I ended up with 1GB of photos so I made a couple of albums with some of them:
Unicon and stuff around Tokyo: 76 photos
Post unicon, Kyoto and climbing in the Japan Alps: 67 photos
Anyone else have their photos up?
—Nathan
great photos. the puerto rico basketball team seems like a powerhouse, does anybody have any videos of them playing?
Awesome pictures! Looks like you had a great time at Unicon and after. Wish we could have been with your group for at least part of that. We stayed in a very nice hotel, but much of the “Japan” part of the trip was over when we stepped into that English-speaking and comfortable place.
Don’t get me wrong, we were soooo happy when we first got there and saw our rooms. Jacquie and Priceline did very well! Now I could take you on a tour of the back streets of Asakusa.
Comments:
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You said 10k was a terrible distance for 24" unis. But didn’t one of those win the unlimited version? And, Hiroki Shigeno did the 10k on a “regular” 24 (125mm cranks) only a tiny amount slower than we did. Wow! I think that was the most unicycles I’ve ever seen in a single race.
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Somehow, Jack Hughes and I ended up in the same Akihabara store where you saw the light sabers. Pretty cool! Lots of interesting TV and movie stuff in that store. All I got for me
though was a tiny little laptop mouse with retractable cord, and a tiny little 4-port USB hub. Easy to bring home!
My own photos are taking a while. I’ve run out of disk space on my PC and laptop, and just purchased a Maxtor One-Touch external drive. Now to figure out how to make it play well with both Windows and Mac. Either one is easy, but both seems to be more complicated. Then I’ll be able to get back to editing when I’m not working on MUni Weekend or other unicycling stuff!
That was one big 24"! from where I was it looked more like a 28" with 58mm cranks. 
He out geared me on my Coker and 110’s. Fun race.
It could not have been that bad a distance to do, I used the second race as a cool down ride on my 24". But with that rain it got colder than I really wanted.
Roger
What I meant was that a “standard racing unicycle” is not what you want for a 10km race. Come to think of it, I don’t think you want that for any races - possibly 100m where you need the acceleration? I just said that that race uses the “wrong cycle”, meaning 24" wheel with 5" cranks. Shigeno was increible on one of these cycles, but think how much faster he would be on shorter cranks. My lasting impression of the “Standard” 10km race was that the racers looked silly - working so hard but not getting the proper payback in speed.
24" with very short cranks is clearly a great idea for 10km racing. As is 29" with almost as short, or 36" with pretty short (90-110mm). I guess I can see the reason for having two races, unlimited and limited - I would just say that the limited race is stuck in the '80s and needs to progress which is just what you (John) have been saying for the last couple of years. Unfortunately (I heard), your 700c racing demo was not a success due to “timing” or other factors non-related to the merits of that wheel size. Since I never heard the real story, maybe you could elaborate? Another option would be to keep the wheel size 24" but allow down to say 3" cranks.
Anyway, Im glad you liked the photos. The second half of our trip was as fun as the convention itself.
—Nathan
Cold??? The heat and humidity totally killed me after about 1km! Got to the finish and poured four cups of shaved ice over my head.
Yep, it was indeed a 700C racing wheel with 65mm cranks according to Yuta. It seemed to glide along at 25km/h with just the faintest of ankle movements. Awesome to ride.
There were a number of Cokers there, including some amongst the Japanese contingent. I used 102mm cranks on my Coker, which worked quite well. I think Roger used 110’s, and Nathan used 125’s. Don’t know what the other Cokers had.
I was unhappy about the course marking at the turn into the finish- I missed the turn and Daiki Izumida passed me. I heard that you also missed the turn Roger?
Despite the heat and humidity, I’d like to see a longer Marathon race next time, like 42km. Most other sports wouldn’t consider a race lasting 20-30min a marathon.
By the way, great photos Nathan! I’ll try to get mine up this weekend.
Ken
p/s Roger, check your emails- I’ve still got to pay for that CF seatbase.
It was more being told that it was 2 laps and then finding it was actually about 1k more than 2 laps that was a pain. Note for organisers “tell the competitors where the finish is please”
Sent details on Friday, if you havn’t got them email me and I will re-send them.
Roger
The map on the unicon web page pre-event for the martahon was acurate. I knew there were 2 near U turns near the end. I’m please to say that the rider who had been drafting me throughout the race ( with out my noticeing!) hadn’t bargined on those tight turns and fell shortly after he had over-taken me on the lower straight. I didn’t and could power up the hill and round the 2nd corner to get away from him.
Sarah
Oh I knew what you mean. What I was pointing out was just how fast some of those riders can go on a 24" with 125 cranks. In Japan, hardly anybody is riding anything bigger, and they’re not particularly available, so there won’t be a great incentive there for people to go to a bigger size. The fact that the JUA is in the business of marketing unicycling is a factor in this. They might need to get interested in a need for bigger wheels for things to change there.
It’s great for the obstacle course too, as well as other events like wheel walk. But I don’t necessarily want to advocate multiple wheel sizes just for racing. Having just one (or two) sizes keeps life a lot simpler for riders.
The only part of the 700c events that was not a success was the fact that they were “demonstration” events, and they ended up being held so late that hardly anyone was there to see. That made it a little cooler for us that raced though! I enjoyed those races even more than I thought I would. I wish more people could have been there to see how fast those wheels go, even when the people on them were not the fastest riders around. Yes, the 100m times weren’t very impressive compared to 24" wheels, but it’s a new event, so it would need time to develop. I confess to not having actually timed myself over either distance before that night.
No, please! They have done this for some races in Japan, but the idea is to move to a wheel size that’s more sensible for going places. 24" was sensible in its day, because that’s what was available. Now we have more choices. In the bicycling industry, the 24" wheel size is for children’s and generally low-end juvenile bikes. Most of the rims and tires are not of great quality. In 700c we can choose from literally hundreds of tires and rims. I like it a lot better! I can use my 700c wheel for commuting, MUni, and track, either by changing tires and cranks, or having separate wheels. Just like everything else.
But Cokers aren’t particularly available in any country outside the US/UK! Yet people still pay huge shippingcosts to get them.
I’m still surprised at the low number of Cokers, given the size of the Japanese unicycling population.
Ken
If you ask me I would have said that it is really only a US product, we struggle in the UK to get hold of them. We are trying to find a solution but Coker are not being very helpful. 
Roger
I’ve uploaded some pics of Unicon here…
sample pic attached: Yogi’s Big Drop
If you can help me put names to some of the faces, or point out any errors in my captions, please contact me.
I’ve uploaded some pics of Unicon here…
sample pic attached: Yogi’s Big Drop
If you can help me put names to some of the faces, or point out any errors in my captions, please contact me.
Nice photos! I wish I took a still of Yoggi on the huge drop. I have 5 attempts on video though!
—Nathan
Re: Unicon XII photos
On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 02:30:08 -0500, “rogeratunicycledotcom” wrote:
>If you ask me I would have said that it is really only a US product, we
>struggle in the UK to get hold of them. We are trying to find a
>solution but Coker are not being very helpful. 
Does it help to know that Coker seems to have an official
importer/distributer in the Netherlands? I could look up the
name/address. I heard this from a friend of mine, who recently bought
a Coker, possibly the first one in the Netherlands. However, the
prices were quite steep and he ended up buying a ‘remanufactured’ one
from the US.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
I like the idea of not having to balance when out on a ride - joe
THANKS!
Hey everyone,
I couldnt make it to Unicon XII, but I will definatly be at the next one, unless I am not alive. I’m not going to miss it for the world - mark my words!
I must say a HUGE thank you to Paul and John Tasker (from Stockton, England) - I’m sure one or two of you will know who I am on about.
They brought me a program back over, signed by my many of you. Too many people signed it to thank individually, but you should know who you are. (apprently you were made to write lots of love, and kiss kiss. lol)
I have enjoyed looking through everyones photos. I had a look through Paul and Johns tonight. Looks great - especially Christy! haha 
Thanks again for signing my prog…
Joe,
cool pictures, nathan! did you see mine? I’m visiting my parents in maui for a little while.
http://www.bluetreesoft.com/wallpapers/wallpapers.cgi/munimaui
I’ll be back next week.
Resurrect…
My Unicon pictures are finally making their way up for public view. I got the first two sets up, and the third may follow today. The rest will have to wait until after my next trip…
Freestyle: http://unicycling.smugmug.com/gallery/235079
Hockey, 10k, MUni: http://unicycling.smugmug.com/gallery/235111
I hope to follow up with captions eventually, but I also have to get my MUni Weekend pictures up. A big part of getting these uploaded was also culling them down to a semi-reasonable amount. Later on I will put up a separate “highlights” album that should be easier to look at.
Enjoy!