Unicon 14: results 10km

[DustinSchaap]

Hey everyone,

Greetings from Denmark, where we've ridden the 10km race this morning. A unique experience and! A NEW WORLD RECORD! For the results (top 10) you can look at:

www.eenwiel.nl

Cheers,

Dustin

[rem48]

Thanks for the update and congratulations to you! Keep us posted!

[Jim]

Congratulations on doing so well without gears against all those geared unicycles.

jim

[joemarshall]

blimey, chuck is just silly fast - a minute and a half over everyone else over 20 minutes, that's 7.5% faster. I mean after RTL, it was pretty obvious he was the fastest rider in the world, but that fast is just mad.

Joe

[wolfgang.schaper]

I am a little bit irritated. According to the Unicon participants list, there's no Chuck Edwall registered. Any explanations on that?

[DustinSchaap]

Originally Posted by wolfgang.schaper

I am a little bit irritated. According to the Unicon participants list, there's no Chuck Edwall registered. Any explanations on that?

Chuck registered at the last moment and Patrick Smit (place 11) did too, but they got in the race anyway. It will be interesting to see how the fixed wheels will do in the marathon against Schlumpfs. Marathon results will be posted tommorow evening in English and Dutch (the race is tommorow).

[GizmoDuck]

Dustin, you missed the marathon practice ride!

Tomorrows marathon is a 36" Sclumpf course....expect Chuck to blow everyone away

Having said that, I think either Sam or Dustin on a 36" Sclumpf would be pretty unbeatable too. I saw Sam ride a 36" Sclumpf for the first time today...he was pulling away from me quite easily.

[tholub]

20:01 for 10km is just a notch under 30km/hour as an average speed. That's pretty incredible, considering that just reaching 30km/hour on a unicycle was considered a notable feat not very long ago.

Others will arise to challenge Chuck, but it will require both strong athleticism and many miles getting comfortable on the geared 36er. Right now, there are probably 30-50 riders who could beat all the existing records given the equipment, training, and organization to do so. Within the next few years, I expect all the records will be pushed to the point where only a few elite riders can contemplate beating them.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by tholub

Right now, there are probably 30-50 riders who could beat all the existing records given the equipment, training, and organization to do so. Within the next few years, I expect all the records will be pushed to the point where only a few elite riders can contemplate beating them.

30-50 riders? Really? Which records? I agree that all the unlimited records will fall once people go onto geared; but the hour record, for instance, at 27.18km around a 400m track is still insanely fast on a fixed wheel. It is not any less of an achievement just because the technology has changed.

From my own time trials I think going to a 29" Schlumpf gives you approx 3% extra speed on the flat. Not sure about the 36" Schlumpf, but Tony did beat his 29" Schlumpf PB by about 10% on his 36" Schlumpf. No one has seen top riders (apart from Chuck) racing on a 36" Schlumpf yet. And that's people like Sam, Roger, Patrick and Dustin. They will give Chuck a good run for the money in future Very interesting times indeed.

[tholub]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

30-50 riders? Really? Which records? I agree that all the unlimited records will fall once people go onto geared; but the hour record, for instance, at 28.13km is still insanely fast on a fixed wheel. It is not any less of an achievement just because the technology has changed.

That's what I mean; the advent of the geared hub has put all those records within the reach of a large group of unicyclists. Heck, I could probably do 28.13km in an hour on a track; in RTL training I did over 20km in under 48 minutes on rolling terrain, and that was on a 29er and included a UPD. But obviously Chuck could destroy 28.13km if he decides to do so.

Probably once all the records get blown away by geared unis, we'll wind up with a split like bicycling has, with the "unlimited" hour record and the "traditional" hour record.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by tholub

Heck, I could probably do 28.13km in an hour on a track; in RTL training I did over 20km in under 48 minutes on rolling terrain, and that was on a 29er and included a UPD. But obviously Chuck could destroy 28.13km if he decides to do so.

Sorry Tom, but you averaged a lot less than 28km/hr on the RTL time trial, which was fairly flat/rolling terrain The track Patrick rode was actually very difficult to maintain speed. I had a go and kept overshooting every corner. Road speeds should be higher.

[tholub]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

Sorry Tom, but you averaged a lot less than 28km/hr on the RTL time trial, which was fairly flat/rolling terrain The track Patrick rode was actually very difficult to maintain speed. I had a go and kept overshooting every corner. Road speeds should be higher.

The RTL time trial had three hills which required downshifting on a 29er--far from ideal conditions for that equipment setup--and I UPDed on two of the downshifts. It was also during a thunderstorm. Even so, I averaged 24.7 kph. (The RTL web site still has our team numbers wrong; I finished in 50:59, not Chris Labonte).

On a time trial on a track or purely level ground, a geared 36er should be something like 10% faster than a geared 29er, just due to the gear ratio.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by tholub

The RTL time trial had three hills which required downshifting on a 29er--far from ideal conditions for that equipment setup--and I UPDed on two of the downshifts. It was also during a thunderstorm. Even so, I averaged 24.7 kph. (The RTL web site still has our team numbers wrong; I finished in 50:59, not Chris Labonte).

On a time trial on a track or purely level ground, a geared 36er should be something like 10% faster than a geared 29er, just due to the gear ratio.

Fair enough. I could also find 50 riders who could easily beat the current unicycle hour record if I put them on bikes.

[tholub]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

Fair enough. I could also find 50 riders who could easily beat the current unicycle hour record if I put them on bikes.

You seem to think I'm saying something other than what I'm saying. The existing records were remarkable feats, given the equipment that was used in the attempts. New equipment has made them all easily attainable by a strong rider, and we have a new rider who is more or less a GUni Native who is doing things which are so far beyond what has been done before, and also beyond what anyone else is capable of doing right now, that I expect to see all the records not only broken, but shattered.

If Chuck didn't exist, Beau Hoover could break all the records, too. Beau placed second in the 10k with less than a month of geared 36 riding, and he has the stamina and mental strength to do 100 miles or 24 hours. But he still was over a minute behind Chuck in the 10k--that's a huge gap down to #2 at the world championships. Chuck could set some Eddy Merckx-type records.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by tholub

You seem to think I'm saying something other than what I'm saying. The existing records were remarkable feats, given the equipment that was used in the attempts. New equipment has made them all easily attainable by a strong rider, and we have a new rider who is more or less a GUni Native who is doing things which are so far beyond what has been done before, and also beyond what anyone else is capable of doing right now, that I expect to see all the records not only broken, but shattered.

If Chuck didn't exist, Beau Hoover could break all the records, too. Beau placed second in the 10k with less than a month of geared 36 riding, and he has the stamina and mental strength to do 100 miles or 24 hours. But he still was over a minute behind Chuck in the 10k--that's a huge gap down to #2 at the world championships. Chuck could set some Eddy Merckx-type records.

I'm not disputing that Chuck is the fastest guy on one wheel right now. But bear in mind that none of the other fastest riders have a 36" Schlumpf yet, I think there will be some interesting competition ahead. Sam Wakeling was going very fast on his very first 36" Schlumpf ride.

I guess I would hate to see people trivialise past achievements. I don't know many people who would come close to Patricks hour record on a fixed wheel. Saying that anybody can break it is like saying I could easily break the bicycling hour record. Gimme a car and I'll do it tomorrow.