Re: RTL: Ranking for non-geared teams

Eroick

tholub wrote:
>
>
> > >
- The rider is more important than the unicycle.
- Everyone is fastest on the setup they're most comfortable with
- It's possible to go up hills (up to a certain grade) faster on a
> geared uni than a fixed 36er, at a cost of greater energy
> expenditure
- Geared unis are faster downhill and require less energy than a
> fixed 36er
- Did I mention, the rider is more important than the unicycle?
>
>
>
>



I've got to agree with all of those points. Yes, geared hubs give you a
mechanical advantage, but they don't make your legs 1.5 times a big.

I found myself catching the only gunis that we were riding with on
long, gentle uphills and downhills. They'd take off on the flats and
most steep hills (up or down).

I hope that if RTL happens again, there will be separate categories for
geared and fixed unicycles, since there is a significant mechanical
advantage at a price that not everyone can afford.


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Eroick

--Eric Evenchick
Email/MSN: eevench@gmail.com
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mscalisi

I disagree with this. Had this been a bike race, pretty much every bike
would be more expensive than a GUni. If you wanna race, you got to show
up with equipment that will play to your abilities. Adding $1k to the
cost of your cycle isn't really a hardship if you're serious about
racing. Unless you live in a third world country, any teenager with a
summer job can save up that much money. If you're NOT WILLING to spend
that much money, you can still show up and race competitively, just not
expect to win.

Not only that, but many ungeared riders were competitive with geared
riders. If you had taken away NZuni's only geared cycle, they may have
still taken 2nd place. There were many GUnis in the middle of the pack,
and one or two towards the back of the pack.

For many, travel, accomodations, car rental...etc were as expensive or
more expensive than their unicycles.


Eroick wrote:
>
> I hope that if RTL happens again, there will be separate categories for
> geared and fixed unicycles, since there is a significant mechanical
> advantage at a price that not everyone can afford.


--
mscalisi

><> Unicycle for (reducing the) Buddha <><
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semach.the.monkey

mscalisi wrote:
>
> For many, travel, accomodations, car rental...etc were as expensive or
> more expensive than their unicycles.



Agreed. The difference in cost between my Schlumpf hub and a decent
fixed hub is a relatively small percentage of the total cost that I
spent on everything else. I didn't buy the guni specifically for RTL,
but if I didn't already have it, I'm sure I could have justified the
cost to give myself a fighting chance in the race.

STM


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semach.the.monkey
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joemarshall

mscalisi wrote:
>
>
> Not only that, but many ungeared riders were competitive with geared
> riders. If you had taken away NZuni's only geared cycle, they may have
> still taken 2nd place. There were many GUnis in the middle of the pack,
> and one or two towards the back of the pack.
>
> For many, travel, accomodations, car rental...etc were as expensive or
> more expensive than their unicycles.


Totally agree. I lucked out and got some unexpected well paid work in
march that kept my cash flow positive, paid for flights etc. But even
so it cost a lot getting there and stuff. I think overall including
food car hire etc i probably spent 800 quid 1600 dollars.

Separate categories are silly, they only make sense if you separate by
what actual gearing you have as geared 36 is v different to 29. And
what about brakes - they can give a speed advantage and reduce effort a
lot. Should they have another category? If the biggest race ever only
has 35 teams it's silly to split them up based on how pimpy their
unicycle is.

Joe


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