Riders: Roman Allemann, Jeff Groves, Carl Hoyer, Josh McCormick, Emily McCormick
Support: Peter and Maggie Groves, Rob McCormick, special appearance by the Thaler?s
Equipment: Nimbus 36?, 52mm cranks, T7 handle with arrow bar set up.
I started my day at approximately 5:30AM in order to eat, stretch and drive to Campbellville for a planned 8:00AM start. I arrived at 8:00AM at the meeting place to find the McCormicks. Shortly afterwards one of my teammates Jeff Groves arrived with his parents. We then all waited for Carl Hoyer who had to deal of traffic. In the end we started our ride at 9:05AM. The rout was a loop that followed mostly back roads with little traffic in the Niagara escarpment country. About half way through the ride the wind picked up and started to become a real annoyance. The sustained winds where approximately 40 to 50 km/h with gust of 63 km/h. At the 50km mark we turned up a road and found ourselves riding in a full cross wind. The next 8km was a constant battle to stay on my unicycle. This stretch was so draining that at the end I had to stop for 15 minutes before it seemed even possible to continue. Shortly afterwards I broke again to gain strength for the hill at Rattle Snake Point which was the largest climb of the day. I rode the majority of the 10 to 15% grade hill with 3 dismounts. The energy required for that climb made the last 10km difficult. In the end I had 4 hours and 23 minutes of saddle time and finished in 6 hours.
Weather: 14 ? 21șC, sustained winds of 30km, gusts of 50km.
Riders: Roman Allemann, Jeff Groves, Carl Hoyer, Josh McCormick, Emily McCormick
Support: Peter and Maggie Groves, Rob McCormick
Equipment: Nimbus 36?, 52mm cranks, T7 handle with arrow bar set up.
I invited everyone to my parent?s farm in Mount Pleasant, Ontario for the second day of our qualifying. It?s nice rolling countryside with little traffic in a farming community. I suggested this route so we could have an easier ride compared to the grueling day 1 ride. We started riding at 10:10AM on a beautifully, sunny and unseasonable warm day. Unfortunately by noon the wind decided to start blowing again which annoyed me almost as much the previous day. Unfortunately most of the route was in nearly full cross winds so when I hit unsheltered parts of the road and a gust came it was a chore to stay on my unicycle. Given the wind and everyone?s fatigue level we cut the planned 70km route a little short. Since we gained some points because of the high wind and had a good carry-over from the previous day we still hit our requirement. In the end I spent 3 hours and 50 minutes in the saddle and finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes.