Commute Race in Santa Cruz California



N

Nathan

Guest
Yesterday, 4 unicyclists on 36" wheels competed in the
annual Commute Race in Santa Cruz, California. Scot Cooper
was the official unicyclist in the race, and Bronson Silva,
Chris Hosmer and I rode along for fun. The course is
different every year and the race features various different
commute vehicles competing for the fastest time. The start
and end of the race are set and it is up to the individual
racers to pick the best route. We rode from City Hall in
Scotts Valley to the end of the wharf in Santa Cruz, a
distance of a little over 8 miles.

For the first time this year, the car won. It was a BMW
driven by the mayor of Scotts Valley and he was lucky with
the traffic lights and parking on the wharf, right at the
finish line. A cross bike and a tandem were next, followed
by the other bikes. Since the course was mostly downhill,
the first unicyclist finished 11 minutes after the last
bike - not impressive, but inevitable given the course.
They promised us an uphill course next year so we can get
even. This year there were no runners or people on public
transportation as in previous years. Our route included a
VERY dicey crossing of 3 lanes of fast traffic to get
across the freeway, and a fun run pushing/carrying the
cycles for 100m.

All in all it was good fun even if we did come in last. The
Santa Cruz Sentinel had an 'article on the race'
(http://tinyurl.com/2fb43) and I've attached a scan of it so
you can see the photo better.

---Nathan

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--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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nathan wrote:
> *
>
> For the first time this year, the car won. It was a BMW
> driven by the mayor of Scotts Valley and he was lucky with
> the traffic lights and parking on the wharf, right at the
> finish line. *
luck? my ass..i sense a cheat.

this guy was the mayor?!?....he probobly had one of those
infa-red things that turn traffic lights green that
ambulance's fire trucks use.

i smell a rat.

--
forget_your_life - #3649 plus_your_life

[image:
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dream one dream many....
*'R.I.P' (http://tinyurl.com/vr86)*
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Nathan-

Let's see the mayor take his BMW down "Ladies Only" on the
Northshore trails.

Thanks for the article.

--
harper - Statuesque

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

"Stoke your own thread as much as you see fit, no problem." - Klaas
Bil

"Ugh, the Harpers; The worst neighbours in the world" - Tony Micelli
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CORRECTION!

"But the mayor of Scotts Valley (or anyone else) *DOES NOT*
benefit from the car winning, unless it's an ego thing.

Sorry, it was too late to do an edit on that.

Though cheating was possible, this would be a silly place to
do it (politically and otherwise). It's easy to smell a rat
all the time. But this leaves you going through life with
rat-smell in your nose all the time. Better to consider that
cheating is possible, and consider whether it would make
sense. Then consider if you're helping the discussion by
bringing it up, or just casting a shadow over an otherwise
fun event.

--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard." -- John F. Kennedy,
1961
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johnfoss wrote:
> *Then consider if you're helping the discussion by
> bringing it up, or just casting a shadow over an otherwise
> fun event.
>
> In other words, being suspicious is fine. Being suspicious
> all the time is being paranoid; a mental health condition.
>
>
> *
gimmie a break.the only thing i cast was an opinion,my
opinion.your the one who is drawing conclusions as to what
that may mean.

--
forget_your_life - #3649 plus_your_life

[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albums/albup23/bunnyjumping.gif]
dream one dream many....
*'R.I.P' (http://tinyurl.com/vr86)*
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johnfoss wrote:
> *
>
> In other words, being suspicious is fine. Being
> suspicious all the time is being paranoid; a mental
> health condition. *

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't
after you"

The race was more fun than competitive and I think everyone
had a good time.

I do recommend that they change the name to

CYCLE TO WORK WEEK

--
scot - cyclops

stick with what works
http://www.unitours.org/tours/ScotCooper/
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I took Jag's comment as pure fun and thought it was really
funny. To me, it didn't cast any shadows on what appears to
have been a good time.

--
U-Turn - Member of Generation XO

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.

'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)

'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)

'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)

-- Dave Stockton
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Scot and Nathan,

Great job guys!!! I took the 2 wheel route this year since
I only have a 24 and pressed for time this week. I agree
with Scot on the issue of renaming the event. At our UCSB
event, we had tandems, trikes, recumbent trikes, and would
have had a uni.

BTW. Some friends of mine mentioned they saw you guys during
this 'adventure' (http://tinyurl.com/3ghcj) on their way
home from San Francisco on HWY 1.

> Then consider if you're helping the discussion by
> bringing it up, or just casting a shadow over an
> otherwise fun event.
>
> In other words, being suspicious is fine. Being suspicious
> all the time is being paranoid; a mental health condition.

Interesting comment and a bit harsh don't you think? 'Marion
Barry' (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/marion-barry/)
has already proved that mayors make some strange decisions
sometimes. :) I personally thought Jagur's post was a
humorous addition to an already ironic ending to an event
promoting cycling to work/school.

--
myocardial - I fell into a burning ring of fire.

Matt Wilhelm
Illustrated One Wheeler
Santa Barbara Unicycle Club
[email protected]
<http://www.sbuni.org>
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