Kevin Chang hones his skills for Ride The Lobster

The Good Times Weekly of California reports on Kevin Chang’s progress on his unicycle.

Having mastered the steep hills around his home town of Ben Lomond and having developed superior balancing skills that took 1 1/2 years to accomplish, Kevin now feels he has an edge over other riders competing in Ride The Lobster — the 800km 5-day unicycle race set for 16-20 June 2008 in Nova Scotia, Canada — especially when it comes to steeper terrain. He no doubt will enjoy meeting, in Nova Scotia, the unicyclist that inspired him on his one-wheel journey, unicycling genius Kris Holm of Vancouver, British Columbia.

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Celebrate after Ride The Lobster with Garnet Rogers concert in Baddeck Saturday 21June2008

On Saturday night the 21st of June, Garnet Rogers will be playing at the Masonic Hall in the centre of Baddeck. He’s one of Canada’s foremost folk musicians.
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Born in Ontario to parents of Nova Scotian descent, and younger brother of the late (and more famous) Stan Rogers, for whom he wrote music, arranged and produced, and with whom he performed for over a decade.
It’s a small venue and the 120 seats will surely sell out, so it would be wise to get your tickets soon. You can contact Tim Brooks at +1-902-295-3124 or via email at timbrooks@hotmail.com, or Megan at +1-902-295-1468. Tickets are only $20 each (they’ll be $25 at
the door, if any are left). This concert could be an excellent way to finish up your tour of Nova Scotia or kick off your travels in Cape Breton.

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Times Union newspaper follows New York State unicycling trio

Teresa Graham, staff writer with the Albany, New York, Times Union, followed Steve Relles, Perry Woodin and Roland Kays, as they prepared for the 800km 5-day unicycle event, Ride The Lobster. Times Union photographer, Michael P. Farrell, captured the excitement of these three with a couple of photographs. Relles and Kays will join Montréaler Vince LeMay on one team, while Woodin forms part of a Vermont team.

Teresa Graham can be reached at Teresa Graham can be reached in Albany at 454-5482 or by e-mail at tgraham@timesunion.com

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Tough Love enRoute to Personal Victory

“I knew my wife, a veterinary nurse, would take care of me if I acted like a wounded animal”, so writes Kyle deMilner after taking a spill on Day 1 of his qualifying unicycle ride for Ride The Lobster at Valley Forge.

But he made it, despite the added pain of steep grades, some head winds, saddle soreness and muscle fatigue. Though his GPS was not working his iPod was used to do some data entry and number crunching. Ingenious!
Day 2 started out tough. First, he had to get out of bed. Once out, he unicycled in incessant rain. His next mistake was to phone kid brother Max for sympathy — the same brother that unicycled six New England States in almost a month of rain, unicycleMax. After riding for one hour in that rain his “respect for that kid multiplied by a thousand”. Day 2 was lonely and cruel, but again he made it, making it “the hardest, most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done”. Kyle felt great for accomplishing this challenge and “looks forward to riding the lobster even more than ever”.
Click here for more photos.

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Annapolis Royal to kick off event with Ride The Lobster Day

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The Town of Annapolis Royal and area is celebrating what may become the largest long distance unicycling event in the world, Ride The Lobster, on Saturday 14th June 2008, two days before race week. Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, asks to be your host for the day.

The community festivities are for teams, family, friends and guests, and area visitors. The morning begins with the Farmers and Traders Market, followed by Victorian Tea at the O’Dell Museum, a tour of the Annapolis Historic Gardens, music on the streets, guided tours of its Heritage District, a performance by dance groups and other special activities.

The day ends with an Order of Good Cheer Dinner. This is a 400-year old celebration of food, stories and songs which began in this area in 1604. The members of the teams are asked to be the guests of the Town of Annapolis Royal. All events and attractions will be free of charge to the riders with special rates to guests. Local accommodations are offering special Ride The Lobster rates.

Special Event contact: Sally Burnie, Events & Marketing Coordinator, Town of Annapolis Royal marketing@annapolisroyal.com Tel +1-902-532-7667

Click here for other events/attractions during Ride The Lobster.

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Canadians and Danes make “unicycle peace” over disputed Hans Island

In the high Arctic lies a small barren rocky outcrop called Hans Island. It lies between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Denmark’s Greenland. The governments of both Canada and Denmark claim sovereignty over Hans Island; an island that has, over the past few years, been subject to “footprint visits”, flag waving and planting, flyovers, “excercises” and “studies”.

For five days Canada and Denmark will put aside their differences on the tiny Arctic Island and join together, to compete as a team (Hans Islanders) against the best in the world for top prize in the most unique sporting event of 2008 this June in Nova Scotia — Ride The Lobster — reports Doug Dockrill of the RTL World Media Headquarters. It’s a time when Canada and Denmark will compare their beers and their seafood recipes, not their lines on a map.
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Doug writes, “Signe Gjerding Jensen and Thomas Olsen [of Denmark] will join Todd Sankey from Vancouver [Canada]” and support member Neville Sankey from Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, to form Team Hans Islanders in a gesture of cooperation and friendship as they unicycle the 800-kilometre, 5-day route.

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Kris Holm and Florian Schlumpf headed for Ride The Lobster

Word is out that “the Wayne Gretzky of unicycling”, Vancouver’s Kris Holm, and the CEO of Switzerland’s Schlumpf Innovations gmbh, Florian Schlumpf, are both planning to attend the 800km 5-day unicycle event in Nova Scotia, Canada.

While Kris Holm will not be able to race due to knee injury, he will act as the ambassador for the sport of unicycling, hold certain functions during Ride The Lobster, and be free to sign autographs for avid unicyclists and sports enthusiasts. Some video clips of Kris can be seen at his website and on YouTube.

Florian Schlumpf will be accompanied by his wife and will no doubt be here to check out unicycles using Schlumpf technology, and the competition, entered in this event. He heads Schlumpf Innovations gmbh, specialists in unicycle gear mechanisms and unicycle manufacturing. This promises to be a who’s who and a show-and-tell of long distance unicycling.

Image courtesy of British Columbia professional photographer Sean White.

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Netherlands TV follows Dustin Schaap in bid to qualify for Ride The Lobster: with English translation

Apeldoorn TV in the Netherlands recently posted this video clip from Dustin Schaap as seen on: vimeo.com (download 10 MB)

English text translation to accompany this video clip, courtesy Elisabeth Kosters:

These 2 kids Dustin and Sander (Dutch short for Alexander) are interviewed while they are doing their training runThe interviewer asks how they got into unicycling.They first were introduced to it in school, practiced indoors in a gym, it’s a bit more difficult than regular cycling, so it’s a challenge and ‘why not’? Then they got hooked, especially on long distance unicyclingThey are training for Ride the Lobster, considered the “Tour de France” of unicyclists, which is organized by Canada, because Canada has the largest number of unicyclists. The race begins in southern Canada and ends in the hilly North, about 800 km (sorry … the translator has to interrupt here … do these people who are from a country that is 1/100th the size of Canada have any clue where southern and northern Canada is? most likely not). Is is do-able(asks the interviewer, I think he means the hills). Dustin and Sander think its do-able, because you have a three-person team and you divide the 800 km. You bike your own stretches alone. Isn’t that boring? asks the interviewer). They don’t think it’s going to be boring, because you ride with unicyclists from other countries.The race takes place 16 – 21 June, lots still needs to be done, most importantly fundraising, the team needs another 5000 Euro (about\n7500 CAN$) for travel and accommodation. And then the video voice-over says click here and you’ll be connected to a site where you can leave your credit card number.

(translator … the things one learns …)

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