I use ( good quality) pvc tape. It seems to hold up pretty well we have uni with the saddle made out of sponge and PVC tape that held up very well ( its a DM T bar underneath) and my hockey uni has its bumpers held on with pvc tape warpped right round the saddle, no problem with a stickey backside yet!
I’ve got a roll of white ready and waiting. The writing does rub off eventully tho!
SArah
maybe keep the spare unis in a clearly marked area, and ask that users return them there? less hassle than taping them all
ah, but it’s much more fun to make a load of stickers which say “use me” 
als, i don’t think I’ll be able to come after all. maybe next time.
Hi Sarah,
I am bringing some tough card tags with elastic attached which might be of use, I’ve already put them in the car so I don’t forget! My favourite is labelled “heavy” but another labelled “standby” is day-glo and of reasonable size.
The three of us will be attending.
Keith
The more labels the better- I want those unis to come home again after all.
During the meet there will be a business meeting ( hopefully short) to discuss the future of the SW uni meets. A couple of things need to be talked about.
Your input will be welcome.
Sarah
future meets & club
As I won’t be there, I thought I’d better say something here.
Please take into consideration I’ve only attended one SWUM!
The current format & regularity (3 times a year) is good. make it more frequent it will be less of a special event & less people will attend (I was amazed at how far some people had come). Having unicycle.com there is great, as it was really good to see (and buy) stuff that I wouldn’t necessarily go for unseen. if it’s more frequent then Roger et al would be less inclined to come to trade, which I see as a big draw for people wanting to see and buy the latest stuff.
A club is an excellent idea, but remember Sarah that there’s a risk that you could get dumped with all the administration (not so likely with this community but I’ve seen it happen many times elsewhere) and have to store, transport & maintain extra equipment purchased by the club too. If enough people are as half as enthusiastic as you are, then there won’t be a problem.
having read this over, it seems very pessimistic! My apologies, but these are the thoughts that come to mind, that need considering as well as the more numerous positives. Regular (monthly?) meets all around the country would be great (London has a notable absence) and will happen in time.
Re: future meets & club
not at all
with my limited experience of being involved in ‘organising people’ (both in a uni- and non-uni sense), your post seems to strike the correct balance between rampant optimism and debillitating pessimism that we call reality
people seem to love being organised, or rather, having things organised for them
they seem to be slightly less keen to actually get involved in the organising
a part of this, i suspect (this is one of my pet theories, let me know what u think), is simply that people hardly ever try to organise anything and as a result are quite intimidated by the very concept
little do they know (and i mean no disrespect to the great organisers among us), that quite often, the person responsible for organising that wonderfully smooth event were flying by the seat of their pants and busking it as they went along, learning more about event-organising than they ever imagined possible (and learning more about human nature than they ever wanted to…)
something we can all do
especially when u have a good team around u
i’m posting this reply because i’d love to convince just one person to take the chance and to get involved
especially in a scenario where u have people with some experience in organising events that are still involved
working alongside such a person is a wonderfull way of learning about the ins-and-outs of getting an event together
even if it’s just the calmness that comes with the ‘prepare-all-u-can-and-hope-for-the-best’ attitude
Hi Poppie
I don’t know if you received the PM I sent you, but if you’re thinking of selling your 16" uni I’d be interested in it for my son. I won’t be at the SWUM but I live in Bath so could meet up reasonably easily sometime…
You can reply to me direct at tim at thePs dot co dot uk
Thanks, and have fun on Saturday!
Tim
Re: future meets & club
Ah, but that exactly describes how it works at the moment. Barb and i do EVERYTHING and own and store all the kit and deal with the money and phone round the schools to find a hall and send out flyers and try to persuade people to do workshops and try and remeber the kettle and the video player and run registration and the tombola and … we need some help if they are to continue to be a good and regular as they have been, even three a year is a stretch for only 2 people to organise.
sarah
Re: Re: future meets & club
I think you’re right, a lot of people just won’t organise events and will only ever come to events that are pre-organised for them. Sometimes due to lack of time, but most often just due to either lazyness or fear of organising things. We’re lucky enough in Nottingham and Derby to have a scattering of people who want to go riding and play hockey enough to organise it and there’s getting to be a good number of people who will potentially come out on a ride.
Maybe for meets in the summer, you could just all meet up somewhere outdoors, rather than organising a hall?
Personally, as far as all the different uni meets go, I think having one a month would be too many, because they’d push out other events. The calendar already gets quite crowded sometimes. Uni meets are okay, but they only cater to a pretty narrow range of riding. With tons and tons of uni-meets and juggling conventions, there wouldn’t be much space for anything else.
Joe
summer meets
Its starting to look like we might HAVE to do an out door meet in May. The date has been picked - May 21st - as both Barb and I can make it before we get stupid busy with work, but I’m having no luck finding a sports hall, all the school round here ( exeter, totnes, newton abbot, exmouth) use their halls for exams at that time. ( in the last 2 days I’ve spoken to 12 schoools!)
I’ve a couple of ideas for an out side meet but last June when we had 2 swum muni rides only a handful of people showed up. So I’m not sure that theres much of a market for a social ride in May.
idea 1- ice cream eating ride from exmouth to Budliegh and back with an ice cream stop in Budliegh (traffic free mostly about 12 miles)
idea 2- Tauton- Bridgewater ( and return on train) about 15 miles, some tea shops on route, flat and mostly traffic free.
idea 3 - try muni stuff again.
Sarah
Slightly off topic, will anyone be bringing a coker to SWUM?
I’m thinking about buying or building one (in addition to my 29er) and want to have a play first. Preferably with 125 or 150 cranks on, I’ve tried Roger’s Coker with 110s and it’s completely beyond me!
Paul
Paul,
I was probably going to bring the 29er i.s.o. the Coker, purely because it fits the car better and can be ridden in a hall easier. I already need to pack a 16, 18 & 20. If your bringing a 29er I’ll try and see if the Coker will fit.
Otherwise if there are no Cokers present you can always drive down to my place and have a go one weekend.
Keith
Thanks Keith,
I’ll bring the 29er, there should be plenty of room in the car as I think I’m only bringing me + one. If you can’t fit the Coker in then I’ll take you up on the offer of a weekend at yours.
Cheers,
Paul
Re: summer meets
You don’t have to ride somewhere to do an outside meet. You can play hockey outside, do freestyle or whatever. You just need to find a large flat area.
We use a hard surfaced 5 a side pitch to play hockey on, maybe you could do that. It costs us I think £12 an hour.
Joe
High Jump comp
Introducing the High Jump set up. At SWUM on saturday we will be running a high jump competition. No big prizes, just glory to be won.
Any how, here a pic of the set up I’ve just made for it. The cross bar is 4 ft of bamboo , the up rights are plastic coated metal canes with a cable tie every 2cm to perch the bamboo can on. Any pressure on the bamboo and it falls off. So far I’ve gone up to 52cm with the cable ties, does anyone think they can jump higher? I need more cable ties if you do.
Sarah
oops, heres the pic
Paul - Coker is in the car along with UW, Muni and our normal indoor Unis. I hope my wife doesn’t try and use the boot tomorrow!
Sarah - I will try and bring some extra cable ties, if I can find them. I also put in a <I>possible</I> raffle prize.
I think ill be coming down with Roger/
Trev
S’Ok , i found another packet in the cellar, just have to find the time to put them on the up-rights. I popped into Pizza Hut today and warned them to expect a bunch of us after the meet.
Sarah