¼ MILE Time Trials Comp!

General
1

I thought this might be a cool new competition we could all participate in, since most cities have these ¼ mile (oval) tracks (440 yards). Some will point out that every track will be a little different; some gravel, some clay, inside or outside, windy or calm, and that some tracks may not be exactly ¼ mile long, depending on which lane you’re in, etc. But as a general, basic comp I think this would be fun! We could have categories for all wheel sizes, including GUnis.

I googled the fastest ¼ mile time on an oval track (not straight “dash”) for a runner, and it was Scott Ruvolo who ran the fastest clockwise 440 yards in 44.97, on a dirt track in Norwalk July 20,1984. This translates to just a hair over 20mph! I would love to see someone match that time for a ¼ mile lap - or beat it – on an UNgeared 36er, or even a GUni, from a standing start! (I would be surprised if many, if any, could beat that time even from a “paced” moving start!)

The rules are simple. You must begin on a visible line or marker, from a standing start. Any kind of mount would be allowed, as long you start and finish on the same, clearly visible line/marker. The other main requirement is that you must videotape your ¼ mile lap, and it must not have any “cuts” or edits. For filming I would suggest a couple of different methods to film.

If you have someone to videotape your attempt, have them stand a few feet off the track, inside the field, and just have them stay in that spot, panning the camera 360 as you ride around. At this close proximity to the start/finish line, the camera will show the line clearly so we can time it accurately. Another good way would be to attach your camera to a friend’s helmet or somewhere on their bike, and have them ride in front or in back of you as you ride around the track.

If you decide to try more than one lap, to see if you can get a faster time, you must dismount after each lap, and start the next one on the start line, with a fresh mount. Granted that lap times will be slower because time is lost in mounting and getting up to speed, especially on 36ers, compared to a runner, who has the advantage of getting up to speed much faster, probably while you’re still mounting, haha!

Participants should to post their videos in this thread, specifying uni size/type and crank size. You are also welcome to post any future videos here, with improved times, as well as any other videos, using a different size/type size/type uni.

I will be making my first official ¼ mile time trial attempt soon, on my ungeared 36er, with 110mm cranks. So get out there and let’s see what you can do! :):smiley: :sunglasses:

2

This should be 400 meters, not a quarter mile.

3

440 yards (1/4 mile) is the standard oval track length; 400 meters is 437.2 yards. Close enough not to make much difference, since this wouldn’t be “official”.

4

International forum, should use international standards, all our tracks around here (and virtually everywhere else in the world) are 400m. I would even be willing to bet that your “1/4 mile” track is actually 400m as well, do you mind checking that and letting us know?

Cool idea though, should be interesting to see what the fastest unicycle setup is for a 400m lap, should we have records for different wheel sizes or just keep everything in an “unlimited” category?

5

Edit: Yes, I see that while there are still lots of 440 yard (1/4 mile) tracks, many have been, and are being converted, to 400 meters, which is approximately 8 feet shorter than the 440 tracks.

But for this comp it doesn’t really matter whether the track you use is either size, as that 8 feet won’t make much difference in overall time, since that small distance is covered in just a fraction of a second at speed anyway. Either one is fine, so go for it! :smiley:

6

400 meters is the standard oval track length. No one races quarter miles anymore.

7

Yes, I see that while there are still lots of 440 yard (1/4 mile) tracks, most have been (and remaining 440 y tracks are currently being) converted to 400 meters, which is approximately 8 feet shorter than the 440 Yard tracks.

But for this comp it doesn’t really matter whether the track you use is either size, as that 8 feet won’t make much difference in overall time, since that small amount of distance is covered in just a fraction of a second at speed anyway. Either one is fine, so go for it! :smiley: And yes, as laid out in my original post, we can have categories for all wheel sizes, ungeared and geared. :slight_smile:

8

Might have a go at this, there is a running oval 300m from my house :stuck_out_tongue: ill have a pop on my muni (24" w/ 150mm) and my trials (19" w/137mm).

9

:slight_smile:

Sounds like fun :slight_smile: will try to give it a bash this week :slight_smile:

10

300m? You’ll have to measure out the additional 100m, haha. But yeah, any size wheel is welcome, and encouraged! So your 24" (UNguni) will be in its own size category. Maybe we’ll even get somebody to try it on their trials! :slight_smile: I plan to have a go with all the unis I have, minus the trials haha. So I’ll try it on my 24, 29er and 36er. I’m wondering though since I usually use 110mm cranks on my 36er, if it might be better to use 125’s, so I can get up to speed faster.

11

On an 1:1 36er, I think 20 mph would be very close 186 RPMs, or 3.1 revs per second, which seems scary fast! The fastest runner going clockwise around a 440 yard track was doing just a hair over 20 mph, covering that distance in just 44.97 seconds. That’s BLAZING fast, and I would not come close to that on my [un]geared 36er, even with a moving start! :o But it would be so fun to do this comp and see what everyone can do! And this will also be a great way to figure your mph, as it’s easy to extrapolate from the elapsed time. :smiley:

12

This is about how fast you would have to be pedaling a 36er (ungeared) to maintain 20 mph around the 400 meter track. I would be amazed to see someone do that!

13

Normal track is run counter-clockwise. And of course there’s a history of speed records for 400m on 24" unicycles with 125mm cranks. Track racing is one of the oldest forms of unicycle competition. I once did it in 1:01 something, I think at Unicon IV. Later the record was 58 seconds or so. But that’s a 24" Track uni. A 36" and/or geared wheel has a much faster potential. We also raced 700c unicycles (29") at a few Unicons, but I think we only did 100m and 1500m. All races are/were done from a stationary start, mounted on the unicycles (holding onto a post or shoulder).

Use caution with large, heavy wheels on an athletics track. Work up to high speeds gradually, getting a hang for the transitions between the curve and the straight! It’s interesting how the unicycle resists straightening out once you’ve gotten into the groove on the curve… :slight_smile:

14

300m walk to the 400m track :wink:

15

Holy geeze! Wouldn’t that be close to FOUR revs per second on a 24? That translates to a about a 3:52 mile and 15.5 mph! I don’t know if I could match that on my 36er, let alone beat it! :astonished:

16

time 59.25
cranksize 125mm
wheelsize 36inch
hub ungeared

17

Nice run Casey! 59.25 seconds equals 15.10pmh. I was hoping to do my run yesterday, but will have to do it another day maybe this week. I want to see if anyone can beat the record for fastest runner, which is 44.7 seconds! That would be a hair over 20mph!

18

Be awesome if you beat it