I was late coming home today, was riding the Schlumpf over my local muni hill, and Penny (that's my wife) turned up going for a run. So cos of this, we went off on a loop round the trails, with me keeping the pace.
The trails are mainly not very technical, but with enough steep and rooty bits to make it worth riding a muni on. It's been wet, so it's a bit muddy and all the roots are like ice. And I was riding a slick tyre.
Anyway, enough excuses, basically what we discovered was that it's pretty easy to pace a runner on the flat, and downhill, but as soon as you hit a technical section or an uphill the runner is off ahead. I think it'll be fantastic training for muni riding, because it forces you to ride as fast as you can on exactly the sections that you'd normally slow down for.
I guess the fact runners are faster than unicycles may be obvious to some, given that in fell races, the runners often get better times than bikes over similar routes, but I didn't realise that even in an area with only short technical sections, they can be faster.
i uni while my mom runs she find the unicycle paces the runner good
-- skianduniaddict
number1 under 15 skiier in the united states ski sugarloaf uni bradbury my cat bob ate four kids;) i regret the day i threw a snowball at randy johnson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ skianduniaddict's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11868 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/49269
I used to run the same trails that I now muni on, and I would NEVER go back to running! It would be TOTALLY boring now compared to muni, plus the impact of your feet constantly hitting the ground set you up for more knee, shin and foot injuries/problems than muni. The biggest plus to muni vs running IMO is that it's so much more fun, and a much better workout than running.
-- terrybigwheel
Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".
thats exactly what i was going to say, about it being easier on your knees and all.
what i like to do though is have my little brother get on his bike and act as a "rabbit" and he will go flying up the hills on his bike and i try to keep up with him. I find that it helps me to improve my hill times.
I can cover distance cross-country much faster on a muni than I can run. The only place I'd be quicker running would be up a very steep or technical climb. But I'm a useless runner. There are runners I see sometimes on my way home from work (slightly up hill all the way) who I can only just keep up with on the muni. I reckon a really good runner could beat me outright over that route. It would be interesting to race a good runner against a really quick xc muni rider on a 29er or something. I reckon the muni would gain on the smoother bits, but the runner would come back on the climbs and technical stuff.
phil wrote: > <tries to count the number of times a knee has hit a rock; runs out of> fingers>> Nope, I'm not buying it!>
Plus a lot of running joint damage is supposedly because runners are generally idiots and don't think about their technique at all, and tend to overtrain and run badly, or push themselves too hard in events, do events when they're not ready (like the idiots who do the marathon with 2 months training), do events despite being injured etc etc.
Here's a simple and effectve test: Ride your usual muni route, or ride a 4-6 mile trail of your choice. Next day RUN the same trail and distance. Compare the two and decide which activity gave you the best workout, which was more fun, more challenging, which, if either, caused any pain/injuries in you knees, shins, feet, etc. Of course, you would probably not feel much pain after just ONE short run, but most likely would after a more prolonged period. For me, and I'm sure MOST other uni-ers, it's no contest; Muni wins hands down! By comparison, running is *B O R I N G!!!*
-- terrybigwheel
Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".
terrybigwheel wrote: > For me, and I'm sure MOST other uni-ers, it's no contest; Muni wins> hands down! By comparison, running is *B O R I N G!!!*
I find the largest disadvantage of running is that any gravity karma you gain is wasted; it takes loads of effort to go uphill but once you're there it takes a fair bit of effort just to go down again!
I find it means planning routes differently; when biking or muni-ing around Malvern I plan routes around the descents and the best ways to the top of them; when running I try to keep the gradients as smooth as possible.
Seager wrote: > I don't think muni is that much better on the knees than running. > Bikeing certainly is, but on a unicycle you are forced to square pedal> - especially when riding offroad, and that is not that great on the> knees.>
You burn more calories running and have a higher heart rate simply> because you are supporting your own weight. However, when I muni I get> much more tired because it's like doing sprint intervals (going up and> down hills) vs standard distance running.
Again, for me that is simply not true. I burn far more calories riding muni than running the same route; right off the bat you are carrying about 15 lbs of gear; uni plus camelback and protective gear. Now you're probably going to say that you don't "carry" the uni, but it IS extra weight that you are either pushing or pulling that you don't have while running; ESPECIALLY UPHILL! And muni is MUCH less overall stress on your knees vs running, because there is NO impact! Case in point: I used to have recurring knee, shin and ankle pain when I used to run (even though my technique was deemed "very good and efficient" by more seasoned runners) and now, many years later, in my 50's, I have ZERO of those problems. So at least for me, that is my experience.
-- terrybigwheel
Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".
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