Desert MUNI Race Ridgercrest, Ca

General
4

Basically interested in joining, but is it correct that the unicycle category is only 3mi? Not really convinced that’s worth the drive from LA and the $40 fee. Any chance we can ride with the bikers on one of the longer courses?

Still, I have to say that it’s awesome that there’s a unicycle category, so thanks for organizing!

5

This is the first year so we are trying to figure things out. The race is 3.2 or so miles. The first half has some climbing and the second part has more down hill. The 40 dollar fee isn’t bad since you get a free shirt if you enter by this Saturday. Where in LA are you from. I think it’s about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive when I go to LA.
I would encourage you to come out and you can help shape this event for future years.
The organizers are flexible so we can work with them to make the race better.

6

I contacted the organizers and they were kind enough to allow me to pick any course I want. I’ll be there!

7

Fantastic!

8

I am intrigued! However the registration form doesn’t tell me much, such as date, time, location. I tried to deconstruct the URL, but it appears to be a store for earplugs. Can you provide more info? It’s unlikely I would be able to make it, but possibly in the future?

9

A little more info:

10

Ridgecrest Desert Classic info

Here is a link to the website for the race.


It has lots of info about the race, including course descriptions, maps and gpx files. The unicycle part of the race is new this year so we do not have anything on the 3.2 mile Unicycle only course, but Jose’s post explains that course pretty well and I can try to dig up the gpx file if that would be useful.
Jose already posted a link where to register, but this link can also be found on the desert classic website above, as well as dates for the race for the next several years. The cutoff day to get registered and still receive a shirt is this Saturday.
As far as the courses go, due to lack any rain this fall, the courses are a little sandier than usual. I recommend to the bikers to use wider tires for this race. I would assume that this would also be a good idea for Unicycles.
Someone noted that the registration page piggybacks on a store for earplugs. This is because the guy who built our registration site uses his daughters site to host it. It does not have anything to do with the race, it is just what we had available to us.
Let me or Jose know if there are any more questions and we will do our best to answer them. We are excited to have the Unicycle category added to our race. Hope to see you guys out there.
11

That’s great. The Bump N Grind race they do a few hours from me has a muni category, but it’s a mini loop, mostly in front of the spectators, and not even the same day as the cross country MTB races. It never felt worth doing. Nice to see somebody let you do a real course!

12

Ridgecrest Desert Classic info

Here is a link to the website for the race.


It has lots of info about the race, including course descriptions, maps and gpx files. The unicycle part of the race is new this year so we do not have anything on the 3.2 mile Unicycle only course, but Jose’s post explains that course pretty well and I can try to dig up the gpx file if that would be useful.
Jose already posted a link where to register, but this link can also be found on the desert classic website above, as well as dates for the race for the next several years. The cutoff day to get registered and still receive a shirt is this Saturday.
As far as the courses go, due to lack any rain this fall, the courses are a little sandier than usual. I recommend to the bikers to use wider tires for this race. I would assume that this would also be a good idea for Unicycles.
Someone noted that the registration page piggybacks on a store for earplugs. This is because the guy who built our registration site uses his daughters site to host it. It does not have anything to do with the race, it is just what we had available to us.
Let me or Jose know if there are any more questions and we will do our best to answer them. We are excited to have the Unicycle category added to our race. Hope to see you guys out there.
13

I have a friend who would be interested in the 3.2 mi course, but would like to see the gpx file first. Thanks!

15

Ben,
Since the 3.2mile MUNI course is a new addition there isn’t a gpx file. Hopefully next year we can get a more established course with gpx files up.
Half the course is gradual climb with a few intense climbs mixed in. The last half is mainly down hill with a few shallower climbs. Your friend should do fine.

Jose

16

I forgot to mention that there will be an informal kids unicycle race at noon. This will consist few laps around a coned off circuit in the main race area.

17

Ridgecrest Desert Classic info

Here is the garmin link to the unicycle course. I rode it with my bike to get an accurate estimate of the mileage.

Also the deadline for getting a shirt with your the registration is tomorrow since we have to have the shirt order in on Monday and the registration price increases by $5 on Thursday.

18

Two friends of mine just registered, one in the 27 mi Expert category and one in the 3 mi muni category. It’s gonna be fun :slight_smile:

19

I see that two people that I follow on Strava did the 27m expert course.
Both did really great, with average speeds of 10 and 15 km/h.
The Strava data suggest the course was close to 29 miles, with 920m of elevation.

Since he’s an active member here I think I can freely mention Ben Soja being the 15km/h rider.

Absolutely amazing!

20

The expert riders were amazing to say the least. Ben finished in under 3 hours which was mind blowing. It was great meeting everyone even though it was brief.
I am inspired.
I will try to get some pictures up soon.
I hope next year we continue to grow.

21

I looked at the results - Ben’s time was super impressive - 2:56:07, top pro was 2:00:49. I would never have expected a unicycle to be that fast!

Also interesting to compare that result with the Mt. Diablo uphill race, where the fastest time was 44:50, and Ben was 1:06:59.

So for the uphill road race, where you would expect a unicycle to be at its best, the unicycle was just about 50% slower. On the mtb course where you would expect the bike to have a big advantage, the unicycle was only ~46% slower. Weird. But inspiring!

22

Thanks guys, it was really a fun race! I wrote a little bit on facebook about it: https://www.facebook.com/ben.vanmuni/posts/2443499242528510

Interesting that Mt Diablo and RDC are quite close in terms of uni vs bike. Maybe the Mt Diablo field was simply more stacked.

23

Lots of pictures of the race here.


24

Thanks for riding in the RDC

Thanks to all the unicyclists for coming out to the Ridgecrest Desert Classic race. We had a great turnout with 8 MUni riders. Jose, Ricardo, Chad, Kayden, and Tamera rode the unicycle course and all did great. Ben, Dakoda, and Marc all rode the expert course. All of these riders finished the course which is extremely impressive. I had underestimated what was possible on a unicycle. I am amazed by the skill and endurance of these riders. We appreciate everyone for attending our event and making the unicycle category a big success. We hope to see everyone again next year.