Muni is unique among most sports that require endurance. In muni skill trumps fitness when it comes to endurance. In MTB riding I’d say skill and endurance are more evenly matched. In road cycling it’s almost all fitness. In sports like running it’s almost all fitness. How many other sports are there where skill plays such a vital role in endurance?
You can take a novice unicyclist who is incredibly fit and they will have a very difficult time on a technical 12 mile muni ride. Take a very skilled muni rider who is not very fit and they can do the ride. Take a very skilled muni rider who is also incredibly fit and they can absolutely breeze through the ride.
The skilled muni rider is able to minimize their energy expenditure during a ride. They are able to minimize the energy wasted in balance corrections. They are able to maintain constant forward momentum when riding over bumps and logs and rocks. They almost float over the bumps and roots and rocks. They have very good technique for climbing. They are able to ride relaxed. Everything is easy for them. It’s all in the skills and technique.
Watch a rider like Kris Holm or Ben Plotkin Swing or Ryan Atkins on an intermediate level muni trail. This is on intermediate level trails, not the extreme North Shore or extreme downhill stuff. Then compare a rider like me on the same trail. There is a world of difference (there is a world of difference when compared to almost every other muni rider). Kris, Ben and Ryan are a lot smoother than I am. I’m not too bad when it comes to long muni rides, but I’m nowhere near the level of Kris, Ben or Ryan.
So, what does this mean? It means that if you want to increase endurance it is better to focus on the riding skills rather than building fitness. After you have the skills then fitness becomes more important.
Some things that I have found important for efficient muni riding:
When standing on the pedals learn how to dance on the pedals rather than mashing the pedals. When you are dancing on the pedals you are able to maintain a good smooth pedaling. When you are mashing on the pedals you are wasting energy.
Point the toe down when at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Don’t keep the feet flat. This helps you to pedal through the bottom of the pedal stroke and helps to keep you from mashing the pedals.
Learn some freestyle skills like one foot riding and wheel walking. These skills get you more in tune with the balance point on the unicycle and they teach you better balance and control. I know that my muni skills improved when I started playing around with basic freestyle skills.
Practice rolling over small obstacles and work your way up to rolling over bigger obstacles. The good riders can float over the small stuff and flow smoothly over the big stuff. Learn to roll over the small obstacles in any pedal position. When rolling over obstacles think of floating over them rather than plowing in to them. When you approach the obstacle you unweight the cycle (I can hear George Peck saying those exact words right now) and give the mass of your body some upward momentum as you go over the obstacle.
When going on short muni rides, practice rolling over all of the small obstacles on the trail that you can find. Pick the hardest line on the trail and take that line. Don’t look for the easy lines. If there is a rock in the middle of the trail then roll over the rock, don’t zig zag around it. On the long muni rides you can save energy by looking for the easy line, but on the short muni rides take advantage of the opportunity to practice rolling (or floating) over obstacles.
At the Vancouver Island Muni Weekend, Kris Holm demonstrated a technique of using almost rolling hops to get over roots and similar obstacles. They don’t have to be actual rolling hops because you don’t actually have to leave the ground. It’s yet another technique for learning how to float over obstacles. Compared to the way that I plowed through those same roots and the way that Kris literally floated over the tops of those roots, the difference is night and day. Kris’ method is more efficient and allows him to maintain speed so it is much faster. To be most effective you have to be able to do this technique from any pedal position. You also have to learn where you want to aim for. For some roots you’ll want to aim for the top of the root. For other roots you’ll want to aim just a little beyond the top. This is one technique that I still can’t do very well. It’s not as easy as Kris makes it look. I suppose it would help if I took the time to learn a smooth and consistent rolling hop. One of these days Kris needs to do a video where he demonstrates and describes these magical techniques that he has. He’s got more in his bag of tricks beyond this little skill.
Learn to relax as you ride.
Learn your ideal pedal speed and then work to increase that ideal pedal speed.
I know there are more tips, but this is what I can come up with from the top of my head right now.
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