Berkeley Unicyclists

Inaugural Tom’s Rob-ish Ride

tom — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:07:09 +0000

This weekend we had a rare treat, as Rob himself came to ride with us in lieu of doing the usual Sunday Rob’s Ride. The special occasion was the inauguration of Tom’s Rob-ish Ride, a mixed road and dirt ride inspired by Rob’s long-standing tradition. Rob brought up a crew from Santa Cruz, and we threw in a whole bunch of locals to make it 12 people and 14 wheels. He declared it to be “awesome,” thereby qualifying it for use of the Rob’s Ride name (per Rob’s publicist, Ken). I may make a few tweaks based on feedback from the first ride, but it turned out to be really enjoyable, except for when George took a bad fall and went to the emergency room for stitches in his knee–not that that stopped him from finishing the ride!

So the East Bay now has its own named 20ish-mile mixed road and dirt route for big wheels. Let me know if you’re interested in another go at it!

Full set of pics

Rob’s Ride 10th anniversary

tom — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:45:18 +0000

This Sunday was the 10th anniversary of Rob’s Ride, a mixed road and dirt ride originally designed for Cokers. They do this every Sunday, and it’s become a big thing, with 36″ wheels joined by Schlumpfs, bikes, and recumbent tandem trikes, among others. This weekend I did it on tandem, and Ashley, Jimbo, and Ricardo headed down, along with a big crew from Santa Cruz; 25 riders in all. Beautiful day down in the southland, and a big thanks to Rob for keeping this tradition going!

Full set of pics

Golden Gate Park big wheels

tom — Sun, 06 May 2012 05:31:20 +0000

We went over to Golden Gate Park for a little bit of exploration on 29ers, and some disc golf. The disc golf turned out to be a bust (note to self: that course is ridiculously busy on decent weekends, get there early AM or forget about it), but the exploring was cool, found a few lengthy flowy sections for big wheels. It was nice all the way out to Ocean Beach, which is a rarity.

Full set of pics

Three uni-sport weekend

tom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:18:44 +0000

We had distance unicycling on Saturday (part of Tom’s Rob-ish Ride; come for the inaugural ride on Sunday, May 13), and then basketball (at Mosswood Park) and MUni (in Joaquin Miller) on Sunday. I only got pictures of the last one, but that counts as a good weekend. Now we just need to figure out how to get a disc golf course into Joaquin Miller.

Mike is representing in his Berkeley Juggling and Unicycle Festival T-shirt: save the date for this year’s festival, August 15-17 at Berkeley High. It’ll be the biggest uni event on the west coast this year.

Full set of pics

Back to Joaquin Miller

tom — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:26:22 +0000

Last time we were up in Joaquin Miller it rained for four hours straight. This time it was sunny and hot. No matter, life’s always good in Joaquin Miller! Riding or hiking; Ricardo’s wife and mom were along with us, and a good time was had by all. We did a lot of playing around on the logs, which have dried out enough to be rideable (though that didn’t stop Ricardo from earning Best Biff on one).

Full set of pics

Night MUni

tom — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:56:24 +0000

We decided to try out a night MUni ride; I hadn’t done that since a group of us did a 24-hour race in 2003. It was fun, a lot harder than riding during the daytime, even with good lights. Still working on the night photography thing.

Moab media

tom — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:08:56 +0000

A ton of great images and videos from Moab; here are a few from others. Likely more to come!

April: Photos, Video

Marc: Photos

Moab recap

tom — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:47:12 +0000

We had a fantastic time in Moab, with 15+ riders and 10+ friends and family coming together for three glorious days. It was hotter than it’s been in recent years, but not so much that it became a problem on the trail. We saw great riding out of the hard-core guys, and the rest of the crew did a good job of pushing themselves to do more. I personally had one of my best riding days ever out on Porcupine Rim, cleaning some stuff that I wasn’t willing to try last year.

There was more unicycle drama than usual, with a world-record cliffside retrieval on Slickrock (requiring a 200 foot rappel) and two unis destroyed on Porcupine Rim (one Profile crank, and one disintegrated wheel). No serious injuries, though, and everyone had a good time.

There are a ton of pictures and videos from people who were there; I’ll post a few here but I’ll add another post later with links to everything.

Full set of Tom’s pics

Wet day in China Camp

tom — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:55:51 +0000

Our final Moab training ride was redirected to China Camp from Mount Tam due to the threat of rain. The threat turned out to be empty, but we had a great day riding in China Camp, with almost no one else in the park. Never believe the weather forecast.

While it didn’t rain, it was very wet; they got a lot more rain in Marin yesterday than we did in Oakland. The conditions were more challenging than usual, which is good for China Camp, which tends to be a bit on the tame side (if you’re not in high gear on a 29er, which I was for most of the day).

On to Moab! See you back here in April.

Full set of pics

Rainy day in Joaquin Miller

tom — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:26:54 +0000

We had our rainiest ride of the season on Saturday, and for some reason everyone decided this was the day to show up; we had 8 riders, of all skill levels, on a beautiful and wet day in the park.

Full set of pics