All - I’m very new to unicycling ( 3 months ) and my kids and I are starting to get into muni. We live close enough to Moab that going to munifest is very attractive, but I don’t want to go if I do not have the necessary skill level. Right now I can ride smooth singletrack descend a series of six inch drops, ride up a 10-12% grade and can do tiny hops (4"). I freemount pretty well. I can’t idle, still stand, or hop up inclines.
Is this enough skill to have fun at Moab (provided the Thompson’s host a Munifest 2005)?
This year, when you guys (and ladies) did Amasa Back, how far did you ride between breaks? How long did the whole ride take?
Was it too difficult for the newer riders? ( I really don’t want to hike more than I ride)
what is the variance in skill level - I can see it is very high for some, but do a lot of newbies attend?
Thanks for all the great posts and pix on this forum - they are inspiring and very helpful.
There were riders at Moab of all levels. The main thing you have to decide about is how far you can ride/walk. Our experience is that less experienced riders don’t mind walking through technical areas if it means they get to watch the experts riding on them. So distance is the thing. Can you handle the distance?
Speed is not much of an issue on a ride like Amasa Back. The bigger the group, the slower it usually goes. We stopped a lot. Plenty of time for hikers to not only keep up, but relax as well. We were quite a bit faster on the way down, but still we stop a lot to take pictures and enjoy the view.
For riders that can’t handle the longer distances, most rides either have a shorter, easier option, or people turn around partway and ride back. I did that last year on the Porcupine Rim, and even the ride back down the first part of the course was a blast. On the Slickrock Trail, there’s always the Practice Loop. It’s the same terrain, just less of it. You can spend all day playing out there.
Plus remember you’re just getting started. The next Moab Muni Fest is almost a year away. By then you’ll probably be able to handle all kinds of stuff!
Uni-bear, coming from a beginner’s perspective, I can say John’s comments are right on. I went to Moab 2003 with almost zero offroad experience, and my walk-to-ride ratio was probably 70-30. I dragged the thing over hill and dale. This year, the ratio flipped, and maybe even more to the Ride side. The thing that helped me the most was to practice HILLS, both up and down. That plus cardio-vas.
Both years, I walked/rode with more advanced riders, and hikers and dogs, and everyone pretty much ended up together on the trail, especially at rest points. I rode the Practice Loop this year while my wife and son hiked it, and we had a great time staying mostly together, plus running into other riders we knew along the way. If I got too far ahead of them, I’d just turnaround and reverse the section I just rode until I got back to them, then ride it again.
