Yesterday I went riding by myself in Auburn. For the first time ever I
rode the “downhill” part of the Clementine Loop the wrong way. In other
words I rode to the very top up the Confluence and Culvert trails (through
the tunnel seen in the Unicycle.com video), then turned around and rode
down the same way. That’s because the other half of the loop is mostly
paved road. I think yesterday was my first time ever to ride every inch of
1000’ of uphill trail. Mr. Toad’s at Tahoe has 1800’ of uphill, but I
walked a lot of that.
I was inspired by watching Karl & Christian Thompson and Brett Bymaster
ride every inch of the Slickrock Trail in Moab. I walked a lot of that
too. Not only is it difficult terrain, it’s all about a mile above sea
level and I’m just not used to it.
Don’t get me wrong. I did about a zillion do-overs to get up that trail.
But I eventually rode or hopped through all the parts that I used to be
scared to even ride down. And I spent a lot of time standing around
catching my breath… I’m out of shape! It was my first proper trail ride
since Moab.
So where does Kris Holm fit into all this?
After my ride, I stopped at the Bicycle Emporium in Auburn. I noticed some
broken spokes in my wheel, and wanted to see what kind of shorts they had.
Upon seeing my ATU, the guys in the shop mentioned the guy from the North
Shore who does that. “Kris Holm.” I said. Then the mechanic in the
background chimed in, “Yeah, he comes in here all the time.” “Who does?” I
asked. “Kris Holm.” “But Kris Holm lives in Vancouver.” I said. “He comes
in here at least once a week.” “Huh?” “There’s a picture of him on the
wall there.” Sure enough, there was a picture of a guy going real fast on
a road bike. Funny! The mechanic had missed the first part of our
conversation, so he didn’t know we were talking about an off-road
unicyclist.
So watch out, world. There are at least two Kris Holms out there that are
well-known cyclists!
Meanwhile I made the guys in the shop proud by telling them that the first
time the unicycle Kris Holm rode with other unicyclists was right on their
local trails in Auburn (MUni Weekend '98).
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
“Someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world.”