The Charles

[urbpan]

Sometimes we do visit other rivers, including the big ol' Charles. These pictures are from Christian Herter Park in Allston.







We met The Jim there!


Alex hadn't been down to the more feral end of the park before.


The state police boat was telling scullers to turn around at this point in the river for some reason.


These young rowers were getting some instruction on coordinating and turning.


Alexis stumbled into a thicket of the brightest staghorn sumac I've ever seen!


Perhaps propaddict can illuminate for me what's up with the big wheeled unicycles.

Comments

[propaddict.livejournal.com]

Holy Crap, that's a COKER Big One! I'd know that uni anywhere!

Big-wheeled unicycles are popular for street and distance riders as they are much faster than little-wheeled ones. Most unicycles are single-speed, so matching the same size cranks to a larger wheel gives a greater effective gear ratio. A standard 20" wheel uni is good for maybe 6-8 MPH, while non-professionals have ridden 36" wheels 30+ MPH. The big wheel is also a bit more stable due to the higher inertia from the big, heavy wheel, which also makes it easier to ride over things like curbs and sticks across the path. Any unicyclist who rides more than a mile or so at a time wants a 36" wheel.

I'll post your unicyclist picture (if you don't mind) on one of the unicycling forums I frequent and get you the name of the rider. The uni community is pretty small, so everyone knows everyone else. (I actually have a sneaking suspicion I know this guy, at least on the internet.)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

He was riding with a female companion, but I cropped her out (composition issues).

[obie119.livejournal.com]

My neighbor has some of that staghorn sumac, and it is great to see when I wake up in the morning. It makes up for the other 11 months of the year when her backyard is full of bittersweet and invasive weed-trees.