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Subject: 3 Gap on a Unicycle
by Jeff Bauer
Nashville, TN
Ride: 3 Gap 50 Miler (part of the Six Gap Century)
Date: 9-28-2003
Each year in late September the Dahlonega Chamber of Commerce hosts the Six Gap
Century Ride. It's a challenging
100 mile bicycle ride over the North Georgia mountains with 10,700 feet of
climbing.
http://radar.ngcsu.edu/~aroush/sixgapcentury.html
I've rode it twice officially on a bike. In addition I once rode a 9-Gap version
(6 Gap plus 3 in reverse) with Tom Cross. It's a great, well-supported
ride with fantastic descents. Each year the number of riders increases.
I saw bike numbers as high as 1998 this year (mine was 52), though the web
site states a 1500 rider limit.
For riders would don't want to spend all day climbing the mountains, a shorter
"Three Gap" 50 mile option is offered. I thought this might be
interesting to attempt on my unicycle -- a 36" Coker -- partially as a
challenge, but also because I needed the training miles in for next week's MS
150 "Jack & Back" ride and didn't want to totally miss out on the
Six Gap fun.
A few days before the ride, I installed 170 mm crank arms to give the Coker more
climbing leverage. Normally I ride with 150mm cranks and lately I've been
trying arms as low as 140mm. The longer crank arms meant that I had to cut
off an extra centimeter from my seatpost so I could reach the pedals. In
the process of experimenting, I applied too much torque and snapped off my
seatpost collar bolt, requiring a replacement collar (kindly provided by the
friendly folks at Bike Pedlar).
One day prior to the Six Gap ride, I rode the 170 mm crank/seatpost
configuration on a 31 mile "Habitat for Humanity" charity ride in
Springfield, Tennessee. Everything checked out okay, though the new cranks felt
different and made me spin like crazy on the flat sections. The longer
crank arms definitely made freemounting easier, however.
On 1:30 am Sunday morning Tom Cayton, Alan Gosart and I rode down to Dahlonega,
Georgia. It's about a 5 hour trip, though we lose an hour because of the
time zone difference (central vs. eastern standard). We arrived in Dahlonega to
a cool, misty morning sunrise. Most riders had on jackets or vests and arm
warmers. I didn't bother because at the speeds I'd be riding (8 mph), the
wind chill wouldn't be much of a factor.
I waited about 5 minutes after the official start for the large packs of
cyclists to clear out, then managed to roll out of the parking lot on the Coker.
The big wheeled unicycle attracts a lot of attention at organized rides.
It's a conversation starter and a camera magnet.
On the ride out to Neals Gap, I was passed by 100 or more late starters. The
inevitable questions asked in order of frequency:
"How far are you riding?"
(Six Gap would take me 16-18 hours!)
"Can you freewheel?"
(Freewheel? We don' need no stinkin' freewheels.)
"How do you handle the descents?"
(Slowly)
"When did you start learning to ride?"
(Last March)
After a while the riders thinned out. There were a few short climbs on the
way to Neels Gap. The early morning traffic was fairly light. Around mile
20, I dismounted and took a brief nature break at the base of Neels Gap. I
think 20 miles is the longest non-stop distance I've ridden on the Coker, though
I wasn't trying to set any non-stop distance records. Usually I figure
that I'll be forced to dismount either at a traffic light or for mundane
klutziness -- which is a convenient time to take a brief saddle break.
One reason I was interested in riding Three Gap on the unicycle was to see how
the Coker and its rider would handle multi-mile climbs -- terrain that is sorely
lacking in middle Tennessee. My main concern was how I would get started
again if I was forced to dismount in the middle of a long climb. Would I
be able to remount and keep riding uphill? It's difficult even
on a bicycle to start up on a steep hill. Since I have pretty poor
freemounting skills even in the best of conditions, starting uphill is nearly
impossible. On shorter distance climbs this is less of a problem, since I can
simply walk up to the top and remount.
Neels Gap has a decent road shoulder and a consistent grade throughout the
climb. I passed four slow climbers on the way up. Since I didn't
have to dismount on the climb, I wasn't forced to test my (lack of) ability to
freemount uphill. There weren't many attractive places along Neals Gap to
remount if necessary, and it would have been a long walk to the top. The
wind along this section was pretty brisk, I'd guess the gusts were in excess of
20 mph. When a crosswind would hit me, it
would throw off my balance slightly.
At the top of Neels Gap, the rest stop crew volunteers were patiently waiting
for us slowpokes. The food was so-so (store cookies, dry peanut butter
sandwiches) and Gatorade. I refueled and headed slowly downhill. With one
climb down and two to go, I was feeling more confident that I could complete all
three gaps. The slower Three Gap riders passed me on the way down.
My Coker unicycle frame was build by Rick Hunter and it has bosses for V-brakes.
David Stockton built the wheel ("Strongest Coker Wheel in the
world."). David also made an effort to ensure that the wheel and brake
functioned together properly.
Operating a unicycle brake is different than a bicycle brake. If you
squeeze hard on a unicycle brake, you'll go flying off. It is therefore
necessary to apply just enough force to create some light pressure between rim
and the brake pads.
The question may occur: Why even bother with brakes? On a unicycle, the rider
usually slows down by applying backpedal pressure. This is normally
sufficient for shorter rides and for descents that aren't too steep. For longer
rides, the brake offers additional assistance in keeping the pedal motion smooth
and requiring less effort from the legs. Ideally, I can find a sweet spot
where I'm applying just enough pressure that I'm leaning back slightly and
applying just the minimal pedal force to keep the ride smooth.
At the bottom of Neals Gap, the Three Gap riders were routed directly toward
Wolfpen Gap. For the Six Gap riders, Wolfen is climb #5, immediately
following the notorious Hogpen Gap. As I started up Wolfpen, I was
suddenly reminded of its feature characteristics. The turns are sharper with
high, steep banks. Normally these are barely noticeable to a bike rider
because they're short and can be easily powered through. However early into the
Wolfpen climb I felt like I would
lose control. Eventually I did. I was worried that I might be forced
into lots of UPDs (unplanned dismounts) and might spend a lot of time trying to
remount and/or walk up.
Fortunately, I was able to remount from the high side of a banked turn and point
the Coker perpendicular to the road. The traffic was fairly light, so
after the second attempt I got it back up climbing the hill. Surprisingly, I
suffered not a single further UPD, though there were several close calls. At the
top off Wolfpen Alan passed by as I stopped to refuel at the rest area. He
was probably in the top 10% of the finishers for Six Gap, so I could count on a
lot of company through the remainder of
the ride.
Coming down Wolfpen was a lot of fun. I had gotten the hang of using the
brake, and the twisting banked curves made the descent more interesting. The
final hurdle was Woody Gap, a climb I've ridden many times in both directions on
my bike. The road is smooth and the grade is relatively easy. On the
way to Woody Gap, I passed by a place where some kind of Indian reenactment was
going on, with guys dressed up in full native regalia. I slowed down to
snap a couple of quick pictures.
As I was climbing Woody Gap, the slower bike riders were noticing that it was
harder to pass me, since the unicycle was at less of a disadvantage uphill.
Finally at the 1 kilometer KOM (King of Mountain) marker, I poured on the
steam and started passing riders uphill. At the top of Woody Gap I took my
last rest stop and refueled with a sandwich and Gatorade.
One of the volunteers said she had a message for me, but forgot the message or
whom it was from (she was a bit
ditzy). I figured it must have been from Alan since he was the only rider
to pass me that I recognized all day.
The ride down Woody Gap was uneventful. My butt was sore, but I knew the
ride would soon be finished. As much
as I enjoy descending on a bike, on a unicycle it's not as fast nor as much fun.
The descent from the top of Woody Gap is over 10 miles long. I was
actually looking forward to some minor climbs afterwards (the last few miles)
just to get into a different riding position.
As I got closer to the finish, friends from the Harpeth Bike Club started
passing me. A couple miles before the finish line I recognized Mark Wolff
(whom I rode with on part of Paris-Brest-Paris) in his Audax Atlanta jersey and
his brother Lou. Mark stopped to take a picture of me. I passed my
camera back to Mark, asking him to take my picture at the finish.
I arrived at the gymnasium not long afterwards. Mark and Lou were waiting
there, along with Kevin Kaiser (another
PBP ancien). From the there I rode to the parking lot and stopped by the
dining hall to regroup for a meal with the HBC riders.
My primary goal was to complete the ride. A secondary goal was to finish
it in under 8 hours. Total elapsed time was 6 hours, 38 minutes. Average
speed was 7.4 mph, with a max speed of 14 mph. I stopped four times for
quick breaks and had one UPD, so I was fortunate in that I spent very minimal
time "off wheel".
Finally, I should mention that bringing a unicycle to an event of this kind
attracts a lot of attention. Not only the riders -- who'd whip out their cameras
scaring me as they'd turn back and shoot a pic on a fast descent -- but the
hundreds of motorcyclists would smile and give me thumbs up and yell encouragement,
or the other motorists who would sometimes slow down to gawk a this big wheeled
roadside distraction. The Coker is fun, but it's not the transportation of
choice for introverts.
Jeff on the Coker Unicycle riding 3 Gap. Photo by Mark Wolf
Jeff nears the finish of the first (??) 3 Gap ever done on a Unicycle. Photo courtesy of Jeff Bauer
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