Rolling Trials

Now that the new sport I proposed has a name (thanks to John Foss) and
has come far enough along (thanks to excellent and insightful input and
advice from John Foss, Kris Holm, Brian MacKenzie, Ben Plotkin-Swing and
others) who all seem to support the idea… I felt it was time that this
new sport deserves a new thread with a better, more appropriate title!
If you have come across this thread and haven’t already read the
previous thread regarding the development of this sport, you may want to
check that out. The link to the previous thread is:

http://tinyurl.com/6j2yd

Now on to more about Rolling Trials...

This is what has been established so far for formally organized Rolling
Trials competitions:

1) You must compete in one of the following wheel size classes: 24”x3”,
26”, 28”/29”, 36” or Unlimited (any combination of any acceptable size).

2) You're allowed unlimited attempts.
3) Hops are equivalent to dabs.
4) Anything where the wheel can get air from its own momentum would not
carry a dab (hop) penalty.
5) If you clean (complete) the Section (or Line) with no dabs, you get a
point.
6) If you dab (hop), then you don’t make it and you don't get a point.

7) The person who cleans (completes) the most Sections/Lines gets the
most points and wins.

These rules are essentially identical to Kris Holms’ unitrials rules,
other than the wheel size classes and a hop being equal to a dab.

The winner of a formally organized Rolling Trials competition is awarded
3 Rating Points, 2nd place receives 2 Rating points, and 3rd place is
awarded 1 Rating Point. Accumulate 10 points and you are a “Rated”
Rolling Trials Competition rider/pilot.

Now here’s some more info on my ideas for Rolling Trials - both formally
organized competitions (the basic rules for which were summarized above)
and the worldwide, independent “Database” competition (which I describe
below).

Rolling Trials tests riders’ ability to pedal their unicycle (24x3”
wheel size or larger) through a variety of challenging terrain and over
various obstacles. The sport was inspired by the ramps and obstacles
typically found at skateparks and mountain bike parks. Rolling Trials
competitors participating in the 24”x3”, 26” and 28”/29” classes are
referred to as “riders,” while 36” class competitors are referred to as
“pilots,” due to their speed capability, their ability to appear to
“fly” up steep ramps and obstacles, and their ability to get air off
jumps. Rolling Trials participants can compete (and get “rated”) in
Rolling Trials in two different ways:

1. By earning points from winning (or coming in 2nd or 3rd) at formally
organized Rolling Trials competitions, or
2. By earning points independently through submitting video proof and a
sworn statement that you have cleaned (completed) an approved
Section/Line with a difficulty rating of 6 or higher.

_Rolling_Trials_Worldwide,_Independent_“Database”_ Competition_

The competition I’m calling the “Database Competition” right now (for
lack of a better term until John Foss comes up with one ), is
essentially a worldwide, independent competition that enables riders to
submit proposed Sections to the “Database” (an Internet-based database
that stores info and photos of Sections/Lines worldwide, as well as
videos of riders that have cleaned approved Sections/Lines), and keeps a
running tab on how many riders have attempted each approved
Section/Line, cleaned each approved Section/Line (and if cleaned, in how
many attempts), and the rating of the riders that successfully cleaned
the Sections/Lines. This database will store all relevant information
about the Section/Line (where it’s located, its current difficulty
rating, etc.), the riders that cleaned it (their age, rating, location,
etc.) and will establish the worldwide “Database” champion. It is
possible that the Rolling Trials champion (points leader) for organized
competitions turns out to be the same as the worldwide Database
champion, but that won’t necessarily be the case.

A Section can either be an actual section of an MTB course or a stand
alone obstacle that can be found in the existing landscape or one that
has been built specifically for Rolling Trials. The line a rider/pilot
would ride to complete a Section is usually:

1. Easily discernable,
2. Ridden once in a single direction, from the “entry point ” to the
“exit point,” and
3. Ridden frontward

Sections usually consists of MTB and/or BMX style obstacles, such as:
berms, teeter-totters, a wide variety of ramps and elevated platforms,
tabletop jumps, box jumps, drop-offs, skinnnies, elevated skinnies, log
piles, rock gardens, bridges and swinging bridges. A Section can consist
of a single obstacle or it can consist of several obstacles laid out in
sequence.

“Lines” are typically found at skateparks, though they could also be
found at MTB parks, in the existing landscape, or can be constructed
specifically for Rolling Trials. A “Line” is the path (also referred to
as a “line” – using a lowercase “l” for line, though) that a rider/pilot
must ride over an obstacle in order to complete the Line (uppercase “L”)
successfully and win the points. Lines include ramps, large jumps
(quarter-pipe style jumps, launch jumps, tabletop jumps, and jumps with
spines). A single obstacle can have several Lines, thus a rider/pilot
may be able to successfully complete one Line of an obstacle, but be
unable to complete another Line on that same obstacle. The line a
rider/pilot would ride to complete a Line:

1. May often not be immediately obvious just from looking at a picture
of the obstacle – a picture of the obstacle with an arrow drawn
depicting the Line is necessary.
2. May require riding the obstacle in two directions, rather than a
single direction. Riding up a ramp beyond the 10 ft. point (a line would
be drawn across the ramp to mark the 10 ft. point in a competition) and
then doing a 180 spin and riding back down, for example, could be one
particular Line on that obstacle.
3. May require backward riding (such as riding to the top of a straight
ramp and coming to a momentary stall and then riding backward down the
ramp (no sideward directional change). For Lines requiring the
rider/pilot to change the direction of riding, the arrow will indicate
the direction of riding (strictly frontward, frontward/backward… or even
possibly frontward/backward/frontward – such as a line that required the
rider/pilot to ride frontward up to the top of the ramp, come to a
momentary stall, ride backward partially back down the ramp, and then do
a 180 spin back to frontward in order to ride the rest of the way down
the ramp frontward).

-(continues below with next post)

-


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Here’s an example of a skatepark obstacle with several Lines:


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_

LINES:_

1. _Up_&_Down:_ Ride straight up the ramp beyond the (imaginary) line
extending from where the catwalk (ledge on top of the middle ramp) meets
the ramp on the left (that is being ridden), then initiate a 180 spin at
the top of the ramp (above the extended line) ride down the ramp and 12
feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
2. _Halfway_up,_Backward_back_down:_ Ride halfway straight up the ramp,
come to a momentary stall, and then pedal backward straight back down
the ramp and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets
the floor.
3. _Straight_to_the_top,_Backward_back_down:_ Same as #2, only you have
to ride all the way to the top of the ramp and backward all the way back
down and 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the
floor.
4. _On_to_the_top_ledge_and_backward_back_down:_ Same as #3, only you
have to ride straight up the ramp on to the top (flat) section and keep
pedaling until the front of your tire comes within 6 inches from the
barrier (fence wall) and then come to a momentary stall and then pedal
backwards off the top of the ledge and backwards back down the ramp and
12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp meets the floor.
5. _Across_the_Catwalk:_ Ride up the ramp on the left, then turn
sufficiently to (clear your pedals and) ride up on to the catwalk (ledge
on top of the middle ramp), then ride across the catwalk and drop off
the ledge on the other side to the ramp on the other side and ride back
down that ramp 12 feet beyond the point where the bottom of the ramp
meets the floor.

Those are just a few of the many possible lines on the obstacle
pictured… there are lots more.


_DATABASE_DIFFICULTY_RATINGS:_

10 =[/b] NEVER SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED BY ANY OF THE TOP TEN RATED
RIDERS/PILOTS & 1ST
RIDER/PILOT TO COMPLETE
*9.X =* COMPLETED BY FEWER THAN 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS (X = A NUMBER
FROM 1 – 9
AND DESIGNATES THE # OF RIDERS TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE
SECTION) 9.1 IS
FOLLOWED BY THE NAME OF THE 1ST RIDER TO COMPLETE THE SECTION
(FOR EXAMPLE:
9.1 JFOSS WOULD MEAN JOHN FOSS EARNED 10 POINTS AS THE FIRST
PERSON TO
COMPLETE A 10 RATED SECTION. THE NEXT 9 RIDERS/PILOTS TO
COMPLETE THAT
SAME SECTION IN THE FUTURE WILL EARN 9 POINTS, AS IT IS EASIER
TO COMPLETE A
SECTION THAT YOU KNOW FOR SURE IS 100% DOABLE. ONCE 9 RIDERS
COMPLETE THE
SECTION, IT THEN BECOMES A LEVEL 8 DIFFICULTY SECTION, UNLESS
IT CAN BE
COMPLETED BY 5 OF THE TOP RIDERS IN 12 (OR FEWER) ATTEMPTS
*8 =* ANY LEVEL 9 SECTION THAT IS COMPLETED BY 10 OR MORE RIDERS IN
MORE THAN 12
ATTEMPTS BECOMES A LEVEL 8 SECTION AND ANY SECTION IN WHICH
THE AVERAGE
# OF ATTEMPTS OF 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS IS
GREATER THAN 12
*7 =* AVERAGE # OF ATTEMPTS OF 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS:
10 - 12
*6 =* AVERAGE # OF ATTEMPTS OF 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS:
7 - 9
*5 =* AVERAGE # OF ATTEMPTS OF 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS:
4 - 6
*4 =* AVERAGE # OF ATTEMPTS OF 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS:
1 - 3
*3 =* 5 OF THE TOP 10 RATED RIDERS/PILOTS CAN COMPLETE THE SECTION 3
TIMES IN 3
ATTEMPTS.

[b]IN ORDER TO BE A RATED RIDER/PILOT, YOU MUST EARN A MINIMUM OF 20
POINTS BY CLEANING SECTIONS THAT HAVE A DIFFICULTY RATING OF 6 OR HIGHER
(YOU ARE AWARDED THE POINT VALUE OF THE SECTION/LINE IF YOU CLEAN IT) OR
YOU MUST EARN YOUR RATING BY ACCUMULATING 10 POINTS THROUGH FORMALLY
ORGANIZED ROLLING TRIALS COMPETITIONS.


That's it for now...
HCR


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I'm attaching a couple more pictures of some obstacles from the ESPN
skatepark in Philly where I rode my Coker (with the stock rim,
unfortunately) briefly this past Thursday (just under an hour), but did
have an amazing time! Leading up to my visit, almost everything went
wrong. Without getting into a whole song and dance about what happened,
I'll just say that I couldn't get my stock rim off because the bolt that
holds the clamp on kept turning and it was impossible for me to stop the
circular top of the bolt from spinning given the limited amount of tools
that I had (I couldn't hold it tight enough with a needlenose plyers and
I didn't have the vice grip type) and the local bike shop guy told me he
needed 24 hrs to change the wheel for me! I think the design of those
bolts is really lame and I'm going to replace them with the hex key type
of bolts. In all fairness, I did let the bolts and clamps get rusted up
pretty good due to my negligence (I didn't always wipe all the moisture
of my Coker after coming in from a ride in the rain or snow... hey I use
it constantly because I rely on it to get around here in NYC... and I'm
a bit lazy sometimes!)... and there is a small notch that's supposed to
grab to prevent it from spinning... but in my opinion, it's still
designed quite poorly! Anyway, after loosening up the bolts and NOT
being able to get them off, it was also almost impossible to tighten
them properly, so I almost didn't get a chance to ride at all... not on
my new Airfoil rim which I brought along and not even on my stock Coker
rim. With enough time to get there to ride for almost an hour, I finally
got my stock rim on decently tight so that I could use my Coker. Then it
was a bit confusing to find the place inside this huge mall facility,
but I finally got there and everyone who saw me there was extremely
surprised to see my ride... and I heard the statement: "You gonna ride
that in here, man?" repeatedly!

With just my stock rim, I was pretty hesitant to try any major drops
because I figured there would be a pretty good chance that I would taco
the rim. I think I felt it flex pretty badly when I messed up hopping up
a curb on it recently, which made me even more concerned. Nonetheless, I
did want to at least attempt the "Coker across the Catwalk" line (Line
#4 above) and a couple of others (at least partially... up to the point
of the drop)! Having attempted the "Coker across the Catwalk" line 3
times... I can definitely say that it is QUITE DIFFICULT. I anticipated
it to be difficult, so I wasn't surprised. In one of my earlier posts
entitled "How doable is this?" (http://tinyurl.com/5qan9) I stated I
wanted to attempt it. I did get lots of encouragement and most of you
guys thought I could pull it off... which I think I could, too, with a
LOT more practice. I can tell you first hand, however, that when looking
at a picture of something you've never tried before and thinking that it
doesn't look all that difficult... until you actually go and try it...
you really have no idea of the difficulty level! The ramp at the ESPN
skatepark was probably a good two feet higher than the one I rode in NYC
and a bit steeper... which made it a lot of fun to ride... but getting
across that catwalk is a whole different ballgame! I believe it is 100%
doable by a skilled rider, however. Although the rules haven't been
completely formalized yet, I would propose that anyone who can pull that
line off... especially on a Coker... (and prove it) automatically
becomes a "rated" Rolling Trials rider/pilot. The two other Lines (on
two different obstacles) that I attempted partially are attached below.
The first ramp is the "Spine Jump" and the second one is the
"Quarter-Pipe Style Launch Ramp with the Landing on Top and the Drop-off
to the Straight Ramp." I'll describe the Lines in my next post. (By the
way... I'm posting pictures and descriptions of "Lines" rather than
"Sections" right now because "Sections" are easy to understand because
of their similarity to unitrials "Sections"... but skatepark "Lines" are
a newer concept and a bit more complicated to understand.)


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I'm attaching a couple more pictures of some obstacles from the ESPN
skatepark in Philly where I rode my Coker (with the stock rim,
unfortunately) briefly this past Thursday (just under an hour), but did
have an amazing time! Leading up to my visit, almost everything went
wrong. Without getting into a whole song and dance about what happened,
I'll just say that I couldn't get my stock rim off because the bolt that
holds the clamp on kept turning and it was impossible for me to stop the
circular top of the bolt from spinning given the limited amount of tools
that I had (I couldn't hold it tight enough with a needlenose plyers and
I didn't have the vice grip type) and the local bike shop guy told me he
needed 24 hrs to change the wheel for me! I think the design of those
bolts is really lame and I'm going to replace them with the hex key type
of bolts. In all fairness, I did let the bolts and clamps get rusted up
pretty good due to my negligence (I didn't always wipe all the moisture
of my Coker after coming in from a ride in the rain or snow... hey I use
it constantly because I rely on it to get around here in NYC... and I'm
a bit lazy sometimes!)... and there is a small notch that's supposed to
grab to prevent it from spinning... but in my opinion, it's still
designed quite poorly! Anyway, after loosening up the bolts and NOT
being able to get them off, it was also almost impossible to tighten
them properly, so I almost didn't get a chance to ride at all... not on
my new Airfoil rim which I brought along and not even on my stock Coker
rim. With enough time to get there to ride for almost an hour, I finally
got my stock rim on decently tight so that I could use my Coker. Then it
was a bit confusing to find the place inside this huge mall facility,
but I finally got there and everyone who saw me there was extremely
surprised to see my ride... and I heard the statement: "You gonna ride
that in here, man?" repeatedly!

With just my stock rim, I was pretty hesitant to try any major drops
because I figured there would be a pretty good chance that I would taco
the rim. I think I felt it flex pretty badly when I messed up hopping up
a curb on it recently, which made me even more concerned. Nonetheless, I
did want to at least attempt the "Coker across the Catwalk" line (Line
#4 above) and a couple of others (at least partially... up to the point
of the drop)! Having attempted the "Coker across the Catwalk" line 3
times... I can definitely say that it is QUITE DIFFICULT. I anticipated
it to be difficult, so I wasn't surprised. In one of my earlier posts
entitled "How doable is this?" (http://tinyurl.com/5qan9) I stated I
wanted to attempt it. I did get lots of encouragement and most of you
guys thought I could pull it off... which I think I could, too... with a
LOT more practice (if my knees don't buckle). I can tell you first hand,
however, that when looking at a picture of something you've never tried
before and thinking that it doesn't look all that difficult... until you
actually go and try it... you really have no idea of the difficulty
level! The ramp at the ESPN skatepark was probably a good two feet
higher than the one I rode in NYC and a bit steeper... which made it a
lot of fun to ride... but getting across that catwalk is a whole
different ballgame! I believe it is 100% doable by a skilled rider,
however. Although the rules haven't been completely formalized yet, I
would propose that anyone who can pull that line off... especially on a
Coker... (and prove it) automatically becomes a "rated" Rolling Trials
rider/pilot. The two other Lines (on two different obstacles) that I
attempted partially are attached below. The first ramp is the "Spine
Jump" and the second one is the "Quarter-Pipe Style Launch Ramp with the
Landing on Top and the Drop-off to the Straight Ramp." I'll describe the
Lines in my next post. (By the way... I'm posting pictures and
descriptions of "Lines" rather than "Sections" right now because
"Sections" are easy to understand because of their similarity to
unitrials "Sections"... but skatepark "Lines" are a newer concept and a
bit more complicated to understand.)


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| Attachment filename: jump ramps.jpg |
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_Two_Lines_for_the_\"Spine_Jump\"_pictured_above_( the_middle_ramp_in_the_picture):_


1. Ride straight up the Spine Jump onto the top of the Spine, then drop
down the other side of the ramp and ride 12 feet beyond the jump.

2. Ride straight up the Spine Jump on the far right-hand side and get a
small amount of air over the spine. Perfom an aerial 90 degree pivot
turn and land on the top of the Spine, with your wheel now perpindicular
to it's direction during your run-up and launch. Next, pedal along the
top of the spine to the far left-side of the ramp, then do a 90 degree
pivot turn and drop down the other side of the ramp and ride 12 feet
beyond the jump.

I only attempted Line #1... and only partially because I didn't want to
risk tacoing my stock rim. I made it up onto the spine several times,
but jumped off at that point rather than completing the Line. Once I get
my Airfoil rim installed, I'll go back and attempt to clean (complete)
that line... though I have to tell you that this Line is a lot scarier
than it looks!

All you skilled PA riders (like TheObieOne3226 & shadowuni) should be at
this local Hotspot, cleaning these (and other) lines!!! You guys are a
lot younger than I am and your bones will heal a lot faster

Now on to the next line (pictured below and described in the following
post)...


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| Attachment filename: qpipe with ledge & slant ramp 2.jpg |
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_Line_#1__for_the_Quarter-Pipe_Style_Launch_Ramp_with_the_Landing_on_Top_(pi ctured_above)_


This one may be the easiest of the all...

1. Ride straight up the launch ramp to the landing on top, then drop off
the landing onto the straight ramp below and ride down the straight ramp
and 12 feet beyond where the straight ramp meets the floor.

Simple as that!

In order to encourage highly skilled Coker riders to get involved in the
new sport of Rolling Trials (and to stimulate the development of highly
skilled Coker-class Rolling Trials pilots), I've come up with an idea
for a contest. Clean (complete) all four lines ("Coker across the
Catwalk," "The 2 Spine Jump Lines" and the one described in this post
within 6 months from now (on a Coker) and I'll buy you a Stock Coker!
This contest is officially started... so get to the X Games skatepark in
Philly with a Coker ASAP... and make me buy you one!!!


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On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:26:05 -0600, "HardcoreCokerRider" wrote:

4) Anything where the wheel can get air from its own momentum would not
carry a dab (hop) penalty.

Suggest you replace "can get air" with "gets air". Otherwise, this
rule would allow regular hopping at any place where the wheel just CAN
get air from its own momentum.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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HardcoreCokerRider wrote:
* Rolling Trials competitors participating in the 24”x3”, 26” and
28”/29” classes are referred to as “riders,” while 36” class
competitors are referred to as “pilots,” due to their speed
capability, their ability to appear to “fly” up steep ramps and
obstacles, and their ability to get air off jumps. *[/i]


Good up until you make this distinction - in an effort to give more
honor to someone that rides your preferred wheel type.
Even that omits the fact that the entire "sport" centers around the fact
that someone on a Coker can`t hop worth a damn.


Nonetheless, I like the spirit:
If you can`t beat `em, create a new sport.


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Drew Brown
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Why does it have to be 24x3 as the smallest tyre. Does this mean I can´t
do this new sport with my 24x2.6 Uni ?


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