give me a break? i wasnt running down your effort.
I’d agree. This same debate was had some years ago in the juggling community. There was frustration that Guinness decisions around what categories would be published for world records was haphazard, and generally very narrow compared to the progress being made in the sport (i.e. Guinness would only be interested in most objects juggled, versus looking at things like total number of catches with varying numbers of objects. On the flip side, the IJA (Juggling’s equivalent of IUF) did not have any formal system established for establishing records. Finally, a small group of very serious (and respected) jugglers established a governing committee, categories for records, criteria to document/establish a record attempt, etc.
With the growth in unicycling and the advances being made not just in speed and distance but also jumping and droping height, etc., maybe it’s time to look the same direction, either within the confines of the IUF, or outside it if that org isn’t willing to step up.
Here’s a link to the juggling records site for anyone interested: JIS Numbers Juggling Records
Final comment: as a witness to Pete’s record today, I would say that while the geared unicycle was definitely part of the equation, the record was absolutely a combination of both the person and the technology. That unicycle is VERY difficult to ride, and he kept an amazing pace with no breaks, no water, no crotch rest, no nothing for an hour. And maybe most amazingly, no falls until after he was well past the record distance.
Way to go Pete!
New Hour Record Video
I figured out how to compress my 12MB vid down to 1 MB. It is on page two of Tom B’s gallery.
The quality is decreased but you can get a real good idea of the cadence. It is deceiving when you’re used seeing high cadence to go 14-15mph.
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by unisk8r
If you don’t like it (jagur), go make an accredited attempt of your own! But please don’t run down my effort…
Have to agree with Jagur here. He didn’t ‘run down’ your effort any more than I did or anyone else did. He was just pointing out that Guiness has requirements for their records. The Guiness folks are hard to pin down, so I’m not sure what the requirements are, either.
Some points I’d like to make:
-
You have built an amazing machine. As you noted, the Guiness folks and the IUF need to agree and to make some changes. Right now, both are a bit out of touch with changes in our little world o’ unicycles.
-
Your effort extends beyond creating the machine: You rode the damn thing, and pretty fast, and without falling! That is great. But I’m not sure it makes sense to submit it to the GBofR when it’s already been ‘broken’ many times. There are probably at least 5 riders who’ve passed the 16-miles-in-an-hour mark (I can think of me, my brother, and Christian Hoverath and would guess that several TCUC folks have already done so). It’s sort of like a person taking credit for something just because he was the first to take credit for it (rather than the first to do it).
I should note that I was certainly not the first person to ride a Coker fast for an hour or any length of time, and I’m not claiming to be. I’m not upset that someone else will get credit for a record for speed-Cokering. The only thing I’ve ever done first with unicycling is to coin ‘UPD’ – and I’m glad you didn’t suffer as a result of your UPD, Pete – that could have been nasty.
I felt the same about Lars’s 24-hour riding record. It was totally breakable by many people. Ken trained for it and was able to smash it easily (by quite a few miles). Lars did his DURING a huge and amazing ride and didn’t do it on a track. So I am not sure why Lars didn’t just satisfy himself with the knowledge that he’d done this great thing. After posting his news to us, he got a lot of praise and thumbs up, and that’s all I think I’d want. If the IUF acknowledged his record, that’s the pinnacle of acknowledgement. But doing it by the standards of Guiness and taking the time to submit it just right and getting all the i’s dotted for the Guiness folks – well, it just wasn’t worth it for that record, is my opinion. I hope this makes sense and doesn’t come off as an attack.
Bottom line: Accrediting does not make the achievement any ‘better.’ I don’t think we need to be talking about this as a ‘record’ just because it’s going to be submitted to Guiness! It was a nice achievement that demonstrated an even nicer one (namely, the speed and potential of this beautifully engineered machine).
Nice work with the record, maybe you can work on the chip.
Pete didn’t make the record up and he wasn’t first to set the record. It is an existing Guinness record set by Stefan Gauler. Lars also wasn’t first to set the 24 hour record. The 24 hour record was also an existing record last set by Stefan Gauler. Here’s a link to Stefan’s web pages about his records: Meine Einradweltrekorde. Both Pete and Lars were beating existing records.
The old 1 hour mark was 21,290 meters (13.229 miles). That was a very beatable mark and should be beaten. Those who think they can beat Pete’s mark should step up and do it.
Right now the 1 hour mark is a bit out of sync because the pace set on the 100 mile record (6 hours 44 minutes) is an average of 14.85 miles/hour, which is faster than the current 1 hour record. But yeah, those who think they can beat the record should do so. That’s how we find out what the fast times should be. Otherwise we’d just sit around a table and try to agree on what the fastest time for a 1 hour time trial should be.
Re: New Hour Record
In article <unisk8r.1l2yhm@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
“unisk8r” <unisk8r@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:
> As the creator of Purple Phaze, a geared 36" uni, I wanted to
> demonstrate it’s capabilities. So today, at age 46 and a rider of 15
> months, […]
As a rider of six months and 45 years, i must say you are truly
inspirational. Seriously – I have pictures from Florian’s Red Square
visit of you, Greg and Florian posted in my office.
I hope to be as accomplished when i’m as old as you!
Watch your back. 
Kudos and BZ.
…max
–
I’m a moron so you don’t have to be! (one)
<http://flickr.com/photos/86932068@N00/tags/bravesirstupid/>
Excellent achievement… but being that the record was accomplished on a custom machine that Pete built… and being that most people don’t have the expertise to build such a machine… I think it is rather unrealistic that too many people will have access to the equipment necessary to pose much of a threat! Perhaps when production 36" geared uni’s become available on the market others will be able to attempt to break the record… until then, the chances seem rather slim!
Good ride…I think all these rides and record-breaking should be documented…and the rules set up as well…Maybe for shorter distances the standard 24"/125mm combo would be good…For longer distances Cokers/unlimited crank length should be the norm…There obviously should be an unlimited category which should take care of the bigger wheels, geared unicycles etc…
Probably true but would be great to have your name somewhere in the record books or getting recognition from your peers…100 years from now they’ll be asking about the first dude to break the 20 mile barrier in 1 hr…and no one will know…Gotta record and document all these achievements…The IUF needs to get invovled quickly as more and more records will tumble…For the moment,good on ya,Pete( unisk8r )…
What do you mean? David Stone just said that at least five other unicyclists have done 16 miles in an hour already on standard non-geared Cokers!
Wow! Awesome stuff Pete. I’m so glad you’ve done it. It’s an awesome achievement. I hope you get a chance to be in the next edition before someone has a go at the record.
As far as records go, the most difficult part is the amount of paperwork you have to do, and submitting it to Guinness etc. The riding itself is the easy part (for me anyway).
I know that there are several people who can, have gone, faster than Petes record, but unless they go through the effort of putting together the necessary paperwork, it will only be recognised as unofficial records. For instance, I was averaging slightly over 25km/h for my first/second hours during my 24hr record attempt, and the 100mile record has an average speed of 23.8km/h. The late Unibiker posted a time of about 25km/h, as did Ken Cline. Christian Hoverath and Frank Bonsch both did about 1hr 40min for a 42km marathon.
I agree it would be nice that the official unicycling body (IUF) set’s it’s own record rules- much as how Guinness goes to the UCI (Bicyclings official body) to get their records. But unfortunately at this point I don’t think the IUF rules are adequate for Guinness to accept. Until such a time, I’d rather be working on Guinness’ rules than the IUF’s.
Anyway, keep these records coming! It’s great for the sport.
Once again, well done Pete!
Ken
p/s I have some videos from my 24hr record ride. How do I compress them?
Congradulations! What a stunning job. Purple Phase must be inordinately difficult to ride.
I have two comments.
-
Guinness Records and paper work are irritating BUT it is designed to be as fair as possible, so for the next contender, where ever the location, there are at least some standard guidelines to follow. I’ve dealt with Guinness Records for Solar Car racing (http://www.midsun.uwaterloo.ca/tour). The paper work is time consuming, currently ongoing, but a necessary element in order for any governing body to assume some form of consistency. The Solar Car competitions also have an active governing body to help insure consistency. Its rules and regulations are what Guinness Records chooses to follow.
-
The IUF does need to come to terms with geared and non-geared unicycles. For geared unicycles it looks like only a small number of people will be able to afford them; whether they build prototypes or purchase soon to be available models. Acquiring standard unicycles is far easier and cheaper, thus more accessible for everyone.
It really comes down to what’s desired. Pushing the sport with gears is a great idea. Progress, Advancement, Technology, Human Achievement, you name it, there are lots of great reasons, but I would hate for those reasons to come at too high a cost where the average rider can never compete because the records are financially inaccessible.
Well then I suppose Pete’s current record could be challenged on a non-geared uni… but the point that I’m trying to make is that having a completely unique custom geared uni (with a gear ratio higher than anything else that’s been built recently)… puts Pete at a MAJOR advantage over anyone else who attempts to break the record on a non-geared uni (or even a geared uni with a lower gear ratio… such as Harper’s geared 36er).
Once the unicycling community has easy access to geared uni’s (with equal or similar performance capabilities as Pete’s amazing design)… then and only then will we start to see serious attempts to challenge the record.
In my opinion, any attempt to break the record on a non-geared uni isn’t really a serious attempt at the record… because if that same rider (or a rider with equal talent) had access to a geared uni… they would destroy the (non-geared) uni speed record.
You could be the fastest spinner in the world, but without the ability to build or borrow a geared uni… I doubt even the fastest spinner in the world will hold on to the record for too long… probably just until another decent spinner comes along and attempts the record on a geared uni!
Since 36" geared uni’s are not currently in production, it seems that Pete (or another rider with similar geared uni building talent) will most likely hold on to the record for a while.
Congratulations, Pete! A fine job. Now that you’ve made one attempt, I’m sure you will improve just with practice and the newly-acquired experience.
Thanks all very much for your support & encouragement! Just attempting the hour record was hard work, and riding at 15+mph for 57 minutes was a 110% effort for me. I now give even more respect to riders like Christian Horvath and the like.
But I must “say my peace” to counter Stone’s opinion. I said in my first post that all I wanted to do was to bring attention to the racing aspect of unicycling and to encourage others to try this. Whatever the official record is, that’s what it is. But to say that mine should not be the record just because there are better riders in the world defeats the whole notion of an official record.
Take the bike world for example. The hour record is revered despite there being “better” riders than the record holders (eg Lance is arguably a better cyclist than Chris Boardman). But if those arguably better riders never make an official record, then it stands as is. You can argue all day long that Chris’ record shouldn’t count because Lance did a point-to-point time trial faster. But Chris did it under the then-prescribed standards. That’s how records work. Not by arguing about it informally.
Technology is certainly an issue in all this. But for us unicyclers, why should a world record not be open to all wheels? Yes, we should have certain standards for comparison. But not little things like crank length. I understand that access to geared wheels is currently limited. But that will change, and quickly.
Tom pointed out the progress made by the juggling world in regulating their records. I too want to see that for us. So, the bottom line is a call to action for the IUF to develop regulations that reflect the modern day racing world. For now, though, I will submit my record and we’ll see what Guinness says, OK?
Congradulations on the fantastic ride. I would be proud to say I stayed on my uni without a UPD for 1 hour let alone pedal it at a very high rate of speed. Keep up the good work, and lets see a 24 hour push!
PS… Did you “P” in the cup, I dont want this to get blown out of control like baseball. Not only was he on a gear’d UNI, but I bet he was on the JUICE…
I bet the first guy to fly a jet plane in the speed record ran into the same problems…" that thang didnt have a propeller!"
Congradulations… best wishes
Steve0we
In my humble opinion, Pete has accomplished several MAJOR accomplishments in his attempt to “bring attention to the racing aspect of unicycling”… accomplishments that go way beyond his stated goal.
First and foremost, Pete’s imagination to conceive of his “jackshaft” geared design and how to build it (somewhat) cost effectively… and his technical/engineering abilities to bring the design to fruition are extremely impressive. (I assume Pete was inspired to come up with his design because he was not content with the limitations of the internally geared hub.)
Next, Pete mastered learning how to ride his machine quite well and assumed the role of “test pilot” and chief engineer… and further improved his design.
Finally, Pete set out to break the official world record - which he did in spectacular form - and deal with the hassles of submitting it to Guinness… which is probably the most effective thing he could do to spotlight unicycle racing and gain more attention for this niche of the sport – which was his initial intention.
Pete is a true innovator in the sport… and a skilled rider who is pushing the sport forward by leaps and bounds. I think the history books will remember Pete’s huge contribution to the sport – with or without an “official” world record!
lets see if i get my head cut off again. 
the “jack shaft” was originaly invented in abouts 1884 on what was called a
Kangaroo
Don’t flame me for asking…
How does distance work on a velodrome? Is the inner painted line the official distance? Do you have to be outside this line (which means being on the banked portion of the track)?
Do hour records have do be done on a velodrome track?
Jagur, you are correct! Tommi Miller gave me a video of the history of cycling, which had a brief image of that exact cycle. I was mesmerized…it was so simple in concept and appeared to hold the key to external gearing. But, it had chains on both sides of the wheel, which I realized caused binding issues with the chains. I believe some folks have discovered this same phenomenon trying dual-chained giraffes. It somehow doesn’t work as smoothly as you’d think. So I decided to combine both sides into one by using the jackshaft. The cycle pictured really doesn’t have a jackshaft, it uses twin direct-drive systems which is different.
Another issue was the pedal axis. The IUF has a rule that says the pedal axis must be the same as the wheel. So I incorporated that concept into my design. Plus it solved the practical problem of making the crank attachments shown below the wheel axle sturdy enough.
Recall too the guy that made the over-the-wheel jackshaft (pic is on John Foss’ site). That was good in principle, but was far too complicated for a simple power transmission.
So yes, I borrowed alot of different ideas, but I feel that mine is unique enough that if I wanted to patent it, I could have. But all that matters is that it is capable of being manufactured, which may be sooner than we think…