Making Lemonade at the Underground Circuit Finals

When life gives you lemonade, why not make it a double? 

Lemonade Float Co., an IOWA vendor and onewheel lifestyle brand, served up its first onewheel festival in March 2023. Lemonade Float Fest took place amid the Texas bluebonnets and early spring sunshine in tandem with the Underground Open and long-awaited 2022 Underground season finals. Organizers from the two events collaborated to offer a well balanced weekend of racing and relaxation—a little bit zesty and a little bit sweet, you might say.

Photos courtesy of Cory Boehne—thank you! Click to see the full gallery from Armor-Dilloz.

Lemonade Float Fest

Lemonade Float Co. teamed up with Austin’s local PEV shop, Electric Surf Co., to organize a new mid-sized event at Reveille Peak Ranch, a destination with beautiful campsites, miles of trails, a scenic lake, and of course, even more Texas bluebonnets. 

Lemonade Float Fest featured group rides, onewheel games and challenges, trick comps, and the first-ever Full Moon Onewheel Race, a mass start race around the ranch’s small lake lit only by the moon and your best Nitecore flashlight. 

A weekend-long game of Onewheel Assassin kept riders on their toes both on and off the board. Players were assigned another rider to “assassinate” before the weekend was over—meaning simply that they had to turn off the other person’s board to eliminate them from the game. 

With games like assassin, onewheel tug of war and capture the flag, daily yoga sessions, an open trick park, and 50 miles of trails to explore, it was impossible to get bored at this event! 

Underground Finals

Spider Mountain is a lift-serviced downhill mountain bike park located about an hour’s drive from Austin, TX and just five minutes from Reveille Peak Ranch. The park offers 350 vertical feet of riding spread across nine trails of varying difficulty. 

The Underground Circuit finals leveraged four of these trails in a timed enduro-style competition. Finalists were invited based on their 2022 performance in regional circuits across the U.S., while anyone else who wished to race could compete in the Underground Open. What makes Onewheel Underground racing unique is that riders can participate on any board model with any modifications they like, including the latest hot upgrade: VESC.

The terrain was rocky and, at the time of the event, included some washed-out sections on the inside of berms, forcing riders to commit to the high line or lose significant speed in the rocky rubble. The trails were too narrow for passing, so the Underground enlisted timekeepers at the start of each segment to stagger riders and reduce the need for passing.

Racers had four hours on Saturday to put down their best time on the four segments, with as many do-overs as their legs could handle. While this format may not be as exciting to watch as a head-to-head, some racers find that it takes the stress out of competing and allows them to truly perform their best… although others say they thrive keeping pace with a faster rider! 

One appeal of the enduro style race (and of the Underground Circuit in general) is that it pits riders against one competitor first and foremost: Themselves. Any rider who is not happy with their time or rank can always run the course again until they’re sure they’ve done their best.

Race Results

Underground Circuit Women’s Champion Amanda Thompson

Masters
Richard Stovall: 5:49.94
Grant Patton: 6:23.69
Jay Luhrsen: 8:49.61