Re: Re: Re: MUni/Trials article in Kaskade
Kris Holm jumped onto a bandwagon that was already rolling. Granted, he jumped all the way to the top of the bandwagon, on the first try, but the party was started long before he joined in and whooped it up. Kris, like many of us, rode dirt in isolation for years. I started riding on dirt in 1979. But the credit should go not to who did it first, but to who brought it to others; who showed the way.
As to whether Kris and other “origin” MUni people can juggle, the question should probably be whether or not they are “jugglers.” The basics of juggling are a piece of cake, and I have no doubt that Kris, George Peck, and most any accomplished unicyclist can juggle three balls. But neither Kris nor George (nor I) came into unicycling through juggling.
I never thought, or heard of the “circus community” looking down on MUni. This is a new idea to me, and I don’t know that I believe it. First I suppose one would have to define what they mean by circus community. Does that mean hobbyist practioners of circus arts? That would include jugglers, acrobats, other unicyclists, and the types of people you might see at a juggling convention. I call this group the “circus arts community.” The “circus community” are the people who do circus for a living. In my limited opinion, they as a group have no attitude toward MUni at all. It is completely irrelevant to them.
The “circus arts community,” on the other hand, can be completely different. hobbyists who are entrenched in certain disciplines, including “traditional” unicycling, may look with disdain on “new” activities. Snobs. People may notice the amount of press and engineering/business attention MUni gets in relation to other forms of unicycling. Jealous. I think some others, in the unicycling community, think the fact that they don’t live near mountains means they can’t have the fun we have. Nonsense. I grew up in flat lower Michigan. Plenty of trails there.
So where does MUni come from? To what do we owe our heritage? It’s hard to say. Yes, the original unicyclists mostly rode on dirt. That has to be the “original” origin. But that was over 100 years ago, and a lot happened in between.
Unicycling started out as a few crackpots riding penny-farthing front wheels. This was followed by variety artistis practicing their butts off, and earning a living with amazing shows. These performers got the most notice for unicycling. Meanwhile, the original crackpots organized at least a handful of races in the 1880s.
But I’ve heard basically nothing of any “sport” unicycling from the 1980s to the 1930s. Meanwhile, unicycling continued to develop in front of audiences, in vaudeville and (probably later) in the circus. Unicycles are better suited to the stage, because they’re not real big and can be hard to see in the large environment of a tent circus. But nevertheless, that’s where the vast majority of the world’s people saw unicycles.
Then in the second half of the 1900s, unicycles started to be commercially made and available, so people could ride them “for fun.” In the US, I don’t think this went very far until Schwinn introduced theirs in 1967. Around this time, USA founder Bill Jenack started communicating with more and more unicycle people. The USA (Unicycling Society of America) was formed in 1973. Before that, he had a looser organization called the Unicyclists Association of America. These groups brought people together, and with the newsletter, which started in 1974, there was finally a much better way for people to get information about unicycling.
We have been doing unicycling as a “sport” in the USA since 1971. In Germany I know organized competitions go back to at least the 1930s. Any physical activity can be a sport. Some people will be interested in competing, while others will not. People shouldn’t complain if others are doing what they enjoy. Sport is also good for building awareness of, and increased participation in, an activity. No one is going to make you do it. you can golf for fun, or enter a tournament. Two separate ways to enjoy the same activity.
But the vast majority of unicyclists in the world are still just riding up and down the street for fun, fitness, and the many benefits of learning to ride one. They can leave it at that, or take it further.
But what about MUni? I’m going to have to puff up my chest here, and claim part ownership on this one. I wrote the article “UMX” that appeared in the USA Newsletter in 1982, was a fan of riding off road before that. Other pioneers either motivated people, or organized events to bring MUni to greater numbers. George Peck, Thierry Bouche, Duncan Castling (and others in UK but not sure in what order; definitely Roger Davies among them).
And then there’s Kris Holm, our superstar. I don’t think Kris or I would ever cancel competitions because we know he would win them. Case in point; he did not win everything he entered at Moab. Maybe if his competitor (Karl Thompson) had also ridden the Slickrock Trail that day it would have turned out different, but that’s beside the point. Kris would still want people to have fun and challenge themselves.
Publicity for MUni also has a lot to do with its growth. Here I must credit Michael Finkel, author of the 1997 Atlantic Monthly article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97apr/uni.htm
That one has triggered a number of other stories, even now, and motivated countless people to try riding off road. Dan Heaton and Adam Rysnar created the Universe video, the first “watchable,” entertaining video of MUni and Trials. Kris Holm, Sean White, and the various other video producers in the North Shore area also spread visions of MUni to thousands of mountain bike and extreme sports people everywhere. There’s not a bike shop person I can think of who hasn’t seen at least a clip of Kris Holm.
I’m getting out of time. From where springs MUni? I think it has to be a combination of many factors, mountain biking a huge one among them. Mountain biking is fun. Being out on trails, enjoying nature, is fun. It was only natural for us unicyclists to follow.
If we think of the early promoters of MUni and where they came from, that must be part of it. I learned to ride in my neighborhood, and ventured out on to dirt trails from the beginning. I was “raised” in the traditional world of USA and club unicycling, but dirt riding was always there as well. Moving to CA was the big catalyst to get me thinking big about MUni.
I don’t know Duncan Castling and Roger Davies’ unicycling origins, but Duncan is the guy who came up with the word “muni.”
George Peck started with a crap unicycle in the early 80s, and I think it was only natural for him to venture out onto rough terrain because there was so much of it around him, and he likes to do things that are difficult and unusual.
Kris learned to ride around 1985, and again I think living in Vancouver made it much easier for him to find himself riding the trails. Before he ever met any of us, he had already learned to handle rough terrain at least ast good as, or already better than any other unicyclist we knew.
Trials, as a subset of MUni, has much clearer origins. Though we held what we were calling an “Observed Trials” event at the first MUni Weekend Kris came to ('98), he’s the guy who came up with the competition rules (two whole sets!), built many of the early man-made Trials courses, and was the biggest promoter of the activity. Dan and Adam helped, by showing us what it was in Universe. Kris deserves the lion’s share of the credit on that one. I think my idea to do a Trials event in '98 was inspired by Bruce Bundy and David Poznanter, who had attended some bike Trials events.
Enough for now…
