Amazing Unicycle Race in Canada! June 2008

[Andy Cotter]

Just a reminder, if you are interested (on any level), go fill out the form to get on the RTL email list for further updates.

Link to form:
http://fs19.formsite.com/RideTheLobs...671/index.html

-Andy

[GhettoSmurf]

im definatly intrested

[rogeratunicycledotcom]

Originally Posted by steveyo

There are now so many of you "heavyweights" on this thread..

You saying I have a weight problem! :-S

[TonyMelton]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

The first Schlumpf at the Unicon Marathon was Tony Melton on my 29'er Schlumpf.

The fastest will be a comination of both unicycles- Coker for hills/twisty terrain, Schlumpf for flat time trials. So best to have both on your team.

I was fifth in the marathon race. I was also the first Schlumpf rider in the Unicon 10km race, also on Ken's 29er Schlumpf (6th overall). I'm not sure that I would have done any better/worse if I had ridden a fixed Coker. The riders in front of me were so fast it would have been hard to catch them no matter what equipment I had.

[semach.the.monkey]

Originally Posted by rogeratunicycledotcom

You saying I have a weight problem! :-S

No, but I do. I can't weight for June 2008!

STM

[unijuul]

What crank length do they use in Unicon 10km and Marathon on the Coker? Was there any big climbs at all?

[bbraf]

The 10km race had a total climb of 170m. I saw that Dustin Schaap was using 89mm cranks on his Coker. Most Cokernuts where using 125mm though.

The Marathon (43km) had a total climb of 513m. And yes, some of it was really steep (both up and down). 5.6km or 13% of the Marathon went over dirt/gravel road.
Read more at http://www.unicon13.ch/uni/cms/front...5&changelang=3

BTW, thanks Nathan & Andy for setting this up. I look forward to this event and really hope to be there

[unijuul]

1th at Unicon 10km Patrick Schmid Switzerland 22:16.
I have tried to calculate: that give 26,95km/t and 157,60 pedaling pr. minute!! Is that right?

[joemarshall]

Originally Posted by unijuul

1th at Unicon 10km Patrick Schmid Switzerland 22:16.
I have tried to calculate: that give 26,95km/t and 157,60 pedaling pr. minute!! Is that right?

Sounds likely, on a coker with 110 cranks, it isn't that hard to hit 15 or 16 mph (25kph), and I know I've been going about that fast on rides and watching Roger Davies shooting off into the distance significantly faster.

Personally on the coker I ride 110s for everything. I'm just not wanting to go fast enough to justify using 102s or 89s, and I like being able to ride uphills as well as downhills.

Joe

[redwelly]

This event sounds brilliant! I'd love to come if I can. A real Tour de Uni...

Re: cranks - I've been trying some 90mm ones I've borrowed on my 36er lately. They are fun and fast (almost possible to not feel crazy spinning up to 20mph on the level), but rubbish up hills (not surprising!). For general riding my favourites are Alu 114s, but are still a bit long for fast cruising on flats.

Short cranks still seem less scary than gears.

Thanks for the advance warning. I'll try to mark that summer in for not breaking any legs etc. (though Ken seems to show it makes little odds!)

Sam

[Unirene]

Thanks Andy and Nathan for posting information about RTL (Ride the Lobster).
I'm in! I think we could get a few teams from MN to show up too.

--Irene

[munidobs]

Wow, this looks fantastic - that's my 2008 holiday sorted

Chris

[nathan]

Originally Posted by unijuul

What crank length do they use in Unicon 10km and Marathon on the Coker? Was there any big climbs at all?

Since these are unlimited races, people used quite varying cycles. I used 110mm cranks for the 10km and 125mm cranks for the 43km races on my non-geared 36" cycle. On the 43km the hills were steep enough for me that 125mm was the right choice, but stronger riders were able to make them on shorter.

The balance envelope gets small when you have a large effective wheel size (geared 36 -> 54") or very short cranks. There were many crashes and some people had trouble with the multiple sections on dirt. When contemplating racing your share of 800km, you need to consider how much even one crash hurts your performance. You don't want to crap out on day 1 due to injuries as that would leave your team at a serious disadvantage.

--Nathan

[rogeratunicycledotcom]

Yes Sam... note what Nathan says. No crashes, especially if we are in the same team. :-p

Roger

[paul royle]

Great! I've been waiting for this since the meeting at Unicon. Thanks guys, count me in.

Paul