[QUOTE=maestro8]
If you can ride moderate uphill for 2-3 hours without bonking you’ll be in super-great shape for CMW '07.
QUOTE]
In my dreams!
The longest nonstop ride I’ve done was 2 hrs. over moderate flat terrian (w/ a UPD every 10 min. or so). After a half hour break I bonked 30 min into the return trip. I think it was do to lack of electrolytes.
Well, it is 3 1/2 months away, maybee I can develop the nessessary skill and strength by then
Edit: Is riding SIF good for getting climbing strength w/o actually getting to a hill?
Mmmm, can’t wait. Jason, I take that comment about walking sections of trail as a challenge… for Ben. I’ll just crawl a few sections for posterity.
Psh. Quit whining. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to show off how great you are without having to organize a competition. Corbin, looks like an excellent schedule to me, even though, (gasp!) I ride trials, not street.
I have to agree with torkerdx in that I think street is more injury prone than trials. Sure, trials may involve big moves, but the risk, I think, is much more calculated. Each trials move that is made is in effort to remain in control, and riders hopefully have a healthy dose of fear that prevents them from going too big.
On the other hand, street is all about contorting your body and moving about the unicycle in somewhat out-of-control ways. It’s the fear of sprained and/or broken body parts that has kept me from trying to learn any street moves, well, other than a unispin, which is also a “freestyle” move.
I think riding SIF will help smooth out your pedal stroke, which ultimately helps you save some energy when climbing. However, I haven’t found anything else as good as climbing for improving climbing strength/technique.
Recently I found some gel packets made by Power Bar that combine carbohydrates and electrolytes. These have been like rocket fuel for me… one every 45 minutes and I’m energized for an afternoon’s ride! As I said earlier, you’ll need to experiment to find the right combination of food, water and/or supplements to keep your performance levels up. Bonking 5 miles from the trail head is no fun.
Perhaps find a book on sports nutrition at the library? Eating a good meal of complex carbohydrates the night before / morning of a big ride may be just what you need to feel good on that 3rd hour of the ride.
The good news is that our muni rides can be done in 2-3 hours if you don’t stop too often…
Sure you can! Don’t worry about the UPDs, just focus on being comfortable with riding for an extended period of time. You don’t need to be a world-class rider to enjoy the trails at CMW… you just need a little patience to tough out the uphill climbs (and/or hikes)
Hmm… never thought about that. I don’t know that SIF riding would help with endurance… you don’t need so much strength to climb the hills as you need endurance. If anything, practice riding over different terrain while relaxing as much as possible. When straining up a hill the last thing you want to be doing is burning energy by using more muscle than needed.
Why not try filling a backpack with books or something and going for a longer ride then? Do you have a drag brake on your muni? Set something up that’ll slow your wheel to simulate a hill while riding on flat. Wind resistance will do just as well, if you can find a place that gets a constant wind.
If none of these things give you a good leg burn, the stair-master always does it for me. I do 30-40 mins on a step machine 2x a week to supplement my riding and if nothing else it sure gets my heart racing.
Riding SIF makes my legs burn like crazy and I have to jump of or risk a UPD. 75-100 ft. is the max dist. I can get somewhat consistently.
Also I was thinking riding standing up (a little easier than SIF) for long periods, or riding SIB (harder, I feel it mostly in my quads, but the few hills I’ve done I feel it evenly through my thighs, glutes, and lower back).
While you can build leg strength without riding uphill, the problem is you miss getting practice maintaining a relatively slow speed on an upward slope. The real skill to master for climbing with a muni, I think, is being able to do short and relaxed still stands between each half pedal stroke, and you won’t get that practice without riding uphill.
But you may not be looking at the situation from an organizer’s point of view. It’s not less percentage of injuries per participant he’s concerned with, it’s total number of injuries. If you have a Trials competition, lots of people will enter. Some will be very skilled and others will be trying things out (possibly more likely to get hurt). If you have a Street competition you have a much smaller pool of riders competing in the first place. Also like Corbin said, it’s quite a bit easier to set up.
I like both; Trials to participate a little and also photograph, and Street to watch, photograph and possibly judge. But it’s up to the property owner to decide what’s going to go down in his yard. Last year we had a great Trials comp, so if this year we can have a great Street comp we’re at least alternating…
I think it’s possibe to build an extremely challenging course w/o the danger of being high off the ground. But then you’d have to build it, like a couple of others said. Street is much easier. A flat open area w/ a few rails, and boxes and you’re done.
I think a trials comp would be better cause not many people can do much street. Everyone can do trials and its not too hard. Just some people are better. But for a street comp you need a variety of tricks and a judge to decide who wins. Trials you either can do it or cant. Much easier to run in my opinion.
I am considering doing a trials course instead. I think either-or is just as easy to run; but, as others have mentioned, building a good trials course that isn’t too deadly can take quite a bit of time.
If anyone wants to come to my house and help me, let me know! We’ll be building stuff on Saturday.
To help Corbin out, lets try a trials structure pot-luck. If you have a trials structure that is transportable, then offer it up. Anything will help. As anyone knows who has built trials structures, it takes a lot of time to build it strongly as well as safely. So, anything will help.
Also, materials cost money. If anyone wants to donate, that might help as well.
I haven’t been watching the thread that closely, but what about the park where we did the trials comp in 2002? Is that up for grabs or will we run into liability issues?
yes.
well if i do happen to go, and my mom might not let me, i might help build it. well if it doesn’t conflict with my shower, or maybe my manicure and no one wants to just chill instead… oh and i have to be sure from you that i wont bend a finger nail because that would really mess with my riding you know…
now could i?.. probably not
that was a i think i can go, and if i do i will help (for clarification)
We did discuss possibly using the 2002 place – Fredrick St Park --but we are afraid the event has grown large enough that liability could be a huge issue (previously, we were just “crashing” the place).
Truth be told, I like building stuff, and the only thing really holding me back from trails at my house is liability. In fact, I already have a few things built and we may get more done this weekend. By Oct, we should have a lot of things to play on.
Just curious cause I’m not very familuar with the law but couldn’t you just have everyone sign a waiver stating you are not liable for any accidents, and then you’d be OK?
We’d have to come up with an air-tight waiver… and that would involve consulting with an attorney. That’d cost us some big bucks.
Even then, someone could find a loophole in our waiver. I don’t mean to be paranoid, but with the current state of our legal system, I’m not willing to take any chances.
All this being said, we’re still considering our options. Stay tuned…
I vote that we have a wheelbarrow or two handy… Then, if anyone gets injured, we throw them in it… haul them to the middle of the street, call an ambulance, and then sue the city for damages…
Or, if there is a city/state/federal building near… we haul them to it instead…
I mean… it’s in California… it should work… right?!?
Couldn’t you just “copy” the NAUCC waiver or simply state “If I get injuried or die in any way possible while on Corbins property, I take full responsiblity and am 100% liable.” Doesn’t that cover everything? Just curious where the loophole is if you state it like that?
Anyhow, I’m really looking forward to my first CMW with or without a trials comp!
