A Vivaldi commute story for Cycle To Work Day – Ruarí Ødegaard

varsha

Today is Cycle to Work Day in the UK and I am a Brit (now living in Oslo) who loves cycling so, I thought I would talk a little about cycling and my daily commute.

Click here to see the full blog post

RVieira

This was a fun read. I thought not having a driver's license was impressive, but then you start talking about unicycles -- that is impressive.

Hopefully, roads and pedestrians in Oslo are better than the ones in Lisbon. I sometimes watch this cyclist YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnVGl6cBFlKY3wSl9AD161A) -- who actually met our Prime Minister riding a bike during one of his videos -- and some people can be disrespectful sometimes.

Pesala

I think a Velomobile is more appropriate for commuting in all weathers, but they are still very expensive.

Ruarí

@rvieira: I am not against getting a driver's license but so far I am doing just fine without

Ruarí

@pesala: My father is a recumbent cyclist. He loves them but will admit that uphill can be a pain. I would expect a velomobile would suffer the same issues.

Also part of the joy for me is not being surrounded, having exposure to nature and being high up so I can look around. So it wouldn't be something for me I reckon.

You also have the same issue that I have encountered from time to time with large utility/transport cycles. If you have an issue (can be as simple as a flat tire) and do not have a full set of tools with you it is a pain to get the thing home to fix it. On a unicycle (or even with a normal bike), I can bring it on many forms of public transport. With something like that, be prepared for a long and annoying walk when it all goes wrong. It is not like you can get it in a normal car. You need something big to transport it if it brakes.

RVieira

@ruario: Oh, I know. It's just that not having a driver's license in Portugal is hard, as bike lanes are rare -- and mostly bad. Public transportation outside of Porto and Lisboa is also poor. I've never been to Oslo, but I'm guessing most things work better than here.

Cqoicebordel

At that point, I'm wondering if an unicycle could have, in any form, some gears ?

Chas4

What is it like to balance on a unicycle?

7th

Ruarí

@cqoicebordel: Yep, you can get a two speed internal hub. The are pretty pricy though. How pricy? Take a look:

https://www.unicycle.uk.com/kris-holm-schlumpf-geared-unicycle-hub.html

If you want speed a 36” is a much cheaper option!

Some people actually have geared 36”. That is fine in theory but I am not sure I ever want to fall from a unicycle at a speed faster than I can outrun, otherwise I'm gonna get seriously hurt. And you never entirely stop falling off these things. Sure it is rare now but I still fall from time to time if something unexpected happens.

Ruarí

@chas4: Difficult (at the begining)

Cqoicebordel

(BTW, old logo tshirt...)

Ruarí

@cqoicebordel: Yeah I have a collection of Vivaldi t-shirts. On the plus side the logo (albeit old) is nice and big. Which is kinda a cool thing for the image, that you can see it. So not all bad! Also, Atle hasn't killed me yet for displaying the old one.

P.S. At least I didn't have an Opera t-shirt. I still have a collection of those as well

woz

cool

Ruarí

I have yet to buy an “ordinary bike” (a.k.a. a Penny Farthing or High Wheeler) but it is a future goal, assuming of course I can get my wife to agree!

Ok, by some miracle, I got her to agree. Also cycling the 36" wheeled unicycle more regularly now as I got it fixed, and got a new cargo bike since this was written. Oh and another unicycle...

Priest72

Actually getting on to a unicycle would be a major achievement for me and no doubt countless others..unicycling looks painful lol.

Zalex108

Hi,
Some Unicycle fun:

The Flying Dutchmen
https://youtu.be/8jKNGl-TwXc?t=453

Zalex108

@Zalex108 said in A Vivaldi commute story for Cycle To Work Day – Ruarí Ødegaard:

Hi,
Some Unicycle fun:

The Flying Dutchmen
https://youtu.be/8jKNGl-TwXc?t=453

And the missing Fire Show:

The Flying Dutchmen
https://youtu.be/cl-2GHZgCtI?t=1245