26" VS 29" on 30 KM race

[Sofa]

Well, our 30 KM race went pretty well, beautiful day, and as always, a great reception from the bikers.

The trail was mostly flat, with about 4 KM's of single track, 8 km's of road, and the rest was fireroads.

There few hills there were were steep and went forever!

We both had on 102mm cranks.

Ryan, on the 29, finished at 1:44:06 (203 out of 239)
Brian, on the 26, fisihed at 1:48:30 (210 out of 239)

It's tough to say how the cycles themselves fared out, as we had different energy levels/technique, etc... driving them, but it appears as though this makes the case for getting a Coker!

[Sofa]

PS.....

I HATED! the 102mm cranks in the singletrack! I found that you couldn't stop/control yourself on any downhill too techical.

Conversely, a cyclist I was pacing with for quite sometime on the flat fireroad expressed his shock and awe of my steady 22km/hour speed. I figured I was doing about 12!

And for some reason, the 102mm cranks really seemed to climb very well up those steep long hills. Like...VERY well. Go figure

[U-Turn]

Nice one, guys.

Would you trade the 102s for 125s, or would you prefer the 102s with a brake?

[Sofa]

The whole time I was riding I was thinking to myself:

Boy, I sure wish I had some 125's on here

102's with a brake? now that's interesting...that may have been a viable option as well. ALthough, I think the 125's would have offered a little more technical climbing (although there wasn't too much of it in this particula ride)

[U-Turn]

Were you actually racing (i.e., trying to get the best time) or simply riding the course at a good pace? If the former, many technical sections, especially uphills, might be run faster. In that case, theoretically-speaking-wise, 102s w/brake might be faster, although less interesting technically.

[Sofa]

I was 'less than racing'

I was trying for my best time, but without the fear of collapsing or anything like that. I came away pretty dang tired, and I d'ont think I c'ouldve ridden much faster than I had.

I tryed to stay on my uni as much as possible...only walking up a hill once my uni oculd no longer make it.

I'm not one to make up time by running instead of riding

[Mikefule]

Am I allowed to swear in this forum? Those average speeds over 30 mixed kilometers on those size wheels are absolutely gosh darned amazing. I remove my hat in deference and prostrate myself in awe at your feet. I am indeed unworthy.

Unless I've got my sums wrong, of course... but I made the faster of the two an average of 10.75 mph.

[m_extreme_uni]

yeah, It was alot of Fun. For how much Road/ gravel there was, i think the 102s were a wise choice, at least on my part, my wheel being lighter than Sofa's.

Anyways Here are some photos of the event. There pictures of Brian and I at the very bottom. I'm the one on the VERY bottom, and Brian is above me. Next year, i'll do the 60km race.

Enjoy!

-Ryan

[Sofa]

I asked the guys at Canadian Cycling if they could mark me and Ryan off somehow as unicyclists in the results.

They agreed

http://www.parisancaster.com/pa2003_30k.shtml

[GizmoDuck]

Wow that's fast! Well done guys!

I was interested to see there is was so little difference between your 26' and 29' with the same crank length. Do you think that this is because the diameter of the two are pretty similar with a big 26' tyre? Or was your 26' unicyclist a bit of an animal?

From the results it looks like you beat at least a dozen or more MTBkers. On a mostly flat course too! I find it very difficult to compete against MTBkers on the flat.

Keep up the good work,

Ken

[andrew_carter]

Those average speeds over 30 mixed kilometers on those size wheels are absolutely gosh darned amazing. I remove my hat in deference and prostrate myself in awe at your feet. I am indeed unworthy.

Well put. Great job guys, and congratulations on the 'unicycling' mention in the results list.

Andrew