Okay groovers & shakers, for those who didn’t make it, here’s a run down of the
plot from the Simon point of view of things.
We turned up on friday evening and set up camp, I jumped on Sarah’s Coker having
never seen one and couldn’t put it down.
Most other folks turned up on friday night to go to the Pub. In a bout of
enthusiasm, there was a mention of uni-ing there (Sarah), but dealing with 70mph
cars on a country lane meant the car was the chosen method of transport.
Sat morn, we awoke and got ready, piled about 15 Unis into jerry’s van and head
off to the hills. There was the choice of a 6mile/9mile course, me being over
enthusiastic about the whole thing went for the long one. We arrived at the foot
of a rather damp forest where I struggled to get a start whilst being
interviewed by the man from BBC radio solent.
The trek began, the first climb was a killer, set up to distinguish the cyclists
from the uni-cyclists, and for some a little shanksy’s pony was involved. Over
the next few miles there was a start-stop policy to let the slowest of the group
catch up, such that socially you could chat to anyone.
The we met the 6milers, who included Dave Mariner (of DM unicycles) and his
Daughter Ruth who joined in for a while.
And on we trekked about 22 strong round the beautiful dorset country side.
Toward the end, the backmarkers (me inc.) lost sight of the damon hills amongst
the crowd and questioned whether they’d gone the right way. Eventually we
figured it out.
All home safe & sound for a little food and a bit of rest. Well that was the
plan. Instead I got on Sarah’s Coker a few more times, DM’s 42" big wheeler - a
little harder to get going than I had anticipated, DM’s 6-foot unicycle (that’s
a uni with 6 feet instead of a wheel - not a giraffe!) and failed with Rogers
mini giraffe.
So the log jumping ? People were all very tired and a few had a go, notably
Roger/Jamy clearing 3 logs, and Jamy clearing one on a UW.
Then on to the limbo, not an overly favorite competition either, Sarah
destroying it on her Coker (not the ideal machine for the job!), Adrian on a
20", and Ruth on Roger’s Mini giraffe. In the ideal world I would have liked to
have measured the height and had different categories for different wheel sizes,
but we were all very tired from the mornings trek.
Meanwhile people were having a go at the Extreme time trial. I put in an
appalling 22’30". Due to legs of lead I couldn’t get on when I fell off (which I
did every time I got on ).
Roger put in the fastest time of just over 8mins on his Coker, he challenged me
to race him on a bike, which we eventually reasoned was a bit silly, but after
he came round in a time of 8mins and me on my bike 9mins+, we decided it would
not have been so silly after all, so we’d race the next morn, Roger on 26" Muni,
me on 26" Battered Marin Mountain Bike.
So the evening cast off into a food/BBQ/beer frenzy, after I cokered about a bit
on barry’s coker. The night didn’t get too active as we were all a little worn
out. However social chit-chat was rife covering a wide variety of topics, -
unis, unicycling and muni…etc.
Sunday we eventually got up.
Before we set off on the tracks, I raced roger round the track. Me Bike, Him
Uni. Well race, of sorts, I blasted ahead knowing full well that if I didn’t I’d
be left behind, I took it easy and he caught up, I left him pass cause I wanted
to study his fast and furious forest technique, and then I selfishly overtook on
the home straight. If we’d have raced Coker V Bike I think it would have been a
different story. Next year…
Then to the trails, and again there was a choice of rides - 6miles/3miles -
Myself I went for the shortie, legs refusing to work. The longer ride was
apparently a good 'ol trail. On the shortie DM & Ruth joined us, I had a good
chat to Dave and tried to explain the finer points of the internet whilst he
echoed bits of the unicycling industry to me, that was fun.
At the pub we all has some nosh and some drink before a steady ride back on the
shortie once more.
Then we had some prizes and things and that was it. So where are the pictures -
to come. I have Roger’s digi ones already, but I’ll await the rest to come in so
I can correlate them all.
And again, a big thankyou to Paul & Sarah for organising everything and Jerry
for letting us using his campsite as the BMW base.
Shall we do it again next week ? My legs need a little rest, about a year will
do the trick.
Over & Out
Simon IOU
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|
Simon Greenway | I.O.U O
I.O.U@mindless.com | | Romsey, Hampshire, UK. | Idiots On Unicycles #/
| http://come.to/muni o
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Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid
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