Just giving a heads out to everyone that is going to MOAB 2009. I will be holding a little competition on Sunday at Slickrock. It will be a contest to see who can ride the farthest without falling. We’ll start at the parking lot and ride to the practice loop where we will take a break. Depending on how many people make it there without falling, will depend on what we do next. But probably keep going till there is one man standing. Haven’t decided about the sand traps yet, as they are pretty difficult to ride so those might be out rest/stop points.
It should be a fun little comp that is easy to organize. It’ll be based on the honor system and others will be watching you so if you do fall off and don’t admit it, there is probably someone that saw you fall and cheaters never win.
Of course I’ll have a prize for first and second and maybe third. TBD. See ya’ll in a few weeks!!!
Jamey, are you going to play? I’d be much more inclined to participate if you were the, uh, referee.
Jamey is a very strong MUni rider. I don’t know if I could make it from the parking lot to the usual grouping-up spot in a single go. Or even up that initial big bump up onto the slickrock, though that changes from year to year…
Yes, I think I will more than likely play but we’ll see… I think everyone should give it a try and really push themselves for the first part to see how far they can make it. You’d be surprised by how far you might be able to go with a little motivation!
It depends how long it goes…there might only be a handfull of people left from the beginning to the practice loop…in which case I’ll make it that you have to ride thru the sandpits which should speed it up! See you in a week!
Probably less than 20% of the riders will make it from the parking lot to the trail junction; even for good riders, there’s one gully that’s tough to get up the other side of.
The problem will be that the 20% of the riders who make it will be riders who are very good at riding Slickrock; there’s not a whole lot out there that will differentiate people, other than the sand pits.
On skill, no. On stamina, yes. But perhaps competing for zero-dismount distance might get old really fast if most of the riders UPD early. An alternate possibility is to have people count their dismounts and compare those. Have people ride in groups of four or so, so they can keep track of each others’ scores, and keep each other honest.
That way everybody gets to keep participating, even if they can’t do it all in one shot.
Ya, that would be another fun competition but the problem with that is that it is the final ride and most people leave afterwards so it’d be hard to give out awards and see who the winners are. But just for fun I will announce that everyone that wants to and thinks they can ride the entire trail should keep track of any unplanned dismounts and post their results on the forums. This way we can have a record of who rides slickrock with the least amount of UPD’s, and see who can actually ride the entire trail with no UPD’s! I’m sure there are some out there and maybe we’ll find out this year?! The sandpits will be included in this even if it means hopping thru them?! And of course dismounts are OK as long as they are planned.
Jamey outlasted Beau by a little bit. The report I heard was that they both made it all the way to the main loop with no dismounts, and then a bit further than that. That means they both did over 2.5 miles of slickrock (both up and down) without a single rest or dismount.
The place where Beau fell was an amazingly steep uphill, a ways past the junction where the Practice Loop comes in. Then Jamey gave it a go and made it first try. Beau got it on his second try, and then they rode off…great competition idea but too bad more people didn’t participate.
I think they only started with three, not sure why nobody else wanted to do it. The third rider was Forrest, who went at least 2/3 as far as Beau before (purposely?) dismounting, as he wanted to do the practice loop or hang out with others back at the meeting area. We met him heading back toward there.
I would have joined them but I had hiked up to the group photo/meeting area with a camera bag instead of a unicycle, and the contest started from there. Nathan and I were hiking out toward Beau & Jamey when we saw Beau’s fated dismount. Then when Jamey got to the top they both stopped for a rest before riding out of sight.
I think Jamey later reported finishing the loop with a total of only 13 dismounts, and possibly one or more sand areas that they didn’t bother hopping across. That’s a pretty amazing athletic accomplishment! Jamey can fill us in on the details when he reads this.
So I was really surprised that not that many people were interested in this fun little comp but oh well. Guess there aren’t or weren’t that many good hill climbers or everyone was just pooped from the day before.
There were just three of us, Forrest, Beau and myself. Kris Holm was also in but he accidently took the practice loop first so it kinda put him out of it as we wouldn’t have been comparing apples to apples. I think Kris said he did the entire practice loop with no UPD’s but walked some of the sand traps. He eventually caught up to Beau and I on the main loop.
Forrest fell right away on a small little bump/rock. Might have done it on purpose as he didn’t want to ride the main loop but instead wanted to do the practice loop. Either way he was out so then it was just Beau and I. We both agreed to stop and rest every now and then, especially after some of the hill climbs. We both were feeling strong and did quite good as we made it to the main loop with no problem. Somewhere on the main loop we ran into a nice climb. Beau tried it first, didn’t make it but was able to turn around and ride out of it with no UPD’s. Then I tried and did the same thing. Beau tried again but fell this time. I made it on my second attempt with no UPD’s, thus I was the winner. Yeah! It really was luck of the draw though, as he made it up his third try.
After that, we continued on and I wanted to see how far I could go without a UPD. Don’t know exactly how far I made it but almost to the Moab lookout! And I fell on a stupid little rock, not even a climb?! Then I made it my goal to do the entire loop with under 10 UPD’s. Didn’t quite make it but I’m gonna blame that nasty 40-50mph winds!! So my record is riding from the parking lot, to the main loop clockwise and back to the parking lot with only 13 UPD’s. I rode everything except for one hill I couldn’t get up after 2 UPD’s I gave up (but looking back wish I would’ve tried again and made it) and one sand pit towards the end as I was out of energy to hop across it.
At least now I have a record to try and beat the next time I ride it. It makes it a bit more fun because even though it’s a cool trail, I’m not a huge fan of it cause it’s so much work with all the ups and downs. I would love to say I did the entire trail with no UPD’s but I think I’m dreaming now…time for bed!
What a cool idea for a muni competition. Sometimes on some of my shorter trail rides I’ll try to go “manifesto” style and ride every section, even if it takes several tries. The only way I move forward is by unicycle, no walking. It’s pretty tough! It’s a different approach all right as when I’m mostly in a XC mode I’ll take a stab at the hill climbs and if I get to the point were it would be faster/easier to just shoulder my uni and walk; that’s what I do. I hope to make it out to Moab one day and ride that slickrock. I know I couldn’t come anywhere near what you guys have done, but it’s something to aspire to. I’d prefer to do a really long section of trail, something that would take sun-up to sun-down to ride all of; supported if possible… Maybe our own 12 hours of Slickrock! Most laps wins!
I would have participated, but I was running late that morning. I think I made it out to the intersection with the main loop with only two UPDs; I probably came off on the same hill Beau did.
I’m still excited though!