I had intended to post this thread a while back, but life has been pretty hectic for me lately and so Tigger actually kind of beat me to it when he suggested the event (or at least a group ride at Rays, anyway) in this thread:
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rolling Trials, the quick description is the following:
The rules are nearly identical to the rules developed by Kris Holm for unicycle trials, but with one important additional rule – you can’t hop. You can however “get air” naturally from drop-offs, jumps, or other terrain along the course (known as a “section”) that causes the wheel to leave the ground without the riders help.
This single additional rule (no hopping) makes a RT competition a completely different form of competition than a standard unicycle trials competition. Thus for an RT competition, the person who completes (“cleans”) the most Sections (rides from the start line to the finish line of the Section without dabbing or hopping) wins. Rolling Trials tests the rider’s ability to roll over a variety of challenging terrain, including obstacles such as: ramps, bridges, skinnies, swing bridges, rock gardens, log piles, teeter-totters, and much more. Because hopping skills are not required, the sport of Rolling Trials has the potential to appeal to a large number of unicyclists that have not yet learned how to hop and/or are not as interested in hopping, as well being of interest to trials riders because it helps develop the non-hopping skills needed for standard unicycle trials.
For more information on the development of the sport, rules, last year’s event, etc., please refer to the following threads:
Rolling Trials Sections @ Rays…
Here are some comments from last years event:
“All in all, this was a great competition. I definately believe that rolling trials has the potential to be a new form of unicycling. It is certainly challenging enough. Also, the terrain at Ray’s forced the riders to do things and make lines they thought they couldn’t do, which was the best part in my opinion. I will attend the next annual competition.”
[RIGHT]- digitalattrition[/RIGHT]
“Andrew - Fun competition and a great concept. It requires a different type of riding and approach which I found enjoyable. I hope more events will have rolling trials and the concept will grow.”
[RIGHT]- billham[/RIGHT]
“The rolling trials went really good. I really liked it.”
[RIGHT]- Tim[/RIGHT]
“I totally enjoyed the rolling trials. I finally found a situation where I liked riding a 26" and didn’t wish I had a different wheel. I found the 26" gave me the speed and momentum that you need on a lot of these lines, but still I had a lot of the control you would have with a 24".”
[RIGHT]- nbrazzi[/RIGHT]
You can read more comments from last year’s competitors here:
Rolling Trials Competition Results
This year’s event doesn’t conflict with a major trials competition (as last years did) and promises do be a much bigger and better event, with over 50 riders planning to attend, including some of the greats!
Hope to see you there…