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Archive for the ‘Racing’ Category

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 2015

Nov 30th, 15 / Comments Off

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What is the best thing about November?  Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge of course!  This is New Zealands biggest cycling event, with close to 10,000 people taking part every year. I remember my first in 2003, and if memory serves me right, I have only ever missed one LTCC since then, which would make 2015 my 12th LTCC, and the 10th on a unicycle (I have ridden the two-lap 320km enduro twice, on a bike). The best thing about Taupo is atmosphere- with so many people out there riding and enjoying the views around the Lake, there is always someone to chat to.
My partner Anna was doing her 2nd LTCC, but this time she would be doing the 80km solo challenge.  Last year she had ridden the first 2 legs of last years LTCC as part of a relay team, but this was the first time the LTCC organisers have had a 80km category, comprising the second half of the circuit.  She was super excited about being able to cross the finish line,especially with another year of riding experience.  Her friend Martha was visiting from Italy and also doing the 80km challenge on a mountainbike.

We arrived in Taupo on Friday a bit later than expected, but thankfully still in time to get registered and drop the bike off (it has to be placed on a truck to be taken to the 80km start).  Anna would carry her unicycle onto the bus in the morning- the advantage of a compact unicycle.  We were staying at Warren Ellery’s place- Taupo unicyclist and upholsteror extraordinaire.. Anna was drooling over Warrens collection of sewing machines.  Unfortunately he was away this weekend, but generously donated the use of his house for our LTCC base.

After stocking up on some last minute supplies, Anna and Martha cooked up pasta to load up with carbs, whilst I settled for meat pies (hey- you can eat anything you like if you’re going to ride 160km the next day!).

We got up early to get Anna and Martha to the start line.  Chocolate nutty porridge for breakfast is a perfect way to fuel up!
No 6am start like last year- Anna and Martha would be bused to the the 80km transition to ride from there.  I dropped them off then came back to set up my unicycle.  This would be the first time in many years that I had gone back to the 36″ ungeared unicycle- the original wheel I set my 2004 record on.

The setup was:
KH 36 Frame
36″ Airfoil rim laced to UDC hub
Wheel TA tyre (an oldie but a goodie!)
Regular 36″ tube
Wellgo MG1 pedals
Flatfish saddle with KH T-Bar
114mm quax cranks

It was nice to be on a solid, ungeared 36″ again, although I had originally planned to build a lighter 36″ using updated components.  Unfortunately there is a limited supply of 36″ rims in the country so it will have to wait till next year!

Anna was riding her 26″/110mm unicycle with very large Maxxis Hookworm tyre- one of my favourites.  She hadn’t had any experience on bigger wheels so elected to take her trusty 26″.

I got to the start line to line up with the Group 8’s (7-8.30hr groups) for the 9am start.  It was a smaller field than I expected- which I put down to the earlier start for slower group 9s (6am), which allows them plenty of time to arrive at the finish line.

3-2-1 go!!!

I set off down the hill in light drizzle. It’s a familiar start and something I always look forward to, because after a short downhill, it is a long climb with a slope perfect for a unicycle. By the time I reached the top of the hill, I’d passed all the riders in my start group.  We yo-yo’ed back and forth for the next 160km  with riders passing me on the downhills and me catching them on the climbs. My legs felt good but I don’t do humidity well- it was drizzling but also very warm. I managed to keep a 20km/hr average, so on track for an 8hr round taupo.

The rain cleared and it was a beautiful day.  The supporters were out in force, with lots of people on the side of the roads cheering people on.  By the time I hit the 80km mark, I knew Anna and Martha would have gotten off to a good start.  I had several almond gold slabs to munch on, but I was wishing I had brought a few more savoury snacks.    I got over Kuratau Hill- one of my favourite climbs, and it was mostly downhill from there.

According to my calculations- if Anna was doing struggling I would catch her as we rounded the lake, or after Hatepe Hill if she was doing great!  In fact, I didn’t see her at all as I made the final turn into Taupo.  At that point I bonked and had to down 3 almond slabs in succession, just to get through the final 10km.

I rolled into Taupo in 8hrs 11min 21s, quite a bit slower than my 2004 record, but still respectable (I did 8hrs 20min in 2003).  Anna had gone under 7hrs, with a time of 6hrs 58min 15s. An astounding effort, considering she rode a 26″/110mm unicycle a whole 80km!  Martha finished in just over 5hrs, wishing she had done the full 160km race.

It was a great weekend of riding and we are looking forward to next years (40th anniversary) event!

Events, Racing

Sam Wakeling and Roger Davies attempt the 100 mile world record: 9 July 2015, UK

Jun 28th, 15 / Comments Off

The 100 mile record has stood for over a quarter century, and is one of the toughest records in unicycling.  It has had several attempts on it since Takayuki Koike (Japan) set the record in 1987, and still stands at 6hrs44min22s.

On the 9 July, Sam Wakeling and Roger Davies will be attempting the world record. Sam will be riding a geared 36″, while Roger will be attempting the record on an ungeared 36″.

Check out their website for updates: http://100.samwakeling.com/

And the RSU discussion

Good luck guys!

sam-aero-2015

Events, News, Racing

Unicon 17: The 17th Unicycle World Championships and Convention

Aug 14th, 14 / 1 Comment

KenI’ve just returned from Montreal, Canada after competing at the 17th Unicycle World Championships and Convention, or Unicon.  This is the biggest event in unicycling, with over 1100 competitors from 34 countries taking part in the 2 yearly event.  We had a small team from New Zealand, with myself competing in the distance racing events.

It was a fairly successful Unicon.  The standard has improved every year since I attended my first one in Tokyo 2004 (Unicon 12), and since my marathon world title in Switzerland 2006.  It is good to be competitive 10yrs after your first one.

I decided to race standard class (with limits on wheelsize and gearing), to try a new challenge and to get back to the basics of why I enjoy unicycling.  Since  2004, we have seen the emergence of everything from geared hubs to disc brakes and handlebars.  It is getting ridiculous having to lug a heavy 36″ geared unicycle to the other side the world…I got into unicycling because of the elegance and simplicity.  A bike is faster, weighs less, and has ten times as many gear ratios, so I have no reason to ride a clunky geared unicycle for pleasure.

My first serious race was the 10km standard (24″ wheel, 125mm cranks).  This was run as a criterium next to the Olympic Park in Montreal.  The 10km standard is fast and furious with top riders revving their unicycles to well over 180rpm.  I had a slow start, but gradually crept up the field to sit behind two French brothers (Adrien and Jerome Caire), and two lead riders (Noah Leber and Christoph Hartmann) well ahead.  It was a fun tactical race with me drafting the riders trying to figure out how I’m going to win the race for third.  I rolled out of the final corner first, but it came down to a sprint to the line with Adrien Caire edging ahead for third place.  So a fourth place finish but an age group gold medal (30-39yrs) for my ever first standard race, and under the 30min mark with a time of 29min 24s.

The next big race for me was the cross country, but with a course set up more for downhill riders, I was happy to pace other riders for a mid-field finish.  A bit of a disappointment as most riders ended up walking 30-40% of the course.  The setting at Mt Tremblant was amazing though- it’s a ski village about 2hrs drive from Montreal.  I enjoyed the views and the delicious ice-creams instead.

What the cross-country lacked was made up entirely by the Cyclocross race.  It was set in the park next to the track racing, which meant lots of bumpy grass, a couple of short sharp climbs and some stairs to content with.   The coolest thing is the twirly whirly spiral at the centre of the course- it took several laps to nail it smoothly.  The Le Mans style start was fun, but again I had a slow start with at least 10 riders ahead on the first lap.  I gradually picked them off one by one, until I was sure I was in third place, chasing Czech rider Jakub Rulf, but crossed the line only to find another rider (Johannes Gabbert) had finished 2secs ahead…if only I’d known!  So another fourth placing but good enough for another age group (30-39yrs) gold.

The last and final race for me was the Marathon standard (700c wheel).  A last minute course change meant the race was shifted from the city to the Formula 1 race track on Île Notre-Dame, a man-made island on the St Lawrence  river in Montreal.  As you can imagine, this made for very fast racing with an almost entirely flat course and sweeping corners.  Although hills are more my thing, I was thrilled with this 4.3km course.

The start went a little bit better this time, I was in the lead group off the line.  The great thing with standard racing is that girls are almost competitive with guys, particularly on flat courses, because it comes down to cadence.  It doesn’t matter what gender you are, so long as you can pedal fast!  And that’s what we found, with one of the Japanese girls riding 65mm cranks opening up a gap with another Japanese girl, a German rider (Rolf Leonhardt) and myself in the chase group.  We caught her after three laps, and then settled into a good rhythm.  I was losing a lot of time on the corners, so I focused on cutting a good line through each turn.  By the 7th lap, I noticed Rolf had slowed, so I attacked and immediately opened up a gap.  Unfortunately the only thing I succeeded in doing was drop the Japanese (Asahi and Nanami Takada), with Rolf chasing back onto my wheel.  By the final lap I knew I was in trouble, as Rolf can sprint very well (he races track).  We rounded the last corner with Rolf gapping me, a little early and I caught him a few hundred metres from the line, but he went again and won the Marathon championship title by fraction of a second!  So a silver medal for me and yet another age group (30-39) gold.

It was one of my favourite Unicons, and I enjoyed seeing Montreal with my mum who came as support crew!  We ended up buying a few too many bottles of Maple syrup so feel free to drop by my place for waffles and pancakes if you’re in town.

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Events, News, Racing

Karapoti 2014

Mar 4th, 14 / 1 Comment

You know you’ve been around for a while when you take to the start-line of a mountainbike race, 20yrs after your first one. And what a start line it is- on the banks of the Akatarawa River…your feet are soggy and you’ve had a swim even before hitting the pedals.
Back in 1994, as a pimply high-schooler, it was ‘THE’ mountainbike event for anyone who was in to mountainbiking. Not much has changed in the last two decades, except nowadays I ride Karapoti on one wheel rather than two.  I have not missed a single Karapoti in the last 10yrs, despite living in Australia.
The weapon of choice this year was my trusty Triton titanium unicycle, decked out with 29” KH XC rim, 145mm cranks and 2.25” Racing Ralphs, and the carbon NNC Flatfish saddle. Simple, lightweight and bombproof! I decided to take the Maguras off just before the race, to save a bit of weight and add mud clearance. After racing last few years on a geared Schlumpf- it felt good to get back to the basics…no brakes, no gears, no handlebar, just a fixed wheel. I’m unconvinced a geared hub was a good option anyway, and wiped myself out last year after the cranks came loose and disengaged the hub. Unicycles are meant to be simple machines!
There were only two of us racing 2014 Karapoti- local lad Tim Armstrong from Upper Hutt, and myself.   Tim is a formidable runner, so I was keen to get as much distance on him up the Karapoti Gorge as possible, which is pretty much how it panned out. After splashing across the Akataratarawa river, I pedalled as fast as I could up the gorge, opening up a gap before hitting the warmup climb. With Tim chasing hard, I put everything into maintaining a flawless spin.
My fitness levels were pretty average this year, but much of it depends on how you feel on the day. When we got to Deadwood climb proper, I knew I was having a great day because I just felt happy. Like really happy, instead of wanting to vomit and cry in the same spot every other year. It was a combination of great weather, smooth Karapoti conditions, lightweight unicycle and many things going great in my life right now.
Before I knew it, I was diving down the Rock Garden. Instead of gingerly clamouring over boulders, I was skipping my way through lines of mountainbikers….a $10k full suspension bike is no good when someone comes flying past with a unicycle on their shoulder.
I got to the bottom of the rock garden having passed several dozen riders, and scrambled over to the Devil Staircase. I was pleasantly surprised there were very few riders cluttering (I mean that in the nicest possible way) the staircase. Karapoti numbers seemed a little down on previous years. This made a perfect opportunity for a speedy climb, rather than ducking and weaving under a carnage of people slipping and sliding with bikes on their heads.
I got to the top of the staircase, legs still feeling quite okay, and bombed down Big Ring Boulevard as fast as I could. I was having so much fun that before I knew it, I was at the base of Dopers Hill and tackling the final climb. Tim Armstrong was still nowhere in sight, so I heaved a sigh of relief- I’ve never seen anyone go up Dopers Hill as fast as he did last year.
By my split calculations, I was on track for a sub-4hr Karapoti, which would beat my 2005 course record of 4hrs11min. It gave me extra impetus to pedal that bit faster.
I was almost on the home straight when disaster struck. Or, more to the point, a pile of rocks I was too lazy as to avoid struck my wheel. The painful hiss of a pinchflat was a little annoying- in the dozen plus times I’ve raced Karapoti, I have only ever flatted in training. Even more annoying was fumbling about trying to get the wheel off. Why hasn’t anyone invented a quick release unicycle wheel? I wasted well over 10min changing the tube, and just as I tightened up the final bolts, Tim Armstrong comes sailing past. A Deja-vu moment as he did the same thing last year when I was fixing another mechanical.
I hopped back on to chase him down, only to realise that I had not put enough air in the tyre. The wheel was squirrelling around all over the place! Luckily we were already at the top of Karapoti Gorge.  I passed Tim and had to juggle staying in front whilst not pushing too hard over rocks in case of another pinch flat. There were some very close calls as my tyre bottomed out (post-race tyre pressure measured 12 PSI and there was a tear along the tube, luckily not quite a pinch flat).

IMG_2463

Onto the final sealed road and I knew I was safe, but only had about 100m on Tim. I spun as fast as I could until I reached the Akatarawa River- splashed right into the deep end and ended up swimming. My legs cramped up on the other side, I wasn’t able to remount, with Tim coming up behind me. I sprinted (or waddled/crawled) across the line barely a unicycle length ahead of Tim. The closest Karapoti unicycle finish ever, in 4hrs14min31s!
This was one of the most fun Karapotis I’ve ever done, despite being a little gutted at missing the sub-4hr due to the puncture. It gives me a goal for next year, because I know it’s doable. Tim had taken 25min off his Karapoti PB and was within 3min of the race record…so next year could be the most exciting race yet.

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Racing

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 2013: on a Standard 24″/125mm unicycle!

Dec 2nd, 13 / 7 Comments

Another year and another chance to ride around Lake Taupo!  This is New Zealands biggest cycling event, with 9-10,000 riders making the annual pilgrimage.  The picturesque 160km circuit takes in 1650m of climbing and descending as it circumnavigates NZs biggest lake in an anticlockwise direction.   This would be my 10th Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, with 7 completed laps on a unicycle, and 2 ‘enduro’ events (2 laps/320km) on my road bike.  My fastest time to date was 7hrs43min on a 36″ ungeared unicycle with 110mm cranks.

I thought I would do something different for a change, and instead of pushing a 36″ Uni with/without gears, I’d go back to something a little more traditional, a standard racing unicycle.

The IUF ‘standard’ which is used for track racing and the 10km standard races at Unicon, has a maximal wheel diameter of 618mm and maximal crank length of 125mm.   It means that everyone in these races compete on the same gear ratio.   The idea is that performance is dependent on the rider and not the equipment.

What I also like about this setup is it’s simplicity.  Each year something new is bolted to my race unicycle- gears, handlebars, hydraulic rim brakes and then disc brakes…it was nice to ditch the 8kg boat anchor in favour of a 3kg standard racer.  It might not go as fast, but it rides like a unicycle, not a tractor with gears.

The weapon of choice was a Quax Black Witch with Nimbus 92mm hub, and the original NNC Flatfish carbon saddle:

websized-P1110202

Anyway, back to the topic of racing.  I was in Group 9 (the slow group!), which meant a far too early start at 6am.   Porridge and bananas were shoveled into the fuel tank (along with 2 pre-race coffees!)

Taupo2

I was surprised at the size of the group, but the more the merrier!  Bryan Page was at the startline with me, on his Schlumpf 36″.  He was teamed up with Eric Pulvermacher to do 80km each in a relay.  Andrew Frazer, who holds the Penny Farthing record for Taupo, was also there, as well as several recumbents and handcycles.  I was plastered in sunscreen despite the fact it was supposed to be cloudy.

Taupo3

3…2…1…GO!

The race begins with a short dip before a long gradual climb.  As soon as we hit the climb I started passing bikes.  Lots of them.  The standard uni is perfect for spinning your way up a hill, and I was pleased to find myself at the front of almost all the group 9 starters by the time we hit our first downhill.  This undulating 60km section of the course rolled generally in an upwards direction, so I maintained a good position despite having bikes whizzing past at every little descent.  I had passed Bryan early on the climb, and was trying my best to stay ahead until the course flattened out.

To my surprise, I hit the 10km mark in 31min, which was not quite my 10km race pace; but it was mostly uphill and I wasn’t exactly revving the engine.  I backed off a bit and and hit the 20km marker in 64min, which was still giving me a comfortable 18km/hr average speed.  I was aiming to come in under 10hrs, and preferably 9 1/2hrs.

The next few 10km markers went by at roughly the same 33min pace, although I was starting to feel the effects of spinning a unicycle very fast with  little resistance!   I went through the 80km interchange at 4hrs 38min, which meant I was now losing quite a bit of time.  The main problem was a buttock issue.  When you have no handlebars and a cadence of over 160rpm, it starts to hurt after 60km.  Luckily I had one of the best seats made for unicycling, which helped a lot, but not quite enough.   I needed to stop every 20min to reperfuse the buttocks, and later it became every 5min.

Anyway, I was still surprised to be ahead of Bryan at the relay interchange, so I focused on getting to Kuratau Hill before Eric with fresh legs would come past.  Kuratau Hill was my favourite climb this year. With a super lightweight unicycle I was spinning my way past long lines of bikes.  It was also a chance to relieve pressure points because of the increased pedaling resistance.

Once over Kuratau it was getting somewhat more painful. This is the longest flat section which would be perfect for spinning at 20+km/hr…if only I was able to sit down!   I had a saddle sore the size of my thumb on each butt  cheek.   With no lack of encouragement from passing bicyclists, the best I could manage in return was a grimace disguised as a crazy grin.  By the time we could see the Lake, I was spending a large amount of time on the side of the road.  At least it was a pretty view!

Anyway, to cut a long grind short, I made it to the final big climb of the day, Hatepe Hill, which I had also been looking forward to. Unfortunately, I blew out my tyre at the bottom, and had forgotten to pack tyre levers. After some struggling and cursing to get the tyre off, I managed to borrow a tyre lever from another rider, and got my new tube and wheel back in place, a little annoyed at wasting 30min for a simple tube change.

After riding over Hatepe, it was a slow and painful descent to the final 15km straight.  I bonked at the top, but still had enough almond peanut slabs in my camelbak to top up the tank.

The wind started picking up at this point, but didn’t affect the smaller unicycle nearly as much as a 36″.  I made the final turn into Taupo and spun my way to the finish line in 11hrs 36min.   A bit disappointed at not going under 10hrs when I was on track for the first half of the race, but glad to have finished.

Taupo1

As a consolation…I was passed out in the food tent when they called out my number for one of the major spot prizes at this years challenge, a $25,000 Spa Pool.  Could have done with a soak in the spa then, but it was empty!

 

Taupo

Thanks you Wright Spa Pools for such an amazing prize!

Events, News, Racing

The Art of Spin: Ken Looi revs up his IUF Standard 24″/125mm unicycle

Oct 17th, 13 / Comments Off

This video shows me riding a IUF Standard 24″ racer. Maximum wheel diameter 618mm, maximum crank length 125mm. Cruising speed in this video is 18-19km/hr, or over 160rpm.

High revs can be fun!

This graph courtesy of Klaas Bil, showing the revving up and revving down phase:

KenLooi_TheArtOfSpin

Racing

The makings of a Schlumph Hub

Apr 26th, 13 / Comments Off

Here is a video showing the makings and workings of a Sclumpf hub.

Racing, Reviews, Unitouring

Karapoti Classic 2013

Mar 3rd, 13 / 1 Comment

There are very few races I can’t bear to miss, and the Karapoti Classic is one of them. The 50km race in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, is the Southern Hemispheres longest running mountainbike event, and one of the toughest, with three massive climbs, nasty rocks, shoe eating bogs, ruts, river crossings, slippery singletrack, and did I mention rocks? It is also the the world’s longest running Muni race, with a unicycle category since 2003. For someone who grew up in Wellington, Karapoti is part of local mountainbike folklore!  I now live in Australia, but have been flying back every year to do this race.

I came into this year’s race hoping to beat my personal best of 4hrs 11min, set in 2005. The course was the driest I’d seen in 18yrs of racing Karapoti, a stark contrast to last years ‘weather bomb’, which forced a postponement of the race. Hoping to beat my unicycle PB, I chose my Triton 26” Schlumpf, complete with hydraulic brakes, two gears, a titanium frame and a very special NNC Flatfish carbon seat. Quite a contrast to the no-gears, no-brakes, steel 29’er I used in 2005. Joining me this year was local rider Tim Armstrong from Upper Hutt, and Sam Lancaster–Robertson from Auckland, our youngest ever Karapoti unicyclist at 17 (born the year I did my first Karapoti!)

3-2-1…go!  The traditional scramble across a raging river was fairly tame this year, with the Akatarawa river as low as I’d ever seen it. Still worth taking care and not dunking yourself at the start of a race though! Once on the other side, it was a 2km ride up the road to the start of Karapoti Gorge. This is where high gear comes in most handy. I kicked the Schlumpf into 1.5 mode and cruised with the rest of the ‘special category’ classes- a mix of singlespeed, tandem, cyclocross, and retro bikes. Tim and Sam were riding ungeared 29″ and 26″ unicycles respectively, so would have to make up time on the climbs.

I hit the gravel singeltrack of Karapoti Gorge and was pleased to see it drier than most years, and able to be ridden in high gear. The cadence was slower, but I felt I was making good time on the Karapoti record. At the start of the warmup climb, I was 10min ahead of my usual splits…so kept telling myself: ‘don’t stuff this up’!  It could be a record year, as the legs were feeling good. After the ‘warm-up’ climb, the real climbing begins, on the never-ending grind up to Deadwood, which also happens to be what your legs feel like at the top. This is where unicycles comes in handy. Being more compact, but not necessarily lighter (despite all the carbon and titanium, the geared hub is a tank), I pass dozens of riders pushing their way up.

After Deadwood came the infamous rock garden- so named because of the boulder sized rocks and steep drop-offs which threaten to destroy your machine, never mind the person on top. Here is footage of the 2013 Rock Garden, with Sam Lancaster-Robertson riding the final section around the 4min mark:

At the end of the rock garden, the track turned skyward in what is known as the Devils Staircase, with parts so steep you’re scrambling on all fours. Luckily, this year was fairly dry, which meant no one sliding back down toward you, and their bike landing on your head.

The drink station at the top was welcome relief. After grabbing a handful of jet planes and jelly snakes, which everyone had dunked their grubby mitts into (who cares about hygiene), it was off down the 10km long ‘Big Ring Boulevard’. Not quite a big ring, but I flicked the unicycle into high gear, doing my best to avoid loose off-camber sections and ruts which made this section deceptively difficult. Riders were scattered along the track fixing punctures from high speed impacts.

I cranked along in high gear until both legs cramped, and I ended up on the side of the track for 5min, with another rider straightening my feet. The added torque was taking its toll, and I kicked myself for not fitting a handlebar for extra leverage. I was starting to lose time, and I wasn’t happy about it, so went back into low gear to spin off some of the lactate.

Something still wasn’t right.  I blamed fatigue for a couple of missed shifts, then my Schlumpf suddenly went into freewheel and I hit the dirt hard! After checking all limbs were intact, I looked down to find the cranks had worked loose and disengaged the Schlumpf gear. Not good. After faffing around for several minutes with shifter buttons, I hear Tim Armstrong whizzing by: ‘are you ok?’

During that incident my watch had ripped off, but after a cursory look, I had to get back on the Uni to try to catch Tim, which I did just before the start of the the Pram Track- arguably the toughest climb of Karapoti.  I decided to powerwalk….it was faster than riding after what my legs had been through. Trying to keep Tim in sight however, was impossible, as he flew up the track as fast as his legs would take him. I don’t think I have ever seen someone disappear up the pram track as fast as he did. The race was now on, as most of the time would be made on the climbs.

When we hit the top, Tim was nowhere in sight, and without my watch I couldn’t keep track of race time.  On the other hand, taking risks down Dopers Hill is not something you want to do, with the steepest part of Karapoti to come.  At the bottom of Dopers, a track official said Tim was just a minute ahead, so I cranked back into high gear and pedaled as hard as I could. I caught sight of him just before the start of the Karapoti Gorge, and upped the pace some more, only to wipe myself out again. I took it fairly gingerly down the Gorge after that, but managed to catch Tim again halfway down. This was the home straight, so I enjoyed the last rocky single-track and eased my way down the road to the finish.

After another river crossing (I cramped in the middle and ended up swimming), and it was up the finishing shute and across the line in 4hrs36min. Not anywhere close to the record, but happy to finish. Tim rolled across the line a few minutes later in 4hrs39min, and Sam completed his first ever Karapoti in 5hrs3min, not a bad effort!

Ken karapoti-sml

photo by Maria Williams

Events, MUni, Racing

UNICON 16 Video

Aug 8th, 12 / Comments Off

A beautiful video by Nicola Cassanelli showing some highlights of UNICON 16, the 16th Unicycle World Championships and Convention, held in Brixen, Northern Italy last week.

 

Events, MUni, News, Racing

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 2011

Nov 27th, 11 / 2 Comments

I’ve just ridden 160km around Lake Taupo, one of the Southern Hemispheres biggest cycling events, with over 9,000 taking part: www.cyclechallenge.com

We had a team of four entered (Rox Price, Steve Taylor, Bryan Page and Warren Ellery), and Tim Newton attempting his first ever 100 mile century ride.

I was entered as a solo rider, doing the full 160km. I was also feeling pretty fit, although I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to beat my 2004 course record (set on a 36″ Unguni*, 110mm cranks) of 7hrs43min. (*Unguni=Ungeared unicycle)

My last proper unicycle ride was back in August, on the Yunnan Unicycle tour, but I had been doing plenty of running back in Australia. The big thing for me was being 4-5kg lighter than my usual race weight, which was like not lugging around a big sack of potatoes for 160km, including 1600m of total climbing/descent.

The unicycle of choice was a 36″ Schlumpf, with 145mm cranks, KH T-bar, cut down KH seat and Magura HS33 brakes mounted on a KH frame. I was running a standard 36″ tube and a shaved Nightrider tyre.

It was essentially the same set-up as last year, except I had a brake, and more importantly, seat foam. My slowest ever time around Taupo was in 2010 (9hrs58min), which I was pretty disgusted with, and blame entirely on the seat. I thought I’d save weight by removing the foam padding from the KH seat (who needs it?). Instead, I had a strip of inner tube over the bolts, and a seatcover on top. It would make a good torture device if you were to bash it against your bottom for 10hrs, as it happened. At 80km, I wasn’t able to sit down. In fact, I was not able to sit down for another 2wks.

That said, I was happy with this years setup (with a thin layer of cut down seat foam); until race day when I found that my wheel was completely out of true and rubbing hard on the brake pad. After a quick wheel true at  Top Gear Cycles (5min before my race start- thanks guys!), I had a working brake and a straight wheel.

3, 2, 1, go!!!

I set off with the 7hr+ group at 9am. Tim Newton and Rox Price had set off at 6am, before the waves of riders, as they were aiming to get in relatively early, and to avoid the worst of the wind.

When we hit the first hill, it was the usual case of passing dozens of bicyclists, due to the perfect unicycling gradient (about 5%). Most were not used to seeing a giant unicycle go past, so I was greeted by plenty of cheers and people shaking their heads in disbelief.

*ding ding* It’s handy to have a bell when you pass bicyclists

Then we hit the open road and a strong headwind. It was by far the windiest I had ridden in the 7 or 8yrs of coming to Taupo. You know it’s windy when you have to pedal hard, in low gear, to go downhill. Having wind + road camber makes it quite difficult to keep tracking in a straight line. I was blown off a couple of times.

It was at about 5km when I realised that despite having a straight wheel, it was flexing so much that I was pedaling hard and going nowhere.  I eased off the pressure and tried to spin as lightly as I could, until 10km when I thought riding against my own brake was somewhat ridiculous, so I got off and released it completely. So now I had a scary big gear with no brakes!

I hit the 10km mark in 35min, not good for setting a record, so I decided to try claw back a 20km/hr average and finish in 8hrs. I hit 20km in just over 1hr 8min, then when we turned left towards Kinloch, I was hit with probably the strongest wind yet. The headwind was bad, but the worst was the side wind, which meant you were constantly adjusting your balance. Bicyclists make for very poor wind breaks, so drafting them had limited benefit. I was left pedalling in low gear even on the flats or downhills, which was painfully slow.

Despite that (or in spite of that), my legs were feeling quite good, so whenever I had respite from the wind, I cranked up the big gear and tried to make up time. I slowly crawled back the deficit to hit 40km in about 2hrs 10, then 60km in just over 3hrs. Somewhere along the way I passed Steve Taylor from the Uni Relay Team, pedaling furiously and looking strong.

I went past the half-way relay changover in 3hrs 53min, which got me pretty excited, until I reached a sign at 4hrs 10min that said I was at the 80km mark! I should have known after doing this so many times- the relay changeover location was at an earlier location to previous years.

In past years, I had never done the second 80km faster than the first, so after muttering at the wind and my stupid brake, I relaxed and took it at a pace I’d do on a unitour, and just enjoy the ride. I was still fighting with the wind, but you know you have good legs when you find yourself looking forward to Kuratau Hill, the longest climb of the day.

I clinked back down to low gear and starting grinding past long lines of bicyclists on the way up. The brake was still rubbing, even after being pushed out as far as it would go. Every time I stood up off the seat, I could feel increased resistance. It was impossible to accelerate up the steep bits, so sitting and spinning seemed the order of the day.

After reaching the top, I bombed down the other side and over Waihi Hill as well as one could without brakes. The bottom of Waihi Hill to Turangi (about 30-40km), was a long, flat road, perfect for the Schlumpf 36. I would be able to claw back some time and hopefully finish in under 8hrs30min. The wind was certainly better, but still tricky with a crosswind. On the other hand, I had my time-trial legs on, and was able to keep up with most of the bikers.

Then I hit the 130km sign at 6.00hrs! I couldn’t believe it. Either I’d just ridden a spectacular flat time trial, or the distance markers were not very accurate. It was probably a combination of both. I decided that if I could keep up a 20km/hr pace over the final 30km, I wouldn’t just go under 8hrs, I’d break my old 2004 record.

With a resurgence of energy, I cranked up the Schlumpf as we skirted the lake, until finally we hit the last killer climb- Hatepe Hill.  I shifted down, but still unable to stand up without my brakes rubbing, I had to gently spin my way up. Not good, as I got that dizzy ‘I’m about to bonk’ feeling. I hopped off half way and chowed down on a OSM bar, whilst power-walking up the hill. Better to lose some pride and walk, than blow up and miss the record.

Once over Hatepe, it was a cautious descent for the Schlumpf in high gear. I hit the bottom straight, with 33min to do the last 15km. Possible, but cutting it fine. I watched each marker tick by- 10km with 23min to go, then 8km, 7km. I was going to be within a whisker of beating the 7yr old record, until I hit the home straight, and a wall of wind. It virtually stopped all the bicyclists in their tracks. You could hear them clicking down the gears as I did the same. The last 2-3km was the most painful grind in low gear into the headwind imaginable. I turned the final corner into the finishing shute and crossed the finish line in 7hrs 48min, 5min shy of my old record.

Sharon was there with a nice cold Coke, the best fizzy drink I’d had in a long time. I had salt crystals crusting down my helmet straps and on my face.

Tim came in a little while after me, after stopping at a cafe for food. I went right past without seeing him. He looked remarkably fresh after his longest ever ride, and (from memory) completed the challenge just over 11hrs.

Anyway, thanks to Warren and Sharon for their hospitality, and all the other unicyclists who were there supporting and competing in Taupo.

See you next year!

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