for those of you who post on hotel comps and laptops and such, how bout us poor people with horrible schedules get some updates on the fest? like what went down today, who won it and so on.
So far it’s been fun, like all NAUCCs. My family made it here in great time – the roads really don’t clog up in Tennessee. We went to the opening ceremony (the first I’ve been to in the 6 years I’ve come to these). It was nice to take part in a photo op with riders from all the other clubs.
The next morning, there was a 21-mile Coker/guni ride through some tough hills in a nearby park. I decided to stick with my Coker, since my guni has been getting stuck in high gear. Boy am I glad I made that decision. It would have been impossible for me to handle the big up- and down-hills in high gear – some of the hills were tough even on a Coker. There was a challenge ride up one particularly tough hill, and only two riders made it (Andy and Irene, who’d both ridden the alps). It was impressive enough that anyone made it, but more so about Irene, since she was using 125mm cranks (Andy had 140s). The rest of the ride was pretty flat after that, but overall it was a bit of a killer due to the extreme TN heat (it waas 106 when the ride finished) and those hills.
I found out too late that I’d missed the basketball and hockey games (again – this seems to happen to me every NAUCC). Apparently there had been a schedule change. Ah well. I made it to the gym in time to see the expert riders in the non-standard competition, and once again Ryan W was amazing. He has invented a few new tricks and has perfected some of the ones he introduced last NAUCC. Amy Shields wowed everyone with her flawless performance, too, and I’m pretty sure that both of them will be declared the winners, as their competition was strong but not as solid as they were.
Today I skipped a 12-mile Coker ride, and I’m not a muni or trials guy, so I can’t speak to those events, but in gen’l I’d say that this NAUCC is going great. I’m looking forward to the public show this evening.
i saw a preview of amy and ryans singles and doubles at the club, they were AMAZING!
howd they place(like i need to know 
)
They won. Of course. 
It’s hot here… so far I’ve almost ridden entirely indoors…
We just got back to the hotel. And it’s almost 1:00 AM. Last night we didn’t get back untill 1:30am. The Bedford experince lasted really late…
It was my first NAUCC, my first ride on a Coker over 10 miles, first time riding with another Coker, first time seeing the artisitic and skills type of riding, and first time seeing so many people I had already heard about. So yeah though Muni is my favorite style of riding it was worth my time, and I did get to ride Muni at Skanky Creek - what a name…
I just left the 10K race. It was nice and shady and not too hot yet. After 1/3 laps some guy on a 26" or 29" nobby tire was in the lead with Irene (from Canada) close behind. The rest of the field was a little further back.
I will second that Ryan and Amy were amazing!!! in the pairs comp. last night.
The MUNI race is tonight, and should be very fun to watch. Stanky Creek is a great course.
I just finished the 10k, too. Unfortunately, it suffered from a lack of forethought. A hint came in the form of the directions there – the place is listed on the MUC website as being 1928 Poplar Ave, but when I put that into my GPS, it took me to somewhere about a mile away. Luckily I was able to get to the start in time by following the directions printed out in the comprehensive booklet that each family gets a copy of. This NAUCC is not very GPS friendly: The main venue doesn’t even show up in my GPS because it’s part of some new construction; according to my GPS, when I’m driving there, I’m in a roadless desert.
The leaders of the 10k explained the route, but when Tommy mentioned a hairpin turn, he should have said that we’d be doing a 180 around a cone. Kevin Gilbertson (Gilby!) and I – both on 29" Schlumpfs – were neck and neck for the first few minutes with no one even close to approaching our speed. We zoomed right past the 180-degree-turn cone (which looked like all the other cones except for the little curvy arrow on it) and ended up adding about a mile to our ride including a slow uphill. By the time we finally got back to the course, we were even behind the little kids on 24" unis who’d started the race 2 minutes after the ‘unlimited’ riders!
Irene and Andy Cotter and a few others rode fairly fast considering that they were on Cokers, and the race winner, Dave, was one of the 4 people on gunis (a member of my club, James, was on a borrowed one). Dave is in good shape and is a fairly fast rider, but I can’t deny that it was royally disappointing to realize that he and Irene came first and second when those spots were clearly destined for me and Gilby, tho I don’t know which of us would have taken the gold.This was the only race that I could have won outright.
Well, there’s always next year.
What is the Bedford Experience?
I’m at NAUCC (in hotel lobby). All the freestyle is over and today there are muni competitions and a urban/street ride later tonight.
I think me and Forrest and Jon (gordythegon) are going to make a video. (and Jonny to but he left last night).
hey jeff, tel jon to get my magazine
There wouldn’t happen to be a video of that, would there?
Am curious …as a parent who has a freestyle/artistic person there at NAUCC and has spent years attending/watching their practice … a question for you:
As a uni person who is ‘experienced’ and has never seen this type of uni … what is your ‘impression’, of these outstanding unicyclists that the rest of the ‘uniblogging’ world hardly ever see or hear from?
These people spend thousands of hours a year practicing and it’s like they don’t even exist on uni-blogs.
So, what do you think?
thanks
I can see how it is more of a social activity, and that much practice is needed. Being rather alone in my riding here in central Oklahoma, I don’t have much interest in learning the skill levels for it would require hours of practice alone in a gym somewhere. When I ride I want the actual process of travelling to be part of the experience, but on some of the more technical parts of the trails I often wish for another Muni rider to see how they would do the same problem. But a club would have to have some challenges (the skill levels) to keep the meetings organized and interesting, and different level riders could help each other learn. As far as the perceived absence of their presence in the forums gets back to having a local support group. The largest gathering I have managed to get together of Oklahoma Muni riders is three, and so I have to turn here for training tips, encouragement, and other information. I think the skills showcased at NAUCC was amazing, and maybe more exposure and a good PR campaign is needed to push the sport along.
Good answer
thanks
Jeff came in second on the… advanced single competition (not sure what it’s called)
I video taped Amy and Ryans routine, but we aren’t supposed to show it to anyone untill they do it again at unicon.
the XC muni race today was a blast. It was a really cool trail. Then we went straight to street and trials riding downtown. And… street and trials comp. tommorow. Boy, I’m pooped. 
the second the street/trials comp is done, someone post the results!
Here is one of my better photos from today’s trials event. I don’t know who the rider is.
That’s Joel Burgess in the pic. He ended up winning the comp with 17 of the 20 expert lines completed. I came in second with 16. I can’t remember who came in third place.
I’m sure Joel and I both could have finished all the lines but we just ran out of time (they ran the comp for 1 hour), which was actually a good thing considering the heat and humidity. We were both pretty dead by the end of it. Us Canadians can’t handle all that heat. 
Not to mention I’m an old man and horribly out of shape… I think there were around 45 competitors in the trials comp, which was really awesome.
They held a street comp as well which I hear went really well, but unfortunately I didn’t see it as I was competing in other events.
The last few days have really seemed to fly by but it’s been a real blast. Brian Mackenzie has been filming a lot so I’m sure you’ll see some of the footage appearing in some form in the future.
J
well who won the street comp? and did somebody get video of it?
There was only 4 of us in the street comp (me, jon, forrest, and Joel). I got videos of everyones runs, not sure when ill get it uploaded or anything though.
Im not sure on the results for it (i had to leave nationals last night and the results are going out till today).