Thanks for the MUni Weekend!

General
1

At 02:05 AM 9/23/97 -0400, Matthew Udall wrote:

>Thanks for putting together such a wonderful weekend for all of the riders. I

>had a great time, and enjoyed getting a taste of what mountain unicycling is

>all about.

Now that I am recovered and mostly caught up on sleep, I’ll take this
opportunity to thank everyone who came to the 1997 California Mountain Unicycle
Weekend. Your participation and good spirits are what made the event a success.
Special thanks to the people who helped out, who are many. Everything from the
simple carrying of stuff and relaying messages to running the races and making
airport runs. You know who you are.

Thanks Brett for picking up Beirne Konarski at the airport, and marking the
trail with disappearing signs.

Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Heaton for running the stopwatch and clipboard so I could take
pictures of the races.

(Thanks also to the gasoline fairy, who filled up my tank when he drove my car
to the foot of the trail. It took me a while to notice that, but I did!)

Thanks to the anonymous donor who paid extra this year, just like last year. At
least this year his unicycle didn’t break in half!

Thanks to all the winners of our fabulous prizes from the Swag Bag. What I mean
is, thank you for smiling politely as you walked up and chose from that stuff.

37 lift tickets were used on Saturday. Though some were bikes, there were over
40 people on the slopes that day (some walking), compared with about 30 riders
last year. On the second day there were less, but 37 people posed in front of
the Foresthill Bridge for our group photo. This was a lot more than last year’s
second day, on which we had about a dozen riders.

Three brave riders Brett Bymaster, Roger Davies and Jonathan Young rode from the
Northstar Village to the top of the mountain, a 2300 foot altitude gain.
Starting at about 6000 feet, more than a mile above sea level. Ouch! (Then they
rode back down) They enjoyed it, and that’s what counts.

I’ll be writing more about it, but I’d also like to hear from you attendees,
from your points of view. This time I will try to include it all in the web
page, which I’ve got to start working on. I’ve got all my pictures back, but not
yet in a book . . .

>I have posted some of the photos that I shot on a web page located at

>http://members.aol.com/OracleOfLt/mtuni.htm

I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing his URL with the rest of you. His pictures
were up already on Monday!

>Also, send me the URL to one of your web pages that I can link to my site.

Please link to the main page:

http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Please send me pictures that are good. I’ll pay for them. I am
always looking for decent pictures with me in them, especially (for Mom).

VIDEOGRAPHERS: If you have video, I’d like to buy a copy. Also, you
should contact:

Mary Perkins 1-800-995-6808 (buys interesting video for TV)

Allison Barth at Real TV 213-860-5134 (Los Angeles)

Get your videos shown on TV so everyone can see what we do!

More later,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

unifoss@calweb.com

http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

“Let’s get Dirty!”

<bigger>John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

www.calweb.com/~unifoss</bigger>

<bigger>“Unicycles R Us”

</bigger

2

Re: Thanks for the MUni Weekend!

At 23:48 97/09/26 -0700, John Foss wrote:

>>>>

<excerpt>Now that I am recovered and mostly caught up on sleep, I’ll take this
opportunity to thank everyone who came to the 1997 California Mountain Unicycle
Weekend. Your

>I have posted some of the photos that I shot on a web page located at

>http://members.aol.com/OracleOfLt/mtuni.htm

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

I looked at some of those pictures. Wow! (Even with my 128 ISDN cnnectin it
takes

ages…cyberspace is too crowded. The entire unicycling community should be
grateful to John Foss, who has been working hard to organize such events. I
almost atended…I was in San Francisco about three days before the event.
Unfortunately, I had to return to Japan because of work pressure.

BTW, there was a “vague” kind of UMX/Muni event in Japan, but I don’t the
details. I have been encouraging club leaders to take up mountain
unicycling, and have published various article in the JUA New, but it hasn’t
caught on here yet.

BTW, can some one give a more or less precise definition that shows the
difference betwee UMX and mountain unicycling? It is confusing even to me, not
speak of the uninitiated.

>>>>

<excerpt>

I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing his URL with the rest of you. His pictures
were up already on Monday!

>Also, send me the URL to one of your web pages that I can link to my
site.

Please link to the main page:

http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Please send me pictures that are good. I’ll pay for them. I am
always looking for decent pictures with me in them, especially (for Mom).

VIDEOGRAPHERS: If you have video, I’d like to buy a copy. Also, you
should contact:

Mary Perkins 1-800-995-6808 (buys interesting video for TV)

Allison Barth at Real TV 213-860-5134 (Los Angeles)

Get your videos shown on TV so everyone can see what we do!

More later,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

unifoss@calweb.com

http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

“Let’s get Dirty!”

<bigger>John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

www.calweb.com/~unifoss

</bigger>

<bigger>“Unicycles R Us”

</bigger>

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

Regards, Jack Halpern

Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society, http://www.win.or.jp/~jhalpern

    1-3-502 3-Chome Niiza, Niiza-shi, Saitama 352 JAPAN

    Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323

======== Hiroshima '45 Chernobyl '86 Windows '95 =============
3

Re: Thanks for the MUni Weekend!

<excerpt>I looked at some of those pictures. Wow! (Even with my 128 ISDN
cnnectin it takes

ages…cyberspace is too crowded. The entire unicycling community should be
grateful to John Foss, who has been working hard to organize such events. I
almost atended…I was in San Francisco about three days before the event.
Unfortunately, I had to return to Japan because of work pressure.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

Bummer! Too bad we didn’t at least get to say ‘Hi’ on the phone.

>>>>

<excerpt>

BTW, there was a “vague” kind of UMX/Muni event in Japan, but I don’t the
details. I have been encouraging club leaders to take up mountain
unicycling, and have published various article in the JUA New, but it hasn’t
caught on here yet.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

When it does, I wonder if the people down at the JUA will remember later where
they got the idea from?

>>>>

<excerpt>

BTW, can some one give a more or less precise definition that shows the
difference betwee UMX and mountain unicycling? It is confusing even to me, not
speak of the uninitiated.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

You, a guy who writes dictonaries? But I digress. Here are two answers.

Short answer:

Marketing. Mountain biking is way popular and cool. BMX, though enjoying a
comeback, is not nearly as cool, and is associated mainly with kids. Therefore,
we name our sport after the sport that is cool!

Long boring answer:

I came up with the name UMX back in 1981, when BMX was very popular. The BMX
industry supplied us with a lot of the pedals and other accessories we were able
to use on our unicycles. BMX is racing on a closed circuit, in heats. Tracks are
short and very hilly. The sport is still primarily played by kids and it’s a
family event, like little league baseball.

Mountain biking, which started in the 1970’s here in California, revolutionized
the entire bicycling industry. Before mountain biking was popular, road bikes
were the main part of the bicycle market. But mt. bikes were more upright,
comfortable, and rugged than those bikes, making them better suited for all but
long distance road riding. In the US, mt. bikes rose to claim 60% of the
bicycling market at their peak. Mountain biking is big stuff, and big bucks. The
actual activity is much less structured (outside of racing), and is generally
any form of riding off road. Still, the vast majority of mountain bikes in the
US never go on dirt at all.

What we do at the MUni Weekend is definitely MUni, because we are riding
unicycles on mountain bike trails. Some of the races that have been done at the
USA Nationals or UNICONs in the past were probably more like what one would call
UMX, because it’s a head to head race on a course with a start and a finish. But
if we did exactly the same race today, we would probably call it MUni.

We have done other events. At the last UNICON we did an orienteering event (or
MUni/orienteering). Not a race, but more of a hunt. At this year’s Nationals, we
did an orienteering event, but it was hardly a MUni. We called it MUni because
we like the name, even though it was on grass and pavement on the few square
blocks of the campus. The original plan was to use a nearby park with actual
trails and hills, but permission to ride there could not be gotten.

Therefore, the name is not really important. What is important is that people
get interested, and maybe join us. For that reason, it’s important to not use
acronyms or other meaningless words when announcing things for the general
public. Among us here on the newsgroup, the name of my event is MUni Weekend.
But you will notice that on my web page, on T-shirts and anywhere that I want
the general public to be informed, it’s always called the “California Mountain
Unicycle Weekend”.

That’s true for everything else we do as well, though. The terms NUC, UNICON,
IUF, etc. should only be used amongst ourselves. They should always be spelled
out when non-involved people are about. Believe me, working in the computer
industry, as many of us know, acronyms are everywhere, but you only know what
you stand for if someone has told you first. Otherwise they are gibberish!

If I may continue that tirade for one further paragraph, the same applies to
college names. Where is U of M? How about UOP? If you don’t live near them (and
the right one), you have no way of knowing. So, college students, remember you
are writing to a global audience that does not necessarily know that U of M is
the University of Madison, or the University of Michigan, or one of many others!

Enough for now.

Stay on top,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone

unifoss@calweb.com

http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

“Never two tired”

4

Re: Thanks for the MUni Weekend!

At 21:55 97/09/27 -0700, John Foss wrote:

<excerpt><excerpt>BTW, can some one give a more or less precise definition that
shows the difference betwee UMX and mountain unicycling? It is confusing even to
me, not speak of the uninitiated.

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

You, a guy who writes dictonaries? But I digress. Here are two answers.

Short answer:

Marketing. Mountain biking is way popular and cool. BMX, though enjoying a
comeback, is not nearly as cool, and is associated mainly with kids. Therefore,
we name our sport after the sport that is cool!

Long boring answer:

</excerpt><<<<<<<<

Thanks for the not so boring long answer. But I am not satisfied with the short
– inadequate – answer. I want a kind of technical definition. Certainly some
of the UMX events that we’ve had cannot by an y stretch of the imagination be
considered “mountain” unicycling. It’s more like rough terrain – the beaches of
Puerto Rico – and sometimes a kind of obstacle course.

So isn’t it tru that UMX is still a valid category? If you use the term mountain
unicycling for obstacle course kind of stiff – like rifing over pipes, through
water and one sand – it will ceratinly lead to misunderstanding. So a more
precise definition is in order.

Perhaps Craig Rogers – a true master of English if I ever saw one –
can help out.

Stay on top, Jack Halpern, IUF Vice President

Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society, http://www.win.or.jp/~jhalpern

    1-3-502 3-Chome Niiza, Niiza-shi, Saitama 352 JAPAN

    Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323

======== Hiroshima '45 Chernobyl '86 Windows '95 =============