Unicycling 160km (100miles) around Lake $#@!&@

[phil]

Originally posted by cyberbellum
Note to Americans - European punctuation for numbers uses a comma instead of period to mark the decimal place.

English uses a period, so I was as amazed as you lot...

Phil

[dazedNcontused]

Just to get back OT - [FONT=arial]WOW!!![/FONT]

... and a great write-up too. As close as I'll get to experiencing such a superhuman effort... until I get in shape... OK, so, ever...

Tim

[GizmoDuck]

Thanks everyone! We all had a really awesome time. A Century is definitely something worth doing at least once in your unicycle career!

Cyberbellum, come on down to NZ- we'd love to have you!

Unibrier: the two teams both set off early at 6am and rode it relay style. They each did their entire 40km and 80km legs all at once. I don't think their timer chip set off the start timer though, they started before the recording equipment was set up properly. I started at 8.30am with all the regular solo cyclists.

eenwieler: You must have legs of steel. Good luck. I thought the 24hr road record is somewhere around 320km though. I remember a post not long ago that mentioned this. If you come to NZ for this race there is the option of riding twice around the lake or almost three times around the lake in the 320km and 500km enduro challenges. The 320km/24hrs should easily be doable on a Coker.

Borges: I can't speak for the 29'er guys- I was hoping they would have posted by now. Geoff and the two Steves used 29'ers. A 29'er is probably undergeared for most of this race, even the hill sections. I've ridden my 29'er in a couple of 50km+ MTB races and loved it. It feels pretty slow on the road though. And you have to concentrate a little harder as it feels quite twitchy at high rev's.

Greg Harper: If you're reading this I want your hub for next years event
Will a production version be ready then?

Catcha,

Ken

[GizmoDuck]

My photos are up:

http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/view_album.php?page=1

Unfortunately there is a limited selection at the moment- I only took pics before the event and after regaining conciousness the next day. Some of the other riders might be adding their pics to the album shortly.

Ken

[Rowan]

Originally posted by GizmoDuck
there is the option of riding twice around the lake or almost three times around the lake in the 320km and 500km enduro challenges. The 320km/24hrs should easily be doable on a Coker.

Speak for yourself! I think I would prefer to spend less hours in the saddle. Don't you get chafed? By the way your link is broken, unless you have already viewed the album already (it takes you to the last album viewed). Try this album link instead. Congratulations on completing the ride Ken, maybe I will join you next year if I get rich and buy myself a Coker.

[Klaas Bil]

Ken, very impressive indeed!

I may have missed it, but what length of cranks were you using? And do you happen to know the grade of those climbs that were perfect for the Coker (and you, of course!).

Klaas Bil

[Rowan]

I'll answer that one for Ken, since he is probably tucked up in bed right about now.

Originally posted by GizmoDuck
Equipment
I used a stock standard Deluxe Coker with KH seat, Snafu pedals and 125mm cranks. The teams used a mix of 29'er's with 125mm cranks and Cokers. As far as I am aware, there are four Cokers in the country and they were all at this event!

Ken's Coker had 125mm cranks. (Check the first post)
I know this because he just put them on before the NZUni weekend, and I had a go with them. It was an unreal experience, and I loved it. I sussed out how to freemount on my third attempt, holding the wheel with my hand and pulling myself up. I've heard people say it's hard to freemount a coker but I found it relatively easy, once figuring out a technique. It worked pretty consistently after that, but probably didn't look as impressive as Ken's rolling mounts. Cokers are wicked, and I want one now. I can see how there would be potential for injuries though, since you can cruise at such high speeds. I'll leave Ken to answer the bit about gradient, since I didn't attend the race.

[joona]

Originally posted by Rowan
I can see how there would be potential for injuries though, since you can cruise at such high speeds. I'll leave Ken to answer the bit about gradient, since I didn't attend the race.

I suppose you still wouldn't wear a helmet, or other protection? And I'm not telling you should use protection, just asking. It's just that I don't like to be scraped and bleeding when riding.

[eenwieler]

The person is Stefan Gauler
Here is his personal homepage: http://homepage.sunrise.ch/mysunrise/einrad/index.htm and here is the link to his records: http://homepage.sunrise.ch/mysunrise...%20Rekorde.htm

Ferko

[unikum]

Hello, its me, stefan gauler.

I rode in 1991 280km with a 26" uni , 130mm crank lenght.

You have questions about this record ?

Sorry my englis is very very bad

Stefan

You can visit my website here:


http://www.einrad.ch.tt

unfortunally its in german

[eenwieler]

Nice record.


I want to break that record
have you got more information, pictures, movies about the record so I can put in on a my homepage about unicycling. It is the biggest unicycle page in the Netherlands en Beglium, but it is only in Dutch.

Ferko

[TonyMelton]

Originally posted by GizmoDuck
Super fast downhill with wide roads and sweeping corners. It just kept going and going and going.....

Sounds very Unizaba-esque! But I do know what you mean. I was very thankful for my brake and 140mm cranks on the first 20 hilly kilometers. I started at Karangahape Rd, Kuratau, the 80km mark. Peter had started his 80km leg at 6am and the plan was for me to wait until 12noon for him to show up. If he didn't show I was going to start anyway to ensure we finished before the prize giving started. I was getting nervous as 12:00 approached - Peter still hadn't showed up. I heard reports from freshly finished cyclists that he was "just on the last hill". I decided to wait til 12:15, then go. At 12:10 Peter stumbled across the line - 6 hours after he started. I was off!
I passed heaps of two wheelers on the hills which has great. Several cyclists were heard to say "how embarassing - I'm being passed by a guy on one wheel!" Heh, heh!

At the bottom of the fearsome Kuratau Hill Malcolm was waiting for me with a fresh pair of 125mm cranks. I quickly whipped off the too long 140s and slapped on the shorties. I also disconnected my brake as the rest of the 80km was all flat (apart from the dreaded Hatepe Hill) and it was rubbing on the rim.

I zipped along the flat thru Turangi and on to Motatapu, doing 42km in 2 hours, average speed 19.2km/h. Very soon after Motatapu my knees began to get really sore. I stopped and put my seat up a bit. My knees got worse. I stopped 2km later and put the seat down a bit. Soon I passed Steve Taylor on his 28" uni. I made a phone call to Steve and Peter (it's great having two free hands on a uni!) just as I was approaching the Hatepe Hill. This was the most physically challenging part of the ride - my heart rate got pretty high on this hill. Plenty of cyclists were walking up. I had to hold my seat handle with both hands, in order to put enough force into the pedals just to stay on. This was the first time I had to use both hands on the handle. Now I know why the GB4 Coker handle was shaped the way it is!

The downhill off the other side of Hatepe was a killer for my knees. They felt like they were going to explod and I jumped off to rest them as soon as I slowed down enough to get off (which was right at the bottom!).

The final 20km was just plodding along - with both handle on the handle all the time now. The town of Taupo was finally sighted off in the distance - about 10km away.

Steve and Peter were standing at a strategic point 100m before the finish line. They handed me our www.unicycle.co.nz banner which I held aloft in one hand with the other on the handle - it was quite hard to ride like that! I crossed the line to great applause and cheering - that was very cool! The crowd's response really made the event for me.

My cycle computer said: Riding time: 4hr12min (Total time about 4hr 20min), Distance: 79.43km, average speed: 18.8km/h. Total time for our team - about 10hr 20min.


Tony

No sig'

[nathan]

Wow, changing crank lengths in the middle of a ride! That's great. I guess it's like when we did the big White Mountain Peak climb and descent, switching from Munis to Cokers for the last 25 miles (and 10,000' of descent).

You guys are awesome and I truly wish I could be there riding with you. Congratulations to all of you.

---Nathan

[peter.bier]

It was definately one of the harder rides I've done in my life :-)

I have too pieces of advice to aspiring distance riders
1) Train if you are going to do a distance ride
2) Sleep if you are going to do a distance ride

I got something like 6 hours sleep in the 4 days leading up to the event due to a certain Master's thesis requiring finishing. Said Master's thesis had also meant I have done a sum total of one distance ride since February.

With this fantastic preparation under my belt I managed to crash on my cycle home the day before and bruised my knees badly plus lost some skin. Roll on Saturday 5am and I was altogether not in a fit state.

I decided to do the first 80km because of a fool hardy plan to carry on for another 20km to do a metric century. Unfortunately for me the first 80km is also the most hilly section with lots of nasty climbs.

Steve and I started a little after 6am when the time keepers said go. Very quickly I realised that my coker wasn't going to keep up with Steve's 29er. I was surprised just how good the 29er was at leaving me in the dust on the hills. I was running 152mm cranks on my coker because I knew my fitness wouldn't handle anything shorter. I watched Steve disappear into the distance and realised a few minutes later that my skin was extremely cold despite the sunshine. A quick stop to add an extra layer solved that problem and was followed by the first of my slimey leppin squeezies. Unlike Ken I was intending on using these all through the ride because I figured there was no way I was going to survive without them.

The first 35km flew by without too much trouble, despite some not so nice hills. My legs turned to lead for the last 5km of the first leg and another squeezy made its way down my throat. A brief break at the 40km mark and I was back on my way having taken exactly 2hrs 40min for the first leg.

I managed to keep up the 15km/h average for the next 20km which was also the point where waves of cyclists started to pass me. There were lots of nice comments from people who couldn't believe I was doing it on a unicycle. The hills in the second leg were even tougher and I was starting to inhale squeezies in an effort to keep going. Fortunately my new camel bak bladder was keeping me well hydrated.

The 60km mark had a drink stop and I was quite surprised to find I was still on track for my five hours 20 min target time. With 20km to go I set off thinking I might cope with the ride after all.

Unfortunately it seemed like it was all uphill from there on. Some cruel person had put a sign up which said we were nearly half way round the lake (ie nearly finished my legs) but they probably meant "nearly half way if you cycle at 45 km/h". Waihaha hill nearly killed all my energy and I was glad to see most cyclists were struggling as well.

After what seemed an interminable time I finally rolled into the 80km changeover area, very saddle sore and very sick of squeezies (I had 7 I think).

I ended up only averaging 10km/h for the last 20km due to the endless supply of hills and the severe lack of energy to go fast on the few down bits. I still have no idea how Ken rocketed up them at 20km/h! He seems to have steel springs for legs!

The coker with 152mm cranks was probably not a bad option considering my circumstances but a 29er may have proved even better. Here's hoping some of my old fitness will return before the next race!

Peter

[TonyMelton]

Peter - you'd better change your avatar slogan now that the feesis is finito!

"peter.bier
No time to ride :-("