in: jjcote; jjcote > 2008-07-08;
| # Posted 2008-07-12 01:38:41 | |
| PBricker: | Query. Bicycling is a lot more efficient than running. You go much faster on the bike for the same amount of effort than you go on foot, at least until the incline gets pretty steep. But I suppose you could have jogged your unicycling route faster than 11:28/mile pretty easily. I wonder, then, in general: is unicycling more efficient than running? And, what makes it so much less efficient than bicycling? |
| # Posted 2008-07-12 08:49:04 | |
| Charlie: | small wheel, no gearing, and a fair amount of energy going to balance? |
| # Posted 2008-07-12 09:39:42 | |
| jjcote: | It's all the small wheel/no gearing. I'm stuck with one gear ratio, and it's definitely too low for everything except the steepest parts. There's no practical way to put gears on a unicycle unless you go for a very tall one, so your gear ratio is your wheel size. Mine is larger than common recreational ones (24"), but anybody who wants to cover any ground gets a bigger wheel, and the limitation is the length of your inseam, which is the same situation as with old high-wheel bicycles. I'm often riding along on the flat, figuring that I could go just as fast at a brisk walk. When I was new at this, the effort of balancing drove my heart rate way up, but now I'm quite relaxed, and my feet are spinning around like crazy. |
| # Posted 2008-07-12 20:38:45 | |
| cmorse: | doesn't Schlumpf make a dual-drive hub designed for unicycling use? 1:1 or a 1:1.6 gear ratio for a bit more speed on the flats? |
| # Posted 2008-07-12 22:22:10 | |
| PBricker: | World records, female and male, for unicycle racing are here.
Interesting that, although all are slower than the running records, they get closer as the distance gets longer, almost converging by the marathon. No doubt, for the shorter distances, you just can't spin fast enough. A quick calculation shows that for the 100 m. record (12.68 seconds), you have to spin at an average of 247 rpm! Is that really possible? (Calculation assumes 24" is the true diameter.) |
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