I just saw Ripley’s Believe it or Not, episode #1035 (KCAL 9 in Los Angeles area). They profiled a guy who made a run “4 inches” from a 2000 ft rock cliff, followed by a jump over a crevice. Can someone give me the rider’s name, website, etc.?
I’m interested in his comments about “risk”. He was saying “acceptable vs unacceptable risk”, “there’s risk in everything”. A friend of mine (a 737 pilot) was talking in a similar manner: “not just a risk, but a CALCULATED risk”. As Mitch McAleer (multi-time hang-glider aerobatic world champion) once said:
“You scratch [ one mistake ], the game’s over [ Mr. Death got you ]”
As NASCAR driver (late) Dale Earnhardt (aka "The Intimidator) said:
“I got fresh with the Old Lady [ disrespected the race-car & track conditions, i.e. pushed the car too hard ], & she slapped me!! [ I put the car into the wall ]”
As a Formula 1 race car driver once put it:
“In order to push the limits [ ride the fine line of the performance curve, edge of disaster ], you must sometimes EXCEED the limits [ go over the edge, wreck the car ]”
I’d like to hear some philosophical comments on “risk” for muni-ing. As a non-unicycler it looks scary & risky. That guy on Ripley’s was saying it’s a matter of Learning Curve (as in anything else).
I only started mountain biking, man the hill climbing is TOUGH! (need to get in shape) I did OK on technical sections with dropoffs, e.g. El Prieto (Los Angeles area).
Kris Holm of course! Search the forum, I know that topic has been covered here before. The footage you saw was from a few years back. Now that Kris is married, he said something to the effect that he’ll still do dangerous stuff, but not life threatening stuff. Someone mentioned that he should change his forum handle from danger_uni to safe_uni.
After watching the ending bail sequence in Universe II, I think I know why these riders are so good. It’s not that they have any superhuman ability or natural balance or talent (though this may be a contributing factor); it’s that they’re totally fearless in the face of injury, or in other words, they seem to have a total disregard for their own well-being.
I think one of the biggest things that keeps me from improving (besides not practicing) is an instinctual fear that makes me chicken out at the last possible second. Much like how a big hurdle while learning to ride (at least for me, and some people I’ve taught) is making yourself lean forward with your entire body, against what your instincts are screaming at you as being wrong.
Unicycling is all about conquering your innermost being. Very yogic.
Just pisses me off. The host starts out saying that “A unicycle has no brakes”. It CAN have brakes. In fact, I believe at one point in the footage, Kris Holm is riding a muni with hydraulic brakes on it. Then he says “nothing to hold onto”. Ummm, handle on the front of the seat???. Finally he says “and a seat that could raise your voice a few octaves if you hit a bump”. What the hell? What an idiot.
If you want some info on Kris Holm’s beliefs about fear while unicycling, go to http://www.muniac.com . Then go to the Tips section, and go to where he talks about intimidation. Pretty cool shtuff.
I have Kris’ segment from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on tape (VHS). I also have that segment as an AVI file that I got from Jeff Lutkus’ web site lutkus.com. His poor little server doesn’t have a lot of bandwidth so I put the Ripley’s video in my Monster gallery. It’s 31 MB and encoded with DivX 3.
