For the last couple of days, I’ve been practicing riding in real-world conditions, on the 36-er, in a bid to get more confidence while riding outside, and also get mentally prepared and acclimatized to the challenges of commuting on a unicycle, which has been my goal for a while. While it’s nice to practice on a vacant parking lot or a basketball court while getting started out, it’s important to get used to the real-world conditions as soon as possible. Dealing with imperfect roads, handling surface transitions (dirt to asphalt, asphalt to cobblestone, etc), dealing with changeable winds, biking around obstactles etc are all a part of the real-world experience, and the sooner we get good at it, the better.

Yesterday, I had to make a trip to my friend Janna’s residence, to pickup something for Shruti; after a brief bit of hesitation, I decided to make the approximately 7 km round trip on my unicycle, though I’d not done anything more than 2.48 km, and that had taken me close to an hour. However, I was confident that I could do it, and at a faster clip too, so off I went. The route was interesting, but my strava app hadn’t connected to the GPS satellites, so my whole ride to Janna’s wasn’t recorded at all, so when I took off from Janna’s, to return home, I made doubly sure that strava was on and recording. I took a different route home, one that took me through the Linköping Garden Society, getting an opportunity to ride up the street which I’d ridden up once earlier, when Shruti’d shot it on video.. When I got back, I was pretty tired, very happy.

Today was pretty windy (6 m/s winds), and cool (5°C), so was a bit hesitant, but felt good when I hit the road. While the original plan was to make to it Rydskogen walking park some 2.6 km away, I changed the plan and hit the local park instead, as it was completely deserted. I saw that a full circumference ride around the park logged around 260 meters, so thought it would be good and not too bad a way to log some mileage while still staying quite close to home. After a few laps there, one of them which lasted for two full circles around the park, I was tiring, so decided to return. As I neared home, I’d got my second wind, and thought I’d continue out for a while longer. I was listening to ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’, by William Kamkwamba, which I must say has been a wonderful companion to my exercise routine. Listening to young William’s exploits was both inspiring and refreshing, as I continued with my practice. After a bit more practice, I checked my strava and noted I’d crossed the 5 km mark with a degree of comfort. Unlike yesterday, when I’d had to dismount and mount several times, the number of times I’d dismounted during the entire time was much lesser, as I’d been able to stay on the unicycle for longer, and ride much further. During today’s ride, I’d completed two milestones:

• A single ride over 5 or more kilometers.
• A ride of 5 kilometers or more within an hour.

My new targets?

• A single ride of at least 10 kilometers.
• An average speed of 7.5 km/h or better, during a training session of 45 minutes or more.

Let’s see when I reel these in.