Comedy bikes bite!

I'm not sure what came over us this weekend, could be the unseasonably warm weather or could be the result of the pictures of the cycleside bike rodeo I saw on http://www.onechick.com. But on Saturday we decided to try our hands at riding a comedy bike. We took a quick drive up to the tip at Blackrod and intercepted a man about to dump a Raleigh mountain bike, told him of our need for some bike bits, gave him a fiver and the bike was ours.

Nipped on to Green Machine bike shop in Horwich, got a new valve for the unicycle tyre. Chatted single-speed for a while with the Kona Unit receiving recommendations, but I do still fancy the Surly....... anyway I stray, back to comedy biking.

Home with all the bits and out comes the hacksaw. The front wheel, complete with forks, handle bars and brake is easily separated from the rest of the Raleigh. This and the unicycle are then taken over the road to the rec'.

Someone should warn people like us that comedy bikes bite, especially the lower legs. My right shin took a huge smash within 30 seconds, closely followed by a gouge out of the left calf muscle. I spent a lot of time on my back. Glyn managed to capture me for the photo just as I spent a fraction of a second balancing. Anyway, the front wheel was abandoned as we decided to focus our efforts on initially learning to just ride the unicycle before adding in the complexity of another wheel. We made some progress, not a lot, but we are going to stick with it and master the art.

Sunday was damp so unicycle practise was a little curtailed, I don't think my legs could have taken much of it. I ran 7km, to Red Rock along the railway track and back along the canal. Was hot, humid and I tried to push myself and do a few stretches of pace training. Was hard going, I need to step things up a bit to be ready for the Ironbridge race. Also need to start eating healthier food again, still been holiday eating this week, loads of veg with dinner, and fruit as snacks. Soon be race ready!