Such a good race that it deserves a new thread to talk about it.
What a fantastic pair of races. Cokers from round the country, including two of the fastest in the world, bombing round a town centre track.
Followed by a super fun fun race, in which I rode very slowly on a silly unicycle with a super fat Schwinn tyre and rim, which was okay on the straights but didn’t like road camber and didn’t like turning corners. However, I can officially say that I not only beat Roger Davies world champion unicyclist in a race, I actually lapped him*.
Followed by beer, then a very civilized tea.
Oh and there was some rather fast bike racing.
Thanks to John + Nuneaton Jugglers for organising it fantastically, and bring on the next one.
I’m sure someone else will post more about what happened results-wise, I think the first few in were Roger D, Sam Wakeling, John H, Paul Royle, Me, Leo, dunno who was after that.
Joe
Admittedly he was riding a two wheeled unicycle, but lets not talk about that.
Definitely fun. I think I was lucky as the course was actually quite bumpy and had a hill in it so my long 110 cranks helped keep me on the unicycle. Sam though had 102s and took a tumble on the first lap and never got to catch me, although I have heard he was flying along - it is him at the back of the bunch on the first photo with his broom sticks (I will let him explain!)
I must say that we got a fantastic reception from the Bike guys. They really made us really welcome and made it a great day.
Thanks again to John for organising it, great job.
Comfortably! - It’s a shame Sam crashed on the first lap because it would have been VERY close between him and Roger otherwise.
To give an idea of how fast Sam was going AFTER the crash, I passed him while he was remounting at the end of lap 1 when I was in 6th place about 150m behind the leader, Sam passed me about halfway round lap 2, the race was 5 laps of just under 1KM and Sam came in second.
I don’t know if there’ll be official times posted anywhere, my cycle computer reckoned an average speed of 19.8km/h and riding time of about 12minutes - it was a very bendy course with lots of tight corners so it was difficult to maintain a very fast speed.
There was a pretty big crowd around the start/finish area, and all around the course. There were hundreds of lycra clad people with tiny pieces of carbon fibre claiming to be bikes, and a decent number of unicyclists. There was a really good atmosphere among the riders - there were trke races as well (proper skinny racing trikes…!)
We did a pre-mounted standing start, holding hands on the line. Roger got away first, and we started to spread out around the first lap. I think (it was all a blur really) I overtook on the back straight, but then on the slight gradient back up to the finish Roger came past me.
I was on the 102s, and with my new and little-experienced extention handles (yes, made from a broomstick and a few bolts… will post about them later), I got too far forward and ran off the front. Picking up broken bits of wood and tying the computer cable out of the way wasted some time, but luckily no injury.
The rest for me was catch-up, as everyone passed me before I got back on. It took a few laps to catch Joe and John H, as they were going pretty fast, but I never saw Roger again until the last finish line!
My computer said riding time of 9.44, avg. speed 15.5mph (24.9km/h).
Moral of the story - control is better than flat out speed - it’s far worse to fall than to ease off or have longer cranks! Still fun though!
A few pics here http://picasaweb.google.com/muni.pete/WarwickUniRacing - there are a couple of the presentations and trophies. Apologies for the quality, I only had a tiny camera with me (easier to carry on a unicycle).
A great event, I shall have to ride in the Coker race next year, and it did feel great to lap Roger (even if he was on a two-wheeler). The gladiators, genreal practise area and crazy bikes were a nice addition too.
Tea as in afternoon tea complete with scones(or skons as some people persist in calling them) and jam and cream (which we scientifically decided the correct order for was cream, then jam, assuming there is no butter) . It was 3 o’clock. It would have been uncivilised not to.
Was a fantastic race, personally not having ridden the coker for over six months wasn’t a good thing, I just couldn’t take the tight corners as fast as the riders in front of me, I clawed back a little bit each straight, only to lose it on the corner. I certainly didn’t have the skill of any of the riders who were in front of me.
If you look very carefully on the pictures, you might see the new Nimbus Coker by the way. Roger was riding it.
So is that Hunter/Rowing-style frame going to be standard on the Nimbus? Looks nice.
That looked like a good race. I’ve just bought a coker (well, a Qu-ax/UDC/KH hybrid - thanks DarkTom :)) so I may join you next year if I can get any good at riding the thing.
Oh I wish I could have made it! Damn work! (although I did get to spend the day giggling at cyclists at a big bike sale my sports centre was holding). I’d have lost the coker race no doubt but it would have been such fun! Is the person on the coker with the blue rim and number 2 on him Rupert?
Yep that’s Rupert, he held 2nd initially but then he UPD’d and i think finished 5th. Did we meet you at Crawley? That looks like Hasselhof the second in your avatar, of course if I’m wrong this is going to sound really bizzare.
