MUni at North America Unicycle Nationals

NORTH AMERICA UNICYCLE
NATIONALS
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA (MT. RUSHMORE AREA)
JULY 6-12, 2008
'www.NAUCC08.com' (http://www.NAUCC08.com)

At this year’s nationals Mountain Unicycling is shaping up to be really
good. As the MUni coordinator I’m doing my best to have a lot of MUni
related events. As the local unicyclists are into Muni along the hilly
terrain, it makes my job a lot easier. Below is a list of all the
events and what you will notice is more MUni events than any other
Nationals. Some are really brutal, such as the 13 mile race. Others are
brand new such as the short obstacle based on time or the long
technical ride based on number of falls.

While there are many MUni competitions, there will also be plenty of
fun MUni rides during the non-Muni competition days. Actually, we have
already been talking about having MUni fun rides on July 4th and 5th as
well (I was going to drive up on July 3rd). If you haven’t been to this
area, the terrain is perfect for lots of MUni rides. The competitions
will be held on the M-hill, a hill that is right outside of downtown
(about 3 miles from where all the main events will be happening). With
the main hill so close, that means great access and easy to get some
practice in.

Trials and Long Distance: I don’t know much about those events other
then there is lots of planning to make them good.

LINKS:
5M PDF of the M-Hill (where the competitions will be held)
-'mhilltrails.pdf ' (http://www.unitours.org/naucc/mhilltrails.pdf)
Google link right to the M-Hill - 'tinyurl.com/2mxgfm '
(http://tinyurl.com/2mxgfm)

EXTREME UPHILL AND DOWNHILL RACE
Date/Time: Sun, July 6 13:30-15:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: short
Rider Level: While open to all riders, it is geared to more advanced
MUni riders

MARATHON CROSS COUNTRY (SUPER LONG - 13 MILES)
Date/Time: Sun, July 6 15:00-18:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: 13 miles
Rider Level: Only open to riders who have previously ridden this
distance

MUNI OBSTACLE COURSE
Date/Time: Sun, July 7 8:00-16:00
Location: Bottom of the M Hill
Course Length: Short, will take less than two minutes
Rider Level: Open to all riders
Note: Each rider will get two official tries

INTERMEDIATE UPHILL AND DOWNHILL RACE
Date/Time: Mon, July 7 9:00-12:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: short
Rider Level: Open to all riders

MUNI CROSS COUNTRY
Date/Time: Sun, July 7 12:00-15:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: less than 2 miles, the course will be slightly down
hill
Rider Level: Open to all riders

TECHNICAL CROSS COUNTRY
Date/Time: Thursday, July 10 8:00-16:00. Riders can compete when they
are ready
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: 2 miles, the course will be downhill
Rider Level: Open to all riders
Note: This event is scored on the number of falls.

MUNI FUN RIDES
Date/Time: Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri 13:00 to 16:00 (end time may vary)
Location: Plenty of different places to go ride around the area
Course Length: Varies
Rider Level: Varies

There is an Overall MUni award for men and women. This award will
consist of the following MUni events: Extreme Uphill, Extreme Downhill,
Muni Cross Country, Technical Cross Country, Marathon Cross Country and
Muni Obstacle Course


--
Andy Cotter
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Andy Cotter wrote:
MARATHON CROSS COUNTRY (SUPER LONG - 13 MILES)
Date/Time: Sun, July 6 15:00-18:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: 13 miles
Rider Level: Only open to riders who have previously ridden this
distance




Sounds like fun, but I don't know if I can make it with RTL being so
close.

Also, I wouldn't necessarily call 13 miles "super" long. Unless it's a
lot more rugged than a typical mountain bike XC course, I'd bet the
winner will finish in under 2 hours, which isn't very long.


--
phlegm
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Andy Cotter wrote:
EXTREME UPHILL AND DOWNHILL RACE
Date/Time: Sun, July 6 13:30-15:00
Location: M Hill - Close to the main facilitates
Course Length: short
Rider Level: While open to all riders, it is geared to more advanced
MUni riders


Similarly to a DH MTB race in BC I read about, I think it'd be good if
there were optional difficult sections w/ time bonuses, as well as time
penalties for UPD's.
If I remember correctly the winning "time" was about 3:30. All of the
top 10 or so finishers out of 60ish attempted all of the hardest
sections (in some spots there were three options).


--
skilewis74

Ride everywhere and never just ride anywhere. If you can ride where you
are going within a hour, do it, and if you can do a trick 50-75% of the
time do it along the way.
Bob Bernquist on how to improve significantly.

yunisyko wrote:
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Thanks for all the detail, it sounds frikkin' awesome! I hope newer
events like these are allowed to take the place of some of the older
events if they don't have the interest they used to.


phlegm wrote:
I wouldn't necessarily call 13 miles "super" long.

If you compare it to unicycle races, it's one of the longest. The
longest race ever held at a USA Nationals was 9 miles (on 24" wheels).
I don't think the USA has done anything over 10k for unlimited wheels.
I've only once been in a unicycle race longer than nine miles, and that
was the Unicon (full) Marathon in 2006. This race will be more than
twice the length of anything we've done as a MUni race with the USA.


skilewis74 wrote:
I think it'd be good if there were optional difficult sections w/ time
bonuses, as well as time penalties for UPD's.

Fun, but makes it a lot more complicated to run the event, as there has
to be officials watching every inch of the course. But apparently that
will be the case on the Technical XC race, where dismounts will be
counted. So there will have to be enough officials to see the entire
course and somehow keep track of dismounts by each rider.

I love the list of events, now someone needs to come up with the rules
to go with them. Like always, if you give them plenty of thought ahead
of time and let everybody know about it, you will eliminate a lot of
confusion at event time (as well as helping competitors prepare). What
will the rules be? How will dismounts be counted in the scoring of the
Technical XC race? Perhaps they could be a percentage deduction from
the rider's time, to keep them in proportion to what each rider is
doing?

The Obstacle Course event sounds fascinating as well. Unless something
specific is already planned, it would be nice if it could run as
similar as possible to our "flatland" one (two tries, zero dismounts,
best time).


--
johnfoss

John Foss
Email: "jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
-----------------------------------------------

Man with broken collar bone say: "Have you checked your shoelaces
lately?"
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The 13 mile XC ride sounds great and just about right for a proper XC
race.


--
siafirede

James = my name
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Pump Air Not Gas
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I'm there!


--
forrestunifreak

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*www.qu-ax.com* *unicycle for
christ*


Joe "Hodgekins" wrote:
Oh... they don't kick bricks, do they?
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Is the Extreme Uphill and Downhill one race where you climb, then turn
around and descend? Or is it two separate races? Either would be cool,
I was just wondering.

Peace
Seamus


--
smcmorrow

\"It's knot gonna make it!\" -threeinchtire
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Here are some answers to questions.

"13 miles isn't all that long" - As John pointed out, it is long for a
MUni race. I haven't heard of any MUni race being that long anywhere in
the world. While I can ride for 13 MUni miles, riding 13 miles as fast
as possible is a totally different idea. 2+ hours of racing means that
the rider will have to being water and some sort of food.

Uphill and downhill - They are separate races. To make it a lot easier
to judge and run, if you dismount you will be disqualified. You will
have two official chances and as many practice runs you want.

Rules for all these races - That is the next step. I need to work with
Shawn (organizer of Nationals) on these. As he came up with the races,
I know he has ideas on how to run them. I'll work with him to get all
the race rules on paper and then publish them. Once they are published
I'll make sure I give people a chance to critque them in case something
was missed.

-Andy


--
Andy Cotter
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I'm probably just getting hung up on semantics, again, but I don't agree
that riding "as fast as possible is a totally different idea." Maybe
my idea of fun is different than a lot of MUni riders, but I would
estimate my typical "just for fun" solo ride to be 80-90% of my race
pace. Riding fast and covering lots of terrain is fun. Riding
"slowly" and taking breaks are for "social" group rides.

Nonetheless, I think 13 miles is a good length for a -long- XC race. I
just think "marathon" and "super" are overstatements.


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phlegm
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AWESOME Andy! Thanks for the info. I'm going to be there if I have to
uni there! Thanks for helping make this happen and if you need any
help, I'm there. Sounds like it's going to be one of the best Nationals
yet, especially for MUni.


--
unicycle6869

Jamey (formaly tuna6869)

Which is worse, a president who screws an intern, or a president who
screws the country?

"Not all who wander are lost." -J. R. R. Tolkien
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