Is drafting allowed for the record? You could try drafting off of other Cokeurs or even bikes for a little boost. The company wouldn’t be bad either.
The Gallery is up:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Guiness-24hr-attempt
More photos will be added after the event.
Hopefully this will give you an idea of what I’ll be doing for 24hrs 
What you can’t see are all the potholes and loose gravelly stuff on various parts of the loop. Not a big deal, just means I have to concentrate on what I’m doing (which could be a good thing)
The course is 465m measured on the inner circumference (at the fence). In order to beat Takayuki’s 100mile record (6hrs44min, avg spd 23.9km/h), I need to do each lap in 1min9sec (52laps/hr).
I rode some practice laps tonight, with my Tubeless Coker, 110mm cranks, GB handle, KH cut-down fusion/Carbon seat.
Here are the practice stats:
Anticlockwise
1:10- fast
1:08- fast
1:07- fast, starting to get the hang of the course
1:09- slow start
3:17 for 3 laps (1:05.6 per lap)
11:10 for 10 laps (1:07 per lap)- race pace
11:26 for 10 laps (1:08.6 per lap)- brisk pace
12:21 for 10 laps (1:14 per lap)- casual pace
Clockwise
1:08- fast
5:31 for 5 laps (1:06 per lap)
10:59 for 10 laps (1:05.9 per lap)- race pace
As you can see, the 100mile record is going to be a tough one to beat. It’s faster than my casual pace, so I really have to keep concentrating for the entire 6 1/12 hrs to make sure I don’t drop down below the 1:09 mark. What I might try is to do the first 20-30 laps really fast to get ahead of my time checks, then settle down to a more brisk rhythm. Otherwise it’s really hard to play catch up on it’s such a long ride.
Will try the 102mm cranks tomorrow. If I shave off a couple of seconds per lap that will be very useful indeed. I don’t know if I can push 102’s for such a long time though- especially if it’s windy or raining.
It didnt’ seem to make too much difference whether I was going clockwise or anticlockwise, although I felt more comfortable going anticlockwise (because I tend to hand my left arm out more than my right). My clockwise laps were probably slightly faster because I was warmed up and also the music that happened to be playing on my radio upped my rhythm (Darude; Sandstorm- I love that song!). Not to mention I pumped my tyre up hard.
I can’t wait 
Ken
P/s I won’t be doing any drafting- the course may look wide, but when your going at 25km/h it narrows very quickly. I also want to make this comparable to the previous 100mile record, so not too keen on being paced by bikes.
Wow, at that pace looks like you won’t be taking any breaks for the first 6 1/2 hours.
Our family will be making a donation, and sweeten the pot a bit for each record broken.
You’ll have to call in some periodic updates so somene can post your progress next Saturday.
Ride like the wind!
Like there is someone that would be able to stay in front of him? 
Ken, I like John’s idea about donating per lap, so consider the $100 I put in an initial donation and I will up it afterwards based on how far you actually make it. Plus $100 for each record you break!
Thanks for posting the photos about the venue and the practice times. That 100 mile record looks very very tough. I recommend 102mm instead of 110.
Good luck!!
—Nathan
Thanks again for all your support guys! I guess now I’ll have to really push myself with all these contributions :). Someone has also offered to donate money for a naked night lap (Although she’s probably only going to get a bit of leg for $10).
I just got back from doing a few laps on 102mm cranks:
1:08- 1 lap brisk- slow start
1:06- 1 lap brisk
10:53- 10 laps brisk (1:05.3 per lap)- brisk
The 102’s are a little harder to control, especially when coming out of the pot-holed corners (Little room for error at full speed). It’s definitely faster though, as you can see from the above time averages. If only I had some 89’s to try as well! Does anyone know what size cranks Takuyuki and Lars were using for their records? I might switch to 110’s after 100miles.
I checked out Lars’ chapter called “Double Century”:
First 60 miles in 6:15
Billboard at mile 99.83: “Are you Hurting? Jesus Cares.”
200 miles in 23:37
Total in 24:00 was 202.78 miles.
On his tour, he used various different crank lengths up to 152mm in high winds on steep hills. He doesn’t say in the “Double Century” chapter but was using 102mm some days earlier.
I think 89 might be too short, especially when you get tired. 102 is probably right.
—Nathan
Thanks for that. Yeah, I love that bit about the sign
I might email him and ask. My impression was that he did most of the ride on 102’s. It is kinda nice to do a point to point ride, but they wouldn’t allow it this time (I wanted to do the 445km Christchurch to Nelson Bike race)- Guinness said something along the lines of getting satellite mapping of the course- car odometers aren’t accurate enough apparently.
Ken, since you’re applying to Guinness for these records, how is the event set up as to witnesses, etc., and how did you (or will you) measure and certify this course?
Try their webiste:
I signed up- they take about 4-6wks to reply unless you use the fasttrack system (abouy 200 quid I think).
The rules state that it needs to be on an enclosed circuit like an atheletics track. It has to be measured by a qualified surveryor prior to the event. I managed to get a local surveying firm to measure it for me (they didn’t even charge a cent :)):
www.cuttriss.co.nz
There’s a whole list of stuff regarding supporting materials like witnesses. I’ll have some NZ Unicycle Federation officials to tally up the score. I’ll also have a guestbook for people to sign. Also things like newspaper clippings and media reports can be sent in as supportive evidence.
Are you thinking of having a go at the record? I don’t expect the 24hr and 100mile records to stand for very long with the new generation of geared unis coming into existence. That’s why I wanted to do it whilst I still can. I don’t expect people to be bothered trying something like this in future on a fixed gear unicycle.
Ken
Since you asked, yes, I’m gonna take a shot at the hour record, which according to Guinness is Stefan Gauler’s 21.29km (13.2 miles) set on Sept. 24, 2000 in the Czech Republic (I think). I’m not a distance kinda guy, so I personally wouldn’t go for those longer records.
And yes, I agree that with geared wheels all these records will be advanced in the coming years. Whether or not Guinness or the IUF winds up making 2 record classes of geared and direct-drive is unknown, as I don’t think any record has yet been done on a geared wheel. But they will…
I’m excited for your attempts! This is good stuff! Best of success to you and your support team!
Let me know if you need a hand with it. Do you want me to email you the generic rules? There are specific ones for each attempt as well, but I don’t have the ones for the Hour record. Someone really needs to reset the hour record! (Especially because the current 100mile record has a faster hourly average speed ) I was thinking of having a go…but I wanted these distance ones out of the way first. Since you have a geared Coker- you should be the first to set the mark. (I won’t be getting a geared Coker until the end of the year- and even then, I’m much better at long distance) I think it’s great that we have people going for these records- it furthers the sport of unicycling- both in terms of achievements and technology.
The IUF should perhaps start thinking about how it wants to regulate the record attempts. I guess because the IUF don’t have (as far as I know) rigid guidelines in place, Guiness sets it’s own rules.
We don’t want to end up in a situation like they did with the Bicycling Hour Record- where just about every record done after Eddy Merkcx’s record were disallowed because the UCI decided that only “traditional” bikes are allowed- no more Superman aero positions (Might be a good thread to start actually…hmmm). Not that Eddie M’s bike was exactly traditional- it looked more like Swiss Cheese.
Ken
p/s Getting a Guinness Record does not guarantee that you will be in the publication. They have far more records on their database than they have room for in the book. I know I have seen the 24hr and 100mile records in previous editions, but it is not in the current 2005 Guinness Book. The 24hr Record (which I’d not seen before) appears in this years book.
bump
Just like to announce that Unicycle.com NZ are setting up a live webfeed from their website:
www.unicycle.co.nz
The page will go up on the day.
Will be going live from 0800hrs NZ time, Sat 5th February, going through till 0800hrs, Sun 6th February. Photo updates will be posted on my gallery during the day:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Guiness-24hr-attempt
The local newspaper ran a story today:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Guiness-24hr-attempt/The_Wellingtonian_3_Feb_05
Hope you can tune in for some of it. Should be a blast
Ken
That’s awesome that it’s going to be webcasted.
For those of us on the US West coast, the ride starts at:
11:00:00 Sat Feb 05 2005
On the US East Coast, that’s:
14:00:00 Sat Feb 05 2005
In GB, that’s:
19:00:00 Sat Feb 05 2005
In Hawaii that’s:
09:00:00 Sat Feb 05 2005
Those times should be correct. If they aren’t please post the correct times.
Technically wouldn’t that be 3 world records and not 2?
Good Luck
here’s an idea, tell me what u think
we all post mildly funny, borderline inspirational messages here which Ken can then print out on A4 sheets and stick up against the fence of the course that he’ll ride
just to allow us to ‘keep him company’, especially on those long, dark pre-dawn hours
i realise that no matter how witty the saying may be at first, it will lose some of it’s entertainment value after 699 laps
what do u think?
send word
“If you ride fast enough, you migh find your other wheel.”
just add your username at the bottom
“If you ride fast enough, you migh find your other wheel.”
daino149
i’m trying to think up a “burma-shave” style thing to do, so maybe a few of us could think up an 8 line poem that ends in burma-shave as encouragement.
something like
ride fast and strong
don’t stop, keep going
we know the ride is long
and that the wind keeps blowing
soon you’ll be a hero
all the ladies will rave
you wheel looks like a zero
Use burma-shave.
–markf
if that’s too long or whatever, i suggest
“must not fear. fear is the mind killer.”