I have compiled a set of unicycle results from the Mount Diablo Challenge. Below is a table containing 76 results from 33 individual riders, spanning 25 races from 1998 to 2025. The entries are sorted by chip time.
The set is almost complete, however:
Results for 2010 and 2011 are missing.
Three or four unicyclists raced the Challenge in 2000. I found the first three times but not their names (except for the winner). Two riders probably traveled from Minnesota, and another was Scot Cooper (@scot). There is also a photo of David Politzer finishing the race, probably in 2000 as well.
Who is the 9th unicyclist in 2002?
Official results for 2013 and 2014 are still available online, but I was unable to identify any unicycle riders in those years.
If you have knowledge about these races, please share it below so I can update the table accordingly. Details about 2000, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 would be especially useful, as well as any other information about pre‑2016 unicycle participation. @Nathan mentioned that Gary Kanuch rode a unicycle in at least one of the years, but I am not sure which years these were.
This dataset cannot answer a simple question: what is the optimal wheel size / crank length combo for this race? The critical factor is the rider’s fitness.
1:05:11.2 (10.31 mph) Harrison Hsueh in 2021
1:06:59.8 (10.03 mph) Ben Soja in 2019
1:09:06.6 (9.72 mph) Harrison Hsueh in 2019
Fastest Female Rides
1:47:20.9 (6.26 mph) Irene Genelin in 2006
Slowest Rides
3:07:17 (3.59 mph) Marcus Hertlein in 2003
2:38:54.0 (4.23 mph) Anthony Ladd in 2021
2:35:02.4 (4.33 mph) Ryan Leard in 2018
Slowest Time to Win
2:09:45.8 Jesus Lopez in 2022
2:01:05.9 Jesus Lopez in 2023
1:54:31.2 Kostya Antonov in 2024
Youngest Riders
10 Jayden Hirsch in 2018[1]
13 Beau Hoover in 2005[2]
16 Kostya Antonov in 2024
Oldest Riders
57 Jim Sowers in 2019[3]
55 Maximillion Duran in 2018
53 Stefan Carpentier in 2018
Average (Median) Time and Age
1:39:31 (1:34:14) and 35 (37) years for unicycle riders
1:20:42 (1:15:56) and 43 (44) years for all riders (bicycle, unicycle, tandem, etc.)
Unicyclists are slow, but young
Nathan, thanks so much for the reply — and for ending your four-year dormancy!
You seem to hold the record for the most unicycle ascents at MDC!
If you happen to remember your and Beau’s unicycle setups from 2001, 2004, and 2006, I would love to include those details. Also, do you recall what happened in 2006? There is a post from Mike Scalisi suggesting that he and Chris LaBonte rode the Challenge that year, but their names do not appear in the official results. Did they finish the race?
Thanks again, in fact, I relied heavily on your old comments to identify the unicycle riders. The table would have been impossible to compile without them.
I had a Coker with 152mm cranks in 2001. In 2004, it would’ve been Hunter 36 w/150mm for me and Coker with 150mm for Beau. 2006, both of us rode Hunter 36 w/150mm. We didn’t have G36 until 2008. In 2006, I have photos of Steve Nash, Chris Labonte, Kevin Chang, Irene Genelin, Mike Scalisi crossing the line on top and know Beau and I did it that year too. From the times in the photos, Chris finished at 10:15, Steve at 10:18, Kevin at 10:22, Irene at 10:28, Mike at 10:35. Beau and I must’ve already finished to take the photos. You have that Rob Bowman did it that year, finishing between Stave and Kevin. Maybe I just didn’t take a photo of him.
It would be fun to do it again - maybe next year. I could get oldest old man now - would beat Jim’s record from 2019 by 10 years!! I haven’t been unicycling much lately - just a few rides a year. Did a fun scavenger hunt with Tom Holub last year, beating all but one team of bikes! The Ultimate Alleycat on Uni! | Strava
Thanks, @Nathan. That lines up with what @mscalisi wrote here https://unicyclist.com/t/mt-diablo-hillclimb/84527 — he, Chris LaBonte, Nathan Hoover, Beau Hoover, Keven (phlegm), Rob Bo, and Steve Nash all raced that year. The official results linked there show Beau, you, and Steve as the top 3, but Chris and Mike are not listed. Do your photos show bib numbers? That might help clarify.
That 2009 info was super helpful. I have already used it in the results table since I could not find official results online.
Your 2002 photos and race report also helped identify riders and their setups. Do you happen to know who the “guy with clip-in pedals” is — name, bib number, approximate time, uni setup, did he ever exist? Also, does Scot’s giraffe have a 24" wheel?
That would be fun. Maybe Jimbo will join too — he is in very good shape. With this year’s riders planning to return next year, there is no guarantee of a podium finish though.
I follow you on Strava, and I also met Tom soon after the scavenger hunt — he told me the whole story.
I’d say, 29er geared is almost certainly the optimal setup for Diablo. For the pure climb, which is 80% of the distance, ungeared is as fast or faster than geared, but you can’t make up the time on the descent near the bottom and the traverse at Rock City. And even the flattish section after Devil’s Elbow if you still have the legs for it.
But the ungeared 29er is more fun to ride.
Also, our training rides for Ride the Lobster had one lesson, which is that people are fastest (for them) on the setup they’re most accustomed to. So given the fact that many of the riders here are predominantly 36er riders, you’d expect that their fastest times would be on 36er despite the physical disadvantages of the setup.
Does the Mount Diablo challenge include the descent or just the ascent which would be the biggest challenge… for two-wheelers.
As for uni’s surely a freewheel would be faster than a geared on the way down?
The race is uphill-only. Some times we’ve ridden down afterwards and sometimes we’ve taken a shuttle. The best way to do it is to go down on the dirt, which is more fun and quite a bit shorter; the descent on the road is pretty dang boring on a unicycle.
I do not think I’ve seen any freewheel unicyclist who could take the downhill faster than any of the geared riders listed. But theoretically someone could.
Thanks, @tholub!
While I either agree with your claims or have no strong opinion on them, I cannot support them with the available data. I experimented a bit with this dataset and concluded that it is insufficient to draw any strong conclusions. You can slice the data in many ways to get almost any desired result.
The bike data is much more interesting for analysis, but that is another topic. As a byproduct of analyzing the bike results, I created this plot showing the unicycle data over about 10k bike results.
Surprisingly, both 2025 riders — Kostya and Jayden — have chosen ungeared and brakeless 28ers for the climb, and both rode back down. As far as I can see on Strava, the descent still took them about 1h25m, and Kostya was a bit faster with his super short 100mm cranks.
P.S. I am not sure if your data here is complete and correct. Did you race only 4 times? What was your fastest setup in 2008?
Things are changing — 15–20 years ago your riding buddies believed a brake was required for the run down to Athenian, and now teenagers do it brakeless. After watching a few MUni riders clear Chaparral Trail at JMP without brakes recently, I would question the idea that “the dirt” makes a brake mandatory. No strong opinion though.
That is too bad. Now the Top‑10 PB results are on 36" or geared. You were the only hope.
Thanks! I have it in my notes but not in the table. What is a little confusing to me is that here Crank length and hill climbs - #6 by tholub you wrote in 2007 that the last time you did Mount Diablo you did it on a 29er with 125 mm cranks after having used 150 mm for your previous attempts. If you were writing about MDC, that suggests you had at least three rides before 2007, but I have only found two. Did you possibly ride in 1999–2001? I also cannot believe that you stopped in 2009.
A brake isn’t “mandatory” for the dirt; I was riding these trails on MUni for 10 years before I ever had a MUni with a brake. But riding down 20% grade fire roads on a big wheel without a brake sucks.
I definitely didn’t ride Mount Diablo prior to 2002; 2003 was the first year I got seriously into unicycling as an athletic endeavor. But I don’t remember how many times I’ve done the official MDC event. The number of times I’ve ridden the mountain is higher, maybe 10 or 12 times on uni?
You did the official MDC event in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009. You did not participate in 2012 and up. If you did not do it prior to 2002, than the only question is about 2010 and 2011 participation. If you do not remember that, the info is probably gone.
