AmaOneConvention 25-29 November 2009, Cape Town

Tue

Dec

2009

Written by Brent Boswell

As end of 2009 started drawing closer it meant it was time for another Convention after the success of EMEW (Epic MUni in Elgin Weekend) in 2008. Last year's convention focused solely on Mountain Unicycling. This year we wanted to encompass more of Unicycling so scheduled a number of different events all taking place around Cape Town over 5 days. Starting on the Wednesday 25th with an easy leisure ride from Muizenberg beach to Fish Hoek beach.

With a late morning start to go with the laid back ride a smallish group set out along the walk way to St. James then onto the sidewalk along Main Road to Fish Hoek, and finally onto the beach at Fish Hoek for the length of the beach with waves crashing at our wheels. The camber on the beach and the waves made it quite tricky to ride but it was good fun. To end off we caught the train from Fish Hoek back to Muizenberg.

Photo courtesy of Ark Images

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Photos courtesy of Ark Images

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Photo courtesy of Ark Images

The rest of the day was spent lazing about waiting for the much anticipated Night Mountain Uni ride which started at 8pm at the Cable Way Station below Table Mountain. Cycling the length of tar road past the closure and on to below Devils Peak where the gravel road starts. After a short break the group with lights on headed along the gravel jeep track, which soon turned into a rock fest. The small headlight only lighting a small portion of the path just in front of you meant there was little or no time to anticipate anything along the path. While it felt rather treacherous having to negotiate rocks on a small gravel path with very little light it made it that much more exciting with the adrenalin rushing. Although at a point the group agreed that it would not be the best idea to continue and turned back. The night ride was good fun and definitely one that needs to be attempted again, probably in a more familiar environment.

Thursday morning also started a little slow with everyone meeting up at UCT for a day of Unicycle Hockey. This was also the day with the largest attendance with a small group from Germany joining us on the day. Justin and Ruan did a great job of marking out the play area, Alan then went through all the rules and 2 teams of 5 players chosen the play was underway. Having additional players meant that we had a rolling substitute arrangement where anyone who felt tired could step/wheel out and allow another person to get involved. The lack of structured teams also meant that the game was taken in good spirits with everyone just enjoying the game, the lack of accurate score keeping helping in that regard. Alan and Donna both showed their experience at the game riding circles around the others at times, but they were given a run by the likes of Johnny, Ethan, and Tansy with little Xolani really going for it as well. Unicycle Hockey was a lot more fun and also harder than I had anticipated. It was also a first for quite a few.

Friday morning arrived with more glorious weather and it was a day for the beach. Johnny arrived early to setup a slack line and book a space at the beach as it was bound to get much busier on the day due to the great weather. Everyone else started to arrive after that with Unicycles and all manner of juggling toys, clubs, balls, diablos, devil sticks. There was suddenly a rumour going around the beach that the Circus had arrived on the beach, and we were all wondering where they were :-) Justin was the director of the Beach Trials for the day and devised a stunning Trials idea, that of each person choosing 2 trials lines that everyone else would then attempt getting a score for each line. Everyone competing in the Beach Trials then set out looking for trials lines and practicing them. When it started getting to hot everyone met back at the slack line for a rest and to pick up some other toy to play with. Slack lining, juggling, diabloing, devil sticking, and some lazing about. When the heat subsided a little the Beach Trials Competition got underway. The varying trials skill level gave an interesting selection of trials lines and also gave most an opportunity to really push their skills. At the end of a tiring competition and an awesome day Johnny was the overall winner of the Beach Trials, and well deserved after dropping only 1 point over all trials lines.

Saturday dawned with some more glorious weather, which turned into one of the hottest days experienced the summer thus far. An earlier start to the day in order to get up into the mountain for a day of Mountain Uni and practice for the following day's Downhill Mountain Uni Competition. The heat on the day meant the group took long breaks sitting in the shadows of the trees and with the safety in numbers heckled the mountain bikers as they rode past. It was all done in good fun and we managed to get a number of laughs out of the mountain bikers. The riding was slow going due to the heat but still very enjoyable. We were joined on the day by Shawn Benjamin from Ark Images who took a number of photos during the ride with the likes of Ethan and Johnny redoing sections in order to get some good photos. This also meant that the group got together to cheer each other on during the photo sessions. The heat did start taking it's toll and by 2pm everyone was finished. We got onto the jeep track and headed back down to the parking lot and home for a deserved swim.

Photos courtesy of Ark Images

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Photos courtesy of Ark Images

Sunday morning and the day of the first official Downhill Mountain Unicycle race. Another early start to avoid the heat of the day and to get going early as it was going to be a long day. Thankfully the heat from the previous day did not materialise and in fact there was a slight drizzle for a while. It made the riding much more enjoyable as one could keep the energy levels up. The group made their way up to Mamba on Level 4, joined on the day by some non-unicyclist who would be the official time keepers and directors of the races. A race order was decided on and intervals of 1 minute between each rider, starting with Johnny. There would be 5 trails included in the competition with a time for each and the best combined time for all trails declaring a winner on the day. Trails for the race included Mamba, Boomslang (the 2 easier flowing trails), Downhill 1, Downhill 2, and Downhill 3 (the 3 more extreme trails). It ended up being a very close battle between Johnny and Ethan with only 4 seconds over the 5 trails separating them at the end with Johnny being the victor. Ethan did extremely well to catch up to Johnny after a bail on Downhill 1 and Downhill 2 which left him 9 seconds behind with 1 trail to go. Making up 5 seconds on the shortest trail was amazing finishing Downhill 3 in only 24 seconds. The rest of us not competing at the same level still enjoyed the competition. Racing against the clock definitely adds a new dimension to Downhill Mountain Uni. I think it would be awesome to start up a Downhill Mountain Uni league in 2010. When the competition portion of the day was over the group then took a slow ride down the rest of the single track and off to go have a deserved drink and swim to cool down before a small braai and prize giving to mark the end of the Convention.

Photos courtesy of Ark Images

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Photos courtesy of Ark Images

I would like to personally thank everyone who was involved in any way with AmaOneConvention. The guys and girls who took part in all the activities during the course of the Convention, those involved with assisting during the competitions, Ruan Lochner for making the effort to fly down from Pretoria to be part of everything and to be the official videographer for the Convention, and Shawn Benjamin for taking a number of stunning photos. Lastly thanks to Justin for making all the last minute arrangements and being Director over the Convention keeping everything flowing. Everyone contributed to an awesome Convention.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 March 2010 10:27 )