Kinetic Sculpture Race 2006

Over Memorial Day weekend, I again competed on unicycle ("Cyclops") in
the great Arcata to Ferndale Kinetic Sculpture Race. There were two
major changes to my entry this year; one was that I set up a new Rick
Hunter frame with a Surly Large Marge/Endomorph combination to
hopefully be able to handle the sand dunes, and the other was that I
brought up a sizable collection of other unicyclists ("The Other
Wheels") to act as my pit crew. The other unicyclists included Nick
Brazzi (who was filming for a future episode of Uniplex), Mike Scalisi,
and Chris Labonte.

The Endomorph, pumped to 30psi, is actually a decent road tire; it is
only slightly slower than the Big Apple on straight, flat roads. The
big negative of the tire on road is that it is awful when dealing with
cambered or crowned roads; on extreme camber, riding becomes one pedal
revolution at a time. But for the bulk of the road, the setup worked
just fine.

And, most importantly, I was able to ride all of the sand. Riding the
uphills in the sand is still a major challenge, even with the
Endomorph; in a few places I was only getting one pedal revolution, or
half a pedal revolution before I came off. But last year, with the
Gazz 26x3", that's the way the entire race was until I gave up on
trying to ride sand. I did what took me two hours last year in about
15 minutes this time.

The pit crew sacrificed their bodies on the steep sand downhills,
rolling down the hill ahead of me to smooth out the sand. With that
help, I was able to ride Little Dead Man's Drop, and made it about
two-thirds of the way down Dead Man's Drop (which is quite impressively
steep and soft) before face-planting in the sand.

I also experimented for the first time with carrying my kayak into the
water on my head. Getting it poised up there is something of a
challenge, but once I had the balance correct, I was able to ride with
a surprising amount of stability, dismount normally once I was in the
water, and dump the kayak sideways.

As usual, the water segments were quite easy for me and my kayak, but I
still have to figure out how to develop integrated flotation to be
truly Kinetic. I have some ideas for next year.

Besides gathering much glory, I wound up first overall in speed for
non-Ace sculptures (probably third overall), and The Other Wheels won
Best Pit Crew!

The sculpture was a true team effort; Jim Roberts machined the
quick-release bearing holders, Rick Hunter built the frame, and Ashley
Foster did the sewing for the eyelid and the pit crew costumes. It was
very helpful having Mike and Chris with their partners (both named
Heather), along with me on the road, especially on that 20-mile road
segment on day 2. I hope Nick got some great footage to document this
fun and crazy event. And of course Nancy held it all together as pit
crew chief.

'Pictures (mostly by Nancy) are in my gallery.'
(http://tinyurl.com/jm3v3) A few choice items are below.

[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]
[image:
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/m...a836ba2fc4f5e]


--
tholub
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Great write-up and pics, Tom. Thanks for posting them. You know you've
been thorough in your planning when you and your pit crew both take
first place honors.

I love the looks of the Hunter and Large Marge setup. Unis8er, one of
our local Seattle riders, has the same setup (but with Gazz) that I got
to try out. I was surprised to find it noticably lighter than my Hunter
with a sun doublewide.


--
tomblackwood

Tailgate at your own risk...
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Glorious!

......So, how on earth are you going to make that float!?


--
wobblyjohn
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where's your top hat?

[image: http://www.bseliger.de/Residents-Wor...Promo_Col.JPG]


--
Brian MacKenzie

DVD now available: 'Training Wheel Not Required'
(http://www.LBMmultimedia.com/videos/TWNR_uniTV.wmv) | 'Inner Balance
Blog' (http://innerbalancemovie.blogspot.com)
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wobblyjohn wrote:
Glorious!

......So, how on earth are you going to make that float!?



Well, the tire is so huge that I'm sure it would float, even with me
sitting on top of it. The problem would be propelling it.

But my current idea involves replacing the seat with something that
includes flotation fore and aft, with the unicycle detaching or
pivoting from underneath to become a paddlewheel.


--
tholub
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way coool! i totally forgot bout this..otherwise i might have been able
to go. this darn climbing habit has been cutting into my unicycling...

corbin


--
corbin

http://www.corbinstreehouse.com
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A-w-e-s-o-m-e-!-!-


--
JustOneWheel

There is no better way to have Fun and Exercise. "UNICYCLE"
Every one should have "FUN ON ONE"
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