The one-wheeled busker
"Holm traces his passion directly back to a golden-haired Czech busker in Vancouver in 1985.
He was playing the violin while balancing on a unicycle in downtown Victoria,” Holm said, recalling a memory from when he was 11 years old. “That just caught my attention. I remembered his name was Yuri."
Holm played violin himself and wasn’t a team-sport guy. He was into individual endeavours as a kid — “quirky, balance-oriented sports.” Stilts. Pogo sticks. That sort of thing.
“So, I thought this combination of cycling and balancing was cool and told my mom I wanted a unicycle for my birthday.”
Holm and his mom drove to Russ Hay’s bike shop in Sidney, B.C., and bought an old Norco.
“I remember spending my entire 12th birthday, literally the entire day, in my driveway, struggling back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.”
It was the beginning of a journey that would one day make Holm perhaps the best-known unicyclist on the planet." excerpted from the journalism of Gordon McIntyre, Vancouver Sun, April, 2019.