Tasmanian Unicycle Tour
Tasmania, Australia
January 12 to February 2, 2003
1146 km / 711 miles
Tasmanian Unicycle Tour
January 12 to February 2, 2003
By Andy Q. Cotter
The numbers:
Total days: 22
Riding days: 15
Rest days: 7
Distance: 1146 km (712 miles)
Average per day - including the rest days: 52 km (32 miles)
Average per day - only considering riding days: 76 km (48 miles)
The people:
Unicyclists: Scot Cooper (Los Angeles, California), Joel Penson (Sydney, Australia), and Bronson Silva (San Francisco, California)
Bicyclist (support): Andy Cotter (Minnesota)
Car (support): Debra Hamilton and Keith McKay (Sydney, Australia)
What, you didn’t unicycle? What’s up with that?
Ok, I did the tour on two wheels. At the last minute, I realized I wasn’t prepared for unicycling on the tour so I decided to leave my Coker at home and pack up my touring bike instead. I had bicycled through Europe back in 1993 so I had all the gear for bicycle touring. It was just a matter of finding it all.
Websites:
Lots of pictures and a little overview: www.UniTours.org/tours/TUT/
For an overview site: www.joelpenson.com/personal/unicycling/unitas/index.htm
For a daily diary by Joel Penson - you will have to scroll down for the article: www.worldpeace.org.au
Where is Tasmania?
The island of Tasmania is 400 miles south of the main land of Australia. To get there, we took a 13-hour ferry ride from Melbourne.
How big is Tasmania?
Tasmania’s land mass is 68,000 sq km and only has 500,000 people, population density of 7.3 people per square kilometer. Those numbers didn’t help me much in the way of visualizing the size or the amount of people so here are some comparisons to some states you may have heard about. The density is listed after the state in parenthesis and is in people per square kilometer. 30% the size of Minnesota (24.1). 40% the size of Washington state (35.3). 20% the size of California (86.1).
What is it like to travel by airplane with a Coker?
Well, in my case it was a bicycle. But still it is relatively the same thing. It is big and heavy when having to lug it through an airport. We had to get a special taxi to get our stuff anywhere. The only good thing is that international flights don’t charge extra for a bicycle (or unicycle). One of the few times I wouldn’t mind my unicycle called a bike.
What was the flight like to Australia?
Long. Five hours from Minneapolis to LA and 13 hours non-stop from LA to Melbourne. It is one boring flight. With a flight that long, I would try to counsel anybody out of going to Australia for just a weekend.
What about the jet-lag?
Whenever I go to a new place, I don’t notice the jet lag much. I would say by the second day after arriving in Australia I was just fine. But, coming home, it seemed to take over a week to be fully acclimated to the frozen-tundra time zone.
How did the support car work out?
Having a support car and good support crew can make a world of a difference. Debra and Keith were great as support. We would usually meet up once during the day for a food break. While a self-contained unicycle tour is doable, it would be a lot harder.
What is the terrain in Tasmania like?
Diverse. It seemed to have it all including lots of mountains. I kept hearing from locals that if you flattened out Tasmania, it would be the same size as the Australian main land (the main land is approximately the size of the continental USA). What this tells me is that Tasmania is really mountainous and/or that the main land is really flat. 20% of the island is a protected area meaning that there is lots of untouched wilderness. After seeing some of this untouched wilderness I realized why they would want to keep it this way.
What was the weather like?
Really nice. In the 70s and 80s most days. A few days were a bit cooler (in the high 60s) and a few days were in the 90s. It was not too humid so even on hot days it wasn’t so bad.
What about the sun? Did you your white Minnesota skin get burned?
I was sun burned within six hours of getting off the plane in Melbourne. As Scot and I were waiting for the ferry to take us to Tasmania I foolishly enjoyed the nice sun. I learned quickly that the sun there is super intense because of a hole in the ozone above the area. After that first fateful day, 30 SPF was my friend and was lathered on twice a day. I also bought a bush hat just to keep the sun off my face and neck. Months after the tour, you can still see the lines from my farmer’s tan.
Was the tour done for a cause?
Umm, yes. Joel, the organizer, was doing the tour for the World Peace Society (One Wheel One World). He was using the novelty of a unicycle to draw publicity to his cause. While unicycling for a cause is a noble idea, implementing it successfully is the key. In the beginning we meditated, we hugged (well we joked about hugging a lot), and by the time the tour ended we did our best not to hurt Joel. As the tour went on, the zeal for the cause diminished for everybody except, well, Joel. If you do an event for a cause, it really helps if everybody is on board with the same level of commitment and feels the same way on how the result should be achieved. Doing a tour for a cause can add a lot of stress to an already physically stressful event. Pick your causes carefully.
Who organized the tour?
Joel Penson and James Cheetham came up with the idea. James did most of the initial detail planning. Unfortunately, James couldn’t make it on the tour due to a work commitment. As this was Joel’s first time organizing a tour and he didn’t understand all the details, the other riders helped organize more and more as time went on. By about half way, we started changing the route and only used the basics of the original design. As we were a smaller group, we could afford to change plans from day to day.
What kind unicycles were used?
All three long distance unicycles were modified Cokers. Some were modified so much that there wasn’t much left of the original Coker. All three had the new AeroRim made by Unicycle Source (on a side note: the new AreoRim is really turning out be great addition and is well worth the price for anybody into long distance unicycling). All three also had a breaking system, something that is needed to save the knees (and possibly face) when going down long steep hills. Here is summary of all three unicycles.
Joel’s Coker – Joel had a custom unicycle made just days before the tour started. The paint was still drying as he was putting it together on the first day. One of my steadfast rules about touring is know your equipment and don’t change anything at the last minute. So, when I saw Joel putting together a unicycle for the first time, I was pretty surprised. Another surprise to me was that Joel had ridden a Coker for the first time only a few weeks before. Anyway, Joel’s design was a copy of the Wyganowski frame and handle. During the tour, he didn’t have too much trouble with the frame but the handle design had to be fixed several times, sometimes by asking locals to help him out. Physically, Joel ended up doing fine on the tour, mainly because of all his previous training as a marathon runner.
Scot’s Coker – Scot was using a Wyganowski frame and handle. The handle was further modified with an aero bar and bar end handles. And, there was a rack on back. Because of all the stuff he carried, during the European Unicycle Tour, we had nicknamed his unicycle the ‘Unibago’. His unicycle design has been tested through three unicycle tours.
Bronson’s Coker – When I first saw Bronson’s Coker on the web, I wondered if it would even work. The design was definitely different, as different as one can go in designing long distance unicycles. But, as the tour went on, I really started to like all the features of his unicycle. One feature that I really liked was that he could change his crank length easily with just an Allen wrench in all of about five minutes. During the tour, he did change the length depending on the terrain. Of course, having a state-of-the-art long distance unicycle is a bit more expensive. When you live on the unicycle for days on end, it can be worth it. It is nice to see people pushing the design envelope of long distance unicycling.
How fast do the unicyclists travel?
This is one of the more commonly asked questions we would get. The quick answer is 10 to 12 MPH. Of course, it all depends on the terrain and the winds.
Was there any bad falls?
None that I remember. There were a few unintentional dismounts but they were more step offs than anything. Having no bad falls for any of the riders for that amount of distance is pretty good.
Did it rain?
For the most part, Tasmania was going through a drought so there wasn’t much rain. We did get a little wet on Day 6. On Day 20 there was scattered showers going through. Each time, when we finally got the rain gear on, it would be almost done raining. While riding in the rain on a unicycle during a tour isn’t as fun, it is doable. Having the right gear makes a difference.
What was the local response to the unicyclists?
It seems that very few people in Tasmania had even seen a unicyclist before, much less three of them touring their island. People were very curious about the whole aspect of unicycling and wondered why anybody would want to see the island that way. I always find it ironic when tourists take pictures of us when we were tourists ourselves. Unicycle touring is one of the ways to raise public awareness of unicycling. Although, while it makes unicycling more visible, I don’t think that people who see unicycle touring will be motivated themselves to start unicycling. To most people, unicycling looks impossible. Add in the whole look of the big wheel of the touring unicycle and tell them you just rode 50 km through a mountain pass, and it really seems impossible.
What were the roads like? What about the traffic?
The roads were fine for the most part. There wasn’t much in the way of a shoulder so cars definitely had to share the road. The only time traffic was bad was when big logging trucks passed us or we came into one of the bigger cities. As there isn’t that many main roads in Tasmania, we sometimes had to take shortcuts on gravel roads to shave off some distance. Usually, the gravel roads were pretty quiet, except for the occasional logging truck. One day 8, we hired a boat to take us across 50 m of water. This shortcut cost us about $8 US each but cut off 60 km. It was a fun experience and well worth the price.
What was the best day?
This type of question can vary tremendously from rider to rider. I can’t actually think of a best day. There were lots of good days. I suppose if I had to pick, it would be Day 17. That day we went through the World Heritage Area (a designation recognized by the United Nations). The weather was good. The first part of the day was about five miles of downhill (the day before was about five miles of uphill). Being surrounded by mountains sure helps. Near the end of the day, we had a heck of a climb through a mountain pass but were instantly rewarded by a great view of our destination and a kicken’ downhill to Queenstown.
What were the hardest days?
Day 3 and Day 4 were hard as we did a lot of climbing. Besides all the climbing, they were long days with the total of 163 km. What made it more difficult was that these days were early in the tour. Of course, going through mountain passes makes for pretty scenery. In retrospect, we pretty much agreed that we would have taken the second day (100 km day) and cut it half. As I keep doing these tours, I am learning that it isn’t how much distance you can cover but what you can see along the way. When I am really physically tired and there is still a long way to go, I have a harder time appreciating my surroundings.
Did you see any Tasmanian Devils?
Yes. We saw several dead ones on the side of the road; actually there was way too much road kill on the roads. Tassie Devils are small nocturnal marsupial animals that scavenge for their food. For the most part, it is considered a nuisance animal. We did see some live ones in Tasmanian Devil Wildlife Park. The much more impressive animal is the Tasmanian Tiger; it is a marsupial the size of a large dog with an amazing set of teeth. The bad thing about the Tassie Tiger is that it is extinct (or so they say).
What about Kangaroos? Did you bring back one for show-and-tell?
They have Wallabies in Tasmania, which is a small version of a Kangaroo. We saw them now and then. They usually come out at dusk so driving at night is a bit scary, as you never know what will hop out in front of you. I tried to bring one back but the custom official wanted it for his own. Oh well.
Was anybody voted off the island?
What! I didn’t know we could vote people off the island. Next time, I’ll have my list ready.
What did you learn on this trip?
I learned that Tasmania is a place that I’m going to visit again. People in Tasmania are some of the nicest people that I have met in my travels (right up there with Iceland, Denmark, and Japan). All unicycle tours are different. Having the right travel companions is really important on any trip, especially on a trip with lots of physical endurance, like a unicycle tour. While a bicycle is much easier than a unicycle for a tour, I would prefer to do unicycle tours on a unicycle.
About the author
Andy has been an organizer and unicycle rider of two previous unicycle tours, Unicycle Across Minnesota and European Unicycle Tour. He is currently co-organizing the Norwegian Unicycling Tour for June, 2003. You can see more about this and the other unicycle tours at www.UniTours.org.