Rolling Trials

General
1

Now that the new sport I proposed has a name (thanks to John Foss) and has come far enough along (thanks to excellent and insightful input and advice from John Foss, Kris Holm, Brian MacKenzie, Ben Plotkin-Swing and others) who all seem to support the idea… I felt it was time that this new sport deserves a new thread with a better, more appropriate title! If you have come across this thread and haven’t already read the previous thread regarding the development of this sport, you may want to check that out. The link to the previous thread is:

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=37440&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Now on to more about Rolling Trials…

This is what has been established so far for formally organized Rolling Trials competitions:

  1. You must compete in one of the following wheel size classes: 24”x3”, 26”, 28”/29”, 36” or Unlimited (any combination of any acceptable size).
  2. You’re allowed unlimited attempts.
  3. Hops are equivalent to dabs.
  4. Anything where the wheel can get air from its own momentum would not carry a dab (hop) penalty.
  5. If you clean (complete) the Section (or Line) with no dabs, you get a point.
  6. If you dab (hop), then you don’t make it and you don’t get a point.
  7. The person who cleans (completes) the most Sections/Lines gets the most points and wins.

These rules are essentially identical to Kris Holms’ unitrials rules, other than the wheel size classes and a hop being equal to a dab.

The winner of a formally organized Rolling Trials competition is awarded 3 Rating Points, 2nd place receives 2 Rating points, and 3rd place is awarded 1 Rating Point. Accumulate 10 points and you are a “Rated” Rolling Trials Competition rider/pilot.

Now here’s some more info on my ideas for Rolling Trials - both formally organized competitions (the basic rules for which were summarized above) and the worldwide, independent “Database” competition (which I describe below).

Rolling Trials tests riders’ ability to pedal their unicycle (24x3” wheel size or larger) through a variety of challenging terrain and over various obstacles. The sport was inspired by the ramps and obstacles typically found at skateparks and mountain bike parks. Rolling Trials competitors participating in the 24”x3”, 26” and 28”/29” classes are referred to as “riders,” while 36” class competitors are referred to as “pilots,” due to their speed capability, their ability to appear to “fly” up steep ramps and obstacles, and their ability to get air off jumps. Rolling Trials participants can compete (and get “rated”) in Rolling Trials in two different ways:

  1. By earning points from winning (or coming in 2nd or 3rd) at formally organized Rolling Trials competitions, or
  2. By earning points independently through submitting video proof and a sworn statement that you have cleaned (completed) an approved Section/Line with a difficulty rating of 6 or higher.

Rolling Trials Worldwide, Independent “Database” Competition

The competition I’m calling the “Database Competition” right now (for lack of a better term until John Foss comes up with one :D), is essentially a worldwide, independent competition that enables riders to submit proposed Sections to the “Database” (an Internet-based database that stores info and photos of Sections/Lines worldwide, as well as videos of riders that have cleaned approved Sections/Lines), and keeps a running tab on how many riders have attempted each approved Section/Line, cleaned each approved Section/Line (and if cleaned, in how many attempts), and the rating of the riders that successfully cleaned the Sections/Lines. This database will store all relevant information about the Section/Line (where it’s located, its current difficulty rating, etc.), the riders that cleaned it (their age, rating, location, etc.) and will establish the worldwide “Database” champion. It is possible that the Rolling Trials champion (points leader) for organized competitions turns out to be the same as the worldwide Database champion, but that won’t necessarily be the case.

A Section can either be an actual section of an MTB course or a stand alone obstacle that can be found in the existing landscape or one that has been built specifically for Rolling Trials. The line a rider/pilot would ride to complete a Section is usually:

  1. Easily discernable,
  2. Ridden once in a single direction, from the “entry point ” to the “exit point,” and
  3. Ridden frontward

Sections usually consists of MTB and/or BMX style obstacles, such as: berms, teeter-totters, a wide variety of ramps and elevated platforms, tabletop jumps, box jumps, drop-offs, skinnnies, elevated skinnies, log piles, rock gardens, bridges and swinging bridges. A Section can consist of a single obstacle or it can consist of several obstacles laid out in sequence.

“Lines” are typically found at skateparks, though they could also be found at MTB parks, in the existing landscape, or can be constructed specifically for Rolling Trials. A “Line” is the path (also referred to as a “line” – using a lowercase “l” for line, though) that a rider/pilot must ride over an obstacle in order to complete the Line (uppercase “L”) successfully and win the points. Lines include ramps, large jumps (quarter-pipe style jumps, launch jumps, tabletop jumps, and jumps with spines). A single obstacle can have several Lines, thus a rider/pilot may be able to successfully complete one Line of an obstacle, but be unable to complete another Line on that same obstacle. The line a rider/pilot would ride to complete a Line:

  1. May often not be immediately obvious just from looking at a picture of the obstacle – a picture of the obstacle with an arrow drawn depicting the Line is necessary.
  2. May require riding the obstacle in two directions, rather than a single direction. Riding up a ramp beyond the 10 ft. point (a line would be drawn across the ramp to mark the 10 ft. point in a competition) and then doing a 180 spin and riding back down, for example, could be one particular Line on that obstacle.
  3. May require backward riding (such as riding to the top of a straight ramp and coming to a momentary stall and then riding backward down the ramp (no sideward directional change). For Lines requiring the rider/pilot to change the direction of riding, the arrow will indicate the direction of riding (strictly frontward, frontward/backward… or even possibly frontward/backward/frontward – such as a line that required the rider/pilot to ride frontward up to the top of the ramp, come to a momentary stall, ride backward partially back down the ramp, and then do a 180 spin back to frontward in order to ride the rest of the way down the ramp frontward).

[I](continues below with next post)

[/I]

2

Here’s an example of a skatepark obstacle with several Lines:

big slant ramp.jpg

3

[B][U]

Lines:[/U][/B]

  1. Up & Down: Ride straight up the ramp beyond the (imaginary) line extending from where the catwalk (ledge on top of the middle ramp) meets the ramp on the left (that is being ridden), then initiate a 180 spin at the top of the ramp (above the extended line) ride down the ramp and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
  2. Halfway up, Backward back down: Ride halfway straight up the ramp, come to a momentary stall, and then pedal backward straight back down the ramp and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
  3. Straight to the top, Backward back down: Same as #2, only you have to ride all the way to the top of the ramp and backward all the way back down and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
  4. On to the top ledge and backward back down: Same as #3, only you have to ride straight up the ramp on to the top (flat) section and keep pedaling until the front of your tire comes within 6 inches from the barrier (fence wall) and then come to a momentary stall and then pedal backwards off the top of the ledge and backwards back down the ramp and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
  5. Across the Catwalk: Ride up the ramp on the left, then turn sufficiently to (clear your pedals and) ride up on to the catwalk (ledge on top of the middle ramp), then ride across the catwalk and drop off the ledge on the other side to the ramp on the other side and ride back down that ramp 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.

Those are just a few of the many possible lines on the obstacle pictured… there are lots more.

Database Difficulty Ratings:

10 = Never successfully completed by any of the top ten rated riders/pilots & 1st
rider/pilot to complete
9.X = Completed by fewer than 10 rated riders/pilots (X = a number from 1 – 9
and designates the # of riders to successfully complete the Section) 9.1 is
followed by the name of the 1st rider to complete the Section (for example:
9.1 JFoss would mean John Foss earned 10 points as the first person to
complete a 10 rated Section. The next 9 riders/pilots to complete that
same Section in the future will earn 9 points, as it is easier to complete a
Section that you know for sure is 100% doable. Once 9 riders complete the
Section, it then becomes a level 8 difficulty Section, unless it can be
completed by 5 of the top riders in 12 (or fewer) attempts
8 = Any level 9 Section that is completed by 10 or more riders in more than 12
attempts becomes a level 8 Section AND any Section in which the average
# of attempts of 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots is greater than 12
7 = Average # of attempts of 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots: 10 - 12
6 = Average # of attempts of 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots: 7 - 9
5 = Average # of attempts of 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots: 4 - 6
4 = Average # of attempts of 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots: 1 - 3
3 = 5 of the top 10 rated riders/pilots can complete the Section 3 times in 3
attempts.

[B]In order to be a Rated rider/pilot, you must earn a minimum of 20 points by cleaning Sections that have a difficulty rating of 6 or higher (you are awarded the point value of the Section/Line if you clean it) OR you must earn your rating by accumulating 10 points through formally organized Rolling Trials competitions.

[/B]
That’s it for now…
HCR

4

Fairly Difficult Lines @ ESPN skatepark

I’m attaching a couple more pictures of some obstacles from the ESPN skatepark in Philly where I rode my Coker (with the stock rim, unfortunately) briefly this past Thursday (just under an hour), but did have an amazing time! Leading up to my visit, almost everything went wrong. Without getting into a whole song and dance about what happened, I’ll just say that I couldn’t get my stock rim off because the bolt that holds the clamp on kept turning and it was impossible for me to stop the circular top of the bolt from spinning given the limited amount of tools that I had (I couldn’t hold it tight enough with a needlenose plyers and I didn’t have the vice grip type) and the local bike shop guy told me he needed 24 hrs to change the wheel for me! I think the design of those bolts is really lame and I’m going to replace them with the hex key type of bolts. In all fairness, I did let the bolts and clamps get rusted up pretty good due to my negligence (I didn’t always wipe all the moisture of my Coker after coming in from a ride in the rain or snow… hey I use it constantly because I rely on it to get around here in NYC… and I’m a bit lazy sometimes!)… and there is a small notch that’s supposed to grab to prevent it from spinning… but in my opinion, it’s still designed quite poorly! Anyway, after loosening up the bolts and NOT being able to get them off, it was also almost impossible to tighten them properly, so I almost didn’t get a chance to ride at all… not on my new Airfoil rim which I brought along and not even on my stock Coker rim. With enough time to get there to ride for almost an hour, I finally got my stock rim on decently tight so that I could use my Coker. Then it was a bit confusing to find the place inside this huge mall facility, but I finally got there and everyone who saw me there was extremely surprised to see my ride… and I heard the statement: “You gonna ride that in here, man?” repeatedly!

With just my stock rim, I was pretty hesitant to try any major drops because I figured there would be a pretty good chance that I would taco the rim. I think I felt it flex pretty badly when I messed up hopping up a curb on it recently, which made me even more concerned. Nonetheless, I did want to at least attempt the “Coker across the Catwalk” line (Line #4 above) and a couple of others (at least partially… up to the point of the drop)! Having attempted the “Coker across the Catwalk” line 3 times… I can definitely say that it is QUITE DIFFICULT. I anticipated it to be difficult, so I wasn’t surprised. In one of my earlier posts entitled “How doable is this?” (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37320) I stated I wanted to attempt it. I did get lots of encouragement and most of you guys thought I could pull it off… which I think I could, too, with a LOT more practice. I can tell you first hand, however, that when looking at a picture of something you’ve never tried before and thinking that it doesn’t look all that difficult… until you actually go and try it… you really have no idea of the difficulty level! The ramp at the ESPN skatepark was probably a good two feet higher than the one I rode in NYC and a bit steeper… which made it a lot of fun to ride… but getting across that catwalk is a whole different ballgame! I believe it is 100% doable by a skilled rider, however. Although the rules haven’t been completely formalized yet, I would propose that anyone who can pull that line off… especially on a Coker… (and prove it) automatically becomes a “rated” Rolling Trials rider/pilot. The two other Lines (on two different obstacles) that I attempted partially are attached below. The first ramp is the “Spine Jump” and the second one is the “Quarter-Pipe Style Launch Ramp with the Landing on Top and the Drop-off to the Straight Ramp.” I’ll describe the Lines in my next post. (By the way… I’m posting pictures and descriptions of “Lines” rather than “Sections” right now because “Sections” are easy to understand because of their similarity to unitrials “Sections”… but skatepark “Lines” are a newer concept and a bit more complicated to understand.)

5

Fairly Difficult Lines @ ESPN skatepark

I’m attaching a couple more pictures of some obstacles from the ESPN skatepark in Philly where I rode my Coker (with the stock rim, unfortunately) briefly this past Thursday (just under an hour), but did have an amazing time! Leading up to my visit, almost everything went wrong. Without getting into a whole song and dance about what happened, I’ll just say that I couldn’t get my stock rim off because the bolt that holds the clamp on kept turning and it was impossible for me to stop the circular top of the bolt from spinning given the limited amount of tools that I had (I couldn’t hold it tight enough with a needlenose plyers and I didn’t have the vice grip type) and the local bike shop guy told me he needed 24 hrs to change the wheel for me! I think the design of those bolts is really lame and I’m going to replace them with the hex key type of bolts. In all fairness, I did let the bolts and clamps get rusted up pretty good due to my negligence (I didn’t always wipe all the moisture of my Coker after coming in from a ride in the rain or snow… hey I use it constantly because I rely on it to get around here in NYC… and I’m a bit lazy sometimes!)… and there is a small notch that’s supposed to grab to prevent it from spinning… but in my opinion, it’s still designed quite poorly! Anyway, after loosening up the bolts and NOT being able to get them off, it was also almost impossible to tighten them properly, so I almost didn’t get a chance to ride at all… not on my new Airfoil rim which I brought along and not even on my stock Coker rim. With enough time to get there to ride for almost an hour, I finally got my stock rim on decently tight so that I could use my Coker. Then it was a bit confusing to find the place inside this huge mall facility, but I finally got there and everyone who saw me there was extremely surprised to see my ride… and I heard the statement: “You gonna ride that in here, man?” repeatedly!

With just my stock rim, I was pretty hesitant to try any major drops because I figured there would be a pretty good chance that I would taco the rim. I think I felt it flex pretty badly when I messed up hopping up a curb on it recently, which made me even more concerned. Nonetheless, I did want to at least attempt the “Coker across the Catwalk” line (Line #4 above) and a couple of others (at least partially… up to the point of the drop)! Having attempted the “Coker across the Catwalk” line 3 times… I can definitely say that it is QUITE DIFFICULT. I anticipated it to be difficult, so I wasn’t surprised. In one of my earlier posts entitled “How doable is this?” (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37320) I stated I wanted to attempt it. I did get lots of encouragement and most of you guys thought I could pull it off… which I think I could, too… with a LOT more practice (if my knees don’t buckle). I can tell you first hand, however, that when looking at a picture of something you’ve never tried before and thinking that it doesn’t look all that difficult… until you actually go and try it… you really have no idea of the difficulty level! The ramp at the ESPN skatepark was probably a good two feet higher than the one I rode in NYC and a bit steeper… which made it a lot of fun to ride… but getting across that catwalk is a whole different ballgame! I believe it is 100% doable by a skilled rider, however. Although the rules haven’t been completely formalized yet, I would propose that anyone who can pull that line off… especially on a Coker… (and prove it) automatically becomes a “rated” Rolling Trials rider/pilot. The two other Lines (on two different obstacles) that I attempted partially are attached below. The first ramp is the “Spine Jump” and the second one is the “Quarter-Pipe Style Launch Ramp with the Landing on Top and the Drop-off to the Straight Ramp.” I’ll describe the Lines in my next post. (By the way… I’m posting pictures and descriptions of “Lines” rather than “Sections” right now because “Sections” are easy to understand because of their similarity to unitrials “Sections”… but skatepark “Lines” are a newer concept and a bit more complicated to understand.)

jump ramps.jpg

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Two Lines for the “Spine Jump” pictured above

Two Lines for the “Spine Jump” pictured above (the middle ramp in the picture):

  1. Ride straight up the Spine Jump onto the top of the Spine, then drop down the other side of the ramp and ride 12 feet beyond the jump.

  2. Ride straight up the Spine Jump on the far right-hand side and get a small amount of air over the spine. Perfom an aerial 90 degree pivot turn and land on the top of the Spine, with your wheel now perpindicular to it’s direction during your run-up and launch. Next, pedal along the top of the spine to the far left-side of the ramp, then do a 90 degree pivot turn and drop down the other side of the ramp and ride 12 feet beyond the jump.

I only attempted Line #1… and only partially because I didn’t want to risk tacoing my stock rim. I made it up onto the spine several times, but jumped off at that point rather than completing the Line. Once I get my Airfoil rim installed, I’ll go back and attempt to clean (complete) that line… though I have to tell you that this Line is a lot scarier than it looks!

All you skilled PA riders (like TheObieOne3226 & shadowuni) should be at this local Hotspot, cleaning these (and other) lines!!! You guys are a lot younger than I am and your bones will heal a lot faster :smiley:

Now on to the next line (pictured below and described in the following post)…

qpipe with ledge & slant ramp 2.jpg

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Line #1 for the Picture Above…

Line #1 for the Quarter-Pipe Style Launch Ramp with the Landing on Top (pictured above)

This one may be the easiest of the all…

  1. Ride straight up the launch ramp to the landing on top, then drop off the landing onto the straight ramp below and ride down the straight ramp and 12 feet beyond where the straight ramp meets the floor.

Simple as that!

In order to encourage highly skilled Coker riders to get involved in the new sport of Rolling Trials (and to stimulate the development of highly skilled Coker-class Rolling Trials pilots), I’ve come up with an idea for a contest. Clean (complete) all four lines (“Coker across the Catwalk,” “The 2 Spine Jump Lines” and the one described in this post within 6 months from now (on a Coker) and I’ll buy you a Stock Coker! This contest is officially started… so get to the X Games skatepark in Philly with a Coker ASAP… and make me buy you one!!!

8

Re: Rolling Trials

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:26:05 -0600, “HardcoreCokerRider” wrote:

>4) Anything where the wheel can get air from its own momentum would not
>carry a dab (hop) penalty.

Suggest you replace “can get air” with “gets air”. Otherwise, this
rule would allow regular hopping at any place where the wheel just CAN
get air from its own momentum.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

It’s impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what’s in a name) Childs

9

Re: Rolling Trials

Good up until you make this distinction - in an effort to give more honor to someone that rides your preferred wheel type.
Even that omits the fact that the entire “sport” centers around the fact that someone on a Coker can`t hop worth a damn. :wink:

Nonetheless, I like the spirit:
If you cant beat em, create a new sport. :slight_smile:

10

Why does it have to be 24x3 as the smallest tyre. Does this mean I can´t do this new sport with my 24x2.6 Uni ?

11

Re: Re: Rolling Trials

I had a feeling some of the riders of smaller wheels might take offense to my referring to Coker riders as “pilots” in this sport, but I do believe the Coker (36") class will be similar to the “heavy weight” class in boxing, in that it usually attracts the greatest amount of spectators (but I could be wrong, of course). In any case if many of you feel the same way, I can either:

  1. Forget about referring to Coker (36") riders as pilots, or
  2. Refer to all riders in this sport as pilots, or
  3. Not worry about offending you (or the others) who don’t ride Cokers and leave the terminology as is.

What do you guys think?

The entire “sport” does not omit the fact that hopping is not allowed… the fact that hopping is not allowed is clearly stated in the rules. No hopping was the first rule to be established for the sport and the rule that obviously laid the foundation for the sport. Rolling is the essence of this sport… which is designed to test your riding ability, not your hopping ability! If you’re really stuck on participating in just those sports that require hopping, however, then I suggest you stay with regular Trials… or go get a Pogo Stick! By the way, although "hopping’ is not permitted in Rolling Trials… that doesn’t mean people on Cokers can’t hop… I’ve already seen Brian MacKenzie do some amazing hopping on his Coker… and my Coker hopping is coming along pretty nicely, too.

Actually, I established Rolling Trials because I think it’s a really cool idea that a lot of unicyclists would enjoy and that would enrich the sport, possibly help expand the sport, and simply add another fun form of competition… NOT because I couldn’t “beat 'em.” Once this sport picks up some momentum and attracts a good amount of participants, I don’t even think I’ll be a top contender!

12

Once the 24x3 size became allowable, I was concerned that there would be other 24" sizes that might want to compete, too. I am seriously considering making any 24" sized wheel the minimum class size for Rolling Trials. What do you think? I am concerned about having too many classes, though, which is one of the reasons why 28"/29" is a single class (also because they are very close in size). Perhaps all 24" wheel sizes and 26" wheel sizes should be a single class (24"/26")… or do you think the (relatively small difference) in wheel size would make the competition too uneven if we combined those wheel sizes into a single class (24"/26"). Let me know your thoughts…
Thanks,
HCR

13

This is like people riding mountain bikes complaining that they cannot compete in the tour de france because their equipmant isn’t suitable.

By allowing smaller and smaller wheels into this type of event, you are diminishing the goals of what the even was set up to be in the first place.

A fast paced sport that would have people flying around banked turns and up ramps that simply would not be feasible with a smaller, low momentum wheel.

Simply put, this event would be much more to 29’s + and I think the event should stay at those wheel dimensions

A 24" wheel size would be much more suited for a MUni race

A whole new spin on unicycle events, really. I love it!..unless I am picturing this event incorrectly. If it is mostly on skinnies and raised wooden stuff that you wouldn’t really even get too much speed anways, then I think there should not be any tire size restriction.

14

Thanks a lot for your input, Brian. My initial thoughts/intuition regarding wheel size were exactly the same as yours… 29"+, but then other members made the argument that allowing the smaller size wheel unis would make the sport a lot more inclusive, that the smaller wheel riders would still have a lot of fun riding these types of obstacles and competing in this sort of competition (though I don’t think they’d be able to clean all the Sections/Lines that a Coker rider/pilot could), and the sport would grow faster due to the larger number of participants. Thus the debate goes something like this:

Allow 29" and 36" classes (maybe even higher if geared uni’s become widely available), but nothing smaller. This will keep the sport “fast and furious” the way it was intended!

  • OR -

Allow smaller wheel sizes (smallest being 24" or possibly 26") which won’t be able to attempt to clean all the Sections/Lines, but they’ll still have fun (even if it isn’t quite as exciting to watch), and it will help attract larger numbers of riders to the sport… and the smaller wheel size classes could be seen as a “training” class for the 29" and 36" classes.

I’d love to get some more opinions, so please let me know what you think the smallest wheel size class should be for Rolling Trials…

Thanks, HCR

15

I don’t think so Tim, if the smaller wheel type is adopted, it couldn’t have that distiction. 24 and 26 are both ‘small wheels’ and riders who ride those would realistically be faster on what they are used to riding on.

16

Huh? (or in Canadian: Ay?) Did Tim pose a question? If so, what’s Tim’s forum name? What distinction? I’m a little bit confused by your response. Perhaps you could expand upon your thoughts and clarify a bit… Also, I had seen in my earlier thread (New Uni Event) that you seemed to have agreed with Ben Plotkin-Swing about including the 24x3 wheel size in the sport. I have mixed feelings due to the reasons I stated above (the debate), but I tend to be leaning toward my original thinking of 29"+ size, which you seem to be favoring more recently. I can be persuaded either way, though, so please HELP ME! What are your current thoughts? All opinions are appreciated!

17

From Home improvment with Tim Allen. That show coined the phrase, and made it acceptable to say, ‘I don’t think so Tim,’ whatever the person’s name was :slight_smile:

18

But that then turned in to why can’t 2.6’s be in? I think the wheel size needs to be the determining factor for classes, not the tire size

19

honestly… I would much rather see Cokering go into a more race-ish type of sport…you know…like two tracks…one rider against the other… just fast racing action

20

The Rolling Trials wheel size classes have been updated. The approved wheel size (any tire size is acceptable) classes are now:

  • 24"/26" (you can use any combination of 24" and 26" wheel uni’s w/any combination of tires)
  • 28"/29" (you can use any combination of 28" and 29" wheel uni’s w/any combination of tires)
  • 36" (you can use a 36" wheel uni with any tire you want out of the vast selection :D)
  • Unlimited Class (you can use any combination of any of the above wheel size uni’s)
  • Geared Classes (geared classes aren’t approved yet, but they may be sometime in the future!)

I am now fairly confident that the Classes are how they should be and won’t change much in the future.

You’re all set to compete with your current equipment in the 24"/26" Class or the Unlimited Class, fexnix!