hilly – One Wheel Man

Day 12

Plan: There are 120 miles left to go, but I want to do 80 on Monday, so today, I’m only doing about 40 miles.

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Outcome: The wind was 25-30 mph for most of the day. Cold too, about 50°F when I started. It knocked me off Uni so many times, I couldn’t stay on. I even tried to crouch down so I wasn’t as much to hit by the wind. It helped, but not enough. Every part of my body ached. I had to call it a day after 2 hours of fighting through it hard core. But on the bright side, I will be well rested to do 100 miles on Monday! Canada, here I come!

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Day 12 Stats:

Started at 7:55am in Great Falls, MT

Ended at 9:55am in Vaughn, MT

2 hours of riding

14 miles

Random Fact:

Not so much about unicycles, but I was born deaf and grew up oral (talking, not signing). I learned American Sign Language when I was 14, going to junior high school. I never knew how much I would continue to use it throughout my life. I love it!

Day 10

Today’s going to be a good day. Why? Because 10 is my favorite number!

I left Jefferson City at 8:30am. Because Helena is Montana’s capital (and also because they were doing construction on a bridge and there was no way I was going to cross that) I decided to go a highway route again. Only to find that they were working on that too; it was a dirt road. A kind worker told me the way wasn’t paved the rest of the way. (Note to self: I’ve really got to study the map better and plan my routes on paved roads.) Luckily that cross-section met up with Interstate 15 just down the road, and it was passed the construction, so I hopped back on it.

After Helena is uphill. Really, it was a mountain. It got hot real fast. The red rock scenery (picture on left) with a nearby creek made up for it. I rode the whole way up! (picture on right with mountain behind) Afterwards, I thought to myself, “I made it up a really big mountain. I am really proud of myself. I didn’t think I was going to make it. One pedal at a time. I think that’s how life is sometimes.” I think I’m much more prepared for the coast to coast trip. However, on that note, again, I must have a brake for that trip. Period.

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I made it to Wolf Creek, Montana before 3:30pm. Good timing. I’ve noticed that I haven’t had to ride in the evening yet due to not meeting at least 50 miles a day. Tomorrow is supposed to have scattered thunderstorms, so we’ll see what happens with that tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s not a day 1 repeat!

Day 10 EU red rock Day 10 river

Day 10 Stats:

Started at 8:30am in Jefferson City, MT

Ended at 3:20pm in Wolf Creek, MT

5 hours of riding

52.5 miles

Random Fact:

Unicycling all started when James Stanley invented a bicycle in 1866, called the Penny Farthing. It’s that big wheel with a tiny wheel behind, pretty much a unicycle in training!

Day 9

After our drive back to Silver Star, Montana from Butte, I started riding at 7:45am in 54°F weather. I was on roll! I just kept going and going and going! I didn’t even stop for lunch until after 1pm when I’d been riding for over 50 miles in five and a half hours. Whew! I have to admit, though, I didn’t eat the best last night and felt a bit sick during some of it. Luckily I had some Pepto Bismol to help me make it through. Lesson learned: stick to the diet.

Day 9 cold

After a quick restroom break in Whitehall, Montana, I found some other cyclists! There were lots of them riding today with KRG vans stationed along the way. I don’t know what race they’re doing, but best of luck to them too! They weren’t going too fast, so I was able to keep up with them somewhat. 😉

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Day 9 cyclists

Before lunch, there was a detour I had to take and there were way too many mosquitos! I put on bug spray and everything, but they seemed to want it like sugar! I can’t even tell you how many times I got bit. Too many, that’s for sure!

I wanted to keep going after lunch, so I did another stretch. This time, I took Interstate-15. My first time on the freeway, and I didn’t die! Yay! I am lucky that Montana’s roads aren’t too busy. However, shortly after I began I found myself heading into a mountain. You know what that means, huge climb! It went up about 1000 feet within 3 miles and back down the whole amount over 5 miles. Like I’ve mentioned before, going downhill on a unicycle, especially without a brake, is very difficult. I was going so fast! Literally, 14.5 miles per hour and I just hoped and prayed I wouldn’t fall off! I felt like I was on a roller coaster! That was some crazy time.

Day 9 I-15

Day hilly

The picture on the bottom is what I consider a fun and easy hilly area. I wish that’s what I meant by all these hilly times…it’s a lot harder than this.

I made it successfully to Jefferson City, Montana at 3:35pm. I completed 66 miles again! Awesome! I’ve done 500 miles!! Woohoo!! Roughly 220 miles left to get to the Canada border. Wow. I can’t believe I’ve made it this far already! I can do this!

Day 9 Stats:

Started at 7:45am in Silver Star, MT

Ended at 3:35pm in Jefferson City, MT

5.75 hours of riding (Personal Record time!)

66 miles

Random Fact:

There are different sizes of unicycles. The tires can be anywhere between 12 to 36 inches. You can also find some that are around 5-7 feet tall (seat) or even double or triple wheeled (upwards). Lots of variety.

Day 7

After a day of rest, it’s time to go again! Big thanks to the Nielsens for letting us stay as if it were our own home over the weekend! We had to drive about an hour to get to our starting destination. I started just north of where we stopped Saturday because that road was not very safe due to soft dirt roads and gravel (as if you were off-roading which a 36-inch unicycle is not made for). Today’s ride began in Spencer, Idaho, about 8:10am.

My wife drove ahead to see if there was going to be more of those kinds of roads…there were, but they didn’t appear as dangerous to her. She found a part where it said the road was closed ahead because a bridge was out. Luckily she went and found that it was recently driveable again and I had the okay to ride across. Whew!

After getting into Montana (sorry, no state border picture from the route I took this time), we couldn’t find the road to take for a while due to being out of cell service. We weren’t sure which way to go. After seeing several trucks and cars only go down one road, we followed. It was so bad! So hilly, dirt-y, rocky, etc. Boy, was it tiring and my knees hurt from all the impact.

One cool thing was seeing an owl flying around in bright daylight. Beautiful bird.

Towards the end of my ride, my knees were giving out and the dirt and rocks were not level that I came a little too forward, having my pedals whack me in the back of my legs as I “walked off” Uni, twice. Ouch!

Just as I reached 52 miles, I had for sure had enough of that road for the day (wishing for forever). 4pm and in the middle of nowhere, we had to drive about 35 miles on the same terrible road to get to Dillon, Montana.

We found a motel, instead of camping, since my body was more tired and worn than expected. When we went out to dinner at a restaurant called the 4B’s, they had a map of Montana posted. There are a lot of dirt roads on our path! Oh no! We were studying it when this kind couple came out and gave us their own copy of the map! It was so helpful! We even read on the 2009 map that cyclists could ride on interstates in non-urban areas. We’ll call tomorrow to confirm, but man, am I hoping that hasn’t changed! I could really use a smooth ride on paved roads. Lots of Montana to go!

Due to the tedious roads, pictures weren’t really taken today. Here’re a few pictures from along our path.

Day 7 scenery (L)

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Day 7 scenery (R)

Day 7 Stats:

Started at 8:10am in Spencer, ID

Ended at 4pm in the middle of nowhere, east of Lima, 34 miles Southeast of Dillon, MT

6.5 hours of riding time

52 miles

Random Fact:

The One Wheel Man decided to do a long distance trip shortly after he bought his 36-inch unicycle (2 years ago) when he did his first long (49 miles).

Day 4

Alright. Time to keep going! I’ve learned in order to recover appropriately and quickly, you need some proper sleep. We were staying a ways away from where I ended yesterday in Malad City, Idaho, that I got a little bit of a later start, but not too much. 7:50am and super cold at 55°F.

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I thought it’d warm up fast…but it was no more than 65°F the whole day. And windy too. Bugs kept hitting me (face, legs, jersey, etc) like roadkill. Dragonflies, flies, beetles, butterflies, you name it. But I have to admit that the ride, though hilly, was very pretty. Great scenery.

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Sadly, Uni started giving out again and made it difficult to ride. Luckily I made it to Pocatello, Idaho by 3:45pm after 52 miles. We stayed nearby at a good friend’s house. They were so awesome (just like all the others we’ve stayed with thus far) and gave great hospitality. You rock Halls!

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We tried to put our new frame on…but soon came to realize it was the wrong size. Dang it! The frame was too wide to fit onto the wheel bearings, and also the seat post has a bigger diameter on the new frame. Things weren’t looking so good. We might have to overnight ship a new unicycle altogether. But we’re going to keep going!

Day 4 Stats:

Started at 7:50am in Malad City, ID

Ended at 3:35pm in Pocatello, ID

6.25 hours of riding

52 miles

Random Fact:

The One Wheel Man started riding a 20-inch unicycle at the age of 15. He wanted to be a clown since he’d been doing so well at pantomiming.