JohnnyReggae

Yup... being smacked on the shins by a pedal hurts like a b*$^@*ch !! Although coasting and gliding are skills that I have not yet acquired. They are both very advanced skills, and is one of those getting over the fear things....

The freewheel system is even more low-tech than that and simply involves taking your feet off the pedals !! There are 2 methods..... coasting and gliding. The first is where you take your feet off the pedals and put one foot on top of the wheel effectively creating a type of brake.The 2nd is take your feet off completely and pray. I have some more info on both here. Look under "Additional Skills and Tricks"

Arne Tilgen, and accomplished unicycler from Germany rode up and down Sani Pass a cople of days ago. Arne along with a friend Linda have been cycling (on normal bicycles, which front wheels convert into their unicycles) from Cape Town to Duran over the last month, arriving there a few days ago. From there they went up to Lesotho and Arne took the opportunity to ride up Sani Pass. Arne was part of the "German Speeders" team that won the Ride The Lobster race in Novia Scotia in Canada last year. The race is 800km done over 5 days!!! Arne used a 36" Unicycle with a geared hub with a 1.5:1 gear ratio, effectively giving him 54" wheel. Arne's blog with the entire trip is here. It is in German, however Google can translate it for you. Here is a pic of me riding my unicycle with them when they were leaving Cape Town.

Awesome photo Ruan !!! Nice one dude You're certainly getting braver..... and here I was... chuffed with a 5 foot drop I landed the other day. Great inspiration !!!

+1 FF rocks !!

bwaahaahaaahaa ..... Now that is serious slit-your-wrists stuff

Death Metal would not be Death Metal with song names like "Always On My Mind", " A Song For You", etc .. They are kinda obligated to go for something that sounds brutal .... besides, listening to Death Metal does not make one want to go out and rip bunnys apart Currently playing : Onslaught - Destroyer Of Worlds Would love to be able to play some of this stuff on my guitar, but most of it is just crazy. Will have to be content with strumming out some Jack Johnson JohnnyReggae2009-01-26 07:48:18

Speaking of road cyclists..... Saw a dude on the M3 going down Wynberg Hill towards Constantia last week. The guy was cycling down the middle of the left hand lane in 4:30pm traffic. He must have certainly had some sort of death wish, as it's exactly where motorists come round the left hand bend and start speeding up. I thought that cycling on the freeways was illegal ? never mind riding in the middle of the freeway.....

Cannibal Corpse - Skewered From Ear To Eye Loved the scene in "Ace Ventura - Pet Detective" where they did a guest appearance singing " " JohnnyReggae2009-01-26 06:23:34

Always... Don't rekon you could hire one Unless it suddenly becomes a main stream sport and cycle shops start stocking them.

Dude..... (shakes head) .... sigh ..... as mentioned earlier .... it wouldn't have changed anything if I was walking, riding a bike, skipping.... Like the horse really cares how many wheels you have. Seems like you MTB'ers better watch out for those damn unicyclists, running around the forest, scaring the cr@p out of everyone..... "Holy Sh*t... did you just see that ?!?!?!? .... Man... never been so scared in my life as when I saw that wheel coming towards me"

basically... yes. Being on a unicycle has nothing to do with it. I could have been bouncing up the trail on a one of those huge bouncy balls I had when I was a kid.... Claiming ignorance on their part (even if it by you), is no excuse.

Thought I had mentioned it.... But .. I believe they were reckless taking clearly skittish horses down a very narrow single track where you cannot see much of the trail because it snakes around, having the potential for a serious accident or injury either to the horse rider being thrown off by a spooked horse, or me being trampled by a spooked horse. It's just not cool !!

Sure... lets be accommodating. What if the horse had gotten seriously spooked and taken off into the bushes throwing the rider off with the potential of a very serious accident. I am always friendly to the people I meet on the trails, and always offer a smile and a friendly word. I'm not going to be friendly though to someone who is reckless !! Would you be friendly to someone who had just nearly run you over in their car as you were crossing the road at a Zebra crossing or traffic light when it's green for walking ? ... "no worries mate, I was in the wrong walking across the road" JohnnyReggae2009-01-23 01:34:40

I don't mind the horses going around Tokai, but have an issue when you take the horse down a narrow single track where you know there are bound to be MTB riders on... it's just reckless . I also have an issue with the horses seriously damaging the single track. The single tracks in Tokai took a serious beating during winter and the horses had quite an impact in that as well. Some of the trails have only just been repaired, and they are already in a state. They have gone from mud to hard pack to soft powder.

Didn't get to say anything to them, which I supposed annoyed me even more. I was to busy keeping an eye on the horses as they were very skittish, and didn't feel like being trampled by a horse. Been around enough horses to know the damage they can inflict when they suddenly bolt. Then got even more annoyed with the "sweet" voice of one of the the woman "Oh .. look there's a unicycle" ... ffs !!