Moonride '04- Nathan Hoover joins us down-under!



G

Gizmoduck

Guest
Well, it's over for another year. I'm hijacking my own
previous thread so I can change the title. Why? Because we
were really honoured to have Nathan fly all the way from the
US to race solo for 24hrs! Nathan is the inspiration behind
many of my previous unicycle tours and adventures so it was
really cool to finally meet him.

The 'Cateye Moonride' (http://www.moonride.co.nz)
mountainbike race was held in Rotorua, a small and rather
smelly town in the middle of New Zealand (due to it's
location in an active geothermal area and the gentle aroma
of hydrogen sulphide). It is also venue for the 2006 MTB
world champs.

The big news of the year was that Nathan Hoover was joining
us for this race. Not only that, he was going race solo for
24hrs! And not only that, Nathan is doing three 24hr races
in three different countries in 15 days!

24hr racing is fun, but going solo? I liken it to
childbirth. Whilst being unfortunately not able to
experience that first hand (except my own, which I was too
young to remember)- I can say that my 24hr solo ride last
year was probably the most painful thing I had ever done.
Ever! Yet exactly a year later I'd forgotten the pain and
here I was doing it again. This time with another unicycle
masochist at the start line- Nathan Hoover; and two 24hr 5-
man unicycle teams.

Anyway, some of the events and times are a little fuzzy now
(especially when I was delirious around about 3pm on Saturday)-
but it went something like this:

Thursday 6 May:

All packed and ready I drive to Rotorua with a carful of
unicycles and enough batteries to power up a small factory.
I arrive at about 4pm at the Biers house (Peter Biers
parents Hank and Judy live in Rotorua). They were a great
support throughout the event- sheltering 12 unicyclists in
their home, feeding and watering us out on the course, and
just being an awesome host to our band of unicyclists.

I head out for a quick spin on the course but as it was
still to be marked I rode only a short section on my Coker.
The rain from the last few days made for some slippery bits
but the singletrack was looking as good as ever.

As I came out of the forest I bumped into Mr Hoover. "Hey
you must be Ken!" "You must be Nathan" "Yep- how did you
know?" (Looks at 36' unicycle) Hmmm...that's a big wheel-
looks like mine in fact :p Shortly after Murray the event
organiser spots us and comes over to tell us we're mad (or
words to that effect which I won't repeat here).

Friday 7 May:

We head off for a quick spin on the course when Joe Dyson
and Pete Marchant (Pete66) arrive from Wellington. The
course was about 95% singletrack- with a couple of short 4WD
sections and a transition zone. Whilst it was fairly flat
and rolling- I knew it was going to be tough. Every year I'd
raced here (even when I was on two wheels) the course
hammered me more than any other. No hills equals nowhere to
rest; and the constant twisting and turning meant your mind
had to be focused to ride this course.

We had lunch where Joe and Pete carboload with vanilla ice
cream and coke. Nathan and I opt for the pasta.

Late afternoon- our support crew arrive. Blair the chief
wrech from 'Johnsonville Cycles'
(http://www.mountainbike.co.nz/shops/jville/) (my LBS) and
Benny (all round good guy, hangs around at the bike shop)
and Allison- Blairs partner and 12hr Soloist, arrive in
Rotorua in the Campervan. They were going to support us Solo
guys, whilst the unicycle teams were crewing their own.

10pm: We're off! Nathan and I start alongside Rowan (posts
on RSU as Rowan) and Peter Bier (Peter_Bier) from the
Moonride Monoride teams. The plan was to stay together but
Peter Bier slows down to talk to the two solo ladybugs
whilst the three of us sped off.

Lap 2 and I was feeling really good- knocked off a sub 30min
lap (+1min at support zone). Still feeling pretty good I
knocked off a few more quick laps and lapped both teams.

Sat 8 May:

2-6am (The Zombie Zone) Not feeling so good anymore- this is
probably the worst time for any soloist- the body clock
shuts down and all you want to do is go to sleep. Nathan
looks a little worse for wear, I feel no better. Blair and
Benny force-feed us and make us drink to stay hydrated.

6am The cortisol kicks in and I try to get in a few quick
laps before the 12hr racers start. I bonk myself silly but
managed to wobble back to camp thanks to the Leppin Squeezee
in my back pocket. No sign of Nathan- I was getting worried.

I had to stop for a 40min break despite telling myself not
to. Headed off later feeling much better.

10am The 12hr racers start. The course gets a bit crowded.

12pm Rowan: "How did you find the course?"
Me: : (grunt) Rowan: "Have you tried your 29'er yet?"
Mf: (Ugh) Rowan: "How did you find your light?"
Mg:Rowan: "Did you ride that big rutted bit near the middle
of the course?"
Mh:Rowan: "You must be knackered"
Mi:etc etc etc.

2pm I bawl my eyes out. "Sob...*sniff*sniff* I can't do it
anymore!!!" Nathan is wrapped in a warm blanket and
getting psyched up by Blair. Eat that, drink this, and get
back out there!

3pm I get paranoid and throw a tanty when someone moves my
seatpost up 2cm higher than it should be. Sorry about that-
it's no big deal but I was very ****** off at the time :mad:

4pm Nathan lies asleep/unconscious in the campervan. We get
back out in the sun. It's apparently a very warm day. Our
teeth chatter uncontrollably- it's freezing!

6pm I take a quick nap and wake up feeling much better.
Fresh mind pushing a tired body. Better than tired mind,
fresh body.

8pm I take that back- fresh mind pushing tired body= body
shutdown. My race is over :eek:

10pm Ohh...shower. We were driven back to the Biers house to
be refreshed (luxury) before heading back for prizegiving.

Sunday 9 May:

Nothing better than a nice relaxing day chilling out with
fellow unicyclists swapping war stories. We soak in the hot
pools before heading home :p

All in all a great weekend and (dare I say it) I've
forgotten how painful it was already. Maybe I'll come back
next year. Then again.....

Big thanks to: Blair, Benny and Allison (our 24hr support
crew) The Biers J'ville cycles Unicycle.com NZ The Moonride
Monoride teams The organises Murray and Ingrid for another
great event Nathan Hoover for coming to NZL to do this!

Seeya next year!

Ken Looi

--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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Some Stats for those interested:

Kens Equipment: Deluxe Coker Suzue Hub KH seat Snafu Pedals
150mm BE cranks (I'm getting my wheel rebuilt- thanks for
the spokes U-Turn)

Yuni 29'er Suzue hub Alex rims WTB Motoraptors Snafu pedals
150mm BE cranks

22 laps were done on the Coker and 3 laps done on the 29er

Nathans Equipment: I should leave this for Nathan but the
main things: Hunter/U-Turn Super Coker 170mm cranks Carbon
fiber airseat and Reeder handle

The unicycle teams: Most laps done on Cokers or 29'ers- mix
of 150 or 170mm cranks One very fast 24' MUNi (140mm cranks)
33 minute lap by Rowan

Laps done (about 7km each): Nathan: 16 laps Ken: 25 laps
Moonride Monoride #1: 35 laps Moonride Monride #2: 24 laps
Fastest Bike team: 70 laps Fastest Bike Soloist (male): 55
laps Fastest Bike Soloist (female):35 laps Fastest unicycle
daytime lap: 27:53 (Rowan Chivers) Fastest unicycle night-
time lap: 30:40 (Ken Looi) Fastest bike lap (team): 18:44
Fastest bike lap (solo): 20:10

The competition was much improved from last year- on a
similar course most teams and soloists increased their lap
count substantially. There is some error in the above due to
transition times and the fact the transition zones are
slightly further on from the timer zone.

Results are up on: http://www.poprun.co.nz/

--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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My photos are now up:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Moonride2004?page=1

Along with Joes photos: http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Moonride-
2004

Joes album has more pics of the team; most of my album are
of Nathan and me as they were taken by our support crew.

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o-kO

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Nathans not the only one drooling

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o-kO

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[image: http://www.addis-
welt.de/smilie/smilie/msn60/smile021.gif] *moonride*

> -Originally posted by GizmoDuck- *(Looks at 36' unicycle)
> Hmmm...that's a big wheel*

It would be terrifying to meet a thirty six foot wheel
bearing down upon you in the forest. Luckily for us you and
Nathan traded in the 36'ers for 36"ers before the race.

> *Fastest bike lap (team): 18:44 Fastest bike lap
> (solo): 20:10*

The winner of the 24 hour Solo category (XS 24 Hour), took
15:09 minutes on lap 44. That is a blistering pace,
especially since he had biked so far already, only stopping
for one half hour rest. I haven't checked all the other lap
times but that one stood out as impressive, beating all the
team best lap times that I saw. The winners of the 24 hour
bike team (Fully sick dude) got 18:26 on lap 34.

Just like Ken, I had a great weekend, but mine involved much
less pain. On Thursday I only got about three hours sleep,
because I had to go to a WINZ appointment around lunch time,
which woke me up early. I didn't get much sleep on Friday
either, because I wanted to get up and hitch early.

My flatmate dropped me off in Bell Block at about 9:30am
Friday, and I started hitching in the rain with my sign
saying "Rotovegas". I got a ride out to Urenui after about
20 minutes (and declining 3 rides to Waitara). At Urenui I
spent about 5 minutes before a truck driver called out to me
from across the road. He shouted me lunch, and dropped me
off near Otarohanga after realising his Hazardous goods
truck had a flat tire.

I have never hitched with my unicycle up until then, and I
had been thinking about which way would be best to do it. I
tried riding backwards with my pack on, with my sign out in
front and my thumb out the side. The method worked fine, but
I didn't realise that a Ute had stopped behind me, and I
kept riding backwards with my thumb out. The passenger got
out and she told me to jump on the back.

After being dropped off a few kilometers down the road, I
got a ride immediately while trying to attach my sign to the
back of my pack (intended for riding forwards hitching, so I
could see the cars stop). Another short ride, but I got one
straight away afterwards, to Putaruru I think. I had to ride
a bit to get out of town, and along the way some boys on
bikes asked me about my unicycle. I showed them some wheel
walking with a pack on. It was very easy because the inertia
of the weight prevented small balance adjustments from being
needed (or so it seemed). They were impressed as I one
footed down a hill with them, on my way out of town.

On the corner of Whites Road (where I was told to go), I got
a ride immediately towards Tauranga, and got dropped off on
the turnoff to Rotorua. I stuck out my thumb at the first
vehicle I saw (maybe 15 seconds after getting out), and the
huge truck carrying wood-chips pulled over. The driver was
from Rotorua, and he insisted on getting his wife to come
and pick me up and take me to the forest where the Moonride
was being held, on the condition that I would show his kids
some tricks.

I was most grateful for the convenient ride and when I got
there I did some one footing and wheel walking and 180s for
the two young boys (I don't know many good tricks), but all
they wanted to see was me ride through the big puddle that
was beside me. To their delight I plowed straight through
it. I offered them each a shoulder ride and made sure it
finished with the puddle voyage. Joe Dyson had noticed me
and I went and talked with him and Pete. I tried to show
them wheel walking with the pack on, but my slick gazzaloddi
was too slippery after being coated with slimey muck from
the puddle and I fell over backwards on the concrete, not
hurting myself luckily.

We helped (a little bit) Peter's dad set up the tent, and
met some of the other riders, and before long the race began
at 10pm. I started out with Ken and Nathan, and kept being
told by Ken to wait for them. We did an extra bit along the
road on the first lap (not part of the main course), and on
the way past the huge crowds of people I did about 20 or
more one foot revolutions on Tony's coker, and rode off into
the forest with gleeful anticipation. The bikes took off
ahead of us and we had the forest to ourselves. This was my
first offroad coker experience, and I fell off quite a bit,
but I also ended up ahead of Ken and Nathan a few times
(they had to pace themselves), and Ken told me to wait.
Waiting paid off once cos I might have lost the track otherwise-
with the lack of other riders. Near the end, Ken said "they
are going to lap us soon", and soon afterwards I heard
someone yell "Go uni guy!", so I pulled over thinking it was
the speed demons about to lap us. Instead of a bike, Ken
passed me, and I was unable to pass him before the finish of
the first lap, so Ken took the glory (which he deserved) of
being first Uni-guy round.

My first lap time was around 42 minutes, which I thought I
could improve on because I had crashed heaps and waited a
bit, and done the extra bit at the start. After everyone
else in the team had been round, I rushed to get Tony's
light set up for Ben's helmet (first lap I used Tony's
helmet, pre-tested). It was a disaster- when I was in the
forest, my inexperience with fancy lights shone through, and
one of the wires shook itself off the battery terminal,
leaving me in darkness. I mucked about and got it going
again, but it was pissing me off because the light was
angled down too far, and I had to lean my head back to see
ahead. I think the light went out again a couple of times,
and I came back to the camp muttering and complaining about
technical difficulties, after another lap of 42 minutes.

I thought to myself, I'm not going to let that happen again,
and I made sure I got the light set up early the next time
it was my turn. I thought I had done it properly, but soon
after getting into the forest (and hitting bumps) the light
went out. It was quite freaky having the light go out while
still on the Coker, moving along through the trees in the
darkness. In the light of a passing mountainbiker, I
reattached the battery wire. The second time it happened, I
went to reattach it, but it was already on there, so I
pressed the button and it worked again. The light went for a
while, and I was starting to enjoy myself again, when off it
went. I pressed the button instead of messing with the wire,
and the light came back on. After that, the light repeatedly
turned off for the rest of the lap, and I just kept turning
it back on with the button- it was most frustrating,
combined with the annoying downwards angle of the light. It
turned out to be a loose connection that was wiggling on and
off- another 42 minute lap!

I really wanted to get a better time than that, and I didn't
want to allow the technical problems to get the better of me
on another night lap, so when my turn came around, I got
Tony to set up the light for me. He used some of Steve's
electrical tape to hold the wires on, and gave me the go
ahead. I moved the sticky velcro things further up the
helmet to adjust the beam further away, and ventured forth
thinking there is nothing that can go wrong this time.
Everything went well until I had a big crash. The light
didn't go out, but it came off the helmet, it ripped all the
velcro sticky things off and they wouldnt stick back on. I
rode for a bit trying to hold the light, but it was quite
twisty and you need your hands free for manouvering. I
thought that Ben's elastic helmet thingy had saved the day
when I stuck the light in it and continued on hands free,
but soon I changed my mind when I realised it made the
dreaded ground angle even worse. With a Coker you need to
see quite far ahead of you to be able to go fast, so you can
see objects in time to avoid them. Looking at the ground
immediately in front of you does not help much. Eventually I
found that holding the light down low in my left hand worked
best, cos the track straightened out and I didn't need to
flail so much, and I got a few bursts of speed and beat my
42 minute lap time (I can't remember exactly but I was still
not satisfied with my effort).

to be continued...

--
Rowan - _________

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[image: http://www.addis-
welt.de/smilie/smilie/msn60/smile021.gif] *moonride*

> -Originally posted by GizmoDuck- *(Looks at 36' unicycle)
> Hmmm...that's a big wheel*

It would be terrifying to meet a thirty six foot wheel
bearing down upon you in the forest. Luckily for us you and
Nathan traded in the 36'ers for 36"ers before the race.

> *Fastest bike lap (team): 18:44 Fastest bike lap
> (solo): 20:10*

The winner of the 24 hour Solo category (XS 24 Hour), took
15:09 minutes on lap 44. That is a blistering pace,
especially since he had biked so far already, only stopping
for one half hour rest. I haven't checked all the other lap
times but that one stood out as impressive, beating all the
team best lap times that I saw. The winners of the 24 hour
bike team (Fully sick dude) got 18:26 on lap 34.

Just like Ken, I had a great weekend, but mine involved much
less pain. On Thursday I only got about three hours sleep,
because I had to go to a WINZ appointment around lunch time,
which woke me up early. I didn't get much sleep on Friday
either, because I wanted to get up and hitch early.

My flatmate dropped me off in Bell Block at about 9:30am
Friday, and I started hitching in the rain with my sign
saying "Rotovegas". I got a ride out to Urenui after about
20 minutes (and declining 3 rides to Waitara). At Urenui I
spent about 5 minutes before a truck driver called out to me
from across the road. He shouted me lunch, and dropped me
off near Otarohanga after realising his Hazardous goods
truck had a flat tire.

I have never hitched with my unicycle up until then, and I
had been thinking about which way would be best to do it. I
tried riding backwards with my pack on, with my sign out in
front and my thumb out the side. The method worked fine, but
I didn't realise that a Ute had stopped behind me, and I
kept riding backwards with my thumb out. The passenger got
out and she told me to jump on the back.

After being dropped off a few kilometers down the road, I
got a ride immediately while trying to attach my sign to the
back of my pack (intended for riding forwards hitching, so I
could see the cars stop). Another short ride, but I got one
straight away afterwards, to Putaruru I think. I had to ride
a bit to get out of town, and along the way some boys on
bikes asked me about my unicycle. I showed them some wheel
walking with a pack on. It was very easy because the inertia
of the weight prevented small balance adjustments from being
needed (or so it seemed). They were impressed as I one
footed down a hill with them, on my way out of town.

On the corner of Whites Road (where I was told to go), I got
a ride immediately towards Tauranga, and got dropped off on
the turnoff to Rotorua. I stuck out my thumb at the first
vehicle I saw (maybe 15 seconds after getting out), and the
huge truck carrying wood-chips pulled over. The driver was
from Rotorua, and he insisted on getting his wife to come
and pick me up and take me to the forest where the Moonride
was being held, on the condition that I would show his kids
some tricks.

I was most grateful for the convenient ride and when I got
there I did some one footing and wheel walking and 180s for
the two young boys (I don't know many good tricks), but all
they wanted to see was me ride through the big puddle that
was beside me. To their delight I plowed straight through
it. I offered them each a shoulder ride and made sure it
finished with the puddle voyage. Joe Dyson had noticed me
and I went and talked with him and Pete. I tried to show
them wheel walking with the pack on, but my slick gazzaloddi
was too slippery after being coated with slimey muck from
the puddle and I fell over backwards on the concrete, not
hurting myself luckily.

We helped (a little bit) Peter's dad set up the tent, and
met some of the other riders, and before long the race began
at 10pm. I started out with Ken and Nathan, and kept being
told by Ken to wait for them. We did an extra bit along the
road on the first lap (not part of the main course), and on
the way past the huge crowds of people I did about 20 or
more one foot revolutions on Tony's coker, and rode off into
the forest with gleeful anticipation. The bikes took off
ahead of us and we had the forest to ourselves. This was my
first offroad coker experience, and I fell off quite a bit,
but I also ended up ahead of Ken and Nathan a few times
(they had to pace themselves), and Ken told me to wait.
Waiting paid off once cos I might have lost the track otherwise-
with the lack of other riders. Near the end, Ken said "they
are going to lap us soon", and soon afterwards I heard
someone yell "Go uni guy!", so I pulled over thinking it was
the speed demons about to lap us. Instead of a bike, Ken
passed me, and I was unable to pass him before the finish of
the first lap, so Ken took the glory (which he deserved) of
being first Uni-guy round.

My first lap time was around 42 minutes, which I thought I
could improve on because I had crashed heaps and waited a
bit, and done the extra bit at the start. After everyone
else in the team had been round, I rushed to get Tony's
light set up for Ben's helmet (first lap I used Tony's
helmet, pre-tested). It was a disaster- when I was in the
forest, my inexperience with fancy lights shone through, and
one of the wires shook itself off the battery terminal,
leaving me in darkness. I mucked about and got it going
again, but it was pissing me off because the light was
angled down too far, and I had to lean my head back to see
ahead. I think the light went out again a couple of times,
and I came back to the camp muttering and complaining about
technical difficulties, after another lap of 42 minutes.

I thought to myself, I'm not going to let that happen again,
and I made sure I got the light set up early the next time
it was my turn. I thought I had done it properly, but soon
after getting into the forest (and hitting bumps) the light
went out. It was quite freaky having the light go out while
still on the Coker, moving along through the trees in the
darkness. In the light of a passing mountainbiker, I
reattached the battery wire. The second time it happened, I
went to reattach it, but it was already on there, so I
pressed the button and it worked again. The light went for a
while, and I was starting to enjoy myself again, when off it
went. I pressed the button instead of messing with the wire,
and the light came back on. After that, the light repeatedly
turned off for the rest of the lap, and I just kept turning
it back on with the button- it was most frustrating,
combined with the annoying downwards angle of the light. It
turned out to be a loose connection that was wiggling on and
off- another 42 minute lap!

I really wanted to get a better time than that, and I didn't
want to allow the technical problems to get the better of me
on another night lap, so when my turn came around, I got
Tony to set up the light for me. He used some of Steve's
electrical tape to hold the wires on, and gave me the go
ahead. I moved the sticky velcro things further up the
helmet to adjust the beam further away, and ventured forth
thinking there is nothing that can go wrong this time.
Everything went well until I had a big crash. The light
didn't go out, but it came off the helmet, it ripped all the
velcro sticky things off and they wouldnt stick back on. I
rode for a bit trying to hold the light, but it was quite
twisty and you need your hands free for manouvering. I
thought that Ben's elastic helmet thingy had saved the day
when I stuck the light in it and continued on hands free,
but soon I changed my mind when I realised it made the
dreaded ground angle even worse. With a Coker you need to
see quite far ahead of you to be able to go fast, so you can
see objects in time to avoid them. Looking at the ground
immediately in front of you does not help much. Eventually I
found that holding the light down low in my left hand worked
best, cos the track straightened out and I didn't need to
flail so much, and I got a few bursts of speed and beat my
42 minute lap time (I can't remember exactly but I was still
not satisfied with my effort).

to be continued...

--
Rowan - _________

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Annoyed by my lack of night success, I took a couple of
hours sleep just after dawn. Malcolm and Tony snuck in ahead
of the queue, because they didn't want to wake me - I looked
like I was enjoying my sleep apparently. I was glad for the
break and I ate some breakfast that Peter Bier's parents had
generously provided.

My first day lap was a significant improvement. I did 29
minutes- I could see everything, there was no big bulky
battery weighing me down, and no technical difficulties, it
was luxury.

My next day lap was again a lot of fun. There were more
riders on the track due to the 12 hour entrants, but I was
beginning to get the hang of the Coker and I did a ~28
minute lap. It feels so great to go whizzing along offroad
with the huge wheel- something every unicyclist should
experience at least once in their lifetime! I was satisfied
with my daytime efforts, because 28 minutes was very close
to Tony Melton's best Coker lap time, and he owns the Coker
and has had a lot more experience on it than me.

I had time for one more daylight lap, so I thought I would
challenge the other 24x3" riders (Joe Dyson and Pete
Marchant) times. They were pulling off laps between 45 and
60 minutes, and I knew I could improve on that. The MUni
(Wilder Lightrider 24x3" with 145mm cranks) felt so tiny
after riding the Coker for five laps, but it handled the
first section really well, and kept up with a lot of
mountain bikers on the uphills. It was awesome for letting
them pass, because riders were constantly saying "On your
left" or "On your right", and you would have to pull over to
let them pass. On the MUni you could go right off the track
(to the bicyclist's amazement). One time I tackled some
roots and logs on on the left, and a biker said "You're
going the wrong way!" Being accustomed to the MUni, I kept
it cranking along, I am sure I could have done better if I
was fresh, but I ended up with a 33 minute lap.

Tony had been experimenting with the 29er, and found himself
doing better a better lap time on it than on his Coker, so I
tried it out, making sure I used Tony's helmet with his
light set up by him- the sun set prior to my next lap and I
didn't trust myself to rig up the light. I didn't do well at
all on the 29er. It was partly because I was not used to it,
and it kept bucking me off when I hit little bumps. It
didn't have the same rolling momentum as the Coker, and it
didn't have the bump absorbent quality of the MUni. I can't
remember the lap time, but it was only slightly better than
42 minutes since I fell off so much (no trouble with the
light that time thanks Tony).

Since the race was to finish at 10pm on Saturday, I had
enough time to do one more lap after Peter Marchant. I got
an hour of sleep, and took my MUni out for one more attempt.
I figured it would be better at night time since the bumps
were slowing me down and the MUni can handle bumps
relatively well. I did OK, and I got countless compliments
from the mountainbikers. Near the finish line, Pete Marchant
told me to do a one footer over the finish line, so I did.
Unlike all the other laps, I didn't hear the buzzer over the
roar of the crowd, so I was concerned that maybe the last
lap hadn't been counted. I went and saw the timing guy and
he said the thing is set to measure down low, and it's not
designed for people waving their feet in the air. A woman
grabbed my transponder, and waved it in front of the
detector thing, telling me that if it already buzzed that
this would count as an extra lap.

We went to the prizegiving (and won no prizes) and
afterwards packed up the tent exhausted. I neglected to zip
up one pocket of my pack, and when loading it into the car
my wallet fell out. A hot shower and a decent sleep on a
mattress at Peter Bier's parent's house was just what I
needed. In the morning, Tony (who had gone back and slept at
the campsite) arrived with my wallet, with my $90 still in
there. He had found it on the bumper of their car, someone
must have put it there. I was so stoked to get it back! We
sat around and chatted for a while, watched some videos and
then went to the fat dog cafe, where Steve Parvano and
Nathan Hoover shouted me lunch. It was good to meet Nathan,
and to talk to all the NZ riders, but I had to get hitching,
so I caught a ride south with Pete Marchant and Joe Dyson,
we skipped the hot pools.

The road (highway 30) that Pete dropped me off on didn't
seem to have much traffic, but I was optimistic. About 4
cars passed me in ~10 minutes, and then finally a van
stopped. The driver took me nearly all the way to New
Plymouth. Hitching in the dark from outside Waitara took
another 10 or 15 minutes, but I got a ride into town (I
could have ridden if I wanted). I got dropped off near my
friends house and went on the internet to check the results.
I went to the 'Timing New Zealand'
(http://www.poprun.co.nz/) website, clicked "Cateye Moon
Ride 24 Hour and 12 Hour Mountain Bike Relay", "Results",
"24 hour open", and scrolled down to the bottom. Sure
enough, there was Monoride #1 & #2 leading the rear. It says
we did 35 laps, and the last lap was exactly ten minutes and
no seconds. The buzzer must have gone on the last lap, but I
didn't hear it! I rode home with my pack on at about 3am for
a decent nights sleep in my own bed, after playing some
internet games.

On Monday morning I was so glad to have my wallet, because I
was able to pay my share of the power bill which was overdue
and on the last warning before being cut off!

In conclusion, I had an enjoyably memorable time, and I
learned a bit about night time racing (and mountain bike
racing). I would like to go to another event like this
sometime, but I hope it costs less and has nicer water.
Thanks to all the other unicyclists who took part, and
especially to Peter Bier's parents who voluntarily acted as
our support crew (for Peter's 26th birthday) and made the
whole experience a lot more enjoyable and comfortable.
Thanks again to those who helped me out with food and money-
I would be burdened with debts if it wasn't for you.

the end.

--
Rowan - _________

[image: http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/waffe/1043691690_0.gif]
::*-'Click Here!'
(http://www.outwar.com/page.php?x=2065473)-*::
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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GizmoDuck wrote:
> *Some Stats for those interested:
>
>
> Fastest unicycle daytime lap: 27:53 (Rowan Chivers)
>
> *

Hey that daytime lap is one of mine, not Rowan's! I did it
on my 29er. My fastest Coker lap was 28:17. I guess there's
not much between them, but I found the 29er to be a much
more enjoyable ride thru the rooty twisty singletrack.

Doing 24 hours in a team was a lot of fun and I highly
recommend it to other unicyclists.

--
TonyMelton - Up, up and awaaaay!

See some photos of the first 'NZ MUni Weekend'
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/NZ-MUni-Weekend-2004)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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TonyMelton wrote:
> *
>
> Hey that daytime lap is one of mine, not Rowan's! I did it
> on my 29er. My fastest Coker lap was 28:17. I guess
> there's not much between them, but I found the 29er to be
> a much more enjoyable ride thru the rooty twisty
> singletrack.
>
> Doing 24 hours in a team was a lot of fun and I highly
> recommend it to other unicyclists. *

Sorry Tony- that lap goes to you.

No one beat me at night though- 35W IRC lighting is great!
But if I come back next year it will be with even more
lighting than that. The other thing I found really useful
was the Anti-fog spray for my glasses every second/third lap-
they kept getting blurry otherwise. If you can't see you
can't go fast.

Rowan- I don't believe for a minute that someone could have
done a 15 min lap after riding solo for 20 hours so I left
out that lap time. Even the teams didn't come close to that-
and there were some plenty fast pro-elite riders out there.

Oh yeah- my unicycle really is 36 feet high.

--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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GizmoDuck wrote:
> *Some Stats for those interested: Nathans Equipment: I
> should leave this for Nathan but the main things: Hunter/U-
> Turn Super Coker 170mm cranks*

Really 170s? That seems long for that setup. Was this a
choice due to the variable terrain, poor visibility?

--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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tomblackwood wrote:
> *Really 170s? That seems long for that setup. Was this a
> choice due to the variable terrain, poor visibility? *
I thought the same thing. But if the trail has any *uphill*
in it, you'll be happy to have the 170s. I have 170s on my
Wilder. The Coker is still a tank to crank on the uphills.
But even with the longer cranks, cruising speed on the
flats is a lot faster than a smaller wheel with slightly
shorter cranks.

--
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:
> *I thought the same thing. But if the trail has any
> *uphill* in it, you'll be happy to have the 170s. I have
> 170s on my Wilder. The Coker is still a tank to crank on
> the uphills. But even with the longer cranks, cruising
> speed on the flats is a lot faster than a smaller wheel
> with slightly shorter cranks. *

The course, whilst reasonably flat and rolling; and not
super technical; had lot's of twists and turns on it. Nathan
rode a practice lap and found the 170's pretty comfortable.
The 150's I rode needed a bit more concentration and effort
to maneuver around the course. The main reason I used that
was because I was more familiar with 150's. Both unicycle
teams were using Coker and 170's. Tony Melton did a faster
lap on his 29'er than on his Coker!

--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I made it home safely yesterday after a fantastic visit to
New Zealand to attempt riding for 24 hours in the Moonride.
I left on April 30, arriving Sunday morning May 2. I made it
to Tony Melton's house in Auckland after 9am and we drove
off to the Woodhill MTB park soon after. It was amazing
pulling in there and seeing 100 cars and SO many mountain
bikers. It was humid and warm and drizzling a little. We
rode our Cokers on MANY trails for about 3 1/2 hours, with a
bit of real rain. The ground is very sandy so it's no
problem in the wet. It was my first time riding a teeter
totter and a ladder bridge on a Coker - exciting! Tony is
fast and strong. I was using my 'adjustable cranks'
(http://tinyurl.com/36b8h), first set at 150mm, then at the
max, 160mm. Tony was on 170mm and doing very well. I ended
up having to tighten the cranks too many times - they are
just not suited to bumpy hard Muni rides.

That evening, we visited Peter Bier, another unicycle.co.nz
partner. He was sick and couldn't ride with us. His basement
is FULL of unicycle and other inventory. I bought a pair of
170mm Bicycle Euro cranks for the race. Tony and I stayed up
until 11:30pm or so - no problem with such a good sleep on
the plane.

The next morning I took off for 3 days of touring the
Coromandel Peninsula. It was great retracing my bike
adventures with Megumi from '89-'90 and exploring some new
areas too. I didn't ride on these days and really noticed
that I got no special treatment. When you're on a
unicycle, people just want to talk to you! I stayed at
backpacker lodges at Fletcher's Bay, Kaotunu and Mt
Maunganui on these days.

Thursday afternoon, the day before the race, I arrived in
Rotorua. After some touristing around, I met Ken at the race
venue. The course was not marked so we couldn't do a
practice lap. We headed over to Hank and Judy Bier's house
(2km away!) where we stayed. Hank and Judy were fantastic
hosts (sponsors really), opening their house to so many
unicyclists, cooking so much food - it was really great to
get to know them.

Friday morning, we headed over to Whakarewarewa Mountain
Bike Park and met up with Joe and Pete. We tried doing a
lap, but the marking was incomplete and we ended up doing a
shorter and more technical route than the actual course.
After a nice lunch in town, we came back and rode the real
course, 6.8km of mainly twisty singletrack through the
woods. There are Redwood trees and ferns so some parts
looked very similar to areas of the Santa Cruz mountains
here in California. After showers, we took a nap, then
headed back to the park. Our incredible support team from
J'Ville Cycles was there: Blair and his partner Alison
(riding 12 hours solo bike) plus Benny, in a very nice
camper van (4 bunks, stove, toilet, etc). We had some
dinner, then Ken and I settled down to pretend to sleep for
a couple of hours.

We woke up a little before 9pm and prepared for the race. It
started at 10pm with an extra 2km of road riding to separate
out the riders before the singletrack. I had screwed up and
not brought enough batteries. I had enough for the 9 hours
of dark riding, but only on my lower power setting. You
REALLY want LOTS of light! Ken understood this from his
previous experience and was well equiped. The first lap plus
2km took me 42 minutes (39 for Ken), and we stopped for just
a brief drink, then off again. Lap 2 was 39 minutes and I
pretty much kept up that pace for most of the night. Blair
was fantastic, forcing me to drink and eat enough. Even with
600ml of electrolyte replacement drink every lap, I didn't
pee until lap 10. It got colder and colder as the night went
on, but I think it only got down to about 5C/40F. Still, by
the time it got light at
6:30, my jerseys and shorts were soaked with sweat. Another
thing I learned is that you have to avoid chafing when
riding for so long. I haven't had a problem before, but
needed Buttr or more changes of shorts or something. Sore!

I was starting to feel pretty low around 6am. 8 hours of
night Coker/Muni is hard. But when it got light, it was a
whole new world - that must be the origin of that expression
"as different as night and day". My first daytime lap felt
about 50% as difficult as the night laps. It was sort of sad
to see the inefficient lines I had been taking lap after
lap. I enjoyed the laps between 6:30 and 9:50, then took a
break for 20 minutes or so since the 12 hour racers were
joining us.

For the 24 hour race, we had 99 riders - 16 soloists (2
unicycles) plus 83 teams (also 2 on unicycle) on the course.
But for the second 12 hours, we were joined by 308 more
teams (with 47 being solo). The result on a 6.8km course was
crowded conditions. The laps after 10am included a constant
stream of "On your right", along with "You're a legend" and
MANY other positive comments. Luckily on most parts of the
course passing wasn't too hard. And of course all the bikers
were great sports about it.

After 15 laps in just under 15 hours I had had enough. But
after a rest, I managed one more lap on Peter Bier's 29er.
It was sort of an experiment and pretty fun. It took a
little while to get used to, but at that point, I think it
was just as fast as Cokering. It is SO much lighter and more
maneuverable. It rolled over obstacles pretty well too. When
you're fresh, the Coker feels great, but after being awake
so long and riding so hard, the 29er felt better. With 152mm
cranks, the torque felt exactly the same as on my Coker with
170mm cranks. In fact, the 152s are a slightly lower
(easier) gear on the 29er. After that 16th lap, the
combination of my very sore behind plus the crowded
conditions on the course made me decide to call it quits.
Benny tried hard to shame me into riding more, but I had
really had enough. During the ride I had missed the social
side of these races that you get when on a team, but luckily
will have that a lot in the coming weeks! My total distance
was just over 110km, which is a new record distance for me
on a unicycle, and almost doubles my previous offroad
distance record.

Anyway, a HUGE thank-you to all the awesome NZ riders plus
our wonderful support people: Hank, Judy, Blair and Benny. I
couldn't've done it without you. And a massive
CONGRATULATIONS to Ken for setting a new world record for 24
hour offroad unicycle racing. 172km - YOW! It was a true
pleasure to join the small but -awesome- offroad unicycle
community in New Zealand.

Here are 'some photos I took'
(http://community.webshots.com/album/142139790envLkZ) - NZ
guys let me know if I screwed up on any of the captions.

---Nathan

--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I came across a couple of really cool shots of Nathan and I- there was a
photographer out on course:

Should I buy this?

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--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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I think this shot and the one above just gives an idea of
how totally knackered we really were!

Nathan in full concentration:

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--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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Nathan used a HID. Most of the top teams and soloists were HID
equipped.
I had a 35W IRC lamp which is apparently equivalent to 50W normal
halogen. I'm thinking of getting a HID or the new 3x3W LED systems
coming out. MY 35W lamp sucked up a 7ah battery in less than 2hrs. I
used SLA batteries- heavy as lead but cheap as chips. I had five of
these :p

Are you doing any of the upcoming 24hr races John?

--
GizmoDuck - Adventure unicyclist

o-kO

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