Saw someone riding today In Bellevue, 148th and SE 12th this afternoon around 4pm. Thought I would shout out on here to see if they happen to be on here. Would be nice to have someone near by to ride with every now and then.
Anton
Hey Anton,
Don’t know who it was but did you know that NAUCC will be in Snoqualmie, Seattle and Sammamish in July this year? Hope you’re planning on participating.
Yeah, I saw that. Pretty cool. Honestly I have no idea what goes on there though…
was it this jerk? …my rides sometimes take me through Bellevue. Always ready to pedal with other Eastside area yoo-nees. 
The loop around the south end of Lake Washington is my fave!
Is there a site for registration yet?
Lots of cool stuff, like a mini-Olympics of unicycling. I was going to refer you to the Unicycling Society of America website, but it doesn’t answer that question. While my pictures aren’t super-recent, here are some photo albums of the event.
Looks like not yet. But when it becomes available, hopefully it will be found here.
I’ve missed too many in a row, and I’m not going to miss 2017! Also the Seattle area is a great location for unicycling so I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah, the last Unicon to be held in the United States was also in the Snoqualmie area.
Work on the website has begun. I didn’t hear a date for registration.
Anton there’s lots of events.
muni, road races, track, street, freestyle and etc.
We’re also working on putting together a urban ride through the city. Maybe a spin around Magnolia.
I’m hoping for an organized group ride of the Iron Horse Trail again also. Last time I did it on a borrowed Coker with a yukky Viscount seat and no handle!
The Unicon crew also did an organized ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, followed by a return to downtown for the Seafair Parade. If Nationals is concurrent with that parade, it would be really cool to have an entry in it again!
They’re considering holding the marathon on the Iron Horse Trail including the first two miles through the tunnel as well as an organized group ride. It’s a packed schedule. Hopefully that group ride will stay on it.
The parade is on July 29th this year so that won’t be possible. A trip to Bainbridge is a good idea.
What I’ve been hearing about holding the marathon throught the tunnel has been pretty positive, but with conditions: “Sounds great… if we advertise that riders need lights”, “Good idea! If we say that it’s over gravel and downhill all the way”.
I think it sounds like a great idea, but it really could upset some people because it isn’t over concrete like most road races are.
If the marathon is through the tunnel, then it’ll replace the group ride, freeing up some time on the schedule.
You can’t please everybody when doing conventions like this, so it’s best not to try. In this case, when you say “Marathon” there’s an expectation that it’s a “Road” race, which means paved, or mostly paved. Best solution for this might be to relable it the Iron Horse Trail race, in which case you don’t have to go a certain, specific distance.
Then you can still do a traditional 10k (and/or a longer race) on pavement.
For a big race on Iron Horse, you will have to start at an area that’s wide enough to let the pack spread out (thin out) before they get to the tunnel. Everyone will have to have lights, and the tunnel will granted be a dangerous place to be racing (top riders go really, really fast). Further down, when I did it in 2002, there was at least one bridge with no railings, so some people may have issues with that.
Actually, considering all of that, unless you expect a relatively small group for that race, it might be better to do the Iron Horse as a fun ride. Scenery is wasted on race courses, since the riders don’t get a chance to really look at it, let alone stop and take pictures. 
Every bridge has railings now, you would have to try really hard to fall off the trail. 
For those concerned about “gravel” this trail is not loose rock at all. It is hard pack on an old railroad line with a slight decline most of the way. I, too, am concerned about racing through the 2.1 mile tunnel in the dark but “top people, really top people” are working out those details. There are alternate courses but not nearly as unique.
Just for reference, the marathon race at this past summer’s NAUCC in South Dakota was on a similar hard-pack “rail trail.” It was an out-and-back, slightly uphill going out, and slightly downhill coming back. In my opinion it wasn’t an ideal course for a marathon race (would have preferred pavement), but it was a very pleasant ride, with nice scenery. A benefit was not contending with motor vehicle traffic, just a few bikes and horses.
Are those “top people” riding tall giraffes? I guess they still won’t have any problems in that tunnel… 
I’ll repeat that scenery or “unique” and racing are mutually exclusive. A Marathon race would probably be better (and safer) on a boring street course. Riding through such a beautiful location as a race will take away most of the ambiance of being there. Plus, remember you will probably need buses to get everybody back to their vehicles.
I won’t say anything more about that, as I understand there are many pressures to fitting so many things into a big uni convention schedule and I would rather be helpful than a pain. If you choose the Iron Horse for the Marathon race, I’ll have an enjoyable but swift ride down, that may include a photo stop or two.
I’ll keep that in mind. My dad is the NAUCC 2017 coordinator so I have a bit of input on stuff like this. I’ll be sure to bring this up to him.
Video of the tunnel
Here’s a video from Harper Day Ride 2015 and a few photos from 2016.
Keep in mind that I had been riding 1.25 years when the video segments were taken and riding through the tunnel was quite an accomplishment after having a serious bout of vertigo a few years earlier.
It says the video is blocked. 
Yikes! I used iPhoto to make a montage and the song is copyrighted. Just removed the music. I think it should work soon.
It works now!