HCR's Skatepark/Rays Video is Online!

General
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Wow! I am completely blown away by the support and encouragement I’ve received from everyone who posted in response to my video. Thank you all so much… it really means a tremendous amount to me to earn the respect of my fellow unicyclists because I love reading everyone’s posts (even though unfortunately I can’t respond to all the ones that I’d like to… or I’d never get any work done!), checking out the pics, and viewing all the awesome videos! I really enjoy the posts and videos from the new riders, too - it’s great to see an influx of enthusiastic new riders progressing… I know I’ll be watching many of these riders’ videos in amazement in the not too distant future!

Some of you may recall that I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had some thoughts for some new forms of competitive riding…. but that I had wanted to post a video showing some of my Coker riding from Rays before I talked about that. Well now that the video is up… I will start to post some of my ideas (even though my time is very limited this week due to work, flying and last minute preparations for my trip to the ESPN X Games Skatepark on Thursday). Since QuickTime has a timeclock that you can easily scroll, I will reference certain scenes (by the minute and seconds) from the Rays footage in order to point out specific obstacles, in order to clarify some of my ideas. More on that later…

Being that you all were kind enough to take the time to download and view my video and then post some comments, I’m going to post a quick response to each of you: (thanks, again!)
Andrew (HCR)

Yeah, I know… sorry about that guys, but I didn’t have many options for my editing/encoding equipment so I did the best I could with what I had available to me. I will be upgrading to more professional editing and encoding/compression equipment in the not too distant future.

Thanks a lot, Justin! Yeah, unlike Tomsey, I don’t have the balls to drop into a quarter pipe that high… just yet! Plus I’m not sure even the indestructible Stockton wheel could hold up to that kind of abuse (I think Dave Lowell would probably lend Tomsey his Stockton wheel if Tomsey wanted to come over to the States and give it a try to find out)! Glad you liked the speed… I like it, too… I don’t think the smaller uni’s could handle the bank turn very well because of their speed limitations. I’d love to hit that bank with a geared 36er or a blueshift!!!

Wow… many thanks, Catboy! I’ll try to catch even more air (especially at the Skatepark this Thursday) for the next release of my video! It would be great to ride with you anytime! Rays is AMAZING! I hope to follow up Brian’s release/ride party by organizing some events there at some point down the road.

Thanks a lot, daino! Rays rocks! I’ll have Brian and a professional cameraman shooting me at Brian’s release/ride party in Feb., and they should be able to get some really great angles (and I’ll also attempt new things at Rays that I didn’t try before)… so you can look forward to some cool new footage from Rays in the future!

Thanks a lot, Seager! I know my QuickTime file is painfully large… but I should be using equipment that will give me better compression fairly soon. Glad you liked the soundtrack. I wasn’t intending to keep the hip-hop song in there, but my master file got wiped out right after I burned this version… so I figured it’s better to let you guys see a lower quality version (with a song I’m not too crazy about), rather than wait endlessly for me to recreate the video.

Thanks a lot, Unitik… in that context, it’s actually nice to be called a beast :smiley: Glad you enjoyed it!.

Thank you very much, Dave… I am completely blown away by your comments! It’s been tons of fun so far and keeps getting better! I always enjoy talking and riding with you and I can’t wait to go back to Rays and watch you hop through and over some more rocks, logs and other obstacles! Keep up the good work… your progress is amazing!

Thanks a lot, Andrew. It feels great to be able to return the favor because I am completely BLOWN AWAY by your riding and I thoroughly enjoy every second of your videos… plus, you are always extremely helpful to everyone on the forum. We are all quite lucky to have you on the forum sharing your knowledge, pictures, and videos (and always being friendly). Many thanks! The air was somewhat of an unexpected consequence of the speed with which I hit the ramps… although I guess I did figure I’d probably get a bit of air. I haven’t spent much time really trying to get a lot of air, yet… though that is certainly on my “to do” list. I think the ramp will have to be the ideal height and the pitch will have to be just perfect, as well in order to get maximum air. There are a lot of ramps that look pretty decent at the X Games Skatepark that I’m going to on Thursday… so I’ll see what I can do over there. If when you mention the more “subtle one,” you’re talking about the ramp that has like a hollow step I had to clear or blast over, then ride across a small horizontal section before climbing another upward ramp to another horizontal section to the final downward ramp (the last ramp I ride before “kung-fu fighting” starts playing)… even though it doesn’t look too difficult, that was actually one of the trickier ramps for me and it took me several attempts to nail it. Rays is the best! If I had the $$$ to afford it, I would fly you over just to watch you do your trials stuff there because I know that it would be INSANE!!!

I had the time of my life, jsm :smiley: I don’t think I invented it, but I would like to help formalize a particular style of competitive riding, similar to how Kris Holm created a set of official rules for trials. I want to do this from the beginning with the help of my fellow unicyclists on the forum and I would like to have a formal exhibition competition for this style of riding at Brian’s release party this February. I will post a lot more about this during the next few weeks. Your comments really validate my ideas, which makes me feel great! Thanks a lot!.

Thanks a lot, Tom, and way to go! For me, nothing feels better than inspiring people… so I’m very happy to have helped out… and I’m glad you liked the music!

Thanks so much, Bill. I can’t believe the stock wheel has held up so well for me, either… I’m almost attempted to keep abusing it (at the Skatepark in Philly and such) just to see how much it can take… but I’d like to keep it intact to build up a back-up cycle!

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Thanks a lot, DK. I hope to expose the world to all the possibilities the Coker offers (at least the possibilities I see, anyway)! I’m not familiar with the search for animal chin or how it relates to skateboarding… but your comment sounds quite flattering, so many thanks! I assume it’s a movie… and now that you’ve mentioned it I’ll have to try and check it out… if I can find it!!! I’ve been really fortunate with my latest stock rim… I did taco two before it (when I was a lot heavier), just from aggressive turns and a curb (I think).

Yeah, the head clip hurt a bit… but not nearly as bad as I expected. That flimsy looking helmet shattered and absorbed a lot of the impact. It was obviously designed to crack and splinter quite effectively. I would never have expected it to work so well! The impact my butt took may have been worse because it was sore for longer than the headache from the impact with the beam.

Wow… thanks a lot, Kris! When I first got started on my Coker a few years ago, I was on the phone with one of the guys at Unicycle.com telling him about some of my extreme ideas and he told me that I had to see this guy doing really extreme stuff in this video that was available. He said “let me include it with your order and if you don’t like it you can send it back!” I had just got back into the sport and I hadn’t heard of you until that point. I watched with sheer amazement (and obviously never sent it back)! At the moment I finished watching your video for the first time (out of about a hundred), I felt inspired to go out and try to get as good as I can on my Coker so that I could try and follow in your footsteps (not to say that I could ever reach your level of expertise, though) and try to pioneer a unique style of (Coker) riding. You have been my single biggest inspiration in the sport, so I am really psyched to have received positive feedback from you and completely blown away to have inspired you! Thank you so much for writing!

Thanks a lot, Brian. You and I (and everyone else that joins us) will have the absolute time of our lives at your release/ride party! Glad you liked the air… hope I can go bigger in the future! Glad you like the Crazy Train remix… it’s a pretty rare Madonna cut. I love it, too! A race would be a blast! We’ll make the layout insane!

Getting a response like that from Kris exceeded my wildest expectations! That was awesome!

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Thanks for the kind words. :slight_smile: Yes, that was the part of the park I was referring to…great stuff!

Andrew

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Re: HCR’s Skatepark/Rays Video is Online!

On Sat, 8 Jan 2005 23:37:14 -0600, “HardcoreCokerRider” wrote:

>Yeah, unlike Tomsey, I don’t have the balls to
>drop into a quarter pipe that high… just yet! Plus I’m not sure even the
>indestructible Stockton wheel could hold up to that kind of abuse

I was thinking the same as Justin. If it can be done on any unicycle,
it would be on a Coker. After all, it is not a drop to flat but to a
nice roll-out curve on the quarter pipe. But since it is quite high
you need a lot of speed to actually roll it out. When I watched that
hopping I said ‘geez’ to myself (there was no-one in the room) but the
next split-second I thought “That’s what a Coker can do”. So now that
you’ve set the expectation with several of us, I hope you will pull
that stunt off for us, and post the footage! You are best equipped for
it in every sense of the word.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

It’s impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what’s in a name) Childs

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Re: Re: HCR’s Skatepark/Rays Video is Online!

I was thinking the same thing as you (and Justin) about the Coker and the half-pipe, klaas, but I don’t have the skill or the kajones to pull if off at this point. I’d love to develop the skills (which will give me the confidence to have the kajones) to do something like that at some point in the future, though. Keep in mind, that unlike Tomsey who is (I think) 18 years old, I just turned 35! Unfortunately, I dont heal quite as quickly, though I can still withstand a pretty good banging up!

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Inspiration

I draw inspiration from many sources. As I have mentioned… Unibiker was (and continues to be) a source of inspiration for me to try and be unique in the sport. From the moment I saw Kris Holm’s amazing riding, I was inspired to go extreme and push my limits. I just thought it was worth mentioning that although I had developed an interest in unicycling on my own as a kid, meeting and watching John Foss ride was something that thoroughly amazed and inspired me at that time (and continues to amaze and inspire me to this day… I saw him ride again this past year when he came to NYC after almost twenty years since we last rode together!). John’s knowledge, expertise, helpfulness and insight is a benefit to everyone on the forum and everyone who has crossed his path. Many thanks, John!
Andrew (HCR)

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There is a subtle anomaly in Andrew’s video. It’s a cool, fun thing that was put there deliberately. He told me that it existed. And I found it!

Let’s play “spot the anomaly”… I’ll give you a hint, it’s in the skatepark portion of the video. And it’s not something you would ever see in real life. :slight_smile: You will laugh when you see it!

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Re: HCR’s Skatepark/Rays Video is Online!

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 19:24:12 -0600, “Dave Lowell” wrote:

>Let’s play “spot the anomaly”… I’ll give you a hint, it’s in the
>skatepark portion of the video. And it’s not something you would ever
>see in real life. :slight_smile: You will laugh when you see it!

Let me guess. Is it someone on a Coker? :slight_smile:
I never saw that in real life in a skatepark. And I laughed when I saw
it in the video. So yeah, that must be it.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

It’s impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what’s in a name) Childs

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No! (but I see what you are saying!)

By “you”, I meant “anyone” (or “everyone”). Actually, I meant definition two of you, which means one (click “pronoun” in the box).

And if this anomalous event were actually possible in real life, it would have disastrous effects.

Someday, with your help, I’m going to learn to speak English well.

30

i set my pc to down load that big boy on 56k while i was asleep and hurrah! i just watched it this morning, nice riding but the music was terrible…a dance house cover of crazy train? then gangster crap?

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damn, Andrew, as a fellow cokerhead, that’s some of the slickest stuff i’ve ever imagined!! You have your idols, but you are a true inspiration and visionist in your own right!

If you ever do decide to upgrade your wheel with a drilled-out Airfoil and a light inner tube, I think you’d be surprised at the performance difference.
Pete

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Re: HCR’s Skatepark/Rays Video is Online!

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:27:41 -0600, “Dave Lowell” wrote:

>someday, with your help, i’m going to learn to speak english well.

(Drifting further off-topic) Oh, and which “you” are you thinking of
this time?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

It’s impossible to get old when you ride a unicycle - John (what’s in a name) Childs

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Thanks for the compliment on the riding. Regarding the music… I’ m assuming you missed my response to a previous comment from Seager, where I stated that:

“I wasn’t intending to keep the hip-hop song in there, but my master file got wiped out right after I burned this version… so I figured it’s better to let you guys see a lower quality version (with a song I’m not too crazy about), rather than wait endlessly for me to recreate the video.”

I don’t like that “gangster crap” in there either, because it doesn’t fit in well with all the other techno songs… I was just trying different things… and then I lost the file before I could replace that song. I like the dance cover of crazy train, however, and it seems like most of the other people who viewed the video liked that song in there as well. Music is a very individual thing… but like I said… the majority of people liked it. Can’t please everyone! Perhaps your musical appreciation is somewhat limited?

Thanks a lot, Pete… your encouragement means a lot to me. Actually, my Airfoil rim is scheduled to arrive this Wednesday and I intend to ride with it at the ESPN X Games skatepark on Thursday (see earlier posts if interested… search for “ESPN” and “skatepark”), so you should be able to see some video of me riding there with the Airfoil rim. I’ll only have a stock inner tube, though.

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no, not really…perhaps some people havent heard the real version of Crazy Train.

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Incredible riding!

Nice camera work.

Incredibly bad music.

A Stockton wheel can handle the half-pipe.

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It makes me sad how good you are on a coker. :stuck_out_tongue:

Can’t wait to ride with you at the TWNR release party!

Dave, how much does one of your strongest coker wheels cost?

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Hi, Dave!

1 - Yes, indeed!

2 - Thank you.

3 - I love the music.

4 - A Stockton wheel can handle anything.

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Is the anamoly the rapidly changing direction cars?

I give the movie a heartfelt “meh” by the way.

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Yes, good eye!

When Andrew is hopping on top of the BIG ramp, the cars on the Henry Hudson Parkway keep changing directions! But it’s hard to spot, because you are too distracted thinking, “is he really going to drop into that vertical ramp?!”

But I guess you knew that even before the video was made, right?

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I cant wacht it…this little thing keeps coming up with the little quick time symble torn in half and it wont work.

help?