This only seems to apply to some people. Will Sklennars was able to leave it til the last minute, only deciding to come on the 27th and arriving on the 28th. He paid his $250 registration (with money borrowed from me) on the 30th of December 2009, and there was no penalty for him being so late. Will is not the poorest unicyclist on earth as he owns a Schlumpf and went to Ride the Lobster- so his excuse that he wouldn’t have come if they charged $500 is not really a good one. There are a lot of people other than Will that would have loved to come last minute for $250- so why does the rules not apply to everyone?
The reason given to Will for the cheap price is that a USA competitor pulled out last minute- that doesn’t seem to explain why he can edit his entry without paying the full $500. Shouldn’t he have to race in whatever the guy who pulled out of was in, or pay the full amount? Or are the rules bendy and you just have to know the right people to get late discount instead of penalty? Will seems to be able to enter anything he wants even though he is half a year late for the cheap fee.
Use the same rules for everyone! And if you are going to make an exception do it for someone who genuinely needs it, not just a slacker who should have registered months ago. Will has been national champion for NZ and he knew about Unicon in good time just like everyone else. He chose not to register in the knowledge that if he did it last minute he would pay.
So you think it is fair to have some rules for some people and other rules for other people?
“You CANNOT edit your entry after 1 Dec 2009 unless you pay the full NZ$500 registration fee”
Those words are very clear - or are they meaningless? What was the point of writing them? I don’t get it. Everyone may as well have waited til the end of December to register because the penalty is a joke. Yes please I want cheese.
It seems to me that Will caught a lucky break. It happens to people sometimes. I’ve been at a bar sometimes when a friend has been undercharged for a round of beer. What do you think would happen if another friend went back to the bar and said “Hey, that guy over there didn’t pay as much as everyone else!” Swift expulsion from my circle of friends, that’s what.
Or if you’re with a group of mates at the movies and one of you is accidentally undercharged. Would you go back to the counter, complain and demand they they are charged the full price?
I know a person who went to buy a car at a dealership and paid in cash. Because of a genuine counting cock-up they walked away from the place with a car and £1,000 better off. Nothing was ever said and no chasing up by the car dealership was done. Do you think I would go beck to the dealership and tell them what happened? Hell no!
I’m guessing that Will is a friend of yours (you wouldn’t lend money to someone you didn’t know, right?) and if I were him I would be seriously ticked off with you right now.
You sound like the kind of friend people can do without.
Sometimes good fortune smiles on you or your friends, and when it does, be thankful.
But don’t whine about it.
Hey, you guys should remember that Rowan is a unicycling TEACHER, and he’s so good, he doesn’t need a helmet, nor do his students. He [post=1860680]knows all about brakes[/post], (they’re meant for [post=1866844]people with weak legs [/post]and poor riding skills), even though he’s never really used them much.
For crying out loud, he’s probably the top uni rider in the world. Just look at the UNICON XV results pages…oh wait, my bad…don’t look at those, the other riders were probably given some kind of advantage or special treatment.
You are so far off the mark! Do you not think any honesty should be used in transactions involving money? You always take as much as you can get and never be honest if someone makes a mistake? Yes when people charge too little I give them more money! A bike shop charged me $52 for a $50 tire and a $12 tube recently and I insisted to pay the extra $10 which was the retail price. You must have a stink circle of friends- bunch of dishonest alcoholics.
Yes Will is a friend of mine, and he gave me permission to discuss this issue on the forum and he is quite capable of judging me with his own mind, and being seriously ticked off would be a waste of his energy. He can be happy that he got off Scott free with the penalty, but the issue is not with Will. The issue is with Unicon- a convention of balance, using unbalanced practises to enforce rules- that is a great shame.
I am a friend that you can do without- but you cannot speak for people, because many people are my friends and you sound like the kind of rip off friend that I can do without. So please don’t tell me what to do- I will whine about it all I like- and this is the perfect place to do so- so that people who paid more than $250 can know that there are ways around seemingly concrete rulings.
Steveyo- what is up with you? Feeling OK? Keep crying out loud if it makes you feel better. I’m in the results- proving that I am one of the top riders in the world. And yes some of them were given special treatment but that is another thread about unavailability of track racing unicycles. I was lucky enough to borrow some good uni’s on track racing day.
ONE of the best?!? That can’t be. You’re the absolute best rider. Heck, you’re a teacher whose students have no need for any safety equipment!
I’m sure there are excuses, er…I mean, reasons beyond your control, that you didn’t win every race you entered. You’re so good you don’t have to win to prove it.
Can you teach me to ride better via online learning courses?
What’s up with me? Simple. You’re arrogant and I enjoy making fun of you.
Send me lots of money and I will teach you I can also do courses on staying on topic. You must know that most teachers are hypocrits- do as I say not as I do!
I’m getting a bit tired of your lame attempts to twist my words. My students have the option of wearing safety equipment. Safety equipment does not garauntee safety, and almost garauntees discomfort of some kind.
How about you Steve? Do you try to be honest with money or do you steal as much as you can from others whenever you can?
That is exactly what I am saying- and he registered almost two months afterwards. The inconsistency is unacceptable. The prices should be the same for every competitor, and the penalty for late payment the same.
I know you are joking, but the money I lent him was almost all my money and I just spent it on a new pair of shoes. Will can definitely afford to pay more even though he said he would not come if it was $500. The reason I loaned him the money was because he was too slack to even bring the money with him and he had left it at home. Then he forgot to bring it in the evening but he paid me back the next day. I’m glad Will got a good deal, but also everyone else registering late deserves equal treatment- especially overseas visitors.
The U.S. rider that couldn’t make it last minute was most likely me. I just moved out to Denver and started a pretty cool job out here, so the timing wasn’t right for me. I am not getting the money I spent on my registration back, and I am totally fine with it being used for a cheaper registration for Will. He is a good dude, and so is Ken.
It is cool that you let Will borrow some money for the registration, but why post this thread? Why try to cause some unnecessary drama and try to make life harder on the organizers?
Just go relax and enjoy Unicon, I am jealous of everyone out there right now, I really wish I could have made it.
The drama is not unecessary- it isn’t really drama. If many people had to pay more for late entry, and only one is able to get a cheap registration late- then I think that is not a fair way to distribute your lost registration. The question is not whether Will is a good dude or not- it is whether hundreds of other good people deserve the same treatment? I think if something is good for Will it is good for anyone. If they can’t do it for everyone then why make one exception? Good dudes can still register early -there is no reason they have to register late and threaten not to come unless the fee is cheaper. If rules can be bent then they should be bent for everyone- and that would defeat the purpose of having the rules.
I am enjoying Unicon. It’s the most diverse gathering of unicyclists I’ve ever experienced. Putting faces to the names on the forum is interesting. Today I rode Nathan Hoover’s Schlumpf 36". Wow!
Wait a minute. What was that one you lent me? Definitely not a good one for the Obstacle Course, but that’s a topic for a different (non) thread. Unavailability of track unicycles? I saw tons of them. It’s best to bring your own of course, but flying limits your choices…
Sorry you couldn’t make it. Also the Sindelar family from MN apparently couldn’t make it (3). Bummer because Matt would have been one of the few US entries in Freestyle, and surely the best one.
Registration rules are set by the host. Competition rules are much less appropriate to bend, but nobody’s perfect.
BTW Rowan is a strong, competent rider. I could not keep up with him on a practice ride of the (hard!) XC racecourse!
So maybe they could add that on the front page of the Unicyclist.com forums…
"Registration cut-offs reminder
The next registration payment cut-off is November 30 at 11:59pm New Zealand Time. The registration price is currently NZ$350, but increases to NZ$500 on December 1. Pay for your registration early to get the lower entry price.
You CANNOT edit your entry after 1 Dec 2009 unless you pay the full NZ$500 registration fee or ask nicely for a discount".
It is a long story about the non-unicycle-riding Qu-ax dealer in NZ stringing me along about a racing wheel that didn’t exist so I didn’t look elsewhere until too late. So I threw together the heaviest 24x1.75" unicycle that I could muster, and that is the pig that you rode around the obstacle course. Living in NZ limits your choices of track unicycles it seems- unless you know the right people to contact overseas.
I was quite proud of my result in the track coasting event. I only started coasting relatively recently (2 months ago), and I placed 5th in my age, behind Felix Dietze who is really good and got 6th in expert male. I even went further than Gilby which I wouldn’t have expected to do.
In the age group categories I came 8th in 800m, 15th in 400m, 10th in 100m, 14th in Downhill Gliding, 10th in 30m wheel walk. I’m definitely not the best rider but I reckon I’m doing OK for someone who doesn’t train. I coasted a downhill bumpy section at Frank Kitt’s park at the learning workshop the other day! There is another teaching/learning workshop there tomorrow and the 10k results will be announced (I rode the standard 10k).
Me and John walked most of the same parts- we both ride with no brakes and know our limits. The course sure is hard! I’ve been hearing a lot of riders say they are going to ditch their brakes on the downhill and I’m wondering whether brakes or no brakes will be most successful on the day. The 10k unlimited was won by Scott on a fixed 36" with a bike saddle- so anything seems possible. Unicon is the perfect place to test out the theories of which gear works best up against other setups.
I can also do courses on staying on topic. You must know that most teachers are hypocrits- do as I say not as I do!
Unavailability of track unicycles? I saw tons of them. It’s best to bring your own of course, but flying limits your choices…