Sounds like a great idea! I wont be back in Knoxville until early February but I love the idea of having an event at Haw Ridge.
If you do put this together, I would likely attend.
I still say that, if nothing else, we could put a couple (or more) of 4 person MUni teams together and pick a 24 hour Mtn Bike event to go do. I think it would be a blast! Folks not in the race can hang out and ride around, do some trials, cook out and camp. If there’s enough interest I’ll commit as long as the timing works out…
I’d like to express interest, but don’t count on me. I am still riding a relic, but am hoping to get a Muni at Christmas and start more work on the trail system around my house. If I got on a Muni, and found this is not as big a jump from road riding as I think, then I may be ready for a Munifest by summer, but I’ll wait and see for now. Cheers, and I hope you find enough interest.
P.S. I worked at Oak Ridge last winter so I know the area.
Not losing hope, just not a lot of hope to start an event.
I held a ultramarathon at Haw Ridge a few years back, did a lot of advertising, promoted it with local riders, went to some local trail runs, still only managed two dozen runners.
With muni, there are so few that it would take a lot of regional involvementto bring together two dozen riders. I think the numbers are there, but folks need to commit.
The Asheville Munifest gets 15-20 riders plus family, not bad, but then they have a local uni “tribe” whereas I ride mostly alone or with my son.
For perspective, this coming weekened is the 1st Annual; Fall Festival for our local IMBA group, they are expecting 200-300 mountain bikers and one muni rider (me).
I just wish there were more riders, and believe me, I’m trying to promote, but it just ain’t easy selling the idea to folks. I have my teaching uni on loan most of the time, but rarely do I get a new rider to stay with the program.
Hey Cody, give me a hollar, I’d lobe to go for a ride!
Munisano, if you can find a ride that is doable, I’d consider being part of a team, the only caveat being that I don’t want to do any night riding.
my makeshift brother is lerning to ride so is my cousin so we will have 2 new riders soon so i will say yes if you can put it together
I live 50 miles west of Nashville. I would make an effort to come for sure. I would love to see more events closer to home. Please dont give up on this idea.
NurseBen: as far as the ultramarathons go, timing and where you advertise is very important. I know because I help organize a local 1/2 marathon (now 25km) trail run that has grown from less than 100 runners to now we cap it at 200 and it fills relatively fast (definitely before race day). For us we had to carefully look at what other competing events were going on in the area and region and tried to find a time that fit w/o conflicts. Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there is a boon going on right now in the running community, races are filling in record times and so many more people are running. I bet it if you put your race back on, minimally, even as a FA type event at the right time of year, you’d get a lot more folks out.
As for the general attendance numbers, I’d say getting a dozen unicyclists to show at your event is pretty good per capita; 200-300 mountain bikers in a region of 1000’s of mountain bikers, while nothing to sneeze at, really doesn’t compare. So for a East Tennessee get-together I’d say just organize it very minimally, no thrills or extras, more like organizing a ride and see what happens?
As for a possible event: Right now I’m liking the BURN 24 Hour Challenge, in Wilkesboro, NC on May 28 – 29, 2011. Fairly “centrally” located for folks that may come from Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama (me) and Georgia. It’s $340 for a team of 3-6, so split up that’s not a bad price. The course is a 7 mile, hilly XC loop so the mileage isn’t too big a deal for a rider to do a lap or two spread out over many hours. If you’re not comfortable riding at night, I’d be happy to cover you. That’s just one option…
If next 12 hour of haw ridge and the muni riders doing a team i would do it but i am not as strong as a muni as a mtb rider.
Hey Ben I’ll for sure give a shout when I get back so we can ride. Keep this up and let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.
@munisano The BURN 24 Hour Challenge looks like a lot of fun. I’ve been busting my butt to get in shape this year and this looks like a great way to test my limits. I would be up for it if you started to get a team together. Just not sure if I could make the dates yet.
Hey Ben (and all others),
We’re looking at hosting a Muni/Trials/Polo weekend sometime next May or June. We’ve got a core of riders here (1/2 dozen or more off road) and great trails. We poured and built a few trials lines at the local skatepark a few weeks ago (we still need to snap a few good pics as time has left us without much light when we can ride).
I know it would be a haul from TN, but we could make the weekend worth it.
Things are in the preliminary stages, but look good. We actually hope to host 3 unicycle events here next year (BCSR- like last year, Muni weekend, and a marathon). We have complete control over the Muni weekend and the others piggyback on other (bicycling and running) events.
On a side note: I understand the frustration of people not committing to events. Unicyclists seem to be very individualistic- probably why we’re drawn to it in the first place. The Butler County Stage Race had 13 riders for the main events and 6-8 of them were local (depends on what you consider local for unicycling). It was a great event, but under attended. I learned from the experience. It was a good experience- we got some good ideas for the next time.
Our big lesson learned: we’re going to have fun no matter what anyone else says. We’re getting a good rider base to back it up.