hail while riding (let alone on the face) hurts! It began pouring. I got drenched and so did my car when my wife picked me up. After all, you know what they say when life throws you challenges–dance in the rain!
Day 1 Stats:
Started at 7am in Orem, UT
Struggles/on hold 8:30-12:30pm
Ended at 2pm in South Jordan, UT
4 hours of actual riding time
35 miles total
Random Fact:
On a bicycle, it takes about 235 pedal rotations to reach a mile. On a unicycle it’s about 516 pedal rotations to reach a mile. More than double!