Oh no not yet another MUni racing thread from New Zealand! :o
Anyway, for those interested our team is shaping up nicely for a 24hr race next month, the Rotorua Moonride .
In fact I think we might have enough for a full five-person team + extra. So I was thinking of making a solo effort this year. I’m not sure whether to do the 12hr or 24hr race. Do you think that 24hrs on a unicycle will be twice as hard as the 12hr option? Will my butt be twice as sore? Or will it be exponentially more difficult?
I will need a lot of lighting if I did the 24hr because it will be winter and it gets dark at 5.15pm. What’s the best bike lighting to use for this sort of thing? 10W? 20W?
Perhaps Joe Marshall if you’re reading this what do you think?
Ken
I’d say 24hrs is probably a bit more than twice as hard but not so much more.
I’d use a 10w otherwise you’ll need to buy really lots of batteries. By the time it gets dark you’ll probably want to ride a bit slower to avoid crashing anyway.
You should give it a go, riding solo is definately an interesting experience.
The hardest thing is finding food that you can eat all the way through. I discovered I can eat bananas for ever, muesli bars are okay, but not so edible once you’re tired, gels are okay. Make sure to put lots of energy drink powder in your camelbak every time you refill it. If possible get 2 camelbak bladders and have someone filling up the next one and putting energy powder in while you’re doing your lap.
Joe
If you’ll be riding solo when there are other unicyclists going in teams you won’t get too lonely so I’d say go for it. I decided that if noone else joined me I was going to go solo in the 24hr (only 2 days away!!!). It’s be an amazing experience. Whatever you end up doing, please take heaps of photos for us all. I’ll post heaps of photos and videos of my experience on sunday night…wish us luck!
Andrew
My limited experience says that the last 20% is twice as hard as the previous 80% combined.
Marathon runners will probably agree.
Food, Drink… save accordingly.
I did a 24 hour bicycle ride (not a relay) a few years back. It’s way harder than a 12 hour day. It’s the sleep deprivation thing, and the body clock saying it’s time to sleep when you’ve got to keep pedaling on. Physically, it’ll be a bit more than twice as hard.
Mentally, it’ll be much worse.
This is the way I look at it:
When you start out you have full energy, after 12 hours you have to do it again, but with significantly (sp?) less energy. Therefore the second half should be much harder, but that’s just a guess. I’ve never gone anywhere near 4 hours at a time. 
I’d like to do the 24hr because the other guys will be doing the 24hr. And well, if I’m going to do something as crazy as this I might as well not make a half-hearted attempt. But then I think about it again and boy 24hrs is a looong time!!! And so is 12hrs. Ah well, I guess I’ll flip a coin or something.
Andrew, good luck for your race, take lot’s of photos, have fun and go hard!
Ken
do the 24hr, if you don’t you’ll be sitting around bored for 12 hours.
If you do the 24 hour you can always stop and sleep if you get too knackered, rather than riding solidly all the way, you only have to ride as much as you want to. So you’d get the best of both worlds really by being able to ride longer if you’re up to it.
Joe
and anyway, if you’ve been doing all this racing and long rides already, a 12 hour ride will just be a long but doable ride, whereas a 24 hour will be a real challenge.
Joe
After just returning from competing in a 24hr this afternoon in a 2-man team (with 8 hours sleep during the night :)) I can safely say that you’re a madman! Good luck, and makes sure you have lots of fun. We sure did.
Andrew
AWESOME! Good work, Andrew! Looking forward to the photos!