Kind of wierd but I am not reading much on the forum about what is going on at UNICON that is currently being held. I am getting SMS messages about huge things happening there like a summersault being performed with a unicycle? However I am not seeing much on the forum. Almost as if UNICON is not taking place!
Unicorn
I can only update you on the events that I was involved with. The 42.2km Marathon road race was held today
Had a pretty awesome day and redeemed myself after crashing out of the 10km race (kid walked in front of me at 30km/hr) 
It was a very hot day and a very fast flat course, which was really fun. It allowed for some super fast times. As predicted, it was completely a Schlumpf course.
We reversed the previous Unicon 13 Shchlumpf/fixed wheel finish order, with 4 Schlumpfs in 1,2,3,4 place, and 5th place to a fixed wheel. It was the other way around at Unicon 13.
Some amazingly fast times (I don’t have them yet), but no doubt someone will update later. According to the officials at the finish, Chuck smashed the old world record by about 5min, and I was a couple of minutes back, and Jan another minute or so back.
Here are the placings
-Chuck Edwall (USA)- 36" Sclumpf
-Ken Looi (NZL)- 29" Schlumpf
-Jan Longemann (Germany)- 36" Sclumpf
-Tony Melton (NZL)- 36" Sclumpf
-Sam Wakeling (UK)- 36" Fixed, 97mm cranks
-Dustin Schaap (Ned)- 36" Fixed 100mm cranks
Basically it went like this…Chuck blasted off and Jan and I chased him around the first lap. We had kept within about 100-150m until Jan blew up and I had to chase by myself. It was so hot but we manaed to get the support people to throw water on us as we went past…it was so good!
But anyway, we finished in that order pretty much. I was a couple of minutes behind Chuck and I think Jan was minute back, and Sam and Dustin finished together another couple of minutes back, in a super fast time…I think just outside the previous fixed gear world record. I’d love to see them riding on 36" Sclumpfs next time. It’s impossible to compare our times with theirs, as it was a battle of who had the best equipment pretty much. Chuck was pretty amazing and powered away from everyone right from the start.
Did Arne compete in the marathon as well? I was expecting to see him placing high on the marathon event, I know that him and Jan are both pretty close in speed. I’ll check back in the next couple of days for the top 10 results, hopefully Dustin will post them or someone.
Great job Ken on your placement, that is quite the achievement with the little amount of training you had on the Schlumpf 29 on the weeks leading up to unicon.
I wish I could have been there, the 10K and the marathon sound like they were a blast. I am still stuck back here in DC and trying hard to stay off my unicycles to let my knees heal properly. Hopefully I will be up and riding (with a geared 36!) in a month.
Yes, you so should be here! Unicon is amazing as always.
Arne started the Marathon in the lead group, but pulled out during the first lap I think. I don’t know why. Jan was riding extremely well…probably fastest I’ve seen him ride. He basically kept Chuck within 1-200m for most of the first lap, and I was just glad to be towed along.
I’m also glad to be back on the 29" Schlumpf. It had been sitting in the shed gathering cobwebs for 2 1/2yrs since I last used it. It took RTL to get me psychologically capable of riding it again.
Here you have the video of the final, when Adrien land it in the correct way!
Enjoy!
Here you have the video of the final, when Adrien land it in the correct way!
Enjoy!
ummm or not???
Very cool Flip - Results Posted Site?
That was a very cool flip! Pretty brave!
Is there a site where the results are being posted?
Unicorn
So by “best equipment”, you must mean “legs, lungs, heart, and will”, since that would seem to be the differentiator when there were other geared 36-ers in the field.
I have to echo tholob’s comments in the marathon thread: it seems like you’re discounting the achievements of someone that’s now clearly proved his athleticism on the world stage as just being the beneficiary of geared equipment. As soon as the real “top riders” switch to geared equipment, the proper order will be restored.
Perhaps that’s not what you’re meaning to say, but it reads that way, at least to two people named Tom.
I’m sorry if it sounds that way, because Chuck is an amazing rider and more than deserving of being World Champion. He blew away the marathon record by 5min which is an outstanding achievement.
The only thing that I took offence to about with Toms comments was the dismissal of some of the other riders who I know are at least as fast as us geared riders were. If as Tom says, 30-50 riders could easily break all the existing world records, what do you get if you stick some of these top fixed wheel riders on GUnis? I haven’t seen many of the top guys on 36" Sclumpfs yet, and to just say that they were thrashed by people who rode Schlumpfs does them a disservice.
I’m not even going to compare my GUni times with theirs. 1hr 34min for a fixed 36" is an outstanding time. How much faster could they go on GUnis? I have no idea, and there is no way of knowing until they are all racing them. Could they beat Chuck? I have no idea, and it’s not the point. Chuck was the fastest rider on the day, and that’s all that matters.
Ok, I read what I wrote again it does sound like I’m dismissing what Chuck did. I apologise for that, but it was not what I was trying to say.
What I mean is that the people on Schlumpfs essentially left fixed gears behind on the course. And it was definitely a case of who had Schlumpfs and who didn’t. At any previous Unicon a fixed gear time of 1hr34/1hr35 would be something amazing. There is no way I am going to say that I rode a better marathon than either Sam or Dustin, when I was on a Schlumpf.
Of the Schlumpfs, Chuck powered away from all the other Schlumpfs (me, Jan and Tony) right from the start and was by far the strongest rider. He is definitely the fastest unicyclist in the world right now.
Read the rest of what I wrote and don’t quote me out of context.
That will be a fine day indeed, for both racers and observers.
Wasn’t trying to quote you out of context. Was just passing on my view, and sharing how I was interpreting what you were saying. I would agree that your subsequent posts in the marathon thread shifted away from what I was reacting to. BTW: I appreciate that you went back and re-read your previous stuff after the feedback. I try to do that when someone jumps on something I’ve said, but I’m not always very good at it.
Where is it? the flip isn’t there
he is talking about the frontflip lol
The link doesn’t show the frontflip. It’s just some guy’s youtube.
He just wants channel views. If you saw his “koxx days vid” you would see he doesn’t even show a unicycle in the vid… He is just some idiot who wants views on his videos and channel…
EDIT: if he doesn’t want views he wants to waste our time…
He was talking about the frontflip here First frontflip on a unicycle!
Forrestunifreak posted the link if you realised
Adrien Delacroix Front Flip (by Carlos Medina)
There will be some video updates coming courtesy of Olarf and Jess. Olarf only got there yesterday so stuff hasn’t been getting uploaded.
I just got home after a long night outside Victoria station as I missed the last train to Brighton due to flight delays.
The frontlip was incredible and the male pairs freestyle winners were really entertaining.
The level 11 workshop with Horst was pretty good too. That guy knows his stuff!