Awesome pic. My earlier suspicion was right. But I couldnt confirm it until now, the uni frame is raked back when the long bar is installed straight out and you’re riding in aero form.
Really aerodynamic, but yeah, your back or crotch would probably hurt, either way;)
Pic is cool but riding in that position for 100 miles could do a nasty number on your back and neck! 
2-wheeled TT cyclists can hold these positions all race (and some are even more extreme!) so there’s no reason it won’t be possible. Just means you’d have to do a serious amount of stretch/yoga-type exercises to get your body into the grooove.
How much do aerodynamics come into uni riding? I thought there was a sort of low cut-off speed where aero just isn’t worth bothering with? Then again, if you’re Schlumpf’ing (and also going for a world record speed) you’re probably quite a bit over that speed 
In that position it will cut through the wind more effectively and I’m nearly certain you will achieve higher speeds, in wind or no wind.
I dont think the angle is too excessive, but then again, I havent the chance to go for a hundred miles a day! 
Soooooo cool! Best of luck with the record attempt. Hope you make a video!
I also love the photo. I can use it to show people that riding with the Shadow Handle long and downward is the “cool” way to use it! 
Those things are easy enough to estimate. If you can see where the rider’s body will be when in the riding position, find the rider’s center of mass, and draw a line from there through the center of the wheel. That’s vertical. Compare frame angle to that.
While hard on the back and neck, having the frame raked to the rear probably improves the relationship between seat and crotch (more like a bike).
That’s right. The main difference is the much longer duration of the ride. You definitely want to prepare for such a riding position if you aren’t used to doing it for long distances. I always get a sore/tired neck on longer rides. And longer for me is anything over 30 miles or so…
I remember reading about the early years of the Race Across America (RAAM). Lots of early riders were affected by their neck muscles wearing out. I remember one early rider who’s team built him a makeshift “head brace” to help hold his head up so he could keep going.
It’s probably more of a case of diminishing returns. For example, in 24" racing, I believed (early 1980s) that being aerodynamic would not be measurably faster for races of a mile and less. My riding posture for the Mile (1600m) race was to sit up very straight, to open up my chest and improve my ability to suck oxygen. That’s 15 mph for a 4-minute mile, where my best was around 4:30.
100 miles in 6:44, the current record, is an average speed of 14.85 mph (sorry for the non-metric numbers; it’s what I grew up with). At that speed, the benefits of being aero are probably minor, but much more meaningful over the course of many hours’ riding, as opposed to my 4-5 minutes. A good tuck could make a difference of several minutes or more. And I imagine Sam will do as much of the ride as he can at a higher average speed.
Are you using a bike saddle on that Sam? (don’t think you mentioned it, but I’ve not been on here for ages so may have missed it). If you’re riding in that bike-like position with handlebars then it would seem to make sense to use a proper saddle instead of a unicycle one - much better for the crotch.
No, it’s a unicycle saddle - an oldish plastic base which I flattened myself, with slimmed down foam.
My experiments with bike saddles were pretty unsuccessful and told me that unicycling needs more control from the crotch than a bike saddle can provide. With a flatter uni saddle the difference is less, but it still gives you the all-important wider front section which stops you sliding around and means you don’t have to be always pushing yourself backwards to stay on a bike seat.
Using aerobars does wonders for saddle pain though. They let you move some weight onto your arms that a normal handlebar doesn’t, and leaves a lot less pressure downwards in your crotch (also moving your weight back into your sit bones more like a bike, as you say). They’re not often useful for normal road riding as there are too many bumps, hills etc which make you sit up off them to get better control, but for smooth, level track riding they are the thing.
Thanks Sam. Interesting - I haven’t tried a bike saddle on a unicycle myself (never even got round to trying an extended handle on my 36er before I got rid of it), but I’d have guessed that the wide saddle front isn’t needed if you’ve got handlebars to stop the uni slipping backwards - obviously that’s not true in your experience.
Cool pic
But I would recommend to go with a “normal” helmet. This thing is on such a long ride not that benefit full. Instead you should wear a thight shirt. This is much more “bad”…
With 26km/h in average (if i am right!?) the aero helmet is more pain than gain…
The main reason I found the bike seat thing didn’t work was all the other parts of unicycling apart from the ‘riding fast and smooth on the flat’. It was very tricky for mounting, riding with one or no hands (ie whenever you need to get something out of a pocket etc), riding slowly, riding up or down any amount of hill, riding on any amount of bumps…
A track record situation would probably be the least-worst use for a bike saddle on a uni, but even then it is needed and nice to have the feeling of control when riding slower or mounting etc.
Thanks! I am not sure I understand why the helmet benefit would be less over a longer ride?
26kph would be about 6:11; I’m hoping for 28kph or 5:45. These are very much hopeful guesses though. The current record is 23.9kph, so anything over that will be a bonus. I’m pretty sure there is enough wind resistance at these speeds to make reducing it by any amount worthwhile.
It doesn’t (hopefully) create any particular extra pain (though there seems to be a strangely noisy wind whoosh which I hear - which seems odd as it covers my ears snuggly. It might be a little less ventilated than a normal helmet, but I don’t think it will make a huge difference.
The shirt is actually about as tight as they come (short of being pasted on as the pros have, or a skinsuit without pockets which I’ll need for water bottle, music etc.) and not really baggy at all (though it looks a bit bad in that photo).
I’ve ridden 100 miles on a bike in a far more extreme position than that - my bars are well below the saddle and I have a pretty much flat back. Though that was for a rather shorter time than Sam is aiming for, and more significantly riding a unicycle is much more involving - on my bike I can just relax in that position with a lot of weight on my arms. Whilst Sam has some weight on his arms, I find it hard to believe he has them fully weighted in the way you could with that position on a bike. Definitely going to be hard on the back - though not necessarily so bad on the neck I don’t think. When I ride my TT bike (and especially the first time it comes out in the year) it is very hard on the neck muscles, but that’s with a torso angled about 30 degrees further forwards than Sams, and hence the head flexed 30 degrees further back. Sam’s position is still more upright than my normal road bike position which I never have neck problems with.
As for the speed aero becomes important - well below the speed Sam is aiming for, I’d say probably from 10-12mph. At 15mph it’s certainly significant, let alone the 16 or 17mph he’s aiming for. This aero stuff will make a difference - you also need some aero shoe covers 
According to http://bikecalculator.com/ at 28kph you need 99W on aero bars, 161W on bartops (not quite comparable with Sam’s positions, but it shows aero makes a significant difference).
Hmmm, I will be a little bit more traditional looking. Pointed helmets look silly… hmmm when I fail I will retract that statement.
Anyways, I know I can do 17mph average for 1/4 of the distance (Dusseldorf). I only have to average 15.
Been out testing the 89’s and a new (old) saddle setup. I have also been to the physio to fix my back. So almost sorted.
I have just had some great news, we have Ed Hawkes coming up to help officiate and film the attempt.
Roger
Only four days to go… whether or not we’ve done enough training, now it’s time to take it easy and get the admin together.
The weather forecast is now close enough that it is probably relevant, and it looks quite good. Cool (13-16C), overcast and not-too-strong wind (10mph NW, a sidewind - the straights of the track run SW-NE).
Looking forward to it!
With the weather looking about as close to ideal as we could hope for, a batch of power-flapjack made (approx. 400kcal per piece) and now a Google Spreadsheet for publishing live results, we’re about ready to go for tomorrow.
On the spreadsheet there is a summary page with graph, and additional sheets showing the lap data for both Roger and me.
Our witnesses will be recording a master record of lap times on paper and then this spreadsheet will be updated as often as possible by those also supporting us. Hopefully this will allow you to follow along in close-to-real-time.
This the big day
I hope that you both succeed. The weather looks perfect. Have fun. :):)
It has started
5-minutes in, and the pace looks good with fresh legs.
Best of luck.
It’s a nice calm sunny day up here where I am, 50-miles North.
I’m looking forward to seeing some coverage on the local TV news at 6pm tonight if possible.
Good luck guys!
Both riders going well.