Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Unicycling
As I’m sure many of you are aware of, over the past year I have really started to take a liking to the sport of unicycling. So how did I get into this strange sport you might ask and how am I doing at it? Well here we go…
It all started in September of 2007. I had come home from school for the weekend and was looking for something to keep myself busy. It was a warm sunny day so I really wanted to do something outside. I could have ridden my bike like I normally do, but this time I decided to go for something a little different. I grabbed this old unicycle that I remember praticing (unsuccessfully) on as a kid.
After briefly reading a few articles on how to teach yourself to ride I felt I was ready so I headed outside to practice.
I knew from past experience that learning to ride wouldn’t be easy. After a couple of hours the appropriately named “savage” saddle was doing a number on my legs, and I found that it was called a children’s unicycle for good reason (my knees were just about touched my face every time I peddled). After a few hours of practice I had made some progress. I found that I was much more comfortable with being on one wheel than when I started and was getting a feel for the how to ride the uni.
After a few hours of practice I decided to call it a day and headed back inside. The next day did more of the same, keeping myself up with the help of the wall, then eventually going off on my own. Before long I was able to go ~20ft without the reassurance of having anything supporting me.
All to soon the weekend was over and it was time to head back to school. Since I now knew that it was possible unicycle I soon decided to get one that would fit me better a Torker Lx 24″ in this case. I continued to practice in the halls of my school dormitory to the amusement of my fellow residents.
After a couple more weeks I was jumping up and down stairs and the like try to keep things interesting (a form of riding known as trials). As a result my hard riding the Torker Lx ended up getting pretty beaten up and eventually the axle/hub snapped leaving me without a unicycle to ride. Instead of just replacing my broken unicycle I also now felt that it was appropriate to upgrade as well. This time I bought a Torker DX 20″, a unicycle synonymous with beginner trials riders.
Finally we come to my latest unicycle purchase, a Coker 36″ unicycle. This unicycle is a by far one of the funniest and most terrifying unicycles I’ve ever ridden. By going to a bigger wheel I found that you loose a lot of the control that you have with a small wheel like a 20″. It becomes much harder to maneuver than a standard unicycle while at the same time you are going three to four times faster. The result can sometimes get you in trouble if you are not always paying attention to your surroundings. The payback however is something that is enormously fun and amusing to ride.
All of this brings us to where I am currently. It’s February and summer with its warm weather is on its way. I can’t wait to get out riding on a consistent basis so I can start trying new things.
Here are a few things to keep you busy:</P
Wildlife Photography
While I continue to work on some upcoming posts here are some wildlife pictures at school last year, hope you enjoy:
NIU shooting
So, by this time I’m sure that many of you are at least aware of the what happened at NIU on thursday. It was a crazy day there were all sorts of things going on. Over the course of the day I took a few pictures to document the tragedy.
I hope everyone starts feeling better
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What is it like to be a Lego designer?
if you are anything like me you have probably wondered what it’s like to work as a designer at Lego. Well I just read this interview that boing boing had with Lego Bjarne P. Tvskov a designer for lego during their heyday. Check it out!
1 commentToroidal Internal Combustion Engine
So I just read about this company called Rotoblock. The company is basaed in Santa Rosa California and is working on a type of engine called a toroidal internal combustion engine. The torodial engine made by Rotoblock is an evolution of the oscillating piston engine (O.P.E) designed by Dr. Monti Farrell.
As skeptical as I am that any of the large auto manufactures will adopt the revolutionary engine I can’t help but root for the small company.
The O.P.E seems a promising alternative to traditional reciprocating piston engines mainly because of it’s increased power to wight ratio.Given that Mazda has been using Wankel engines for some time now maybe their is some hope for Rotoblock.
How ever it turns out it’s always great to see innovation alive and well.
