With the success of NAUCC 2006 fresh in the minds of several hundred people, I thought I’d take this opportunity to start thinking about what we can do to ensure that 2007’s convention is just as good. It’s also a good time to start thinking about little tweaks (‘creative adjustments’) based on things that didn’t go as well as we’d have liked in past conventions.
I’m hoping to host an NAUCC in NY in the near future, so I’d like to know what we should try to replicate and where we can make things work even more smoothly. Here, then, are my two categories: KEEP JUST AS IT WAS and COULD BE EVEN BETTER.
In the first category, here are some things I’d try to copy from NAUCC 2006 or other past conventions. This is my KEEP JUST AS IT WAS section:
The 20-mile Coker- and guni- ride the first morning of the convention. This was a total success, and it was wise to keep it a few days ahead of the track events so that riders had time to recover. The hill challenge made it even more fun. Tom Maxwell’s leadership helped tremendously (for example, it was really important to take frequent breaks). The ride also made fast friends of everyone on it.
The Downtown fun ride was perfect, too. Again, it was great having the expertise of the MUC members who accompanied us. It was nice that the ride kept the pace of its slowest riders (who happened to be my daughter and her friends). We got to see some neat places, and everyone really seemed to have a great time. In contrast, the downtown fun rides in Toronto and Seattle a few years ago were also great but were completely different. There were enough riders that the rides broke into several sections depending on what riders wanted to do and what they could handle. I guess that’s the ideal way to go.
The trials competition was well organized. I’m not much of a trials dude, so I can’t speak to the specifics of the obstacles laid out, but it’s always nice to have a car to hop on, and the other items (like the bleachers) looked excellent and seemed plenty challenging. The score cards were great, too. Some MUCsters told me that at the last second, they realized the need for some easier sections, so they created a few beginner areas – another great idea!
COULD BE EVEN BETTER:
I loved the trials area, but I remember being concerned for safety at a few places. Perhaps we should ask hosting-club volunteers to act as spotters, or perhaps we can ask the riders to act as spotters for others who are attempting the same obstacles.
10K races always seem to have confusion about the course. We need volunteers at critical junctures (like where the race turns around to double back) so that people don’t ride off the course. This has been a problem at every 10K I’ve ridden or heard about. I’d also suggest a specific color code for arrows used to mark the course. The color doesn’t matter – as long as we know what to look for. [I loved what one man said about how it can be hard to get permission to paint arrows on a road course: It’s easier to get forgiveness that to get permission!]
We can run the track events a bit more efficiently. I have some ideas that I’ll post in a separate thread.
Please add your ideas to both categories. The more information we have, the better we’ll all do in future NAUCCs.
I want to stress that the 2006 event was excellent and that everyone seemed to have a great time. I’ve participated in 6 conventions so far, and they always leave me wanting more and looking forward to the next one. I can’t wait till NAUCC 2007!
Ooh! I just remembered another achievement of the NAUCC 2006 that I’d like to replicate in future: Their website.
They had a wonderful, updated site that listed not only the schedule of events but also the LOCATION of those events and DIRECTIONS to those locations! Great job!!!
One suggestion: Since some of us are using GPSs to help navigate to these locations, let’s make sure to have GPS-friendly addresses for each event. There were a few times last week when I had to navigate on my own without the help of a map or any innate sense of direction.
The only one I have had the opportunity to ride is the one in Minneapolis. It was out and back with a water break in the middle and along the route. It was on an actual trail along the Mississippi. I missed others either because I had to leave before they had it on the last day, or because the venues and hotels were so far apart, I couldn’t get a ride/leave my family w/o transportation. I don’t know that there is a good solution for this other than a city with a lot of public transportation. Even then I’d probably get lost.
In 2002, we used different colored chalks to make marks on the pavement of our 10K road course. This was done at the suggestion of a committee member who was very experienced in the organization of road races.
I wasnt there but after seeing Forrests videos it seems like there wasnt much effort put into the area for the Street competition. I kno it was the first ever but that might be someting to try for next year.
I just mean that I’d like to see someone ready to ‘catch’ a rider who slips and is about to fall backwards, risking paralysis. I saw one such fall a few days ago at NAUCC. Happily the rider was fine, but a few changes in the parameters (had he fallen from a few inches higher, or a few inches to the right, etc) and he could have snapped his back over the side of a sandbox. I’d like to see experienced riders look over a course ahead of time to determine worst-case scenarios and then figure out non-intrusive ways to fix them (like spotters). I don’t want to remove the challenge – just the disastrous outcomes that happen when someone doesn’t successfully meet that challenge!
Yeah… we set that up ourselves using what we wanted from the trials comp obstacles. There was a skatepark literally right next door, but insurance or something wouldn’t work out.
Stewart’s Law of Retroactivity - It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission.
And though I do tend till follow that law from time to time, I also try to be a good steward for nature. It does not bother me to mark a road which is already a scar on the landscape, but will not do the same on a natural trail. Or for another quote this time from Aristotle - Everything in moderation.
As we’ve been discussing in the thread, “Naucc '07 . . . . . . .???,” NAUCC 2007 will reportedly be held somewhere in eastern Michigan. Watch the USA, Inc. home page (and, I’m sure, the next issue of On One Wheel) for further details.
What I posted in the cited thread bears repeating here: “For the benefit of the folks in the cheap seats, let me restate that the sites for both NAUCCs and UNICONs are dependent on the existance of strong, motivated, local organizing committees. If you think you would like to organize one (or, as we did, both - not recommended for the faint of heart!!!) of these events, please contact me or one of the other past organizers for advice before you think about formally approaching the USA, Inc. or the IUF, Inc.”
Tom Daniels
Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee
and Event Director
NAUCC 2002 and UNICON 11
Thanks for the big compliment on the website. One of the things we had to deal with was the fact that the address for St. George’s School is not on the online maps (MapQuest, Google maps, etc). If anything, the maps identify the location as being in a nearby neighborhood. I can only guess that your GPS also would not show St. George’s. Also, Wolf River Blvd where Houston High School is located has recently been renamed. The online maps show the old name.
I am aware of some issues that caused problems. The address for Overton Park. The official address is on Poplar Avenue but the location for the marathon was on the East Parkway North side of the park and you cannot drive inside the park from the Poplar side to the East Parkway North side. Also, someone was GPS navigating to the Saturday morning Coker ride instead of following our writen directions. An address for the church would have been helpful there.
Live and learn. You try to get the details right and something always falls through the cracks.
For some reason, my GPS showed WRB but none of the roads that veered off of it.
Yeah, that address would have been very helpful.
Here is what I’d suggest: If in future NAUCCs we have a similar issue with newly built roads, we just need to put up signs or other road markers at those points nearby (where the GPSs will still get most of us to). Alternatively, we can direct people to address A and then tell them how to go from A to B (where B is on the new, un-GPS-able road). There are always solutions – we just need to make creative adjustments ahead of time so that we can meet the challenges head-on.
One more acknowlegment: That Memphis NAUCC booklet was EXCELLENT! It had addresses, schedules, other info, and a lot more. I’d strongly urge all clubs to follow that idea.
On Sat, 8 Jul 2006 22:06:33 -0500, David_Stone wrote:
>Here is what I’d suggest: If in future NAUCCs we have a similar issue
>with newly built roads, we just need to put up signs or other road
>markers at those points nearby (where the GPSs will still get most of
>us to). Alternatively, we can direct people to address A and then tell
>them how to go from A to B (where B is on the new, un-GPS-able road).
>There are always solutions – we just need to make creative adjustments
>ahead of time so that we can meet the challenges head-on.
Can be done a lot simpler and GPS-friendly:
Just state the coordinates of the location (B).
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“I’m slowly but surely stealing Wales and bringing it back to my house on the wheel, frame and cranks of my muni. - phil”
Klaas, I was referring to those rare (I hope) times when the host wants to put down the address of a road that’s not yet in the GPS database. This happened at least once or maybe twice in Memphis.
Do all GPSs take coordinates? I don’t think mine does. Wouldn’t that be silly? I’d better check. If they do, then your solution is best.
We posted street addresses, GPS coordinates, altitudes and relative driving distances of all venues (and many hotels) from each other on the UNICON 11 / NAUCC 2002 Web site in 2002. I created the data using hand-held GPS unit plugged into a PDA (for the coordinates, altitudes and most of the driving distances) and mapping software (for some of the hotel driving distances).As I recall, two people mentioned using the data in their car-based GPS units.
Accolades for the NAUCC 2006 webpage go to Richard Wertz. And those for the program go to Richard Wertz and Kevin Thorn.
Dag-nabbit. I’m the MUCster with a GPS unit. I could’ve easily gotten accurate data by going to each venue and punching a couple of buttons. We then could’ve posted those coordinates in the program, along with the how to instructions. I just never thought about it. Dang. That would’ve been good. I think its a great idea. Even if the new roads didn’t show up on the little map, you’d know you were in the vicinity.
Don’t worry about it - you wouldn’t have known about the GPS stuff unless you asked me (a certified geek - you ought to see my home office), and you had no reason to ask.
The NAUCC 2002 / UNICON 11 Web site got taken down right after the events by the person who donated the hosting service. I think I have the only copy on my laptop. The NAUCC 2004 site is still up, but it doesn’t have GPS data on the venue pages because the sushi for brains former USA President forgot to pack his hand held GPS unit on his pre-event scouting trip to Salt Lake City.