NAUCC 2013 discussion thread

General
63

Just South of the main event…

Check this out: http://www.ptagtrails.org/park_info/north-park-freeride-area

North Park Freeride Area
Quick Facts*
Located in North Park, 13 miles north of Pittsburgh
Includes the Dr J Freeride Trail and Freeride Skills Park
A free, unique outdoor public facility designed by volunteers
Closed during winter/spring until April or May opening date is announced
Location*

PTAG Park Steward(s)*
Jamie Pfaeffle
Maintenance

Contact PTAG Park Steward(s)
The NPFR Build Crew consists of more than 30 volunteers who put in over 2,000 hours. Design and installation were led by Dr. J (Jamie) Pfaeffle, Bill Kirk and Dave Brunger. The NPFR Build Crew will continue to grow and be active in the installation and maintenance of the North Park Freeride Area, the only one of its kind within hundreds of miles. Workdays are announced on our Events page and on our Facebook page. In 2012, work is planned on the Dr J Freeride Trail for maintenance and a re-route of the middle section with additional features. A new jump line is planned for the Skills Park.

Profile*
The North Park Freeride (NPFR) Area is a unique outdoor freeride and skills area. NPFR consists of the Dr J Freeride Trail and the recently completed Freeride Skills Area.*

Dr J Freeride Trail
The Dr J Freeride Trail is an advanced trail for intermediate level freeride enthusiasts. The trail is fast and flowy with elevated wooden bridges, drop-off features, jumps, banked turns, a rock garden and skinny wooden bridge features.

Freeride Skills Park
The new Freeride Skills Park was installed by a dedicated group of volunteers during 2011. The purpose of the Skills Park is to help beginner freeriders increase their skill levels to be able to ride the Dr J Trail. The Skills Area offers four short trails with features of progressive difficulty for beginners to “session” and refine skills. There is a line with drops, a line with skinnies, and a beginner jump line. An intermediate jump line is planned. All lines flow to the bottom of the Skills Area and where there is a return trail to get to the top.

The NPFR Area is located next to Sharon Shelter (Pie Traynor Field Area), near North Park Pool. Note: The Freeride Trail and the Skills Park are closed in the Spring until April or May to repair Spring thaw damage and permit mud to dry out. Please check the PTAGwebsite and our Facbook group in the Spring for opening date infomrmation. We also postworkday information to the PTAG website and our Facbook group, Pittsburgh Freeride.

Here’s a list of riding areas, don’t know anything about them, but there appears to be a lot of choices:

Anyone familiar with these areas?

Does the new Freeride area get busy on the weekend? How does it fair on wet days?

64

Thanks for the thanks. We’re going to do our best to make it a great week of events. As far as things to ride in goes, the beginning of the week will have a lot of the road events (check the schedule page). The beginner MUni course will be open from Monday on, although the competitions are later in the week. Track day is a fun day too if you’ve never before been to an NAUCC and raced a uni.

Honestly, if there’s any way to make the whole week, it would be advised. If we can make this NAUCC as good as some of the ones we’ve been to, you’ll regret leaving early.

The video by Buzz is just a montage of what we did that day. It’s 4 minutes include a bulk of the 1 mile trail near the beginning- as we rode it in BOTH directions. There isn’t a whole lot of trail that I’d want to 36 ride on. The flow of Buzz’s video is due to some of the short sections making for good video. The benchmark time for the XC Expert course is 1:14. Compared to a 4 minute video, there’s a lot more to ride and experience.

As far as the Uphill and Downhill courses go, they aren’t set yet. It’s not the problem of finding a nice stretch of trail, it’s the issue of being able to access it easily with a bunch of people to session it and keep the courses reasonably close to each other. In the grand scheme of planning the events, these won’t take as much to plan as the longer courses do. I’ll have those after the snow melts.

I know you guys are all gung-ho about 36 trail riding and you can bring your 36, but I really think you’ll be disappointed with trying to ride it off road at Moraine. I personally have a lot of experience with a 36, both on road (take a look at past NAUCC results if you need to) and off road (local race series). Moraine is NOT going to be a ton of fun on a 36- unless you like walking more than riding.

If this is for NAUCC, see the schedule. We have a MUniCross planned. There isn’t an off road big wheel event at Moraine because I couldn’t find a good course due to the technical and steep nature of the terrain.

You can bet on that, but most people will be here for the week. That’s the way a NAUCC typically goes.

Moraine is awesome. It is VERY technical. The Advanced MUni trail gives an idea what to prepare for- although it’s missing some of the bits that were in Buzz’s video as we changed the course after I shot the video. I don’t have a ton of footage of the more technical bits as I don’t have a nice shockproof camera and I’ve been focused on riding and getting the GPS data. There are photos out there from the http://www.monthofmud.org series that may be of help.

You can do what you like. If you’ve never been to an NAUCC before, you’ll probably find yourself hanging out and being sociable as there are a lot of cool people in attendance. It probably needs to be noted that you must register as a competitor or non-competitor if you plan on unicycling.

Thanks Tom! There is A LOT of good, fun uphill riding around here. We don’t have mountains per se, but a goodly number of lung busting, steep hill climbs. I wish I could have been at UGames 2010 to compare terrain. Around here is not like the Midwest. Not that the Midwest is bad, it’s just different.

I’m not sure if by the 7 miles of biking you’re referring to the paved trail or not that is often listed for the trail in the park. There are more than 7 miles of off-road trails at the park that are bike friendly. Within the park there are many technical sections worth sessioning as well.

Define close. Within an hour’s driving radius, yes.

That’s up to you. I never have rented one. When I spoke to the Ranger and filed our permit, he said they fill fast. Check the Moraine State Park site for details.

65

So if we register as a non competitor, can we still enter an event for fun or would we be considered a competitor?

66

In order to be in any event, you must be registered as a competitor.

In order to ride a unicycle in any gym or other NAUCC facility (including outside) you must be registered as a non-competitor.

Ben, my advice is to register as a competitor. If you register early, it should be under $100 for the whole week, which is a total bargin especially compared to most (one day) bike events. Registering as a competitor does not have to mean that you think you are good enough (or have the desire) to compete for a National title, it can just mean that you want to compete for fun.

One of the analogies that we tell our club members here in Madison when we try to get them to go to NAUCC is the following: NAUCC is like a summer camp, but way cheaper. Where else can you find a summer camp for (for big [you included] and little kids) for $10 a day? Also, where else can you ride with (compete) against this many unicyclists? I know you have expressed the opinion of not wanted to actually compete and the desire to volunteer. But as a both a serious competitor (in road and muni events) and competing for fun (freestyle and trials), as well as a huge volunteer (or event director), I totally advocate registering as a competitor. I think you will regret the decision otherwise.

67

Thanks Scott, that makes sense, I’m not concerned about the money, more just not wanting to be in a competition mode.

So Dave, the Moraine website says there are seven miles of mountain bike trails, but >25 miles of hiking trails. Am I missing something?

So what about. the Freestyle area down by Pittsburg? Is it worth a stop on the way to or from NAUCC?

Hey Ally, would you prefer camping or are you comfortable sharing a cabin? I have a small pop up that I can bring, but it’s a two person set up/down and I’m not sure if my wife is coming, in which case I can’t really manage it solo. If we car camp I can sleep in a tent or in the back of my Element.

68

@Ben, I’m coming up for the whole week, probably alone and was planning on tent camping in Harmony but would be interested in a group camp or cabin.

My first thought was, wow that looks totally rideable on a 36er! I’m definitely up for a 36er muni run inbetween events. I plan to compete in all the road and muni events but inbetween I plan on spending some time on the trails. As far as outside trails, with so much to see and do, I’m sticking around town but maybe the Sunday after on the way home we could organize a ride at NPFR.

@Dave, Thanks for the replies and videos. I know hills and angles are hard to capture on video. “Gung-Ho about 36er trail riding”, haha :slight_smile: -I know I am! I really can’t get over the surprising technical capabilities of a 36er with 165’s, Walt Tire and a disc brake…so agile, so big, so fast, so smooth, ahhhhh!

I spent an hour last night going up and down the 2 steepest hills in town on my 36er, Moraine on the brain!

@Ally, I agree, the hotel offerings didn’t look too promising for the price and locations. Camping and even the B&B’s look like better options for me.

69

Scott- Summer Camp is a great analogy. For those new to NAUCC one of the great things about the registration being all inclusive is that you can register for some events that you normally would not do. It’s a good time to try out some new disciplines. I’d venture to guess few people have tried track on a uni that have not been to a convention, but it’s worth giving a go.

Ben- The North Country Trail runs through Moraine. No bikes or unis on the NCT. I’m not sure about what you mean about Freestyle. Freeride?

North Park has a lot of nice XC trails too. It would be a much better place for 36ers. It is about 1/2 hour in the opposite direction from the events.

@ALL: We don’t have any hotel deals yet. Our tourism bureau is very interested in people staying in hotels. They will work out deals and we will post them when we have the details. It will be in place when registration goes live.

I hope those who plan to use the 36ers and rip it up at Moraine take a lot of video. It will be nice to be proven wrong. I can say it time and time again; Moraine is not a good fit for a 36er.

Then again, what do I know?

70

Hugo Duguay

CanAm was used and respected for 20+ years as the title to the
Canada-United States auto racing series. The name is familiar to people and might do well for recognition.

71

+1 on Scott’s recommendation to register as a competitor. Enter the events and you can decide later how hard you want to push. Ride them for fun, or to your limits! But I also think you would regret it otherwise. Today, I no longer race to win, but I do race to be a part of it; to ride the courses under race conditions and challenge myself.

Some of my best recent memories of racing were the MUni Marathon at NAUCC 2008 (Rapid City). This was like an 8-mile journey through some remote trails outside of Sturgis, where many riders got lost! But I kept the powerful Jamey Mossengren in sight for much of the race. Also the Marathon race at Unicon XV, with about 2000’ of total climb; I was just happy to finish! That was the race where I got bitch-slapped off the unicycle by the Wellington winds. :slight_smile:

On the other hand, if you do want to help out, dedicated help is always welcome and needed! So don’t feel guilty if you choose to do that either. I recommend a mix though.

72

[quote="“J@Hey Ally, would you prefer camping or are you comfortable sharing a cabin? I have a small pop up that I can bring, but it’s a two person set up/down and I’m not sure if my wife is coming, in which case I can’t really manage it solo. If we car camp I can sleep in a tent or in the back of my Element. [/QUOTE”]

@Ben I would share a cabin or do a tent, I’d be happy to help you set up the pop up but I don’t think I am coming down until Wednesday and staying through until Sunday morning. Anything is fine. I don’t want anything too pricey. I am traveling with a friend of mine from Maine, he is coming to my house and then we will head to PA so there would be two of us to share costs.

@Dave I do have a quick question,are the dates definite for the event yet (not schedule of events but actual week). Only reason I am asking is the Facebook page says in the about section “Sunday, July 21st - Saturday, July 27th (tentative/subject to change)”. Only reason I ask is I requested vacation and it was approved, I just want to know if I should keep an eye out in case I need to change my request dates. Thanks.

73

@Ben I would share a cabin or do a tent, I’d be happy to help you set up the pop up and I could try to buy a tent for us for the trip, but I don’t think I am coming down until Wednesday and I will be staying until Sunday morning. No car camping for me, I have a Toyota Yaris bringing the unis and two of us will work but two sleeping in that car, not a chance :astonished: Anything else is fine. :slight_smile: I am traveling with a friend of mine from Maine, he is coming to my house and then we will head to PA so there would be two of us to share costs.

@JTurner sounds about right to me too, unless Dave gets something from the tourism bureau.

@Dave I do have a quick question,are the dates definite for the event yet (not schedule of events but actual week) the Facebook page says in the about section “Sunday, July 21st - Saturday, July 27th (tentative/subject to change)”. Only reason I ask is I requested vacation and it was approved, I just want to know if I should keep an eye out in case I need to change my request dates. Thanks.

Oh and thanks for these dates if it were the week prior there would be no chance of getting to this event.

74

were would a good place to car camp be? I am looking at just chilling more than competing.

76

Ben, I’m turning 47 in a few months. This summer will bring my third trip to nationals and I highly recommend competing. It’s not high pressure between riders but it will make you focus in a positive way and it will be more exciting. Most importantly, it will open doors for you to become a better unicyclist. You’ll meet a lot of great people and see a lot of impressive riding.

77

I don’t mind competing, I have raced unis in mtb races a few times and i have run in quite a few ultras. My thing with riding a uni is that I like to relax, look at the flowers so to speak, talk with and hang out with riding buddies; all of which is not going to happen in a race.

So maybe I’ll register so I can ride in the events and use the venues, but I’m just as likely to watch an event in the AM, then go free ride in the PM. I’m hoping that other folks will want to do the same.

@Ally, yeah, I’m thinking of cabin sharing at this point, esp since I’ll probably come solo and sleep in the Element on the way; my wife would probably prefer a cabin if she comes along. The camper is kind of a pain, even with two people it requires a lot of set up; I’m looking to get a different one…

78

@ally

There is a good chance Lori and I are coming… we will probably rent an RV so there will probably be space :slight_smile:

79

@Alan, I hope you guys go, yay! :slight_smile:

81

anyone know anywere free to car camp?

82

According to this thread registration is now open, here: http://uninationals2013.com/reg/

Exciting!

Also, disappointing that I’ll Miss Trials and Muni.

83

The Accommodations page is almost done. It will change significantly in the next few days.

84

This is going to be one of the best NAUCCs yet! Can’t wait!