Jousting

There can't be many unicyclists who haven't wanted to try jousting.
However, it really ought to be with dustbin lids as shields, wet floor
mops as lances, and with a bucket on your head as a helm. ;0)

And what's this 3 inch thick cardboard? What was delivered to your home
in a 3 inch thick cardboard box? A tiger?:eek:

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Me and my friend tryed jousting once, but we used the big road cones you
find on the side of the road when its being worked on.....it was fun

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munimanpete - mocacycle

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i've jousted with no shield, using a crutch w/ towel duct taped to the
end. i think i have a video around somewhere... i'll ask my friend to
make a gallery of it.

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TheBadger587 - HSG/DH MUni (Represent?)

Gliding, finally.

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Mikefule said:

*And what's this 3 inch thick cardboard? What was delivered to your
home in a 3 inch thick cardboard box? A tiger?:eek: *

The local paper mill got some delivery in some hardcore cardboard. I
know a guy in management there, and he thought I might have some use for
it. 1/2" thick, 1", 2", and 3" thick pieces.

I think as long as you put the wood paneling on the front, you could get
by with the 1" shield.

--
sockmonster - Unicycling Instructor

"Just pretend it's a taco..." Invader Zim
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sockmonster said:

*Come to think of it, why aren't unicycles in the summer games? *

Yesterday I watched the first day of Olympic competitions. Synchronized
diving. Ever seen synchronized diving? I know it's got to be hard. But
synchronized diving? If the Olympics has room for that, surely there's
room for a sport that "stands on its own."

The IUF works actively on the Olympic goal. Get involved if you would
like to help.

I've never tried jousting before, though I've read about many variations
of it over the years. Sounds like fun. But to do in a formal way at a
unicycle competition, one would have to come up with a set of rules, and
base it on a relatively safe way to do the activity. Assume many or most
of the competitors will be trying it for the first time...

--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

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

"Read the rules!"
'IUF Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/)
'USA Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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Moving on from jousting to the Olympics debate. I've long thought that
the Olympics have lost their magic, partly because of the introduction
of sports which don't naturally sit with the Olympic ideal, as I see
it.

I would prefer the Olympics to be about individual achievement on the
track and field, or in the water: furthest, fastest, highest. I might
make an exception for the rowing, where it seems reasonable to think of
one boat racing, rather than 2, 4 or 8 people (plus cox where
applicable).

I don't think football, hockey, dinghy sailing, synchro swimming,
synchronised diving and the like should be in the Olympics. they are
all valid and challenging sports, but have no more connection with the
Olympic ideal (as I see it) than chess, go, or 10 pin bowling.

So should unicycling be in the Olympics? At one level, it fits in with
my preference for individual achievement and furthest/fastest. Indeed,
it is the purest form of cycling. It would have to be track racing,
with some strict rules. MUni, feestyle and trials wouldn't really fit
in. If nothing else, the Olympic schedule isn't infinitely elastic. So
I suppose that's be 700c wheels (the standard bicycle size) with
possibly a limit on crank length (though, at this level, I don't see
why; it makes sense for low budget racing where not everyone can get
custom lengths) and basic rules on protective gear, handles, pedals,
straps and cleats and so on.

Until there are people riding unicycles of this type competitively in
several major countries, it's not going to happen.

I say this without complaint or criticism. My sister was in the world
champion dragon boat team last year (i.e. she got gold), and my brother
and sister have both grass-skied for their country. I know the effort
they put in was every bit as much as if they'd done mainstream sports.
I would never expect either sport to be accepted as part of the Olympic
schedule, though.

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I'll add to that (off topic, sorry) that I've just been reading AOL News
about Tim Henman losing a tennis match at the Olympics. For goodness'
sake, the guy's a millionaire who plays competitivie international
tennis about 48 weeks a year. Does he regard the Olympics as a special
once every four years event?

Track athletes train and practise to peak for the Olympics - the biggest
event in an often short career at the top.

The Olympics are waaaaaaaaaay too all-embracing. It's ridiculous.
Mutter mutter, flogging's too good for 'em, etc.

--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

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I think muni would be cool... much cooler than table-tennis!

--
evil-nick - Living in Balance

Never kick a unicyclist in the groin... it will only make them grow
stronger...

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I dont Know about The Olympics,Extreme Unicycling Should Be more like
the X Games or somthing the Olympics Are to tame for Unicycles.
As for jousting,me and my friend did it without shields,with broomsticks
with cloth wrapped all around the end,with lots of duck tape all over,It
still hurt if you got caught in the ribs.But of course,i forgot to
mention,at the time my friend was just learning,he couldnt ride more
than 50 feet,but it still worked.

--
forrestunifreak - Unicycle Rights Activist

Good things come to those who wait.

Great things come to those who get off their butt and go for it!!
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forrestunifreak said:

*the Olympics Are to tame for Unicycles. *

Methinks you have a very restrictive definition of "tame." Ever try a
double-flipping release move on uneven parallel bars? Maybe that's only
for little girls. How about velodrome racing at 40 mph on a wall with no
safety gear but a helmet? Or, back to the events we've seen already (and
the little girls), a multi-flipping, multi-twisting vault? Plenty of
ways to get hurt doing all of those.

The first form of unicycling likely to make it to the Olympics will
probably be track racing. Tame perhaps, but try riding as fast as our
new champions. Getting our feet in the Olympic door, hopefully it will
be easier to add more unicycling events of different kinds.

Meanwhile, work can continue in the direction of elevating extreme
unicycling to the X Games or similar. There's certainly nothing wrong
with that!

Meanwhile I sympathise somewhat with Mikefule on his take on what
sports "should" be in the Olympics. Sometimes it seems like they're
getting too esoteric. Chess? Is that a serious contender? I don't know
exactly how to define sports, but for the Olympics you should at least
have to demonstrate some form of physical skill or effort.

And as a big proponent of the IUF, it means I want unicycling to be
eligible for the Olympics. The more other "odd" sports get in, the more
likely it would seem that ours can.

Even if we're getting million dollar salaries by then. Yes, some
athletes work all their lives to get to the Olympics, and others are
pros taking time out of their season to play there. But it mostly goes
by sport. Some sports have pros in them while others don't. Not such a
big problem for the athletes.

--
johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

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

"Read the rules!"
'IUF Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/)
'USA Rulebook' (http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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I was at fencing club tonight, and the conversation turned to the
Olympics. (The men's sabre final was controversial.) Someone else
independently expressed disgust at Tim Henman's attitude, and that of
tennis players generally.

Tennis is a valid sport, as are squash, baminton, lacrosse, real tennis,
football, Australian rules football, American football, baseball,
basketball, ten pin bowling, nine pins, waterskiing, breath hold deep
diving, motocross, BMX, and even horseback jousting. But are these
"Olympic" sports? I think not. The original Olympics, celebrated those
sports which had a martial; application: running, jumping, throwing
spears, that type of thing.

Now, it is well established that bicycling features in the Olympics. so
we have pursuit, track and so on. But what about down hill
mountainbiking, cross country, BMX, trials, flatlanding (?) and so on?
Many of these could be raced on solo bicycles, tandems, tricycles or
even tandem tricycles. To include all of these categories would be
ridiculous and unmanageable. Clearly a limit has to exist.

Now back to unicycling, we have a few recognised disciplines: track
racing, cross country, MUni, freestyle, trials... and we have a huge
range of possible unicycles, with wheels from 12 - 36 inches (and
novelty sizes below and above), giraffes, stackers, eccentrics,
kangaroos, ultimate wheels and even BC wheels. The number of bizarre
combinations is matched only by my grandad's underwear collection.

Very simply, there is no way on Earth that the Olympic Games could
accept a dozen or more new unicycle-based minority sports.

But I sincerely believe that unicycling is a valid sport. I've trained
against the clock and set personal bests on speed and distance. I know
that people in this forum (e.g. John Foss) have bettered my times and
speeds by huge margins. I admire that skill, stamina and ability.

So if we were to try to introduce unicycling as a "demonstration sport",
it would be vital to present it as a serious, credible, athletic
endeavour. It would have to be accessible to the viewing public,
analogous to something else already in the games, and accessible to
competitors from all over the globe. I think that that would have to be
track racing over traditional running distances (100, 200, 400 metres)
on 700c wheels. We'd have to look like cyclists and athletes, not like
a novelty act.

That's not to knock the many keen and talented freestylers, trialsists,
MUniists and so on out there. It's just a recognition of the realities
of trying to present our sport (if sport it is) in a format that would
be taken seriously. We already get called clowns and eccentrics.

Really, the place for international unicycle competition is at
international unicycle events. Any crossover into the mainstream would
have to be handled carefully or it would further damage the image of a
sport that it is too easy to ridicule.

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Quoted message said:

in a format that would be taken seriously. We already get called
clowns and eccentrics.
Any crossover into the mainstream would have to be handled carefully
or it would further damage the image of a sport that it is too easy to
ridicule.

When people see me land a major gap, or an insainly high dropoff etc
etc...
they dont reply with comments to ridicule me. They show interest and
respect what i do as a sport.

I am who i am, i'm not trying to fool anyone...and i dont think we
should. Unicycling was and still is a part of a circus act, but we can
make it one kick-[censored] show. and i think thats what people need to see,
is that unicycling isn't limited by the circus tents...it is way more
than what people know it to be.

<BACK ON TOPIC>
Has anyone ever tryed Coker jousting????!!!
lol, that would be hardcore!
hmmm...giraffe??...ok now i'm getting ahead of myself...haha

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If unicycling was to get in the olympics, it would need to have major
competitions in a large number of countries right? Proper serious
competitions with real timed races and the like.

As far as I know, they do this in the US, probably in Japan, maybe
China?, and at Unicons. Certainly we don't have serious racing at
British unicycle conventions, they're just not so competition based,
more about riding with people and learning stuff and hanging around
drinking too much. Which I reckon is a good thing, we don't waste loads
of time riding round in circles on flat racetracks, or spend loads of
money on professional timing, which just doesn't seem to be what
unicycling in this country is about. Track racing just reduces
unicycling to doing a running style race using a slightly difficult to
ride bike, rather than being something unique and special.

I don't really understand what the point of wanting unicycling in the
olympics is, especially in the way racing is done now? The reason biking
is really good in the olympics is because it's such a different style of
race to all the other events, whereas unicycling just seems like a
rip-off of running races that happens to use unicycles.

Joe

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joemarshall said:

*If unicycling was to get in the olympics, it would need to have major
competitions in a large number of countries right? Proper serious
competitions with real timed races and the like.
*

This is just a minimum! See Rocket's web-page
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/unicycle/OlympicFeds.htm for a pretty good
analysis of
why unicycling ain't going to be an olympic sport in the
near (or even medium) future.

Paul

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joemarshall said:

*I don't really understand what the point of wanting unicycling in the
olympics is, especially in the way racing is done now?*

To major points, which other could add to if it weren't even more off
the topic of this thread:

1. Because getting there means we have established ourselves as a
serious sport that the whole world is likely to be aware of.

2. The process of *getting there* will do a tremendous amount toward
building unicycling in many countries, organizing what we do, and
otherwise spreading the word about unicycling, not just in a few events
but in all the things we do such as at a Unicon.

Some of the hardest steps have already been taken. There are other hard
ones still to go, but at least we have an international organization,
and international set of rules, and an event every two years that people
seem to recognized and accept as the focal point of international
unicycle competition. Now we need to add countries, build up the
organization, and solidify the way we do things so it's worthy of the
kinds of goals we have.

[b]> The reason biking is really good in the olympics is because it's such

Quoted message said:

a different style of race to all the other events, whereas unicycling
just seems like a rip-off of running races that happens to use
unicycles.[/B]

Nothing wrong with a bit of thread drift, if it's basically relevant to
unicycling.

I wonder about the mixed motives that arise in all minority sports,
where people take up the sport partly because it is obscure, then try to
recruit more and more people in the hope that it will become
mainstream

I enjoy unicycling, and I enjoy meeting other unicyclists, but I have no
desire to see it become widespread or popular. It would lose some of
its magic. On the other hand, if it became more popular, equipment
might develop or become more readily available. And anyway, it will
never be mainstream, because it's not immediately accessible.

Be that as it may, I do get nissed off with people treating my chosen
sport with ridicule, and anything that made the ordinary man in the
street see it as an athletic endeavour rather than an entertainment
would be a good thing.

What is the nearest sport to unicycling?

Er...

What about kayaking?

In kayaking, you have measured distance straight line racing. You have
white water slalom. (Trials?)
You have white water racing. (Muni/Cross country?)
You have freestyle stunting where they play on one wave for a set time.
(Freestyle?)

Kayaking appears in the Olympics. (My brother's former housemate is
competing in the slalom, I believe.)

So, by analogy, unicycling could be as valid an Olympic sport as
kayaking. And kayaking was once very much a minority sport,
participated in by fringe weirdoes. (40 odd years ago, my father was
something of a pioneer in this country and competed quite hard long
before kayaking became a well established leisure activity. He is still
weird, but his fringe has receded alarmingly.)

But my instinct tells me that unicycling has a big credibility hurdle to
overcome. The best way to overcome that is not to show what can be done
on one wheel (jumps, hops and drops etc.) but to compete in a way which
is to some extent similar to sports which are already credible. That
would suggest a comparison with running or bicycling. Track races on
the flat or the velodrome - or possibly cross country.

I think MUni would be too extreme as a first foot in the door of the
Olympics, freestyle would be too nebulous (with the subjective scoring,
although ice dancing is accepted) and trials would be too artificial:
setting up obstacles just to ride them would be dangerously close to
performance rather than athleticism.

I might be doing nothing more than airing my own prejudices here, but
that's the way I see it. Here's an unscientific survey: I KNOW I get a
more serious response from the GBP when I'm on the 700c, and I BELIEVE
that's simply because the wheel size is familiar - neither as toylike as
the 20, nor as grotesque as the Coker.

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