East Coast Bike Trials/MTB: our two wheeled cousins

Unicycles and Equipment
1

I mentioned Motorama the other day. This is the biggest bike trials event in North America and drew 140 bike trials riders last year. It’s Feb 22nd in Harrisburg PA.

www.natrials.com/2003/motorama.php

Checkernuts lives down that way and had expressed interest. I know of at leat 10 trials/Muni riders in the NY/NJ/CT area who might be interested also. Harrisburg is outside of Philly and is only a 3 hour drive from NYC.

I’m waiting to hear back from the guy in charge of the bike trials event to discuss possibilities. Any other trials riders out there who might be interested?

Universe has a segment with Kris riding at a bike trials event which looks pretty cool. Kris, if you are around, what was that event? It might help for me to be able to refer to events like this to lend “legitimacy” to our case.

Ideally, I’d like to get several riders together and do a competition according to the IUF trials rules. I didn’t make it out to Seattle so I haven’t followed the progression of trials comps, but I remember back before Toronto, Kris was proposing the U-rating system. When we got to Toronto, seemed we just had a lot of fun but little competition. Did an actual competition occur in Seattle?

Don’t get me wrong. I like to push myself and see others do the same. Competition is good for that, but I’m not into the ego aspect of competitions. I would just like to get together and have fun with other trials riders and see what can be done. What better way than getting in on an event like Motorama where solid Kick-a$$ pre-made trials obstacles are waiting. (Some of stuff will be unrideable, but who cares?)

On another note, I just discovered the “Eastern Fat tire Association.” Here’s another goldmine offering events that us East coasters can tap into:

Bike Trials events:
http://www.efta.com/schedules/trials2002.php3

MTB Trials events:
http://www.efta.com/schedules/races2002.php3

Has anyone ever participated in any of these? I know there are some Muni riders in NH and VT. Then we’ve got Ben and Joey in Boston. The Unatics has a couple of trials/Muni fanatics(Dave Kaplan, Dave Stockton). Scott Bridgeman has a group of 6-8 riders. I can think of 20 riders off the top of my head in New England. If we got just a few together for one of these events it would be a lot of fun and would hopefully set a real positive precedent for other events.

Any other ideas, suggestions?

Joe Merrill

2

I’d love to join any group going to a trials event in in PA! I have a small group of CT unicyclists (three trials riders) who would be interested. Could you send me more info once you have it? tacodoglover@juno.com

3

Re: East Coast Bike Trials/MTB: our two wheeled cousins

Hi,

The stuff in Universe was just playing around after a comp at the Sea Otter Classic in CA. However, I’ve been in maybe 6 or 7 bike trials comps before, so there is precedent. This includes one annual competition that is about as big as Motorama and is also part of the official North American trials series, the Test of Metal trials comp in Squamish BC. In each case, although I chose to compete in Sport-modified class in terms of the sections I rode, I actually was given my own category.

You can choose to compete in beginner, sport, expert or pro. Although expert and pro classes often have rideable lines for unicyclists, usually some sections also often have a few totally stopper moves for unicycles such as high roll-ups.

Technically, I believe that the North American trials rules state that if you have 3 riders, you can establish your own categpry. This was actually meant for establishment of a women’s category but there is precedent now for it being used for unicyclists.

The first World Unicycle Trials Championships were held at UNICON in North Bend, last year, using the new IUF rules that incorporate the U-system. This system worked really, really well- and is MUCH better than the bike-trials rules for unicyclists, and also, in my opinion. for bike trials comps too. My teammate Robin authored the current North American trials rules, and he’s interested in possibly using this system in place of the bike rules for at least one competition next year. It would be cool to see unicycling influencing something in biking, for once!

I am in the process of modifying the unitrials rules a bit, in light of our experiences at Unicon, but hopefully that should be finished soon and I’ll post it as soon as I’m done.

Cheers,

Kris.

4

Kris, Thanks. That’s useful info.

I just spoke to the guy who organizes Motorama and he has no problem with unicyclists participating, though he couldn’t give me many details as he is in charge of the overall event. He is sendng me registration forms which I would be happy to forward to those interested. He even mentioned the possibility of a Uni demo segment.

I may try to talk to the guy running the bike trials events to get more details. I’m not sure yet if I can even get away that weekend, but if anyone is seriously interested, email me privately at nycjoe@aol.com with your mailing address and I can at least forward the forms to you and we could chat further about the possibilities.

Joe Merrill

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I’m not sure how I would get down there, but I’m definitely interested in this. It may conflict with another trials event I’m planning to go to at the Toronto International Bike show or something. I’ll try to figure it out soon.

U system trials comps (like at UNICON) are definitely the way to go. Not to hard to set up and way more fun than the bike trials rules.

Ben

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I love my trials bike!

7

I’m not to sure aboot the rest of y’all but i’m thinking of entering test fo metal in squamish (june 23) which is a HUGE @$$ trials event

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That’s the weekend before my winter quarter finals, so of course I’m interested! My friend Sal (Monkey Juggler) will probably be up for it too. Possibly other people we have infected with uni-frenzy might like to come.
Could you send me the info?

9

Hmm, interesting. I have finals the next week with Nick (Zim) so we won’t have any homework to do. Sounds like a road trip. I’ll see how many others I can sway to the darkside. Maybe we can set up alittle street comp (or just a funride) as well. Anyone who knows the area? Well, I’m excited.

 - Sal
10

For those of you competing in bike trials events. How do you manage given the rules for bike trials make it very difficult for a unicycle. On a uni it’s very difficult to end up with only a 1 point dab. Most likely you’ll end up with a full 5 point dab or if you’re lucky manage to scrape by with a 3 point dab. Most likely you’ll either finish the section with 0 points or 5 points. It’s a difficult scoring system for unicycles.

11

I think idea is that we would use the new U system which was used at the last Unicon. I wonder if there are many unicyclists other than Kris who have competed at bike trials events.

My biggest question is how to score under the U-system when there are parts of sections, such as huge roll-ups, that can’t be ridden. I guess we would just have to figure things out on the spot.

Joe

12

Dan Heaton, Adam Ryznar, David Poznanter and I’m pretty sure a few others have competed at bike trials events.

For those of you that don’t know the bike trials rules, the basic rule is that you can’t allow any part of your body or unicycle (except the pedals, cranks, and wheel) to touch the ground. In bike trials, you enter a section, and get a point every time you put a foot down. You can do this a maximum of 5 times (5 points) before you must stop riding and exit the section. But the big problem for unis, is that if you put two feet down at the same time, you automatically get 5 points and you’re out. Obviously it’s pretty hard to only put one foot down when you fall off your uni, so this is a pretty big handicap.

My main criticism with the bike trials rules, though, is that penalizing failures often makes riders ride poorly because they are so afraid of falling off. It also promotes “stratodabs”, when a rider faced with a hard obstacle chooses to put a foot down and get 1 point rather than go for it, fail, and get 5 points. This loophole is a big downfall for North American bike trials rules (stratodabs are not allowed in Europe).

That said, I highly doubt that you can convince Motorama officials to let you compete under a totally different rule system because they won’t have time for it, and won’t want you doing something totally different than all of the other riders. Although it’s hard to do well, it’s actually good practice in my opinion to compete with the bike rules because it promotes consistent riding.

Cheers,

Kris.

13

Makes total sense, and keeps things simple. I didn’t know anything about bike trials til now. Have never seen a competition either. Just skimmed the biketrials rules on Robin Coope’s website so I have a much better idea.

I’m curious as to the differences between beginner and sport. Are the different categories typically made up of different sections or is there overlap of some of the sections among the different categories? Is it possible to describe the differences in a few general terms? The rule book only states that expert drops may not exceed 3 feet and beginner drops may not exceed 18 inches.

Kris what was the sport category like for you? Was it challenging or a piece of cake?

Hmm… Yeah. That’s a bummer. Makes me wonder if I’m crazy for considering this. I mean if there are 7 sections and I UPD on a few, and can’t handle a jump on a few, this might be pretty anticlimatic. One silly thing I can envision. I ride up to a 4 foot high obstacle. Dismount onto one foot (1st dab) jump up 4 feet to other foot (2nd dab) - Mount uni and proceed. This could be a bit odd, humorous even. But would it only count officially as 2 dabs? This might be a new skill! Sort of a combination of trials and track and field :slight_smile:

As unicyclists, it would be too bad to travel some distance and make the time commitment, only to find this to be a lame riding experience. After all, the sections are designed for bikes. Some things are easier on Muni than bike, and some things harder. I would also want this to be a positive and interesting experience for the bikers and spectators. I can do 4 foot drops, 17" upward jumps and maybe 4 foot horizontal gaps. My log riding is pretty good too, so I figure I should be able to handle some of the stuff.

In any case, seems that it must be pretty cool to watch all the bike trials action, and the opportunity to attempt Uni trials myself is intriguing.

14

Hi,

Re the comments by Merrill:

Merrill
"I’m curious as to the differences between beginner and sport. Are the different categories typically made up of different sections or is there overlap of some of the sections among the different categories? Is it possible to describe the differences in a few general terms? The rule book only states that expert drops may not exceed 3 feet and beginner drops may not exceed 18 inches.

Kris what was the sport category like for you? Was it challenging or a piece of cake?"

Me:
Although it varies at different competitions, beginner class is supposed to be rideable by a bike rider who cannot hop, so it’s usually straightforward for a decent uni trials rider. In actuallity there would be up to about 12" hops for unicycles because this will include situations where a bike could pop the front wheel up onto an obstacle, and then roll up onto it without actually hopping.

Sport class often contains hops of up to at least 24", sometimes up to 30", and up to 3 foot high roll-ups. Because there are some types of obstacles that are way easier on a bike, an expert unitrials rider can be really challenged to 100% clean a sport section. Sometimes it’s the other way though- I’ve seen easy unitrials moves that the bike riders are falling all over. Don’t worry about it too much- you can Five every section in a comp and still have a good time. At every comp, there will always be bike riders who Five almost every section.

Merrill:
Hmm… Yeah. That’s a bummer. Makes me wonder if I’m crazy for considering this. I mean if there are 7 sections and I UPD on a few, and can’t handle a jump on a few, this might be pretty anticlimatic. One silly thing I can envision. I ride up to a 4 foot high obstacle. Dismount onto one foot (1st dab) jump up 4 feet to other foot (2nd dab) - Mount uni and proceed. This could be a bit odd, humorous even. But would it only count officially as 2 dabs? This might be a new skill! Sort of a combination of trials and track and field :slight_smile:

Me:

Usually stratodabbing involves riding up to an obstacle, and sticking your foot down as high as possible (or on top of) the obstacle, straight out of riding. Then, keeping straddling the uni or bike ( you always have to straddle the bike/uni or you get 5 points), you pull yourself up and remount on top of the obstacle. If you shuffle your standing foot more than one foot length, you get a second point (rotating it is OK).

If you think it’s too complicated- I agree. That’s why the new unitrials rules work so well- they eliminate all of this.

Cheers,

Kris.

15

So far the following 6 people have expressed interest:

Sal, Nick- RIT NY
Ben - Boston (Ben what about your friends?)
Uniryder77 (has 3 friends who ride) CT
Checkernuts- Philly PA
Me

I’ve created a personal email group so that we can take the logistics offline. Maybe some people can carpool. (Chex, I don’t have your email address- if you are still interested you can send it to me at nycjoe@aol.com.

The entry forms are available online at

http://www.trail-wayspeedway.com/m-11.html

This is probably the same material that I am being sent so I won’t need to send you anything, I think.

I can’t guarantee whether I’ll be able to make it, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. My understanding thus far, is that we just show up and attempt to ride. Beginner and sport categories are 10 am to 2pm on Sat Feb 22. Expert and elite run 2 to 6pm Sat.

I’ll post further details as I learn them.

Joe

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I’m not for sure if I can make it, but I am interested as well. I live about 1 hour north or philly.
-gauss

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I’m in Pittsburgh not Philly!?! :astonished:

I’ll send you an email as soon as I get a chance.

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I have a question about where pedal grabs fall in the bike trials scoring world.

Is it a dab if you take your foot non grab sided off for balance and swing it out to the side for balance. I guess you would have to be carefull not to take it past the plane of your frame. But is that a dab? Also just doing a grab your foot that is on the pedal is that a dab too?

And Merril, I think my riding sound about the same as yours as far as stats go. I also have a 20" vertical gap 4 feet ish and can handle drops of 4 feet… Although I’m not sure if my equipment can.

PS anyone live near harrisburg that wouldnt mind putting a few fellow riders up for the night I would really appreciate it. I might have the money to go compete but hotel’s would kick my ass. Or if people would like to split a hotel room I would be in for that…

Chex

19

It depends… on a bike of you bring your foot across the side of your bike its a 5 point dab but if it stays on that side its ok. i’m assuming its the same in uni

no dab, only if your toe or heel pushes on the ground past the pedal

it is a dab if your competing in UCI though

20

I plan on packing as many people into a hotel room as possible. Nick and I are going to be sharing a room, and I doubt he would mind if we had an extra person. That would drop the cost significantly.

I am at about the same trials level, 20-22" vertical (rolling I can get 24-26" from time to time, but I’m not sure how useful that will be). I think pedal grabs will be key. My gap varies day to day, anywhere from 4-5.5’. Hopefully by then I will be able to nail 24 consistantly.

Anyway, I’m pscyhed.

  • Sal