UNICON XV

Those of you who know me will know that I’ve been working on Unicon XV, The 15th Unicycle World Championships and Convention for the best part of 3yrs.   UNICON is the biggest event in Unicycling, with multiple events (over 30), ranging from Unicycle racing, Muni, Artistic Freestyle, Street, Flatland, Hockey and Basketball, Track and Field and more.  This was the first time it was held outside the Northern Hemisphere, in my hometown of Wellington, New Zealand.

It started off as a throwaway remark I made to Andy Cotter at UNICON XIII in Switzerland, back in 2006.  We were out on a MUni ride and I asked if he thought we could host something like that in New Zealand. It was such a big undertaking that it didn’t seem possible so I didn’t make much more of the idea until I got home. I remember thinking how cool it would be if we could get several hundred unicyclists riding along the waterfront, interacting with the general public.  No one would understand why Wellington was teeming with unicyclists!  We could host the parade of Nations to Civic Square, and have races through the streets of Wellington, a big trials course outside the NZX building, and the Street and Flatland competition at Waitangi Park.

That vision became a reality a couple of weeks ago, when Wellington, New Zealand hosted UNICON XV. It was three years of hard work by a small team, headed by Arthur and Lynne Klap of Sports Impact. I approached them in early 2007 wondering if they would be interested in helping us get UNICON to New Zealand.  Lynne and Arthur have over 20yrs experience in organising events, ranging from the Mountainbike World Championships, Mountain-Running World Championships, MTB World Cup races, Triathlon World Champs, Winter Games and more.  Wellington didn’t (and still doesn’t) have enough unicyclists to do this on our own.

Fast forward to Dec 2009, and we found ourselves playing host to 650 Unicyclists from 23 countries for UNICON XV. It was a challenging three years, marked by a worldwide recession and the toughest sponsorship market that Arthur and Lynne had encountered in their experience with event management.  We managed to string it together on a pretty lean budget, with support from the Wgtn City Council and some very awesome volunteers.

Was it a success?  Well, it achieved the two things I set out to achieve. Namely, to show off my hometown, Wellington, to my friends from around the world; and to show off unicycling to people of Wellington.

We made use of the best facilities in Wellington, including the TSB Arena, Waitangi Park, Wellington Waterfront, Mt Victoria and Newtown Park for our events. Because of the compactness of the City, most events were within a few minutes of each other.  Unicyclists mostly stayed at the YHA, X-Base backpackers and the Bay Plaza Hotel, all in the middle of town. It was uniquely New Zealand- from the welcoming Powhiri through to the Pounamu medals for the expert medalists. Most unicyclists will bring back fond memories and hopefully visit New Zealand again in future.

For Wellingtonians, you had to be shut in a cave not to have noticed that there were a few hundred unicyclists out and about. It was near impossible to walk down the street and not see a unicyclist or three.  The TSB Arena was fully packed for our artistic finals, and we also had a good spectator turnout for the 10km waterfront criterium, street, and trials competition.  The public ‘learn-to-ride’ workshops drew a few hundred people….many having to wait their turn on a unicycle.  The 10 day event probably brought in close to $2-3million dollars to the local economy, and more to New Zealand, as unicyclists travelled around the country before and after UNICON.

My personal performance at Unicon was a bit pathetic though, but I had no excuses really. I just didn’t pedal fast enough.  I could only manage third in my main event, the Unicon Marathon. I was riding well, but didn’t have the power into the wind that the other riders did (and Wellington blows!). The 10km course was tight and technical, and I came in 5th after being taken down early by a crash. My biggest disappointment was in the cross-country, where I placed 6th overall on the highly technical course.

Aside from that, I’m pretty satisfied with how UNICON went.  We put together something unique and I’m happy to have played a significant role in that.

Now for a bit of rest before I figure out the next challenge. Perhaps a big unicycle stage race, a jungle Muni festival, or even a non-unicycling related project.  We’ll wait and see.

For more information on UNICON, visit the UNICON website: www.uniconxv.co.nz

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Countdown to Unicon- Registration Packs

We had a working party this weekend- thanks to everyone who helped out put all 750 registration packs together, strung up hundreds of Greenstone medals, and made all the country signs for the opening parade.   We packed into the Sports Impact garage and stuffed all the registration packs with chocolate, muesli bars, drinks, t-shirts and other goodies.  Big thanks to everyone who came and helped out.

Check this out:

Countdown to Unicon: 12 days!!!

I spent the day taking Amrei Schindelmann and her dad to Mt Cook and Hataitai schools. Amrei is a 12yr old competitor (Freestyle, Track) from Germany here in New Zealand for UNICON. She was required to visit some schools and do a unicycle demo as part of the requirements for taking 2wks off school!

The kids had fun…and hopefully inspired to take up unicycling!

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Countdown to Unicon

Another nice little article on me in todays Sunday Star Times:

Pedaling Benefits of Just one Wheel

You have no idea how long it took to get that photo!

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This is the funniest Youtube Video ever!!!

Your opinion of endangered NZ birds will never be the same again!

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ASCII Me

Hours of mindless entertainment, my favourite link of the day:

http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/

Just upload a picture to create an ASCII of yourself!

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Hour Record Photos and Videos

Here are a few photos and videos of the Unicycle Hour Record Attempt.

Andrew Swinns Gallery

My Photos:

[View with PicLens]

12►

And some Video Clips:

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Going the Hour…Unicycle World Record

Ok, I’ve recovered sufficiently to write about the Hour Record.  It’s taken me a whole week to get around to it, and I’ve finally got my videos and photos online

The record went really well, and I’m honoured to put my name to something so special. The Unicycle Hour Record has become the equivalent of the Bicycle Hour Record, it’s the benchmark for speed and distance. Everybody wants it, and its’ changed hands 5 times in the last four years. I wanted it one more time before the power-animals start going for it. I consider myself a climber, not a time trialist. As unicycle gears get bigger, the record will favour bigger riders.

I held the Unicycle Hour Record at 25.6km on an ungeared Unicycle back in 2005, but with the advent of Schlumpf geared hubs, unicycle speeds have increased by a factor of 15-20%. I like to think of the geared and ungeared records as separate…but I’m one of the few who do. You lose the essence of simplicity on a geared unicycle, which was what I liked about unicycling. Patrick Schmids’ 2006 ungeared Unicycle Hour Record of 27.18km stands as one of the most amazing feats I’ve seen on one wheel. Anyhow, a few people have their eye on the Unicycle Hour Record, and if you can’t beat the geared unicyclists, you might as well join them!

I built up a 36″ Schlumpf with a 1:1.5 gear ratio late last year, but it took a while to get the thing going after various teething problems (stuck shifter buttons, dead unicycle frames, tyre implosions and a lack of training time mainly). I was on the lookout for a track to set the record and found it in Victoria Park Oval, in the town of Dubbo, NSW. It happened to be where I’m working at the moment, so was the easiest place to do it! Unicycles don’t handle banked velodromes well, and this was a relatively flat cycle track, with a circumference of 406.55m.

After a few practice sessions, I was consistently lapping 52-53s laps, which was fast enough to get the record, but only just. It was not until the week leading up to the record attempt that I found myself hitting that ’sweet spot’ and getting a consistent spin out of the unicycle. I started lapping 48-49 secs, which would mean I would be hitting the 30km mark. In fact, I hit 30.003km twice in my practice rides, which would have been the unofficial world record!

The day turned out fine, but a little windy. Here are the weather stats for Hour Record Attempt:
Time: 4.30-5.00pm; Weather: Fine; Wind direction: SSE; Temp: 11.8-16.5C; Wind Speed: 9-20km/hr; Pressure: 1025.6-1026.1HPa; Humidity: 35-51%
In short, it was sunny, a little cool, and fairly breezy. Wind is never an advantage. Even though it’s a circuit, the tailwind never quite cancels the headwind…so it did slow things ever so slightly.

I did a few warm up laps, with Mick, Ray and another Mick setting up the lap board, timing system and paperwork. I had to give a quick interview to a TVNZ reporter, before a nut and bolt check. Lucky I did, as one of my shifter buttons had worked itself loose, and that would have been disastrous for the record attempt. If I had hit the button accidentally at 30km/hr, it’s a guaranteed crash. For the hour record, if you crash, it’s gone. You don’t have time to get back on, accelerate to speed, and get your rhythm back!

Once I had the shifter button tight, Mick from the Dubbo Cycle Club helped me onto the unicycle, and I was off! I kept my speed up for the first few laps, but felt stiff and slow. I needn’t have worried however, as I completed the first 10 laps (I kept score by 10 lap times) in 8min00s, which was well under what I needed. I relaxed a bit and got my rhythm for the next set of 10, and lapped 16min06s, on track for a 30km Hour Record. Ray Wheeler from the local bike shop was giving time-checks every 10 laps, which gave me something to focus on.

The next few sets of 10 were a bit of a blur, as I tried to keep my rhythm. I almost got too relaxed at one stage, finding myself falling asleep (it’s boring going around in circles). I had to give myself a mental kick to make sure I my lap times didn’t start creeping down. The local cycle club and my workmates at Dubbo Base Hospital were out in force, cheering me on. I managed to flick off a couple of dings to acknowledge from my lucky bell (mounted on the handlebar).

My biggest worry was to lose concentration and fall off in front of the crowd, but apart from minor balance adjustments, I was relatively safe once I relaxed. Most crashes happen when your body is stiff, as you don’t have the ability to soak up bumps. I had one hand on the extended KH T-bar, and the other on the KH seat-handle. The handlebar is there to lower your body position, but is not great for accelerating with. I had the other hand on the seat handle, as every turn required effort to maintain speed.

As the sun set I saw my goal creep closer. 30 laps, 40 laps, 50 laps. Once I hit 60 laps I knew the record was mine, but the question was whether I could get the extra few laps to 30km. I went through the 68th lap with cheers from the crowd…it was the new World Record!

From there it was a push to the finish. I gave it everything for final few minutes, and rolled across the 74th lap at 1:00:11. The hour record is calculated using a formula based on the time of the last lap before 60min, and the time of the first lap after 60min. I knew it was going to be close…but I didn’t realise just how close. The final calculation came in at 29.993km, which was less than 1sec short of the 30km mark! I was averaging approx 8.5m/sec, so I must have blinked, snorted, blown my nose, or something. Still, it felt great to get the Unicycle Hour Record, and to break it by 2.4km!

I went home, showered, went to the pub for a Guinness, but they didn’t have any. Big thanks to all the people who supported me and helped with the record attempt. Names listed in my last post

Here are a few articles in the local Newspaper/Radio:

Daily Liberal

ABC News

And from WIN News:

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New Unicycle Hour World Record!!! 29.993km

I’ll post a bit more later…but I have officially broken Jan Logemanns Unicycle Hour record (27.564km) with a 29.993km ride today! I missed the 30km mark by 7m (which roughly works out at less than 1 second!), but otherwise I was very pleased with how it went.

Will put photos and a writeup tomorrow.

The thing about setting world records is that the easy part is the riding. The tough part is getting it all together and I couldn’t have done it without a whole bunch of people helping out.

I’d like to say a BIG THANK YOU to:

-Mick and Kerry Coffee from the Dubbo Cycle Club…for all your support and timekeeping
-Mick Cooper for your support and timekeeping
-Ray Wheeler from Daryl Wheeler Cycles…for timekeeping and giving me all the timechecks…kept me focussed the whole way!
-Everyone from the Dubbo Cycle Club…for letting me use the track on your race night, and for all the encouragement you gave me
-Everyone from Dubbo Base Hospital who turned up to cheer me on
-Everyone else who turned up and told me to pedal faster
-Unicycle.com NZ and Australia (Peter and Mal…thanks for sending up the spare tubes when my 29′er tube blew up for the umpteenth time)
-The guy I gave my camera to…for taking photos of me going around in circles…sorry I didn’t get your name!
-Florian Schlumpf for the technology to make this possible (as in the Schlumpf geared hub)
-Graeme Astley of Imrie, Astley and Associates, for surveying the track down to the closest cm (oh, if only you’d rounded it to the closest meter )

My sponsors:
-Johnsonville Cycles…for supporting me since High School (that’s more than half my lifetime!)
-Triple 0 Medical Recruitment…for the cycling kit (jersey and shorts)…I told you I’d put it to good use
-Adventure Unicyclist

I’m sure there are others I should have on here…my mind is a bit of a blur at the moment! Let me know if I’ve missed anyone!

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Hour Record Stuff

For those of you interested in some of my buildup towards the Hour Record, here are a few things FYI (mainly for Unicyclists)

Course Length: 406.55m

Type of track: concrete cycle track, minimal banking. A few bumps, but fairly smooth

Start: Standing Start

Pacing: Unpaced (ie no drafting!)

Weather forecast: Sunny, 0-17 degrees celcius, wind 10km/hr SSE

Equipment:

Frame:  KH 36″ Aluminium

Hub: KH/Schlumpf Hub, 1:1 and 1:1.5 ratios

Rim: Nimbus Stealth

Tyre: Nimbus Nightrider

Tube: 29′er

Spokes: 14Ga SS

Cranks: Qu-ax 145mm straight aluminium

Pedals: Wellgo MG-1

Seatpost: Schlumpf 27.2mm aluminium

Seat: KH Street Gel seat, cut down foam

Handle: KH T-bar, in fully extended position

I’ve been practicing on this track on and off for a few months, but only started getting serious about it a month or so ago. Initially I was intending on using the V-frame type position (ie more bike like position), but owing to my general lack of organisation, I haven’t built up a V-frame yet.  However, for an hour record attempt, I think there is little advantage, because it’s mainly a position which allows comfortable riding for long distances.  Acceleration is actually slower on the V-frame set up (with bars further away from the seat), but I suspect it’s something that comes down to practice.

Practice Times

Here are a few recent practice times, and notes:

16/8/09: 30.003km. 74 Laps in 1:00:10.  I  can’t believe I did exactly the same time as on the 14/8!, but legs felt better and it was an easy spin.  It was much less windy though. Also spent the first 30min dodging a runner on the track

14/8/09: 30.003km. 74 Laps in 1:00:10.  Legs felt good, bit windy but warm. New Inner tube as last one blew up. Happy to break 30km for the first time!

13/8/09: 10 laps in 8:09, then the tyre blew up

12/8/09: 36 laps in 30:33. Cold day, went for 30min only.  The air felt thick and about 1-2s slower per lap than on a warm day

11/8/09: 70 Laps in 1:00:48. Very windy day, legs felt like crap.  New Inner tube as old one has slow leaky puncture and a broken valve

8/8/09: 29.33km. 73 Laps in 1:00:43.  Legs felt good, worked hard, but also windy. Broke the presta valve whilst pumping up tyre

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