Adventure Unicyclist, One Wheel Drive, Ken Looi

Unicycling Injuries: how to drain a subungual haematoma

Mar 4th, 13 / Comments Off

I’m going to do a few articles on unicycling injuries, but I thought I would I would start with a subungual haematoma, after sustaining one at yesterdays Karapoti Classic mountainbike race.

A subungual haematoma is basically a collection of blood underneath a toenail or fingernail. They are sustained from trauma to the nail- usually stubbing the toe or dropping something on it. They are painful because of the pressure exerted by the haematoma.

A subungual haematoma should be drained to:

-alleviate pain

-prevent the nail from coming off (due to pressure)

-help the nail grow smoothly. If left undrained, the nail often grows over it in a ridge pattern, because of the irregular nail bed

Here is a little instructional video I made on draining a subungual haematoma with the paperclip method. It’s a useful bit of first aid which will save you a trip to the emergency dept.

News, Reviews

Karapoti Classic 2013

Mar 3rd, 13 / 1 Comment

There are very few races I can’t bear to miss, and the Karapoti Classic is one of them. The 50km race in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, is the Southern Hemispheres longest running mountainbike event, and one of the toughest, with three massive climbs, nasty rocks, shoe eating bogs, ruts, river crossings, slippery singletrack, and did I mention rocks? It is also the the world’s longest running Muni race, with a unicycle category since 2003. For someone who grew up in Wellington, Karapoti is part of local mountainbike folklore! I now live in Australia, but have been flying back every year to do this race.

I came into this year’s race hoping to beat my personal best of 4hrs 11min, set in 2005. The course was the driest I’d seen in 18yrs of racing Karapoti, a stark contrast to last years ‘weather bomb’, which forced a postponement of the race. Hoping to beat my unicycle PB, I chose my Triton 26” Schlumpf, complete with hydraulic brakes, two gears, a titanium frame and a very special NNC Flatfish carbon seat. Quite a contrast to the no-gears, no-brakes, steel 29’er I used in 2005. Joining me this year was local rider Tim Armstrong from Upper Hutt, and Sam Lancaster–Robertson from Auckland, our youngest ever Karapoti unicyclist at 17 (born the year I did my first Karapoti!)

3-2-1…go! The traditional scramble across a raging river was fairly tame this year, with the Akatarawa river as low as I’d ever seen it. Still worth taking care and not dunking yourself at the start of a race though! Once on the other side, it was a 2km ride up the road to the start of Karapoti Gorge. This is where high gear comes in most handy. I kicked the Schlumpf into 1.5 mode and cruised with the rest of the ‘special category’ classes- a mix of singlespeed, tandem, cyclocross, and retro bikes. Tim and Sam were riding ungeared 29″ and 26″ unicycles respectively, so would have to make up time on the climbs.

I hit the gravel singeltrack of Karapoti Gorge and was pleased to see it drier than most years, and able to be ridden in high gear. The cadence was slower, but I felt I was making good time on the Karapoti record. At the start of the warmup climb, I was 10min ahead of my usual splits…so kept telling myself: ‘don’t stuff this up’! It could be a record year, as the legs were feeling good. After the ‘warm-up’ climb, the real climbing begins, on the never-ending grind up to Deadwood, which also happens to be what your legs feel like at the top. This is where unicycles comes in handy. Being more compact, but not necessarily lighter (despite all the carbon and titanium, the geared hub is a tank), I pass dozens of riders pushing their way up.

After Deadwood came the infamous rock garden- so named because of the boulder sized rocks and steep drop-offs which threaten to destroy your machine, never mind the person on top. Here is footage of the 2013 Rock Garden, with Sam Lancaster-Robertson riding the final section around the 4min mark:

At the end of the rock garden, the track turned skyward in what is known as the Devils Staircase, with parts so steep you’re scrambling on all fours. Luckily, this year was fairly dry, which meant no one sliding back down toward you, and their bike landing on your head.

The drink station at the top was welcome relief. After grabbing a handful of jet planes and jelly snakes, which everyone had dunked their grubby mitts into (who cares about hygiene), it was off down the 10km long ‘Big Ring Boulevard’. Not quite a big ring, but I flicked the unicycle into high gear, doing my best to avoid loose off-camber sections and ruts which made this section deceptively difficult. Riders were scattered along the track fixing punctures from high speed impacts.

I cranked along in high gear until both legs cramped, and I ended up on the side of the track for 5min, with another rider straightening my feet. The added torque was taking its toll, and I kicked myself for not fitting a handlebar for extra leverage. I was starting to lose time, and I wasn’t happy about it, so went back into low gear to spin off some of the lactate.

Something still wasn’t right. I blamed fatigue for a couple of missed shifts, then my Schlumpf suddenly went into freewheel and I hit the dirt hard! After checking all limbs were intact, I looked down to find the cranks had worked loose and disengaged the Schlumpf gear. Not good. After faffing around for several minutes with shifter buttons, I hear Tim Armstrong whizzing by: ‘are you ok?’

During that incident my watch had ripped off, but after a cursory look, I had to get back on the Uni to try to catch Tim, which I did just before the start of the the Pram Track- arguably the toughest climb of Karapoti. I decided to powerwalk….it was faster than riding after what my legs had been through. Trying to keep Tim in sight however, was impossible, as he flew up the track as fast as his legs would take him. I don’t think I have ever seen someone disappear up the pram track as fast as he did. The race was now on, as most of the time would be made on the climbs.

When we hit the top, Tim was nowhere in sight, and without my watch I couldn’t keep track of race time. On the other hand, taking risks down Dopers Hill is not something you want to do, with the steepest part of Karapoti to come. At the bottom of Dopers, a track official said Tim was just a minute ahead, so I cranked back into high gear and pedaled as hard as I could. I caught sight of him just before the start of the Karapoti Gorge, and upped the pace some more, only to wipe myself out again. I took it fairly gingerly down the Gorge after that, but managed to catch Tim again halfway down. This was the home straight, so I enjoyed the last rocky single-track and eased my way down the road to the finish.

After another river crossing (I cramped in the middle and ended up swimming), and it was up the finishing shute and across the line in 4hrs36min. Not anywhere close to the record, but happy to finish. Tim rolled across the line a few minutes later in 4hrs39min, and Sam completed his first ever Karapoti in 5hrs3min, not a bad effort!

photo by Maria Williams

Events, MUni, Racing

Samuel Johnson to ride around Australia

Feb 11th, 13 / Comments Off

Australian actor Samuel Johnson is preparing to unicycle 15,000km around Australia in an attempt to break Lars Clausens Guinness World Record and raise $1m dollars for cancer research. Follow his journey on http://loveyoursister.org/

He leaves on the epic journey on the 15 Feb, and is expected to take up to 12 months to complete.

Good luck Samuel!

Events, News, Unitouring

Unistan: The Uzbekistan Unicycle Tour Oct 2013 registrations open

Jan 12th, 13 / Comments Off

Hi everyone,

Tour dates are finalised: 21 October 2013 (Day 1) to 1 November 2013 (Day 12)

Registrations for Unistan are now open, and will remain open until 1 June 2013, or when we fill all 20 spots. For more information, check out the Unistan website: http://unistan.adventureunicyclist.com/

If you haven’t received an email update from me, then you’re not on the mailing list.

Please contact me via the contact form on this website and I’ll send you the registration form.

Events, Unitouring

Mountain-Unicycling by Thierry Bouche

Jan 11th, 13 / Comments Off

Part three on Mountain-Unicycling by Thierry Bouche.

Some historical as well as new footage of our sport, for your interest.

MUni

Unicycle Bridge Tour Dec 5-9 2012

Nov 19th, 12 / Comments Off

An interesting concept! A unicycle bridge tour…Robert Hickman and Keith Nelson will be riding across 42 bridges, 107miles, on the Florida Heritage Trail.

Check out their blog as they build up to the tour:

http://unicyclenycbridgetour.blogspot.co.nz/

News, Unitouring

NNC Flatfish: The worlds best unicycle seat!

Oct 5th, 12 / 6 Comments

Those of you who follow my rantings on the unicycle forums know I’ve had issues with unicycle seats for as long as I have been a unicycling. I’m not the only one, because saddle comfort seems to be the biggest thorn in crotch of long distance unicyclists.

This medieval torture device comes in more or less one shape, because most modern unicycle seats use the same plastic KH/Velo bases. It takes years to recoup the cost of designing and producing a plastic base, hence there are few choices available. The differences between the various models relate to how much foam is used to pad it out with. They universally curve upwards to wedge against your crotch, and are fatter, heavier and wider than necessary.

A unicycle saddle looks and rides like a horse saddle, despite the motion of our legs and posture being closer to that of a bicyclist. My theory is that prior to the recent popularity of long distance unicycling, most unicyclists rode freestyle, or took part in short distance races. It was necessary to have an upwards wedge to keep you on the saddle during hands free maneuvers. That is not the case with road unicycling- we always have our hands on the handle. It would be akin to having an upward curvature on a bicycle saddle to stop you falling off the front.

Enter Peter Barrell, a unicyclist from Waikanae, a small coastal settlement an hour north of Welllington. On my recent visit to NZ, I mentioned the problem of curved seats, and it so happened that Peter is a whizz at making carbon fibre parts. With little encouragement required, Pete designed a mold for a flat, carbon fibre unicycle saddle.

The result is the flattest, thinnest and also one of the lightest, unicycle saddles I’ve used. We call it the NNC Flatfish. NNC stands for ‘No Nut Crush’.

I cannibalised a few parts from an old KH seat, which fitted nicely on the new base. Although the base itself is flat, my seat had a very mild curve because of the mounting hardware at the front. It would be easy to trim this down if necessary.
A little bit of anatomy- the two bony bits of your pelvis which you sit on are the ischial tuberosities (the ‘sit bones’). That is what should be in contact with the widest part of the saddle, and is what a saddle should support. There is no need for the saddle to squish the squishy parts of your anatomy, which is the rest of the perineum. In a male, the squishy parts of your anatomy corresponds to where the KH seatbases does a 45 degree upwards turn.

Every male unicyclist should do this….take off your clothes. Now sit on a KH saddle. Notice how your scrotum bulges upwards in a most unsatisfactory way. This is not natural. It is not good for you, and it is not good for future generations. Not so with the NNC Flatfish. I did the same experiment, and suffice to say, things had room to hang. I have left the male anatomy out of this diagram, but it sits just under the symphysis pubis.
So how does it ride?
I thought I would try the most crotch numbing ride imaginable- long distance on a standard racing unicycle (125mm/24”/100PSI), which amounts to low resistance, ultra-high cadence riding. Not only that, I would use regular shorts, rather than bike shorts. On a regular saddle, you’d be crying on the side of the road after 10km.
I’m happy to report that I’ve ridden over 50km at an average speed of 18km/hr with no dismounts. The only thing which hurt was my back, and my legs, but not my crotch. Since then I’ve put in several hundred kms on the NNC saddle, and it is the best unicycle saddle I’ve ever used. In terms of stiffness, the Carbon Fibre base doesn’t flex at all, which is good when you’re pulling hard on the seat. Although I’ve yet to test it off-road, the lower handle position seems to allow more leverage (your biceps brachii generate the most power when it is close to it’s full length), so I think it will be great for MUni.

I will be mounting a KH t-bar to it to tackle this year’s 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. Looking forward to it!

See this thread for our discussion on the NNC Saddle: http://tinyurl.com/9glullf

More photos on our Facebook Page: http://tinyurl.com/9tjz43j

Reviews

Unicycling in the Dolomites

Sep 27th, 12 / Comments Off

Check out this beautiful video of Lutz Eichholz and Stephanie Dietze unicycling in the Dolomites. Some amazing scenery and footage as they descend this 3000m mountain. It’s our favourite MUni video this year.

MUni

Triton Disc, Spirit Cranks and Nimbus Flat Review

Sep 21st, 12 / Comments Off

I have wanted to write product reviews for Adventure Unicyclist for some time, after modifying, breaking, and throwing many parts away in frustration. I hope you find my views as a road unicyclist useful. While I try to be impartial…much of unicycling comes to personal preference.

With my latest 36” Triton build, I thought this would be a good chance to look at some recent unicycle parts. I raced this rig at UNICON 16 in the Marathon, 100k, and 10km events, so the equipment was pushed pretty hard.

The 36” Triton Frame

I had ridden a standard KH 36” for about 4yrs. While it’s not a bad frame, there are several shortcomings, specific to aluminium rather than the KH. Namely, the frame looks fine for a few rides, but after numerous dings, crashes and corrosion, it looks terrible. Aluminium is comparably soft- I’ve stripped the thread on an old KH frame and several (non-KH) aluminium cranks.

Not so with the titanium. It costs more, but what you get is virtually bombproof and will look like it came out of the factory many years later. Recently, my 2008 Triton 29” was scratched to bits against spikey pedals. With steel wool, it polished up nicely and you can’t tell it apart from a new one. If you want something cheap, light and stiff, and blue is your favourite colour, you can’t go past the KH frames. They work for most people, and they are constantly being updated. In terms of value for money- that is a difficult proposition…although the Triton costs more than twice the KH, it will last much longer.

The 36” Triton disc is similar to the previous Tritons, but comes complete with disc tabs for a 180mm rotor. This was built to take the original SINZ Mt Uni Disc Brake cranks, but it is also compatible with the KH Spirit Disc brake. Magura brake bosses are included if you wish to run rim brakes. An added bonus of having disc tabs is that you can use different wheelsets on the same 36” frame.

For someone short like me, it helps that the seatpost has been cut low. The frame is available in brushed bare metal titanium with big industrial ‘TRITON’ stickers down each fork leg. You’re given a spare set of stickers, but they do come off after hard use, so I leave them off after. The welds are clean and functional, almost on par with my $8000 Litespeed Archon road bike. The fork legs are low in profile to avoid rubbing your heel, but if you have fat thighs like me, you may still squish them against the fork crown, even though it has been cut off at an angle to minimise this.

The wheelset

The original wheel consisted of a 2008 KH/Schlumpf hub built on a Nimbus Stealth Rim. Unfortunately the spokes were laced in a 4 cross pattern instead of 3 cross (*because there were no spokes of suitable length in NZ the time). As a result, the wheel was as flexible as a noodle, and resulted in significant brake rub. Despite truing and re-tensioning, I had to release the brake completely when doing the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge last year. Added to my misery was the gorilla like strength required to pry a Nimbus Nightrider tyre off the rim. I’d had enough and decided to rebuild the wheel.

The new wheelset was built with the Nimbus II rim, using the same shaved Nightrider tyre I had previously. I replaced the heavy 36” inner tube with a clear 36” Foss Tube for a weight saving of another few hundred grams. This made for a stiffer, lighter, livelier wheel, but best of all, I no longer dreaded changing my tyre! The bead rolled off the rim easily, only needing gentle coaxing with a tyre lever; rather than the lubricated, grimacing, yelling, hernia popping experience I was used to.

The Disc Brake and Spirit cranks

The disc was a mid-range set of Shimano Deore caliper paired to a Shimano XT 180mm rotor. It was cheap and functional, and the mechanics at my local bike shop are big fans due to their ease of servicing. They had more than adequate stopping power and modulation.

I used a KH Starfighter extension on the brake lever. At NZ$40, it is a pretty expensive lump of not much aluminium, but looks cool and works well. Compared to the earlier KH plastic spooner, it should last longer and is more adjustable (and hence fit more styles of lever). I only wish it looked like the Millennium falcon rather than a wimpy Starfighter….I have to turn the brake towards my lever hand to reach it adequately.

The disc rotor was bolted onto the new KH Spirit dual-hole cranks, in 125/150mm size. I was never a fan of dual-hole cranks- they look crude and inelegant. How wrong was I! The extra fiddlyness of setting up a disc brake, putting on a Schlumpf crank, and getting a torque lever in narrow places; was enough to convert me. I found the 125mm cranks much smoother, but moved back to 150mm for added power. All done with little more than an allen key.

The main concern with disc brakes and Schlumpf hubs are frame clearance issues. On older model KH Aluminium frames, some filing/shaving is required in order to get adequate clearance between the hub and the frame, and between the frame and the rotor bolts. The titanium frame is less chunky than the aluminium KH, but I was still concerned about the amount of clearance I’d have with my rotor bolts. When the disc finally arrived, I was relieved to find about 1- 1.5mm gap between the rotor bolts and the outside of the bearing caps

And then the unexpected happened- or perhaps the expected unexpected. After a few rides with my new setup, the Schlumpf hub broke! A spoke had ripped out of the flange on the hub. I found out later that the older KH/Schlumpf hubs require directional spoke lacing (the spoke holes are not symmetrical) – something my bike shop wasn’t aware of nor was it specified when I bought the original wheel four years ago. My wheel builder had laced the wheel the wrong way, which put too much tension on the flange and ripped a spoke through it.

The 2012 KH Schlumpf hub

Luckily for me, Florian Schlumpf happened to be at UNICON, and I purchased a new hub to install in my unicycle, and Marco Vitale kindly rebuilt the wheel for me. Now, I have a new hub to review as well, which in theory, should work better as it has a longer axle and hence should have greater disc brake clearance.

If only life were so simple. The new hub axle is 4mm longer than the old (152mm vs 148mm), but when I installed the cranks onto the hub, they sat further in on the ISIS splines. Now, instead of 1- 1.5mm clearance, I had zero clearance between the rotor bolts and the bearing caps of the Triton frame! I temporarily solved this issue by putting PVC tape on the spline- which pushed the crank out just enough that I have a few microns separating the rotor bolts (and myself) from oblivion should they ever come loose . I have since shaved the Triton bearing caps with an angle grinder, and I now have about 1mm clearance.

The other clearance issue facing many disc users the gap between the inner fork leg and the Schlumpf dust cap. I believe this is a problem for the newer hubs because of some extra (bulkier) seals. However, it is not a problem on the Triton, which has oodles of inner clearance due to the thin tubing.

The Nimbus Flat seat and handlebars

I have used most editions of the KH Seat since they first came out. Coming from a bicycling background, I cannot see why unicycle seats are shaped like horse saddles. A seat should support your ischial tuberosities (the bony protuberances of your pelvis), and then not wedge against your crotch.

I thought I’d try the Nimbus Flat, which is one of the newer, thinner seats available. When it arrived, I was disappointed at how fat it looked…it was as thick as my regular (shaved down) seats. It was thicker and wider up front than the Impact Naomi- my favourite seat (and the only one where I have not cut down the foam).

The cover is stapled on, rather than relying on shoelaces to hold it together, which makes it difficult, if not unfeasible, to modify. For the aesthetically challenged, the seat cover looks like a pigeon shat on it. The only redeeming factor is that the grey colour matches Titanium.

Comfort wise, it is passable, and definitely better than overstuffed horse saddles like the KH Freeride (although you can easily trim the foam). The wide front and upwards bend does get in the way, but until we get a flat, narrow, thin, seat, this is all you can expect.

At 750g, the weight is comparable to the Impact Naomi and KH Slim saddles, but still three times heavier than an equivalent bicycle saddle. I used a KH T-Bar, which bolts onto the Nimbus saddle nicely. If you run this handlebar setup, get the Nimbus Flat (or other KH style seat). If you don’t use a KH T-Bar, get the Impact Naomi.

How does the whole thing ride?

My 36″ Triton Schlumpf rides pretty well for a geared unicycle. The wheel is stiff and it tracks well. This is partly due to the new wheel build, and partly due to the very rigid Titanium fork legs. I had a few crashes, but the frame handled it all and I haven’t noticed a single scratch or dent.

My favourite thing (despite the complexity) is the disc brake. It is so buttery smooth I found myself using it more than I am accustomed to. No sudden grabs, no disc rub, and strong enough to give me confidence to descend technical downhills in high gear. I think a disc brake is necessary if you are riding a Guni, simply because of the extra speed you have to keep in check.

Shifting was good with the KH Spirit cranks- they flare out but I didn’t notice the extra Q-factor (probably because of the higher gear and lower cadences). They are about 150-200g lighter than the older KH Moment cranks, which I refuse to put on any unicycle because of the weight.

The seat got in the way a little because of the bulk (compared to my cut down seats), but I completed the 100km Unicon race without too much discomfort. .

The newer KH/Schlumpf hub is reinforced at the flange to prevent further breakages, and can now be laced in both directions, so that is a big plus. Aside from the rotor bolt clearance issue (really, the axle needs to be longer), it worked as well as the old hub. I didn’t notice any difference in shifting performance over the 2008 KH/Schlumpf hub. As with all Schlumpf hubs, it’s bloody heavy, and it makes the unicycle feel like a tank, but it’s the sacrifice we have to make for racing.

So in summary- I love the frame, I like the disc, I can put up with the saddle, and the geared hub works as well as you can expect at this stage of development.

(*note that pictures below show a cut down KH Freeride seat, not the Nimbus Flat)

Reviews

UNICON 16 Video

Aug 8th, 12 / Comments Off

A beautiful video by Nicola Cassanelli showing some highlights of UNICON 16, the 16th Unicycle World Championships and Convention, held in Brixen, Northern Italy last week.

Events, MUni, News, Racing