Are you going to Uninats too?
Hopefully but I guess they aren’t this year but next year as they are every two years…
I heard from a few people that it is going to be on every year.
Including this year. 
I hope its true. 
For some events, such as freestyle, there will be an “expert” competition for the best competitors. Everyone else will be split into gender and age groups; exactly what those groups will be has yet to be determined. We’re trying to avoid having a massive proliferation of age groups.
Nope i went to Naucc last year and i’m from New Zealand 
Awesome. It will be good to be back down in the Berkeley area. I had a great time when I was there last and am looking forward to coming back. especially for NAUCC 
Woot!
me too 
There is a site up now http://ugames.caluni.org/
no registration info up yet but there is a rough schedule that’s already looking pretty good. can’t wait!
I’m coming for sure. Also my friend from france Marin (TwoM) is staying with me so he’ll be there also 
Ahhhh! On se voit à San Fransisco TwoM
Thats 172 days away… Dang gotta start packing soon.
i see 5 hours for trials. will that allow for expert to go on there own time instead of mixed with intermediate? last year it was all mixed and it was pure chaos. if we either have our own time or our own lines away from the intermediate that would be great.
also i like the best trick and street showcase. and looks like the flatland is in a more public place. it will be awesome to get a public crowd out there.
+1 there were sometimes queues of about 10 people on a section
The schedule is pretty preliminary at this point, but we’ll take that into consideration.
We’re planning to do street and flatland in or near Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, at a space where there are usually lots of flatland BMX and skateboard riders, and huge numbers of tourists. There were some shots from there in Defect. It should be a great place for a showcase.
completely separating the experts I think is a great idea. Lately, in trials competitions choosing the correct line to wait has become good strategy…
I propose that there is two rounds for the experts. the first one that requires waiting in lines and riding with intermediate/beginner is a qualifying round. About seven riders will qualify into the final competition. After the first competition is over, About ten new lines will be created using the obstacles available from the competition. each qualifying rider will be given the chance to complete the new obstacles twice. pass/fail scores from qualifying round and final round will be added together to find the scoring. no need for a tie breaker. the tie will be decided by least number of attempts for the final round.
I think that this will not take much extra time as the obstacles being used will be left over from original competition. This will also test consistency and reduce risk of injury as the final lines only have two attempts per line. Also, this final round can double as a public showcase of unicycle trials skill. often intermediates and beginners want to watch the experts instead of being distracted by having to complete their own lines.
I think thats very true and an excellent point. However, I still think that the experts should be split out entirely like suggested above. Having them still compete among intermediate/beginners and then having a second round doesn’t really solve the original problem of it being crowded.
There’s always need for a tie breaker. What if everyone has the same score for each line? In any case, sounds like a nice idea for a finals, albeit probably needing 1-2 hours to build and run it.
As a spectator/photographer, I definitely like the idea of not mixing riders of all levels in multiple rounds. There are numerous reasons why this makes sense to me:
- People in the second and subsequent rounds don’t get the same obstacles; there is always wear & tear and breakage.
- People in the second and subsequent rounds get the advantage of watching everyone ride in the earlier rounds, making for an uneven rider experience.
- I’d like to see all the top riders going head to head.
- If it’s ever going to be a decent spectator event it has to last less than four hours. Having the top riders all going at the same time would address this, as would other ideas like Joe’s.
- Start with the entry level riders and work up to the top riders. The top riders are better-equipped to ride the lines that have been beaten up by the earlier riders.
- Also you can add new lines for the higher-level groups (more below).
I like the way the Trials was run at the 2008 NAUCC. There were lots of lines, to appeal to all levels. This made the event very accessible to entry level riders; a great way to introduce people to Trials riding. It was run in two or three groups. Riders had to choose their group/level ahead of time, as the beginner group did not have all the same lines as the experts. Not sure about this part, but I think the expert group also didn’t have to ride a whole area of easy lines, saving time for them. Instead, other lines/obstacles were closed to the previous group(s) and only open for them.
Then you just make sure the expert round starts at a fixed time, so your spectators know when they should show up!
Yes. Even if the field is only split in half it can help. The downside of this split is that it would lead to more waiting on the difficult lines.
as long as expert trials has there own time then im happy. plus the idea of having it as a public show would be awesome. if we could somehow have expert trials where the street and flat would be that would be awesome! at the mamoth mountain competition we had a hundred or so spectators surounding it and it made the whole thing so much better.
The trials was also really open to spectators at unicon xv.It makes it so much better,Naucc 09 there werent really any spectators
ya it seams the only non unicyclists that were there were wheel thieves!!! damn them. but ya i think naucc would be alot better if we could hold the more extreme events in more public areas. it helps alot as a competitor to feed on the energy of a crowd and we cant expect the sport to really grow when were hidden behind a highschool everytime we compete. i understand it would be alot more work to get the events in public areas but it would be much better.
That was the objective. Not just for the Trials event, but for all events. And we had to make a few compromises (for instance having MUni on Mt Vic instead of Makara Peak and Hawkins Hill)
Wow, when did you move to Australia?