California Mountain Unicycle Weekend 2007 - Santa Cruz

[maestro8]

Originally Posted by phlegm

A brake isn't absolutely necessary, especially if you run longer cranks. Rob (of Rob's Ride) does the ride with 150s without a brake all the time.

Rob's ride was my 2nd or 3rd Coker ride, and I did it on 152s with no brake. It was plenty fun, and there were only a couple short downhills that made me wish I had a brake.

Unfortunately, my aluminum cranks couldn't take the pressure on one downhill and decided to strip. I then had to walk many miles back to the highway. If you're brake-less I highly recommend steel cranks!

[tholub]

By the way, Rob's Ride is also totally manageable on a 29er with 125mm cranks, and a strong 29er rider won't have trouble keeping up with the Cokers with longer cranks. If you're coming from out of town and only want to bring one uni, a setup like the KH 29er would allow you to choose each day whether you wanted to do the MUni or the big wheel ride. Most but not all of the MUni stuff should be 29erable.

[corbin]

Originally Posted by MuniAddict

What about cutting "notches" in the TA tire to improve traction for off-road trail riding, essentially making it into a semi-knobby? I thought I saw a pic of just such a modification, but I don't remember.

Personally, I think cutting notches in the TA tire is a waste of time. I doubt that there is much terrain that would make it worth doing this. Sandy and muddy terrain would benefit from it, but generally I find that riding through sand is just a pain on any unicycle/tire (unless it is hard packed), and there aren't too many "muddy coker days" that we've done.

[corbin]

Originally Posted by maestro8

IMHO, the Braille Trail is the serious challenge for the weekend. The approach and descent from this trail is fire road, and if you like, you can stick to the fire road and get just as many miles of riding, and even ride a few logs / drops if you like.

The rest of the weekend's rides are relatively moderate with optional stunts and incredible technical sections (such as lower Mailboxes).

For the sake of entertainment, however, I recommend you ride as much as you can, and hike down the tough sections. There will be certainly be spectacular UPDs on the Braille Trail!

To follow up on Jason, a lot of the really good Santa Cruz trails are unfortunately illegal. We will be sticking to the cream of the crop for the legal trails. Braille Trail is one of the best, IMHO too.

[skilewis74]

Originally Posted by corbin

FRIDAY
Morning: Races at De Laveaga (Muni and Coker), pizza lunch
Afternoon: Muni: Wilder Ranch, Old Cabin Trail + lower Mailboxes
Afternoon: Coker: Rob’s Ride (normal route)

SATURDAY
Morning: Coker: Nisene Marks to Sand Point
Morning: Muni: Soquel Demo Forest: Braille trail
Afternoon: Corbin/Louise’s house: Street Comp
Dinner: Banquet: Arranged at a local Brewery

SUNDAY
Morning: Muni: Nisene Marks
Morning: Coker: Rob’s Ride Plus (Moore Ranch Rd option)
Afternoon: Trials at Santa Cruz Jetty (as seen in Defect, etc)
Dinner: Dinner at Seabright Brewery

-- corbin, jason, louise, nathan, john foss (your organizers for '07)

Do you have any rough mileage estimates for these rides.

That info would be helpful to more accurately form fitness goals for then.

[phlegm]

Rob's Ride is in the 20-25 mile range, probably with around 1,000 ft. of mostly gradual climbing at the beginning.

I'm not sure what the other mileages are, but I believe the 24" MUni rides are quite a bit shorter but with technical options.

I think, for a MUni weekend, it's more important to be ready to ride/hike/socialize for 4-5 hours than anything. With such a large group, the rides tend to have a very accommodating pace. So, if you're able to do a 2-3 hour MUni ride on the weekend by yourself, I think you'll survive just fine.

[maestro8]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

Do you have any rough mileage estimates for these rides.

That info would be helpful to more accurately form fitness goals for then.

In regards to the Muni rides, if you're in shape for the Braille Trail, the other rides will be cake.

Here's a link to a random MTBer's GPS profile of the trail. I can't vouch for its accuracy but it looks good to me.

Qualitatively, the Braille Trail begins with ~4.5 miles of uphill on a fire road. The first 2.5 miles are rolling and moderate uphill, the next 2 miles alternate between brutishly steep and moderate uphill. Few riders have made this approach without dismounts. Braille's downhill is 5 miles of awesome... rolling and steep with jibs, stunts and drops aplenty. It's all doable without a brake, but I'd recommend maximum body armor for brake-less riders . After the downhill there's about 3.5 miles of gradual uphill on a fire-road (back-tracking over the first 2.5 miles) to return to the trail head.

Even the best riders will be hiking parts of this trail. Don't stress about your fitness... but definitely do some training. You'll get more enjoyment out of this trail if you're not exhausted by the time you hit the downhill.

Find an area nearby with some miles of gradual uphill. Ride it often and work on doing it with no dismounts. Also get in touch with your metabolism -- find out how much you need to eat and drink to keep your energy levels up. If you can ride moderate uphill for 2-3 hours without bonking you'll be in super-great shape for CMW '07.

Go for it!

[torkerdx]

Originally Posted by corbin

Several reasons; we can really only have one comp event due to time constraints and a street comp is easier than a trials comp. Another major reason is liability; we will be doing it at my house, and trials has more potential for people getting hurt than street riding does.

The schedule is still flexible; if more people want a trials comp, we can work it in instead. Are you saying you'd rather have that than a street comp?

corbin

of course... because trials riders are always taking their feet off the pedals. in fact no street riders i know ever get hurt. it is always us darn trials riders who get hurt.

seriously it is the street riders who get hurt way more. personally i would rather a trials comp because you could get more people to enter it. people might prefer the street comp. move the saturday morning ride earlier and squeeze the trials comp in between the ride and the street comp.

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by torkerdx

of course... because trials riders are always taking their feet off the pedals. in fact no street riders i know ever get hurt. it is always us darn trials riders who get hurt.

seriously it is the street riders who get hurt way more. personally i would rather a trials comp because you could get more people to enter it. people might prefer the street comp. move the saturday morning ride earlier and squeeze the trials comp in between the ride and the street comp.

I'd like to see a "Seniors" trials comp for those of us over 50! Hmm, that might only be me! Anyway, I really think it would be great to have competions for us old farts!

[corbin]

Originally Posted by torkerdx

of course... because trials riders are always taking their feet off the pedals. in fact no street riders i know ever get hurt. it is always us darn trials riders who get hurt.

Of course, people get hurt doing both sports, but the potential to get hurt bad doing trials lines is MUCH higher than street riding. With trials, in 2-3 moves you can easily be 6-8 feet off the ground. Most street tricks are flat, or involve doing tricks down stairs (which does have a higher potential for bodily injury), or involve low-objects.

Originally Posted by torkerdx

seriously it is the street riders who get hurt way more.

What makes you think this? Do you have statistics or are you just going on personal experience? My experience has been the opposite.

Originally Posted by torkerdx

personally i would rather a trials comp because you could get more people to enter it. people might prefer the street comp. move the saturday morning ride earlier and squeeze the trials comp in between the ride and the street comp.

Well the fact that it will be at my house means that I want to limit liability. We may end up having a trials competition instead, if more people would rather do that instead of a street comp. If we end up doing that, then there will be no street comp.

There is no time to move the Saturday ride around; that day is booked solid. Don't forget, we will be having a trials day at the Jetti; it just isn't a competition.

-corbin

[skilewis74]

[QUOTE=maestro8]If you can ride moderate uphill for 2-3 hours without bonking you'll be in super-great shape for CMW '07.
QUOTE]
In my dreams!

The longest nonstop ride I've done was 2 hrs. over moderate flat terrian (w/ a UPD every 10 min. or so). After a half hour break I bonked 30 min into the return trip. I think it was do to lack of electrolytes.

Well, it is 3 1/2 months away, maybee I can develop the nessessary skill and strength by then

Edit: Is riding SIF good for getting climbing strength w/o actually getting to a hill?

[gerblefranklin]

Mmmm, can't wait. Jason, I take that comment about walking sections of trail as a challenge... for Ben. I'll just crawl a few sections for posterity.

Originally Posted by torkerdx

of course... because trials riders are always taking their feet off the pedals. in fact no street riders i know ever get hurt. it is always us darn trials riders who get hurt.

seriously it is the street riders who get hurt way more. personally i would rather a trials comp because you could get more people to enter it. people might prefer the street comp. move the saturday morning ride earlier and squeeze the trials comp in between the ride and the street comp.

Psh. Quit whining. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to show off how great you are without having to organize a competition. Corbin, looks like an excellent schedule to me, even though, (gasp!) I ride trials, not street.

[torkerdx]

Originally Posted by corbin

Of course, people get hurt doing both sports, but the potential to get hurt bad doing trials lines is MUCH higher than street riding. With trials, in 2-3 moves you can easily be 6-8 feet off the ground. Most street tricks are flat, or involve doing tricks down stairs (which does have a higher potential for bodily injury), or involve low-objects.
8ft drop or crankflipping a 4ft drop. you can get seriously hurt doing both. yes in trials you are much higher off the ground but your feet should always be on the pedals which garuntees a little more control.


What makes you think this? Do you have statistics or are you just going on personal experience? My experience has been the opposite.
pure expierence. i have done way more trials riding but the last time i got hurt was riding street. i have done stuff like gapping to rails and poles at 3ft high or so, and i have done smaller street stuff and gotten only hurt on the smaller street stuff. one of my friends get hurt more doing 540 unispins than i pretty much ever have riding trials.


Well the fact that it will be at my house means that I want to limit liability. We may end up having a trials competition instead, if more people would rather do that instead of a street comp. If we end up doing that, then there will be no street comp.
i totally understand the liability issue, even though it does sucks.

There is no time to move the Saturday ride around; that day is booked solid. Don't forget, we will be having a trials day at the Jetti; it just isn't a competition.

-corbin

i will have fun either way, but i would rather see a trials comp. but again this is just my opinion

[phlegm]

I have to agree with torkerdx in that I think street is more injury prone than trials. Sure, trials may involve big moves, but the risk, I think, is much more calculated. Each trials move that is made is in effort to remain in control, and riders hopefully have a healthy dose of fear that prevents them from going too big.

On the other hand, street is all about contorting your body and moving about the unicycle in somewhat out-of-control ways. It's the fear of sprained and/or broken body parts that has kept me from trying to learn any street moves, well, other than a unispin, which is also a "freestyle" move.

Originally Posted by skilewis74

Edit: Is riding SIF good for getting climbing strength w/o actually getting to a hill?

I think riding SIF will help smooth out your pedal stroke, which ultimately helps you save some energy when climbing. However, I haven't found anything else as good as climbing for improving climbing strength/technique.

[maestro8]

Originally Posted by skilewis74

The longest nonstop ride I've done was 2 hrs. over moderate flat terrian (w/ a UPD every 10 min. or so). After a half hour break I bonked 30 min into the return trip. I think it was do to lack of electrolytes.

Recently I found some gel packets made by Power Bar that combine carbohydrates and electrolytes. These have been like rocket fuel for me... one every 45 minutes and I'm energized for an afternoon's ride! As I said earlier, you'll need to experiment to find the right combination of food, water and/or supplements to keep your performance levels up. Bonking 5 miles from the trail head is no fun.

Perhaps find a book on sports nutrition at the library? Eating a good meal of complex carbohydrates the night before / morning of a big ride may be just what you need to feel good on that 3rd hour of the ride.

The good news is that our muni rides can be done in 2-3 hours if you don't stop too often...

Well, it is 3 1/2 months away, maybee I can develop the nessessary skill and strength by then

Sure you can! Don't worry about the UPDs, just focus on being comfortable with riding for an extended period of time. You don't need to be a world-class rider to enjoy the trails at CMW... you just need a little patience to tough out the uphill climbs (and/or hikes)

Edit: Is riding SIF good for getting climbing strength w/o actually getting to a hill?

Hmm... never thought about that. I don't know that SIF riding would help with endurance... you don't need so much strength to climb the hills as you need endurance. If anything, practice riding over different terrain while relaxing as much as possible. When straining up a hill the last thing you want to be doing is burning energy by using more muscle than needed.

Why not try filling a backpack with books or something and going for a longer ride then? Do you have a drag brake on your muni? Set something up that'll slow your wheel to simulate a hill while riding on flat. Wind resistance will do just as well, if you can find a place that gets a constant wind.

If none of these things give you a good leg burn, the stair-master always does it for me. I do 30-40 mins on a step machine 2x a week to supplement my riding and if nothing else it sure gets my heart racing.