I received Kris Holm’s book The Essential Guide to Mountain and Trials Unicycling for christmas. I really want to hear what others have to say about it and I’d also like to write a bit about my own opinion. I think it’s about time to get a new thread for discussion of it since the old ones were rather cluttered.
I’ve spent the past hour or so writing this and entering this book into the goodreads.com database. Kris, if you’re reading this, please tell me what day and month this book was officially published. I gathered that the year was 2012 but that’s it. I’d like to know so I can add the information to the goodreads.com database of books. I added the book without that information but I’d still like it if I could go back and add it. I’m hoping that adding it there will let readers know about it so that more people read it.
I’m really happy with the physical quality of this book. From the pictures of it on UDC I expected it to be a mass market paperback printed as cheaply as possible. It is actually a great quality book. It is paperback but it’s a very tough paperback that is awesome. I’m not to worried about it falling apart as the pages are thick. The pages are also gloss.
The pictures are unreal! The pages are gloss and filled with cool pictures. I think that there is more space devoted to pictures than words which is a major plus since it’s so hard to find good pictures of our sport. The back says that it has over 250 photos which is of course awesome. And I’m not alone in my opinion here, the first page of the book quotes John Foss saying “It’s worth the price for the pictures alone.” Huge thanks to Kris for hunting down the pictures and compiling them. Also big thanks to anyone who took a picture that made it into Kris’s book.
Unfortunately the instructional content was a little disappointing but honestly it was about what could have been expected. Overall I think Kris did a great job of describing muni techniques. I was hoping for a little more info on trials but there wasn’t anything major that was left out. There was one sentence that didn’t really make sense to me but that’s not bad considering how much writing there was in it.
I like Kris’s advice about still stands. They presented as a fundamental skill that is useful for all types of riding. The more I practice them the more I agree with this.
I sort of had to learn them because I broke my finger and still stands were all I could do for a few weeks. It turned out to be good for my muni riding. My mounts are completely solid now. I can pretty much jump on and go in a straight line without any flailing or extra hops. It’s also useful to be able to stall for a few seconds during technical sections, and I think I have a better feeling for where my weight is over the wheel.
I agree. I still stink at still stands but even the few seconds that I’ve learned to do have helped a whole lot. IMO being able to balance indefinitely without moving the wheel is the embodiment of unicycle skill.
Now I’m curious. What’s the sentence? Maybe we could have a discussion and our various impressions of what Kris meant?
Yes I love the pictures in the book, but the text as well. It’s definitely the most beautiful book on unicycling that there is, and the most relevant one for a very long time.
I’ll look for it again, I can’t remember where it was. Of course it’s entirely possible that I was reading it wrong and I won’t even be able to find it again.
Great book, nice pictures and good quality. Only downside is the “Printed in China” on the back, but I guess it’s getting difficult to print small series with decent quality within a reasonable budget.
It’s helped me a lot on small trails, especially when Kris talks about where to look to be stable, yet not fall on the first tree root that gets under your wheel!
Hey - thanks for starting this thread. Great idea & thanks for the kind remarks!
I’m glad you thought the book was high quality. One of the benefits of choosing to self-publish was retaining control on every aspect of book design, including the type and weight of paper and binding. Plus cutting out the publisher meant I could get the quality I wanted without it costing too much.
Some specs:
Publication date: April 2012 (e-book April 2013)
Trimmed size: 7.5 in. wide x 9.25 in. tall
Page count: 174 + Cover
Cover Inks: 4C Process + 1 PMS Color + Gloss Laminate
Cover Stock: 300 gsm coated 1-side art paper, FSC certified
Text Inks: 4C Process
Text Stock: 128 gsm coated 2-side art paper, FSC certified
Finish: Perfect Binding with PUR Glue
I chose to print in China (Hong Kong) because the print run could easily be sent to Taiwan to combine with unicycle shipments. Plus Hong Kong is famous for book printing.
North America is almost out of stock now but Europe still has lots of copies.
In North America, UDC Canada still has copies and so does the Vancouver outlet of Mountain Equipment Co-op (perhaps Toronto as well).
I chose to write a book (as opposed to a video) because muni and trials involve taking a relatively small set of techniques and applying them to infinitely variable terrain, where much of the skill is in your head (e.g. how to read the terrain). That’s something really best described in a book, with photos of riders of all abilities around the world, and more detailed descriptions than you could do in a video.
Plus I wanted a definitive, physical answer to the common question, “what is muni or trials” - something anyone could relate to. The e-book is convenient (and let me fix a few typos) but for this reason I’ll try to keep the physical book in print as long as I can.
So… keep this discussion thread going - I’d love to see how readers are applying some of the techniques I described. Any feedback would be great, too.
I though that was one of the coolest things about this book, like you said finally there’s something that people can really understand. It’s too bad that it isn’t circulated very much, I imagine we’d get tons more recruits if people saw this book in library’s and bookstores.
I’ve got the ebook version and love it. It helped me get beyond a few of my beginner-muni hurdles and I find myself going back to it frequently for tips and inspiration. I even gifted a hard copy to a friend of mine so we could get on the same page. Get it? Same… oh never mind.
I’ve had the book for over a year. My wife keeps commenting on how many times I’ve read it.
It’s validating to find a “real” book about something I am passionate about. A cool thing and not so cool thing about our sport is its low participation. It makes it unique, but also hard to find things like magazines/books etc.
First I want to thank Shmolagin for starting this thread and reminding me about the book. I got so busy with life, that it slipped past me.
Since this thread started I downloaded the E version.
Reading it reminded me of Paul Parker’s book “Free Heel Skiing.” There are a lot of parallels that I can draw. First, when the Paul Parker’s book came out their was a sparse community of telemark skiiers, and no modern information. The gear was antiquated, and I got weird looks at every ski area I visited (including A-Basin!). I had a lift operator ask if I was really going to go down the mountain on those skinny long ski’s. That book was pivotal in the development of Nordic downhill skiing, and I think because of it the world of telemarking exploded.
In the same way I can see this work by Kris taking on a life of its own. The instruction is clear, and easy to follow. For the first time their is a contemporary reference book for how to ride a mountain or trials unicycle. This could be the catalyst that gets more people taking on the challenge of one wheel adventures.
The sequencing seems reasonable. The tie in between mountain and trials skills is clear. The reference in the mountain section to the trials skills is important to redirect people who skipped ahead to what they were really interested in. All in all it is very thoughtful.
I would like to see illustrations that show more specifics, like pedal placement for different techniques. While the text is easy to follow, and the photo’s are exceptional, sometimes it is easier to see the important details in an illustration rather than in text, or photo’s.
Distribution is also going to be key if this is going to take it’s place alongside books like “Free Heel Skiing.” I bought my copy of the first edition of that book at a climbing shop that didn’t even sell ski’s. It was on the rack with other mountaineering books. At the time I was happy to get any info I could about telemarking (no internet yet). I didn’t think twice about buying it. I think getting this book into more varied outlets would do a lot for getting people on one wheel.
I personally like ebooks. I have been reading the MOBI version. It works well in general, but some of the formatting is a bit off. The active table of contents is nice. My suggestion is to go through the E versions an make sure that the captions for the photo’s are on the same page as the photo they refer to. I haven’t looked at other E versions yet, so this is directly related to the Kindle version.
