California Mountain Unicycle Weekend, Sept. 17-19

General
1

Yes, The original MUni Weekend is on! Now that I’m back from Japan I’m cranking up on this event and will get more detailed information out to you as soon as possible. Here’s what I’ve got at the moment:

Web page:

Rough schedule:
Friday: Northstar At Tahoe – lift-assisted riding on your choice of over 100 miles of trail from cake-easy to super-gnarly!
Saturday: Planning to ride part of the Tahoe Rim Trail, in the Mt. Rose area (northeast corner of Lake Tahoe). This trail is higher up than the famous Flume Trail, offering views of both the lake and the Nevada side.
Sunday: Lloyd’s Trail, a short but fun trail near the Lloyd Johnson house. Also fun on Lloyd’s toys, a batch of man-made creations out in the woods. Possible Trials and Street Freestyle competitions, details TBA. Also a big group dinner, if we can work out a place and other details.

Accommodations:
Lloyd’s house: With Lloyd Johnson’s approval, floor space will be available at his house in Truckee. There is space in both the house and large garage/workshop. Plus possible camping space in the yard. I’m waiting for confirmation from Lloyd that he’s okay with a bunch of strangers camping in his living room.

Cabin near Lake Tahoe: I’m looking into renting a large cabin, similar to what we did for MUni Weekend 2000. When I get the costs I’ll be able to let you know how much it will be to share space in there. This worked out really well in 2000, at a cost of $20 total for Friday and Saturday nights. Depending on peoples’ needs, we may have this one from Thursday through Sunday nights.

Hotel/Motel: Here’s a great list of area hotels:


Truckee is closest, followed by Kings Beach, Tahoe Vista, and Incline Village. Not sure where our cabin will turn out to be, but I’m shooting for Kings Beach area. If you find a hotel you like, please let me know so I can share it with others!

Northstar:
Helmets are required. There will also be a fee for the lift, though I’m working on getting a group discount. The basic all-day price is $33. http://www.skinorthstar.com/summer/mtn-biking.html

Trials:
If we can get a course built, we’ll have a comp. Don’t know yet if anyone will be able to build a course.

Street Freestyle?
A new event which I hope to test out at MUni Weekend for possible future adoption at USA and IUF competitions. The plan is to use the pavement of Lloyd’s driveway, along with whatever props are available alongside or around it (these already exist). I’ll come up with a basic set of rules and more details after Lloyd approves doing it there in the first place. Another possibility is to do it at Northstar, where they seem to have a “toys” area of their own:
http://mid.northstarattahoe.com/summer/mountainbikegallery

I’m working on a registration form, which I can’t post until I know more of the costs. Hopefully within a week.

Got questions? Please post them here, or to my email address below. Hope to see you in September!

2

Im not positive but i think there is a skatepark in truckkee that might work out better for the street freestyle event.

3

Thanks for that, John. I am wondering if this year it may be practical to fly home on Sunday but still be able to do some of the activities at Truckee. It looks like it isn’t too much of a drive to the airport like it was from Downieville.

Scott

4

On your website it says the northstar ride is on saturday but on this it says its on friday so which day?
Brian

5

any Meteorologists out there know what temp it was at that time last year in Tahoe?

6

How many people were at last year’s/how many people might be going this year? it sounds like a lot of fun and i might be able to make the trip up. woohoo!

7

about this many plus about 20 more who werent in the pic, can you find me?

auburn group.jpg
auburn group.jpg1000×514 253 KB

8

I went last year and I plan on being there again this year. I had a great time riding & meeting fellow unicyclist. John did a great job putting it all together.

Jagur, here is a link to check out what the weather might be like.
Trip weather planner for Truckee - Tahoe, Ca.

I took that picture last year, you’re the tallest bald guy.

Gene

9

Sorry about the link. Let me try one more time.
Trip weather planner for Truckee - Tahoe, Ca.

10

That depends on how open-minded they are. But it sounds interesting…

If I can find out about said park maybe I’ll see if they are into letting us take it over for a couple of hours.

11

Definitely less driving than Downieville! And your closest airport is Reno, even closer. Allow 1 hour from Lloyd’s house to the Reno airport, that’s being generous.

Depending on how the schedule gets nailed down, it definitely should be possible to fly out on Sunday night or afternoon. Please note, the schedule is still up in the air…

12

Sorry about that. I ran out of time and haven’t updated the web site yet. Always believe the information that’s most recent (assuming it’s from me or Lloyd Johnson). Both my web pages and these posts all have dates on them.

13

A street comp sounds ok, but a skatepark would be a terrible place to host it. Most of them are way to spread out for a comp type environment. I think if you can find a paved area and add a few obstacles it would be fine.

-Dan

14

Thanks for the link, that’s a very useful one!

Please everybody note the range of temperatures at Lake Tahoe. The key word about the Tahoe area is alpine. The altitude is 6000’ and higher, which generally means cold nights and warm days in September. Dress for a wide temperature range, bring the sunscreen (high altitude makes the UV rays more powerful), and be prepared for the effects of altitude on your stamina.

Don’t worry about the altitude, I live at around 200’ but I do okay when I visit up there. Just expect to breathe a lot more!

15

I think Dan’s got a point. A paved area it is. Lloyd Johnson’s driveway! This is an environment we have a lot more control over, especially schedule-wise, and on which we can do whatever we want.

Exact width of driveway unknown. At least 10 feet, probaby 12 or more. I’ll get better details when I can. On one side will be whatever Trials obstacles we can set up there, to be used in a performance. On the other side will be the audience, and whatever we decide to use for a judging system.

Rules to follow. Time to start a separate thread to talk about this.

16

Web site and information updates

I’ve added two new pages, and updated a bunch of the information. Check it out:

The Accommodations page talks about your choices of where to stay.

Free lodging
at the Lloyd Johnson place, either in the house, outbuildings, or yard/car camping. You must reserve your spot, to prevent a deluge. We need to know how many are coming!

Cabin
We will rent a cabin or two, for people who like beds and a little more control over their environment. Price unknown, but should less than half the price of a hotel stay. Also let us know if you want to join in a cabin. Price info will follow when we’ve got the details worked out. We need to know from you how many people want to do the cabin thang.

Hotel
A list is available, many to choose from. We request that if you book something, let us know so we can tell others. This may help in ride-pooling at all locations.

Schedule:

Friday - Northstar. Possible games, but mostly riding of their downhill trails and lift/gondola to go up. Lift tickets $33 if we don’t get a group discount. I’m working on that. Northstar also has a Northshore-type area that should be fun to play on, or even do a game at.

Saturday - Tahoe Rim Trail. This is a ride of about 12 miles, with not too much uphill and plenty of downhill also. We should get views of both Nevada and Lake Tahoe from up there, at places which I believe are way up above the famous Flume Trail. It will be a shuttle ride. Lloyd and I have yet to work out the exact details.

Sunday - Lloyd’s Trail, Street Freestyle, and possible Trials competition. Lloyd’s Trail has variations from something fairly short to longer versions. A little bit of climbing, and fun descending. All rides will probably start and end from Lloyd’s house in Truckee. How’s that for convenient?

Street Freestyle competition planned for Lloyd’s driveway. Details TBA. Look for a separate thread on Street Freestyle to read discussion about rules, and a possible different name for the event. Base rules will probably be something similar to Open-X, with new material to deal with the non-flat elements of the riding area. Please get involved if you’re interested in competing. This event is intended for future national and international unicycling conventions, if people like it.

Possible Trials competition. If we get enough props and organization, it’s on. Zack Baldwin and Jess Riegel are interested in helping out, so things are looking good. If they get enough stuff set up, we’ll be good to go with that.

Possible other competitions. A-la Moab Muni Fest, I like new ideas. Let me know if you have any!

What happened to Lloyd’s Toys? There was an area in the woods near Lloyd’s house where he and others had built all sorts of ramps, skinnies, ladder bridges, etc. Unfortunately all good things seem to come to an end, and most of the stuff has been vandalized or otherwise taken down. Lloyd is starting to rebuild some of it, but on his own property.

Registration:

Registration forms will be available real soon. Got to decide how much I need to know before releasing them. I’ll probably wait until I get a fixed price from the Northstar people, which is supposed to be tomorrow. Cabin and possible group dinner fees will be separate.

T-shirts:

I’ve got a design in mind, hope you all like it. What color should they be? How about something other than a T-shirt and a few sweatshirts? Ideas?

Got questions? Go ahead and post them here, or send me an email to make sure I notice you.

17

Ya lyods house sounds great with a few obstacles especially cause i checked the truckkee skatepark and it wouldnt do.

18

I don’t own a MUni, but I do live in California. Am I welcome, or am I a neophyte?

19

Of course you’re welcome! A handful of people (including me) didn’t have munis at last years. Trust me, it will inspire you to get one. Bring what you got.

Later,

Jess

20

Thanks Jess! Even the Pope is welcome. Get out and ride some trails if you can, you’ll have some idea of how many miles you’re good for. You might be able to borrow a MUni too.