NAUCC Here I come!
Alright so I’m backdating a bunch of entries that I will be discussing the NAUCC (North American Unicycling Convention & Championships… or it means something like that) because I want to break my diary up into some nice managable chunks. Anyone who knows me knows I’m long-winded enough without the necessity of needing to cram 6 days worth of events into one blog entry.
So here I begin.
Friday night I was planning on seeing the Simpson movie on opening night, then spending some time with my best friend before crashing at his place then heading off early in the morning. Well the movie didn’t happen because I felt grumpy and we wouldn’t have made it to the showing I wanted to go to, so instead we hit up the bike shop where we settled up some bike repairs (yes I realize this is supposed to be a unicycle entry, shush up) and then to the bar, then to another bar.
So I somewhat stumbled home due to being tired and just ever so slightly tipsy. Not even. I just argue that I was tired. And me and Phil stayed up a good portion of the night and I think we finally crashed around 2am or thereabouts.
In the morning I had to go shift my car before 8am and somehow ended up doing it at 6am to a spot where I could park all weekend without getting ticketed or towed. And after that I couldn’t really go back to sleep so I decided to take a meandering walk down Roncies. Walked from Dundas & Bloor down to Queen & Ronccies before turning around, crossing the street and heading back. All the little shops that started opening at 7am were amazing because they were open. I was kind of hoping the hot yoga studio would have had a 6am or 7am class because I would have taken it just for the sake of being awake.
Phil ended up getting up and he headed off on his day of tubing at the Elora Gorge. I showered, grabbed a bagel and a muffin, some fruit and a giant thing of water, and hopped in my car at around 10:15am.
Start driving.
Continue driving.
I stopped once to make sure I had the right set of directions. (Realized I should have STUDIED my directions before just driving!) Border crossing wasn’t too much trouble. I didn’t have a signed passport which gave me just enough trouble to find a pen. I had to roll down my back window to prove I had unicycling equipment in the back. And it’s always amusing to see the attempt at non-reaction when they say “What’s going on in Saline Michigan?” “An 8 day unicycling convention, sir.”
And I basically drove from Toronto ON to Saline MI in 4 and a half hours, as predicted by my maps, and without any stops or breaks. I had eaten my bagel, and drank a can of Redbull, and that was about my intake until I arrived at the school most of the events were held at, where I then ate my muffin.
Basically passed out on the floor of the Bedford booth soon after arriving, tried to figure out who my roommate was on my own without any luck because I never bother researching who I’m staying with when I’ve only met them online. Got someone to drive me to the hotel so I could check in but left all my gear in my car meaning no swimming nor anything exciting or early registration.
Got myself back to the event. Found my roommate & introduced myself. Headed off to… lord knows if I can remember. The Bedford Experience was the only thing that got me there that day and it was cut down by more than two thirds of it’s original showing. Headed to the hotel for some unicycling after-party fun which included a lot of board games.
Hung out with my roommate over some beer, rum & coke & discussions over extraneous unicycling skill levels, tattoos and driving cross country. Passed out at probably 4am.
