Moonride '04- Nathan Hoover joins us down-under!

General
1

Well, it’s over for another year. I’m hijacking my own previous thread so I can change the title. Why? Because we were really honoured to have Nathan fly all the way from the US to race solo for 24hrs! Nathan is the inspiration behind many of my previous unicycle tours and adventures so it was really cool to finally meet him.

The Cateye Moonride mountainbike race was held in Rotorua, a small and rather smelly town in the middle of New Zealand (due to it’s location in an active geothermal area and the gentle aroma of hydrogen sulphide). It is also venue for the 2006 MTB world champs.

The big news of the year was that Nathan Hoover was joining us for this race. Not only that, he was going race solo for 24hrs! And not only that, Nathan is doing three 24hr races in three different countries in 15 days!

24hr racing is fun, but going solo? I liken it to childbirth. Whilst being unfortunately not able to experience that first hand (except my own, which I was too young to remember)- I can say that my 24hr solo ride last year was probably the most painful thing I had ever done. Ever! Yet exactly a year later I’d forgotten the pain and here I was doing it again. This time with another unicycle masochist at the start line- Nathan Hoover; and two 24hr 5-man unicycle teams.

Anyway, some of the events and times are a little fuzzy now (especially when I was delirious around about 3pm on Saturday)- but it went something like this:

Thursday 6 May:

All packed and ready I drive to Rotorua with a carful of unicycles and enough batteries to power up a small factory. I arrive at about 4pm at the Biers house (Peter Biers parents Hank and Judy live in Rotorua). They were a great support throughout the event- sheltering 12 unicyclists in their home, feeding and watering us out on the course, and just being an awesome host to our band of unicyclists.

I head out for a quick spin on the course but as it was still to be marked I rode only a short section on my Coker. The rain from the last few days made for some slippery bits but the singletrack was looking as good as ever.

As I came out of the forest I bumped into Mr Hoover.
“Hey you must be Ken!”
“You must be Nathan”
“Yep- how did you know?” (Looks at 36’ unicycle) Hmmm…that’s a big wheel- looks like mine in fact :stuck_out_tongue:
Shortly after Murray the event organiser spots us and comes over to tell us we’re mad (or words to that effect which I won’t repeat here).

Friday 7 May:

We head off for a quick spin on the course when Joe Dyson and Pete Marchant (Pete66) arrive from Wellington. The course was about 95% singletrack- with a couple of short 4WD sections and a transition zone. Whilst it was fairly flat and rolling- I knew it was going to be tough. Every year I’d raced here (even when I was on two wheels) the course hammered me more than any other. No hills equals nowhere to rest; and the constant twisting and turning meant your mind had to be focused to ride this course.

We had lunch where Joe and Pete carboload with vanilla ice cream and coke. Nathan and I opt for the pasta.

Late afternoon- our support crew arrive. Blair the chief wrech from Johnsonville Cycles (my LBS) and Benny (all round good guy, hangs around at the bike shop) and Allison- Blairs partner and 12hr Soloist, arrive in Rotorua in the Campervan. They were going to support us Solo guys, whilst the unicycle teams were crewing their own.

10pm:
We’re off! Nathan and I start alongside Rowan (posts on RSU as Rowan) and Peter Bier (Peter_Bier) from the Moonride Monoride teams. The plan was to stay together but Peter Bier slows down to talk to the two solo ladybugs whilst the three of us sped off.

Lap 2 and I was feeling really good- knocked off a sub 30min lap (+1min at support zone). Still feeling pretty good I knocked off a few more quick laps and lapped both teams.

Sat 8 May:

2-6am (The Zombie Zone)
Not feeling so good anymore- this is probably the worst time for any soloist- the body clock shuts down and all you want to do is go to sleep. Nathan looks a little worse for wear, I feel no better. Blair and Benny force-feed us and make us drink to stay hydrated.

6am
The cortisol kicks in and I try to get in a few quick laps before the 12hr racers start. I bonk myself silly but managed to wobble back to camp thanks to the Leppin Squeezee in my back pocket. No sign of Nathan- I was getting worried.

I had to stop for a 40min break despite telling myself not to. Headed off later feeling much better.

10am
The 12hr racers start. The course gets a bit crowded.

12pm
Rowan: “How did you find the course?”
Me: : (grunt)
Rowan: “Have you tried your 29’er yet?”
Me: (Ugh)
Rowan: “How did you find your light?”
Me:
Rowan: “Did you ride that big rutted bit near the middle of the course?”
Me:
Rowan: “You must be knackered”
Me:
etc etc etc.

2pm
I bawl my eyes out. “Sob…sniffsniff* I can’t do it anymore!!!”
Nathan is wrapped in a warm blanket and getting psyched up by Blair. Eat that, drink this, and get back out there!

3pm
I get paranoid and throw a tanty when someone moves my seatpost up 2cm higher than it should be. Sorry about that- it’s no big deal but I was very pissed off at the time :angry:

4pm
Nathan lies asleep/unconscious in the campervan. We get back out in the sun. It’s apparently a very warm day. Our teeth chatter uncontrollably- it’s freezing!

6pm
I take a quick nap and wake up feeling much better. Fresh mind pushing a tired body. Better than tired mind, fresh body.

8pm
I take that back- fresh mind pushing tired body= body shutdown.
My race is over :o

10pm
Ohh…shower. We were driven back to the Biers house to be refreshed (luxury) before heading back for prizegiving.

Sunday 9 May:

Nothing better than a nice relaxing day chilling out with fellow unicyclists swapping war stories.
We soak in the hot pools before heading home :stuck_out_tongue:

All in all a great weekend and (dare I say it) I’ve forgotten how painful it was already. Maybe I’ll come back next year. Then again…

Big thanks to:
Blair, Benny and Allison (our 24hr support crew)
The Biers
J’ville cycles
Unicycle.com NZ
The Moonride Monoride teams
The organises Murray and Ingrid for another great event
Nathan Hoover for coming to NZL to do this!

Seeya next year!

Ken Looi

2

Some Stats for those interested:

Kens Equipment:
Deluxe Coker
Suzue Hub
KH seat
Snafu Pedals
150mm BE cranks
(I’m getting my wheel rebuilt- thanks for the spokes U-Turn)

Yuni 29’er
Suzue hub
Alex rims
WTB Motoraptors
Snafu pedals
150mm BE cranks

22 laps were done on the Coker and 3 laps done on the 29er

Nathans Equipment:
I should leave this for Nathan but the main things:
Hunter/U-Turn Super Coker
170mm cranks
Carbon fiber airseat and Reeder handle

The unicycle teams:
Most laps done on Cokers or 29’ers- mix of 150 or 170mm cranks
One very fast 24’ MUNi (140mm cranks) 33 minute lap by Rowan

Laps done (about 7km each):
Nathan: 16 laps
Ken: 25 laps
Moonride Monoride #1: 35 laps
Moonride Monride #2: 24 laps
Fastest Bike team: 70 laps
Fastest Bike Soloist (male): 55 laps
Fastest Bike Soloist (female):35 laps
Fastest unicycle daytime lap: 27:53 (Rowan Chivers)
Fastest unicycle night-time lap: 30:40 (Ken Looi)
Fastest bike lap (team): 18:44
Fastest bike lap (solo): 20:10

The competition was much improved from last year- on a similar course most teams and soloists increased their lap count substantially. There is some error in the above due to transition times and the fact the transition zones are slightly further on from the timer zone.

Results are up on:

3

My photos are now up:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Moonride2004?page=1

Along with Joes photos:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Moonride-2004

Joes album has more pics of the team; most of my album are of Nathan and me as they were taken by our support crew.

1.jpg

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Nathans not the only one drooling

2.jpg

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Wow, amazing stuff! Congratulations on a great event and on your world record. :slight_smile:

Andrew

6

Once again, well done Ken… utterly impressed.

5 more photos at http://gallery.unicyclist.com/moremoonride

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Moonride

It would be terrifying to meet a thirty six foot wheel bearing down upon you in the forest. Luckily for us you and Nathan traded in the 36’ers for 36"ers before the race.

The winner of the 24 hour Solo category (XS 24 Hour), took 15:09 minutes on lap 44. That is a blistering pace, especially since he had biked so far already, only stopping for one half hour rest. I haven’t checked all the other lap times but that one stood out as impressive, beating all the team best lap times that I saw. The winners of the 24 hour bike team (Fully sick dude) got 18:26 on lap 34.

Just like Ken, I had a great weekend, but mine involved much less pain. On Thursday I only got about three hours sleep, because I had to go to a WINZ appointment around lunch time, which woke me up early. I didn’t get much sleep on Friday either, because I wanted to get up and hitch early.

My flatmate dropped me off in Bell Block at about 9:30am Friday, and I started hitching in the rain with my sign saying “Rotovegas”. I got a ride out to Urenui after about 20 minutes (and declining 3 rides to Waitara). At Urenui I spent about 5 minutes before a truck driver called out to me from across the road. He shouted me lunch, and dropped me off near Otarohanga after realising his Hazardous goods truck had a flat tire.

I have never hitched with my unicycle up until then, and I had been thinking about which way would be best to do it. I tried riding backwards with my pack on, with my sign out in front and my thumb out the side. The method worked fine, but I didn’t realise that a Ute had stopped behind me, and I kept riding backwards with my thumb out. The passenger got out and she told me to jump on the back.

After being dropped off a few kilometers down the road, I got a ride immediately while trying to attach my sign to the back of my pack (intended for riding forwards hitching, so I could see the cars stop). Another short ride, but I got one straight away afterwards, to Putaruru I think. I had to ride a bit to get out of town, and along the way some boys on bikes asked me about my unicycle. I showed them some wheel walking with a pack on. It was very easy because the inertia of the weight prevented small balance adjustments from being needed (or so it seemed). They were impressed as I one footed down a hill with them, on my way out of town.

On the corner of Whites Road (where I was told to go), I got a ride immediately towards Tauranga, and got dropped off on the turnoff to Rotorua. I stuck out my thumb at the first vehicle I saw (maybe 15 seconds after getting out), and the huge truck carrying wood-chips pulled over. The driver was from Rotorua, and he insisted on getting his wife to come and pick me up and take me to the forest where the Moonride was being held, on the condition that I would show his kids some tricks.

I was most grateful for the convenient ride and when I got there I did some one footing and wheel walking and 180s for the two young boys (I don’t know many good tricks), but all they wanted to see was me ride through the big puddle that was beside me. To their delight I plowed straight through it. I offered them each a shoulder ride and made sure it finished with the puddle voyage. Joe Dyson had noticed me and I went and talked with him and Pete. I tried to show them wheel walking with the pack on, but my slick gazzaloddi was too slippery after being coated with slimey muck from the puddle and I fell over backwards on the concrete, not hurting myself luckily.

We helped (a little bit) Peter’s dad set up the tent, and met some of the other riders, and before long the race began at 10pm. I started out with Ken and Nathan, and kept being told by Ken to wait for them. We did an extra bit along the road on the first lap (not part of the main course), and on the way past the huge crowds of people I did about 20 or more one foot revolutions on Tony’s coker, and rode off into the forest with gleeful anticipation. The bikes took off ahead of us and we had the forest to ourselves. This was my first offroad coker experience, and I fell off quite a bit, but I also ended up ahead of Ken and Nathan a few times (they had to pace themselves), and Ken told me to wait. Waiting paid off once cos I might have lost the track otherwise- with the lack of other riders. Near the end, Ken said “they are going to lap us soon”, and soon afterwards I heard someone yell “Go uni guy!”, so I pulled over thinking it was the speed demons about to lap us. Instead of a bike, Ken passed me, and I was unable to pass him before the finish of the first lap, so Ken took the glory (which he deserved) of being first Uni-guy round.

My first lap time was around 42 minutes, which I thought I could improve on because I had crashed heaps and waited a bit, and done the extra bit at the start. After everyone else in the team had been round, I rushed to get Tony’s light set up for Ben’s helmet (first lap I used Tony’s helmet, pre-tested). It was a disaster- when I was in the forest, my inexperience with fancy lights shone through, and one of the wires shook itself off the battery terminal, leaving me in darkness. I mucked about and got it going again, but it was pissing me off because the light was angled down too far, and I had to lean my head back to see ahead. I think the light went out again a couple of times, and I came back to the camp muttering and complaining about technical difficulties, after another lap of 42 minutes.

I thought to myself, I’m not going to let that happen again, and I made sure I got the light set up early the next time it was my turn. I thought I had done it properly, but soon after getting into the forest (and hitting bumps) the light went out. It was quite freaky having the light go out while still on the Coker, moving along through the trees in the darkness. In the light of a passing mountainbiker, I reattached the battery wire. The second time it happened, I went to reattach it, but it was already on there, so I pressed the button and it worked again. The light went for a while, and I was starting to enjoy myself again, when off it went. I pressed the button instead of messing with the wire, and the light came back on. After that, the light repeatedly turned off for the rest of the lap, and I just kept turning it back on with the button- it was most frustrating, combined with the annoying downwards angle of the light. It turned out to be a loose connection that was wiggling on and off- another 42 minute lap!

I really wanted to get a better time than that, and I didn’t want to allow the technical problems to get the better of me on another night lap, so when my turn came around, I got Tony to set up the light for me. He used some of Steve’s electrical tape to hold the wires on, and gave me the go ahead. I moved the sticky velcro things further up the helmet to adjust the beam further away, and ventured forth thinking there is nothing that can go wrong this time. Everything went well until I had a big crash. The light didn’t go out, but it came off the helmet, it ripped all the velcro sticky things off and they wouldnt stick back on. I rode for a bit trying to hold the light, but it was quite twisty and you need your hands free for manouvering. I thought that Ben’s elastic helmet thingy had saved the day when I stuck the light in it and continued on hands free, but soon I changed my mind when I realised it made the dreaded ground angle even worse. With a Coker you need to see quite far ahead of you to be able to go fast, so you can see objects in time to avoid them. Looking at the ground immediately in front of you does not help much. Eventually I found that holding the light down low in my left hand worked best, cos the track straightened out and I didn’t need to flail so much, and I got a few bursts of speed and beat my 42 minute lap time (I can’t remember exactly but I was still not satisfied with my effort).

To be continued…

8

Annoyed by my lack of night success, I took a couple of hours sleep just after dawn. Malcolm and Tony snuck in ahead of the queue, because they didn’t want to wake me - I looked like I was enjoying my sleep apparently. I was glad for the break and I ate some breakfast that Peter Bier’s parents had generously provided.

My first day lap was a significant improvement. I did 29 minutes- I could see everything, there was no big bulky battery weighing me down, and no technical difficulties, it was luxury.

My next day lap was again a lot of fun. There were more riders on the track due to the 12 hour entrants, but I was beginning to get the hang of the Coker and I did a ~28 minute lap. It feels so great to go whizzing along offroad with the huge wheel- something every unicyclist should experience at least once in their lifetime! I was satisfied with my daytime efforts, because 28 minutes was very close to Tony Melton’s best Coker lap time, and he owns the Coker and has had a lot more experience on it than me.

I had time for one more daylight lap, so I thought I would challenge the other 24x3" riders (Joe Dyson and Pete Marchant) times. They were pulling off laps between 45 and 60 minutes, and I knew I could improve on that. The MUni (Wilder Lightrider 24x3" with 145mm cranks) felt so tiny after riding the Coker for five laps, but it handled the first section really well, and kept up with a lot of mountain bikers on the uphills. It was awesome for letting them pass, because riders were constantly saying “On your left” or “On your right”, and you would have to pull over to let them pass. On the MUni you could go right off the track (to the bicyclist’s amazement). One time I tackled some roots and logs on on the left, and a biker said “You’re going the wrong way!” Being accustomed to the MUni, I kept it cranking along, I am sure I could have done better if I was fresh, but I ended up with a 33 minute lap.

Tony had been experimenting with the 29er, and found himself doing better a better lap time on it than on his Coker, so I tried it out, making sure I used Tony’s helmet with his light set up by him- the sun set prior to my next lap and I didn’t trust myself to rig up the light. I didn’t do well at all on the 29er. It was partly because I was not used to it, and it kept bucking me off when I hit little bumps. It didn’t have the same rolling momentum as the Coker, and it didn’t have the bump absorbent quality of the MUni. I can’t remember the lap time, but it was only slightly better than 42 minutes since I fell off so much (no trouble with the light that time thanks Tony).

Since the race was to finish at 10pm on Saturday, I had enough time to do one more lap after Peter Marchant. I got an hour of sleep, and took my MUni out for one more attempt. I figured it would be better at night time since the bumps were slowing me down and the MUni can handle bumps relatively well. I did OK, and I got countless compliments from the mountainbikers. Near the finish line, Pete Marchant told me to do a one footer over the finish line, so I did. Unlike all the other laps, I didn’t hear the buzzer over the roar of the crowd, so I was concerned that maybe the last lap hadn’t been counted. I went and saw the timing guy and he said the thing is set to measure down low, and it’s not designed for people waving their feet in the air. A woman grabbed my transponder, and waved it in front of the detector thing, telling me that if it already buzzed that this would count as an extra lap.

We went to the prizegiving (and won no prizes) and afterwards packed up the tent exhausted. I neglected to zip up one pocket of my pack, and when loading it into the car my wallet fell out. A hot shower and a decent sleep on a mattress at Peter Bier’s parent’s house was just what I needed. In the morning, Tony (who had gone back and slept at the campsite) arrived with my wallet, with my $90 still in there. He had found it on the bumper of their car, someone must have put it there. I was so stoked to get it back! We sat around and chatted for a while, watched some videos and then went to the fat dog cafe, where Steve Parvano and Nathan Hoover shouted me lunch. It was good to meet Nathan, and to talk to all the NZ riders, but I had to get hitching, so I caught a ride south with Pete Marchant and Joe Dyson, we skipped the hot pools.

The road (highway 30) that Pete dropped me off on didn’t seem to have much traffic, but I was optimistic. About 4 cars passed me in ~10 minutes, and then finally a van stopped. The driver took me nearly all the way to New Plymouth. Hitching in the dark from outside Waitara took another 10 or 15 minutes, but I got a ride into town (I could have ridden if I wanted). I got dropped off near my friends house and went on the internet to check the results. I went to the Timing New Zealand website, clicked “Cateye Moon Ride 24 Hour and 12 Hour Mountain Bike Relay”, “Results”, “24 hour open”, and scrolled down to the bottom. Sure enough, there was Monoride #1 & #2 leading the rear. It says we did 35 laps, and the last lap was exactly ten minutes and no seconds. The buzzer must have gone on the last lap, but I didn’t hear it! I rode home with my pack on at about 3am for a decent nights sleep in my own bed, after playing some internet games.

On Monday morning I was so glad to have my wallet, because I was able to pay my share of the power bill which was overdue and on the last warning before being cut off!

In conclusion, I had an enjoyably memorable time, and I learned a bit about night time racing (and mountain bike racing). I would like to go to another event like this sometime, but I hope it costs less and has nicer water. Thanks to all the other unicyclists who took part, and especially to Peter Bier’s parents who voluntarily acted as our support crew (for Peter’s 26th birthday) and made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable and comfortable. Thanks again to those who helped me out with food and money- I would be burdened with debts if it wasn’t for you.

The End.

9

Hey that daytime lap is one of mine, not Rowan’s! I did it on my 29er. My fastest Coker lap was 28:17. I guess there’s not much between them, but I found the 29er to be a much more enjoyable ride thru the rooty twisty singletrack.

Doing 24 hours in a team was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it to other unicyclists.

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Sorry Tony- that lap goes to you.

No one beat me at night though- 35W IRC lighting is great! But if I come back next year it will be with even more lighting than that. The other thing I found really useful was the Anti-fog spray for my glasses every second/third lap- they kept getting blurry otherwise. If you can’t see you can’t go fast.

Rowan- I don’t believe for a minute that someone could have done a 15 min lap after riding solo for 20 hours so I left out that lap time. Even the teams didn’t come close to that- and there were some plenty fast pro-elite riders out there.

Oh yeah- my unicycle really is 36 feet high.

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Really 170s? That seems long for that setup. Was this a choice due to the variable terrain, poor visibility?

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I thought the same thing. But if the trail has any uphill in it, you’ll be happy to have the 170s. I have 170s on my Wilder. The Coker is still a tank to crank on the uphills. But even with the longer cranks, cruising speed on the flats is a lot faster than a smaller wheel with slightly shorter cranks.

13

The course, whilst reasonably flat and rolling; and not super technical; had lot’s of twists and turns on it. Nathan rode a practice lap and found the 170’s pretty comfortable. The 150’s I rode needed a bit more concentration and effort to maneuver around the course. The main reason I used that was because I was more familiar with 150’s. Both unicycle teams were using Coker and 170’s. Tony Melton did a faster lap on his 29’er than on his Coker!

14

I Love New Zealand!

I made it home safely yesterday after a fantastic visit to New Zealand to attempt riding for 24 hours in the Moonride. I left on April 30, arriving Sunday morning May 2. I made it to Tony Melton’s house in Auckland after 9am and we drove off to the Woodhill MTB park soon after. It was amazing pulling in there and seeing 100 cars and SO many mountain bikers. It was humid and warm and drizzling a little. We rode our Cokers on MANY trails for about 3 1/2 hours, with a bit of real rain. The ground is very sandy so it’s no problem in the wet. It was my first time riding a teeter totter and a ladder bridge on a Coker - exciting! Tony is fast and strong. I was using my adjustable cranks, first set at 150mm, then at the max, 160mm. Tony was on 170mm and doing very well. I ended up having to tighten the cranks too many times - they are just not suited to bumpy hard Muni rides.

That evening, we visited Peter Bier, another unicycle.co.nz partner. He was sick and couldn’t ride with us. His basement is FULL of unicycle and other inventory. I bought a pair of 170mm Bicycle Euro cranks for the race. Tony and I stayed up until 11:30pm or so - no problem with such a good sleep on the plane.

The next morning I took off for 3 days of touring the Coromandel Peninsula. It was great retracing my bike adventures with Megumi from '89-'90 and exploring some new areas too. I didn’t ride on these days and really noticed that I got no special treatment. When you’re on a unicycle, people just want to talk to you! I stayed at backpacker lodges at Fletcher’s Bay, Kaotunu and Mt Maunganui on these days.

Thursday afternoon, the day before the race, I arrived in Rotorua. After some touristing around, I met Ken at the race venue. The course was not marked so we couldn’t do a practice lap. We headed over to Hank and Judy Bier’s house (2km away!) where we stayed. Hank and Judy were fantastic hosts (sponsors really), opening their house to so many unicyclists, cooking so much food - it was really great to get to know them.

Friday morning, we headed over to Whakarewarewa Mountain Bike Park and met up with Joe and Pete. We tried doing a lap, but the marking was incomplete and we ended up doing a shorter and more technical route than the actual course. After a nice lunch in town, we came back and rode the real course, 6.8km of mainly twisty singletrack through the woods. There are Redwood trees and ferns so some parts looked very similar to areas of the Santa Cruz mountains here in California. After showers, we took a nap, then headed back to the park. Our incredible support team from J’Ville Cycles was there: Blair and his partner Alison (riding 12 hours solo bike) plus Benny, in a very nice camper van (4 bunks, stove, toilet, etc). We had some dinner, then Ken and I settled down to pretend to sleep for a couple of hours.

We woke up a little before 9pm and prepared for the race. It started at 10pm with an extra 2km of road riding to separate out the riders before the singletrack. I had screwed up and not brought enough batteries. I had enough for the 9 hours of dark riding, but only on my lower power setting. You REALLY want LOTS of light! Ken understood this from his previous experience and was well equiped. The first lap plus 2km took me 42 minutes (39 for Ken), and we stopped for just a brief drink, then off again. Lap 2 was 39 minutes and I pretty much kept up that pace for most of the night. Blair was fantastic, forcing me to drink and eat enough. Even with 600ml of electrolyte replacement drink every lap, I didn’t pee until lap 10. It got colder and colder as the night went on, but I think it only got down to about 5C/40F. Still, by the time it got light at 6:30, my jerseys and shorts were soaked with sweat. Another thing I learned is that you have to avoid chafing when riding for so long. I haven’t had a problem before, but needed Buttr or more changes of shorts or something. Sore!

I was starting to feel pretty low around 6am. 8 hours of night Coker/Muni is hard. But when it got light, it was a whole new world - that must be the origin of that expression “as different as night and day”. My first daytime lap felt about 50% as difficult as the night laps. It was sort of sad to see the inefficient lines I had been taking lap after lap. I enjoyed the laps between 6:30 and 9:50, then took a break for 20 minutes or so since the 12 hour racers were joining us.

For the 24 hour race, we had 99 riders - 16 soloists (2 unicycles) plus 83 teams (also 2 on unicycle) on the course. But for the second 12 hours, we were joined by 308 more teams (with 47 being solo). The result on a 6.8km course was crowded conditions. The laps after 10am included a constant stream of “On your right”, along with “You’re a legend” and MANY other positive comments. Luckily on most parts of the course passing wasn’t too hard. And of course all the bikers were great sports about it.

After 15 laps in just under 15 hours I had had enough. But after a rest, I managed one more lap on Peter Bier’s 29er. It was sort of an experiment and pretty fun. It took a little while to get used to, but at that point, I think it was just as fast as Cokering. It is SO much lighter and more maneuverable. It rolled over obstacles pretty well too. When you’re fresh, the Coker feels great, but after being awake so long and riding so hard, the 29er felt better. With 152mm cranks, the torque felt exactly the same as on my Coker with 170mm cranks. In fact, the 152s are a slightly lower (easier) gear on the 29er. After that 16th lap, the combination of my very sore behind plus the crowded conditions on the course made me decide to call it quits. Benny tried hard to shame me into riding more, but I had really had enough. During the ride I had missed the social side of these races that you get when on a team, but luckily will have that a lot in the coming weeks! My total distance was just over 110km, which is a new record distance for me on a unicycle, and almost doubles my previous offroad distance record.

Anyway, a HUGE thank-you to all the awesome NZ riders plus our wonderful support people: Hank, Judy, Blair and Benny. I couldn’t’ve done it without you. And a massive CONGRATULATIONS to Ken for setting a new world record for 24 hour offroad unicycle racing. 172km - YOW! It was a true pleasure to join the small but awesome offroad unicycle community in New Zealand.

Here are some photos I took - NZ guys let me know if I screwed up on any of the captions.

—Nathan

15

I came across a couple of really cool shots of Nathan and I- there was a photographer out on course:

Should I buy this?

mr04_564.jpg

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I think this shot and the one above just gives an idea of how totally knackered we really were!

Nathan in full concentration:

mr04_510.jpg

17

I’m curious. Did anyone try a HID style light for the night riding? HID lights are super super bright. I’m just not sure how they would work for muni.

18

Nathan used a HID. Most of the top teams and soloists were HID equipped.
I had a 35W IRC lamp which is apparently equivalent to 50W normal halogen. I’m thinking of getting a HID or the new 3x3W LED systems coming out. MY 35W lamp sucked up a 7ah battery in less than 2hrs. I used SLA batteries- heavy as lead but cheap as chips. I had five of these :stuck_out_tongue:

Are you doing any of the upcoming 24hr races John?

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I’m not going to do a 24 hour race in the immediate future. Maybe in a year or two.

My endurance has not been very good. But I just recently figured out what the problem was. It seems I sweat out a lot more salt than normal people. I now bring salt tablets (Lava Salts) with me on long rides and I’m feeling much much better at the end of the ride. I no longer feel like a knackered zombie at the end of a 12+ mile muni ride. It’s like a magic energy pill.

I was gulping down a lot of Gatorade before the ride and then eating energy gels and bars during the ride. But that didn’t do the trick. I was considering putting Gatorade in my hydration pack, but that causes nasty things to grow in the bladder and I didn’t want to do that. The salt tablets do the trick. Too bad I didn’t figure this out several years ago.

I’m going to some big muni rides and see how my energy level is at the end. If I’m able to do the big rides and still feel good then I might try a 24 hour or 12 hour race.

The advances in LED lighting is exciting. The LEDs are getting very bright. With luck the new generation of LED lights may be just perfect for muni. HID seems to be a bit of overkill.

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I get something similar, I’ve got energy drink that has some salt in which seems to work (in the camelbak). Some people just put a teaspoon of salt into their camelbak each time they fill it up to avoid this.

As a team rider, a 24 hour race isn’t an incredible amount of riding, it’s like doing 6 hours of riding in a day, a kind of long muni ride. You should enter one, because it forces you to bother training, I never ride as much as when I’ve entered an event that scares me.

172km is super lots. I reckon 200km would be doable in 24 hours by someone training really really incredibly hard. Maybe Ken will do it next year?

Ken - I reckon you should try for the 202miles (320km) on road 24 hour record, it’d probably be not that hard if you’re capable of riding solidly for that long, it’s about 8.5 mph average. On a short cranked coker and a flat course, you could probably average at least 12mph consistently, which would give you about 8 hours of breaks over the time.

Joe