On a typical bike, the gearing choice is made either through front and rear derailleurs putting the drive chain on other chain wheels or sprockets, or alternatively through internally geared hubs. Crank length in bikes usually doesn’t vary that much; most cranks for adult bikes are around 170-175 mm.

On a conventional unicycle there is no such thing as gearing in the hub or chain drive. Still, unicyclists have always had some sort of gearing by appropriately choosing wheel diameter and crank length. For unicyclists, crank length can be anything between 90mm to 175mm depending on the road conditions and terrain profile.

Last year I completed the 90km using with 114mm cranks, which works out to be 98,425 revolutions/leg movements - Yesh. 

This year I plan to complete the 90km faster and with less revolutions (be kind to your knees!) by using a very unconvential unicycle, that has internal hub gears. The gearing itself is hand made by a swiss machinist and has the ability to change between 1:1 and 1:5 whilst riding. These gears, will allow me to use the longer 150mm cranks which increases maneuverability and provides enough torque to climb out from the royal national park but most important of all - it will make the entire journey, safer. Using gearing and longer cranks also helps to conserves energy via the cadence reduction.

If you see me out there, make sure to say hello as you overtake me on the down-hills and I'll be sure to wave goodbye as I overtake you coming out of royal national park. ;-)