I certainly prefer playing with the street hockey ball, but…
We’ll be using a tennis ball, as things seem to be going that way (woosies) 
Yes, I suppose it will be good practice for Darmstadt. I do seriously need the practice with a tennis ball though. Hmmmm:(
Pleased to hear there’ll be a few stopping over for a curry and a ride on the Sunday.
Is this the end of the street hockey ball then?
See you next week.
Steve
I think we still count as a final outpost for the street hockey ball.
With an eye on future international competition, I’ve been trying to re-introduce the tennisball but have met with fierce resistance from most all the players. I also find the definition of the ‘dead’ tennisball to be very vague.
30-50% is a pretty impressive margin.
I prefer the street ball myself as it is possible to play a much more attractive, quick-(and accurate)passing game using the street ball while the tennisball seems to lead to the immediate adoption of ‘river-ball’ strategies.
I don’t like long-ball football and I don’t like long-ball Unihoki.
But I guess we’re not getting the Germans to change to the street hockey ball, are we?
I think the tennis ball becomes way less significant if you play with it weekly, and learn to pass it and to stop bouncing balls. What it adds, is the ability to play in the air, which is much less there with a hockey ball.
I didn’t really understand the tennis ball that well until we played against a German team at BUC. The accuracy they play with is insane, and there’s so much play a foot off the ground that you’re literally adding a new dimension to the game, like they pass in the air to someone who will volley it into the goal without stopping it and the ball touching the ground.
As for the deadness or not of it, that is wacky, but I dunno how to make it better.
Oh yeah, one other thing about the tournament - the Joe Rule will be in operation. That is, the first person to score a goal off a header is entitled to a free pint from me. I think the pint is pretty safe though, we’ve not managed it on a tuesday night yet and I think I started it about two months ago.
Joe
I’m a tennis ball convert. I still think the street hockey ball has something but it can hurt, especially when it hits the face (I haven’t been hit in the face but I’ve seen it, ouch).
The air shot aspect of a tennis ball is something that when done right looks very impressive and feels great to do. I still don’t get the idea behind the ‘dead ball’ thing though as I think what is more important is the quality of the rubber and that the tennis ball doesn’t have much fluff.
Anyway I’m looking forward to this tournament as I’m sure it’ll be a good one (again)
Gary
No, that’s exactly the point, you are allowed to bounce the ball off a unicycle, your legs etc. into the goal. You’re not allowed to whack it into the goal with your hands or arms, the rules are very clear about the hands and arms being an exception to the rest of the body in this case.
So headers are allowed for sure.
That’s why it says ‘For arms and hands see also section 7.1.’, because 7.1 doesn’t apply to the rest of the body.
Joe
(Pointless argument, unless I get the first one in which case it’s vitally important that you’re proven right so I can get my pint.)
But, the rules also state that
A header, to my trouble-making mind, suggests a conscious, directional, ‘guiding’ of the ball, which will then be in contravention of rule 5.3 and should lead to the resulting goal being disallowed and the pint being safe for all eternity, or untill we can get clarification from the rule-writers.
Ah, we’ve interpreted that as guiding being something more than a glancing blow, like dribbling the ball with the stick, meaning you can’t grab the ball and throw it in another direction, but you can move your hand in the way of the ball on purpose or whack it so that it goes to somewhere for you to play with the stick or away from the goal.
Otherwise it’d be very hard to see how you could without doing anything conscious make the ball go off your hands into the goal, so you wouldn’t need rule 7.1.
Joe
That’s all part of the fun/problems with rules.
But with your kind permission, I’d like to introduce The Joe Rule into South African UniHoki.
Bump. Only a few days to go now. It’s going to be another good one.
See you all there.
Steve
I don’t think you’re going to have too many takers 
Myself, Pete and possibly another new-ish rider rfrom Macc will be coming I think.
See you all there.
I was so right, a great days hockey. And the team I was in won 
Plus a bright yellow Soreen t-shirt as a prize, modelled by Stu & family here (with some other people getting in the photo)
Muni ride photos
I was up in the Peak District at the weekend riding b*kes and vaguely remembered something about a muni ride, so left the others to it on Sunday and headed over to attempt to find Steve and the others. I’m glad I did, as the ride turned out to be an absolute blast.
I couldn’t quite remember where or indeed when they were meeting, so was loitering round hoping to see the others when I saw Joe’s distinctive hair appear from a car, followed by Joe and then the others.
After the regulation faff time the ride started off soggy, and got wetter; when we started there was water in the air but not falling, but after a couple of miles the rain was falling steadily and it looked like it was going to be a grim day.
On reaching the first proper climb the sky seemed to be lightening; the rain stopped, and as we neared the top of the hill patches of blue sky could be seen in the direction of Hope. The improvement continued for the rest of the day, so while the first few miles had us drenched in rain the rest had us drenched in sweat from the heat and sunshine. By the time we came to make our first big descent of the day the sky was blue and clear, the fantastic scenery across the valley serving as a perfect backdrop for an awesome rocky descent around the hillside.
It started fairly innocuous with a section of rutted doubletrack through the heather and over a stream; around the corner the gradient pitched downwards and the trail become rockier, turning into an incredible blast over loose rock punctuated by tricky sections of large rock slabs and steps. Joe stormed ahead while others were taking photos, retrying failed sections or new lines and generally having a blast.
The trail rejoined the road for a brief spin down to the bottom of the valley and a tough but just about rideable climb up the other side. Having just been overtaken by some people on bikes on the way down we set off in pursuit, passing them on the way up as we climbed up the second of the three climbs on the route.
Reaching the crest of the ridge deceptively makes it look like the hard work is done, but not so; the track goes downwards briefly but then pitches up again with a rocky doubletrack climb before the start of the actual descent. This is another absolute blinder of a trail, starting off as a fairly smooth, fast trail along the treeline before plunging into the darkness of the forest towards Derwent Reservoir. This descent has less loose rock than the first but more slabs and steps, enabling some fantastic high speeds possible as long as your line choice is spot on. There were loads of bikers coming up, mostly pushing, as we stormed downhill; just when I thought I was doing well I had my first proper crash of the day, launching skywards and rolling to a stop on the ground half way down. My elbow looked battered but wasn’t a patch on Joe’s battle damage from an earlier crash, so I made a subconcious mental note to crash again a few times to try to keep up appearances.
At the bottom the track joined the road around the reservoir which we followed to the visitor centre for a well-earned lunch and ice-cream stop before the final leg back to the cars.
The next section followed the edge of Ladybower reservoir before the group split depending on who had the legs to do the last big climb. The uphill route started with a shock, rapidly becoming unrideable due to the steepness of the trail up the hill, gaining almost 200 metres of height in a kilometre. Once up there, however, the trail followed the contours around the hill along a rutted but rideable trail to the shoulder of the hill.
The descent from here is sometimes known as the “moon ride”; a wide and flat grit track with scatted rocks embedded in the surface made for an extremely high-speed slalom-style ride down. “Faster, faster!” was shouted more than once.
Gradually the rocks became more numerous, ruts appeared and became deeper and the track narrowed before turning onto a narrow trail through the heather to the top of one last rock-strewn descent to the road. This one was fairly short but still packed a punch all the way down to the road and the car park.
In total… 17.6 miles; 800m vertical; one loaf of soreen, one sausage sandwich, one ice-cream but not a silly jelly baby (I’d eaten them all over the last three days riding!), and a classic ride.
I took a whole load of photos, and I must say I’m actually rather proud of some of them… http://flippet.fotopic.net/c1092730.html. They have all been dramatically downsized to save space but if you want a full-size, non-fuzzy version let me know…
Phil
Whoa!
Stunning write-up, I’m out of breath just reading that.
Thanx Phil.
I’m so gutted that I couldn’t make it to this weekend.
Next time there is something like this on then I’ll be there.
Sounds like I missed a great time
Plumsie
Was a fantastic ride on Sunday, and some great hockey on Saturday.
My arm is ouchy big time from that crash, turns out riding absolutely flat out and then sliding along at the same speed on gritstone mud is bad for arms! It’s kind of like I sandpapered my forearm or something. Thank goodness it wasn’t my handle hand or else it’d be really annoying. I think I shall have a scar from it and we all know chicks dig scars so all’s well that ends well!
Which thanks to rather enthusiastic shouting of “faster faster” and being somewhat ahead I completely missed, and bombed all the way down a descent made out of multiple rocky slabs all the way to the bottom, only to discover I had to climb back up again after all! Oops!
You know you’ve had a really good ride when it was all day, with loads of uphill and downhill, and it was only actually split into four descents.
Joe
Another successful weekend. We had a good turnout for the hockey again and everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks to all for making the effort to come to Manchester. Don’t forget the next one in November. 
The muni ride on Sunday was fantastic. The route was the same one Paul Royle and myself did a year ago - but was even more fun to do in a group. I did mention that it was going to be a hard one - and it was. It was made even harder because we had to overtake all the mountain bikers on the way up on the second climb. It really is a wonderful feeling when you overtake those two wheeled ones :D. I think Phil’s write-up summed it up very nicely. Good write-up Phil and great photos.
Steve
Cheers Steve & all the other DUC’s who put on such a fantastic event - had a fantastic time at the hockey - a afternoon of hockey is just about always what the doctor orders:) Will definitely be seeing you at the November event
Roland