Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling
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0:09 - 0:11My name is Dan Heaton.
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0:11 - 0:13In 1995 I started riding unicycles
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0:13 - 0:17and began to make films highlighting the riding myself and others were doing.
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0:17 - 0:20Now I've decided to make a film that is a little different.
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0:20 - 0:25A film that tells the story of how our sport, off road unicycling, came to be.
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0:27 - 0:31How unicycling became something even we never imagined that would even become
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0:38 - 0:43"He rides unicycles... like nobody else rides unicycles"
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0:43 - 0:47"Believe it or not, we have found a guy who can actually unicycle
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0:47 - 0:48in this territory"
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0:48 - 0:50"A unicycling undergroud has begun to flood."
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0:50 - 0:55"The reaction from two-wheelers, just plain disbelief."
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0:55 - 0:57"One of the newest sports on the horizon."
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0:57 - 0:59"They've even made like a video"
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1:01 - 1:07"If you think a unicycle is hard to ride... I know, it was for me, imagine doing it on a mountain !"
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2:47 - 2:49The year is 1981.
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2:49 - 2:54Looking at unicycling at this time, you'd find a hobby that's (??) based on performance and skill-based activities
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2:56 - 2:58This is the same time period that one of these riders, John Foss,
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2:58 - 3:01began expanding the limits of what unicycling could become.
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3:03 - 3:04The sport was undergoing a revolution.
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3:05 - 3:09A gradual shift in the way people rode and viewed unicycles.
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3:11 - 3:15When I was a kid, I used to ride around dirt trails in my area.
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3:15 - 3:17It was a shortcut to get to school
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3:17 - 3:19to get to where I worked,
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3:19 - 3:21at one of my early jobs
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3:21 - 3:25and I've always liked the challenge of different types of terrain
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3:25 - 3:28We learned gradully over the years that other people where interested
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3:28 - 3:30in light riding off road.
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3:35 - 3:37It was just a handfull of people spread out around the world
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3:37 - 3:41who individually came up with the idea of taking unicycling off road.
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3:41 - 3:45Some of the notable riders where Roger Davis and Duncan Castling of the UK
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3:45 - 3:47and Thierry Bouché from France.
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3:47 - 3:52However, the first stand out rider was an unassuming man from a small town in Alaska.
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3:57 - 4:06"Seward is possibly the worst spot on the planet in which to ride a unicycle. The place is all sand and gusts and cracks, not to mention ice and snow and logs and boulders and mountains"
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4:16 - 4:20Those of you are here today for Raymond have the following rights:
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4:20 - 4:24You have the right to remain silent, the right to be represented by a lawyer...
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4:25 - 4:26I'm George Peck.
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4:26 - 4:28I'm currently 68.
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4:28 - 4:32My job here in Seward is to be the local magistrary.
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4:35 - 4:38Seward's existance really depends on fisheries.
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4:48 - 4:51George was known in his community as the legal authority.
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4:51 - 4:56However, it wasn't long before he became known around town for something completely different.
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5:27 - 5:31George's interest in unicycling developed after he read it was good cross-training for windsurfing.
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5:32 - 5:34He decided to give it a try
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5:34 - 5:36after his wife found a little red unicycle abandoned at the city dump.
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5:37 - 5:43I said I wanted a unicycle and of course there were no unicycles in Seward and she goes to the dump
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5:43 - 5:46where everybody brings all kind of matter, broken toys,
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5:46 - 5:48so this happens to be one of the items.
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5:48 - 5:51I gave it a try and it worked for a few days.
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5:51 - 5:55But it obviously had his weaknesses.
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5:58 - 6:02As George's skills developped, it seemed natural for him to take his new skill
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6:02 - 6:04into Seward's rugged environment.
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6:04 - 6:07It resonated with some features of my personnality
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6:07 - 6:10like, I like to be outdoors, I like a challenge,
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6:10 - 6:12and I like exercise.
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6:12 - 6:15And it seemed to offer all of the above.
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6:30 - 6:31This is Jessie Belle
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6:31 - 6:34who's been my constant companion in all my trail rides.
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6:35 - 6:38We rode every weekend and many week days
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6:38 - 6:43so she's probably got, I don't know, thousand of miles on her own.
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6:43 - 6:46Trails and river beds, mountains...
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6:46 - 6:49I was always alone and there was nobody else to ride with.
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6:50 - 6:54To unicycle is so personable, so private, so quiet.
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6:54 - 6:58There is no chain clatter, there is no .. nothing.
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6:58 - 7:02There's just you, and you really feel like you're part of the terrain.
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7:04 - 7:08I think a big, big benchmark for me was learning to hop.
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7:09 - 7:12One day I was trying to get up this hill and I just started hopping
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7:12 - 7:17and it was like "wow", look at all the new things this opens up!
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7:19 - 7:23George's new found hopping skills laid the groundwork for unicycling trials.
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7:23 - 7:27Performant unicycling where riders use their skills to negotiate over obstacles.
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7:33 - 7:38His riding culminated in a self-produced video that would introduces his riding to the unicycle community.
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7:44 - 7:46This is a film about rough terrain unicycling,
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7:46 - 7:47hello...
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7:47 - 7:50In 1991, I believe, he came out with his video.
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7:50 - 7:53And that was a major inspiration to the people who saw it
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7:53 - 7:56to go forward with offroad riding
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7:56 - 7:58He was just amazing to me.
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7:58 - 8:00I had been mountain biking for 15 years,
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8:00 - 8:02he was a guy way older than me,
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8:02 - 8:04going on way rougher terrain,
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8:04 - 8:07and on a unicycle, which just looked impossible.
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8:07 - 8:12so, that just immediately made me want to learn.
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8:12 - 8:16So let's turn now to the basics skills and equipment you will need to get started.
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8:16 - 8:20Protective equipment is vital to fun and injury free riding.
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8:20 - 8:25For big rock I use a mast pad beefed up with a kitty litter pan bottom and an other layer of foam.
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8:25 - 8:28When I first saw "Rough Terrain Unicycling",
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8:28 - 8:31I thought the guy was crazy.
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8:31 - 8:33These are dream slabs to work.
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8:33 - 8:36They are stable, rough and only moderately tilted.
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8:37 - 8:43"Rough Terrain Unicycling" opened up peoples' eyes to riding on something other than ash board and concrete
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8:43 - 8:46or in a gym or down the sidewalk.
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8:46 - 8:52That could mean steps, boxes, railroad tracks, rocks, curbs, tilted cements, mountains, snow and ice,
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8:52 - 8:53dry creek and river beds...
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8:53 - 8:58And the fact that he was an elderly guy vs all these young kids at the time.
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8:59 - 9:02It just kind of blew everybody away.
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9:06 - 9:09George's video had a profound impact on those who saw it
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9:09 - 9:12but the 50 copies he produced weren't seen by many people.
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9:12 - 9:15The small number of riders around the world who had taken up the sport
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9:15 - 9:20remained disconnected, riding alone, with no common ground to share their interest.
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9:20 - 9:24It wouldn't be until the mid-90's before that would began to change.
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9:24 - 9:26In 1994 I moved in California
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9:26 - 9:28and I started riding the trails there.
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9:28 - 9:31It just occured to me I had to share this, you know
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9:31 - 9:34It's time to get a bunch of people together and come out here
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9:34 - 9:37and say let's just do an offroad unicycle event.
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9:37 - 9:42And that became the 1996 California Mountain Unicycle Weekend.
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9:43 - 9:47On October 5, 1996, 35 unicyclists from around the country
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9:47 - 9:51and as far away as England, converged on Sacramento's Auburn Valley.
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9:51 - 9:54It was finally a chance for riders to share their skills
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9:54 - 9:56and passion for mountain unicycling.
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9:56 - 10:00For a lot of the people I think it was a chance to ride with other people.
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10:00 - 10:02This is something you normally do by yourself.
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10:02 - 10:04Suddenly you've got 60 people.
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10:04 - 10:06Everybody's interested in the same thing.
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10:06 - 10:08Everybody's got the same passion.
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10:08 - 10:13The California Mountain Unicycle Weekend was repeated again in 1997 and 1998.
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10:15 - 10:17Number one thing on a unicycle is attitude:
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10:17 - 10:19if you think you can't ride the hill, you won't.
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10:19 - 10:21I guarantee it, it's totally attitude.
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10:24 - 10:26In the third year of Muni Weekend, 1998,
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10:26 - 10:28we had a notable new guy.
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10:28 - 10:30This guy from Canada came in.
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10:30 - 10:33He was very quiet, didn't say much, didn't introduce himself.
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10:33 - 10:36We were all trying to ride down this really steep slippery slope
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10:36 - 10:38and everybody was crashing and laughing
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10:38 - 10:40and no one came close to riding it.
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10:40 - 10:43And then Kris Holm walked up and just rode it, first time!
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10:43 - 10:46Already I was thinking: "Dang, where does this guy practice?"
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10:46 - 10:49So we realized there was something special about him.
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10:49 - 10:52Later I learned it was the first time he had ever ridden with other unicyclists.
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10:52 - 10:56But he was already way ahead of us in the skill department.
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10:56 - 10:59He was the best offroad rider we had all seen.
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11:02 - 11:06A Vancouver man is the master of this little known extreme sport:
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11:06 - 11:08Mountain Unicycling,
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11:08 - 11:10Kris Holm.
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11:14 - 11:18I knew he was a wave of the future. He had all the skills
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11:22 - 11:25He was the most visible unicyclist in the world.
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11:28 - 11:31He just kind of flew down, you know, big steep hills.
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12:46 - 12:49I got into unicycling because I saw a street performer
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12:49 - 12:51who was playing a violin on a unicycle.
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12:51 - 12:55And I thought that was pretty cool because I actually play the violin
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12:55 - 12:57and I thought : I want to learn how to do that!
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12:57 - 13:00So, I asked for one for my 12th birthday.
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13:00 - 13:05I come from a really outdoorsy family, we do hiking and climbing, and skiing together.
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13:07 - 13:11With a lot of those sports, they have really one thing in common.
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13:11 - 13:15And that's trying to negociate over some kind of hard terrain.
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13:15 - 13:21So, for me the mentality of riding difficult terrain was pretty logical.
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13:21 - 13:24How in the world, why in the world did you start doing this?
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13:24 - 13:28I leave near a beach, by trails, that sort of things
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13:28 - 13:32and it was actually a fairly natural thing once I learned how to ride down the street
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13:32 - 13:37I tried to do some more difficult things and in my case that meant riding rocks and logs.
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13:37 - 13:39Rocks and logs!
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13:43 - 13:48We are at Spanish Banks, which is just in the west side of Vancouver.
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13:48 - 13:51On the logs and the rocks and the beach.
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13:54 - 13:58You know, I really love coming down here, this is my favorite spot in the world to do trials
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13:58 - 14:00because there is endless lines.
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14:00 - 14:03Every winter storms, they're different and it's just beautiful.
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14:03 - 14:06You know I could hang out here and read a book or ride trials.
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14:06 - 14:09It's just gorgeous, you've got the mountains in the background and the Vancouver skyline
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14:09 - 14:13and these awsome logs that wash up on the beach all year round.
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14:20 - 14:25One of the things that I like the most about riding is the focus
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14:25 - 14:29In day to day life, we're usually thinking about a million different things at once
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14:29 - 14:33whereas if you're riding and it's hard, you're thinking about riding
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14:33 - 14:36and if you're not thinking about riding, usually you're falling.
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14:37 - 14:42I love that focus, I love that feeling of just beeing in the moment.
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14:42 - 14:47And there's few activities that I've ever done where I can easily enter into that moment.
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14:47 - 14:53So, quickly I can jump on my unicycle, go for a ride and everything else falls away.
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14:53 - 14:56One of the places I do that a lot is Rap Beach
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14:56 - 14:59which is actually a new beach right by my house.
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14:59 - 15:03You get some encounters with all kinds of retro-nouveau hippies.
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15:03 - 15:08People have kind of build there castles in the sand for sun tanning
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15:08 - 15:14and you get logs arranged in configurations that you just never see in a normal beach.
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15:14 - 15:20Little did they know that they are building absolutely world class unicycle trials playground.
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15:39 - 15:43In 1997 I moved to Vancouver
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15:43 - 15:45and discovered the Vancouver north shore.
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15:52 - 15:56For me, that was a huge revelation, because all of a sudden,
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15:56 - 16:01a lot of the things that I found that I loved to ride on the beach like logs where now in the woods.
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16:01 - 16:05So it sort of combined all the cool things that I wanted to do.
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16:14 - 16:20Word got around that some guy was riding a unicycle on trails that were supposed to be some of the hardest trails anywhere.
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16:20 - 16:27Only within maybe 3 weeks after I started riding there I started to get calls from videographers.
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16:27 - 16:29Kris started doing mountain bike videos
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16:29 - 16:33and showing the sport to a much wider audience.
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16:49 - 16:53Kris' presence in mountain bike films brought new attention to the sport.
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16:53 - 16:56As a result, Kris became the first sponsored moutain unicyclist,
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16:56 - 16:58joining the Norco factory trials team in 1999.
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16:59 - 17:02It kind of exploded from there.
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17:02 - 17:09Pretty soon, it got to the point where I was doing a TV show or a magazine feature almost every 2 weeks.
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17:14 - 17:22You could see him on lots of different TV shows doing ridiculous outrageous riding on walls and cliff edges
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17:22 - 17:27and just places your mom would die if she saw you doing it.
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17:37 - 17:39There was still a total disbelief.
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17:39 - 17:41It was really viewed as something singular
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17:41 - 17:43that there was this one guy up here.
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17:43 - 17:47If you can't become a professionnal at this,
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17:47 - 17:49you can certainly join a circus!
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17:49 - 17:51Actually Mountain Unicycling has nothing to do with the circus.
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17:51 - 17:56It was so frustrating that no one knew about this sport.
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17:56 - 18:00It was kind of like this secret, almost, that it worked!
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18:00 - 18:02And there was so much skepticism
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18:02 - 18:04and there were so many times when people would come up to me
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18:04 - 18:07when I was riding up here and say "I can't believe you're doing that on one wheel"
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18:07 - 18:11and I really wanted to say that it's not a freaky thing.
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18:11 - 18:15It's really something you can do, you can really do it.
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18:15 - 18:20And I really wanted to change the way the world felt about our sport.
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18:20 - 18:26People in circuses are incredible athletes
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18:26 - 18:35but I like to stress that this is an adventure sport.
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18:35 - 18:39To Kris, that drive to combine unicycling and adventure worked remarkably well.
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18:39 - 18:42His riding took him to unique locations around the world,
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18:42 - 18:45including filming for a feature length documentary for Outside Television.
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18:48 - 18:52At the same time Kris was pushing the boundaries of mountain and trials unicycling,
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18:52 - 18:54another revolution was taking place.
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18:54 - 18:56Just south of Vancouver and Seattle, Washington
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18:56 - 19:00one rider would radically change the way unicycles were ridden and viewed.
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19:06 - 19:10I was alway a pretty shy, small, not very athletic kid
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19:10 - 19:14and unicycling became my way of expressing myself.
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19:33 - 19:35I was just having fun on my unicycle.
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19:35 - 19:37I never expected anything to come out of it.
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19:37 - 19:40The man is credited with starting Street Unicycle:
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19:40 - 19:42Dan Heaton.
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20:05 - 20:09I got a unicycle for Christmas in 1995.
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20:09 - 20:11I was interested in the challenge of it
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20:11 - 20:14and wanted to try to do something different.
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20:15 - 20:18When I first started to try to learn how to unicycle
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20:18 - 20:20I thought it was impossible.
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20:20 - 20:21It just felt totally unnatural.
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20:21 - 20:24I had never seen anybody unicycle before
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20:24 - 20:26and I didn't have anybody to help me learn.
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20:26 - 20:29I just kept practicing over and over and over
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20:29 - 20:32and eventually after 3 months, it just clicked.
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20:35 - 20:38I found out that there was a local unicycle club.
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20:38 - 20:40I got involved with them
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20:40 - 20:42riding with other people, learning tricks,
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20:42 - 20:44and doing shows and performances.
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20:47 - 20:49I wasn't too into the performance side of things.
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20:49 - 20:51So I kind of moved away from that
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20:51 - 20:53and started doing my own things.
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20:56 - 20:59Dan received one of the few copies of George Peck's video
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20:59 - 21:02which inspired him to take up mountain unicycling.
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21:02 - 21:06I found out about the California Mountain Unicycling Week-end.
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21:06 - 21:10I went to that event in 1997 and 1998.
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21:12 - 21:15I was meeting a lot of the people that were pioneering the sport,
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21:15 - 21:18guys like John Foss and George Peck.
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21:19 - 21:22I was always trying to keep up with what Kris was doing
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21:22 - 21:23'cause I really liked his riding.
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21:35 - 21:38It didn't always work out, I was having a lot of bad falls
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21:38 - 21:41and probably riding outside of my limits.
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21:45 - 21:46Ohh, you're okay?
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21:49 - 21:50It would be Dan's freestyle background
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21:50 - 21:53that allowed him to stand out from other mountain unicyclists.
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21:53 - 21:58In the late 90's, Dan Heaton came along
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21:58 - 22:01and started taking the freestyle which he learned originally
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22:01 - 22:03and combining that with trials.
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22:03 - 22:04And that became Street Unicycling.
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22:12 - 22:15Street Unicycling was a completely new style,
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22:15 - 22:18where instead of just trying to get over obstacles,
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22:18 - 22:21you'd try to do tricks with those obstacles.
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22:23 - 22:26I had seen bikes and skateboards do tricks
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22:26 - 22:29and I always wondered if it was possible
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22:29 - 22:31to do those things on unicycle.
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22:31 - 22:32So that really became my goal.
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22:36 - 22:41In the beginning, Street Unicycling was limited to what Dan could find in his own backyard
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22:41 - 22:45Wanting to find better obstacles, he took his unicycling to the local skatepark.
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22:45 - 22:47I'd walk up to the skate park
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22:47 - 22:50and everybody would just stop and look at me
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22:50 - 22:53and start laughing and making jokes.
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22:53 - 22:55I didn't have very many tricks that I could do
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22:55 - 22:58and I was really just practicing things to see if they were possible.
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22:58 - 23:01People really didn't understand what I was doing.
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23:01 - 23:04I always felt awkward being at the skatepark.
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23:14 - 23:17We're at Gasworks Park in Seattle.
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23:17 - 23:21It's my favorite place to ride, there's tons of stuff to ride on down there.
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23:21 - 23:26And the people here are generally a lot more into what I'm doing.
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23:26 - 23:28A lot more accepting of unicycling
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23:28 - 23:31than at places like the skatepark.
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24:46 - 24:48Hey he's fuckin' insane.
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24:48 - 24:49Yeah.
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24:49 - 24:51Oops, I--you want it on tape? Oh shit.
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24:51 - 24:53Sorry, didn't mean to do that.
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24:53 - 24:56Yeah we're just checking up here see if there's anything to ride.
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24:56 - 24:57Kid, what do you think of...
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24:57 - 25:01Oh yeah, yeah, jump off the edge here.
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25:01 - 25:02Alright dude, let's do it.
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25:02 - 25:04No!!! Are you really?
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25:04 - 25:05Are you serious?
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25:05 - 25:07Are you freakin' insane?
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25:09 - 25:12Nice! Oh no!!! Shit!!!
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25:12 - 25:15Kiddin' me! Oh shit!
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25:15 - 25:17You gotta be kidding me!
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25:17 - 25:18Alright check this out.
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25:18 - 25:21And then he's jumping off, with a high five?
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25:21 - 25:22Let's see if we can do that.
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25:26 - 25:29I got a finger tip.
Lunatic! Lunatic! -
25:29 - 25:32Gimme some love!
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25:32 - 25:34Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
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25:35 - 25:37That's totally insane!
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25:39 - 25:42When I was in high school, I had a friend, Adam Risner (???)
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25:42 - 25:44who would unicycle with me.
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25:44 - 25:45We were taking a video class in school
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25:45 - 25:51and got the idea that "Hey let's make a highlight video of unicycling".
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25:52 - 25:53Alan let's document some of the moves on tape.
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25:55 - 25:58What about a 180° clock tower elbow!
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25:58 - 26:00Originally it was almost kind of a joke.
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26:00 - 26:04Let's see a double jack hammer!
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26:04 - 26:06Let's go! Let's go!
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26:07 - 26:11We started filming ourselves just kind of doing some stupid stuff.
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26:18 - 26:20Dan get over here, check this out.
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26:20 - 26:22Oh man, that's a gash.
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26:22 - 26:26As we were filming, we really started to get better at riding.
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26:30 - 26:34Eventually, we started connecting with some of the more known riders in this sport.
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26:34 - 26:36Dan Heaton came down from Washington
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26:36 - 26:39and wanted to shoot some riding.
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26:39 - 26:44So we took him around to local trails and we started shooting video.
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26:45 - 26:47Stick it on the damn unicycle, are you ready?
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26:47 - 26:48I'm recording.
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26:50 - 26:51You got it, you got it!
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26:53 - 26:55Oh yes, that's so bad, man.
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26:55 - 26:57They started filming and then they came up here
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26:57 - 26:59and we continued that on the north shore
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26:59 - 27:02and urban Vancouver.
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27:07 - 27:12We really got a sense that maybe this video could be more than just a high school project.
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27:18 - 27:19Holly shit!
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27:20 - 27:21We had never made a video before
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27:21 - 27:24but we just filmed the progression of our riding
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27:24 - 27:28and filmed with some other riders and released a full length video on this sport.
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27:46 - 27:50This was the first kind of "modern style" unicycle video that was out there
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27:50 - 27:52and it got virtually all over the world.
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27:56 - 27:58For the first time,
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27:58 - 28:01unicycling wasn't just a segment in a bike video.
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28:01 - 28:02It had its own video.
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28:13 - 28:19The "Universe" video had a great premiere at Unicon X in Beijing, China.
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28:21 - 28:27Unicon X, the unicycling world championships, where traditional forms of unicycling take center stage.
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28:35 - 28:39You had an event where 800 people were getting together
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28:39 - 28:42and then you had this video which was totally unlike
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28:42 - 28:44what anybody had really seen before that.
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28:44 - 28:47And the premiere was unbelievable.
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28:47 - 28:49We were sitting in a bar in China.
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28:49 - 28:52And we were able to cobble together a TV and a VCR.
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28:52 - 28:54I think we were there with about a 100 people.
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28:54 - 28:56All unicyclists.
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28:56 - 28:59People from all over the world gathered around this one little TV set
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28:59 - 29:01and they were all spellbound.
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29:01 - 29:03I mean, I remember the reactions of people.
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29:03 - 29:06You know, people were like "Whoaa!!!"
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29:06 - 29:10The bar keeper pretty quickly realized that if he kept playing this video over and over
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29:10 - 29:12it was really good for his business.
-
29:12 - 29:16So he played it, and it looped and it looped and it looped for hours and hours.
-
29:16 - 29:19It put the sport out there, so people could see it.
-
29:19 - 29:21It took it from there, it took it in a huge direction,
-
29:21 - 29:25to Europe, to Asia and North America and elsewhere
-
29:25 - 29:29where people took that home with them and started to doing it themselves.
-
29:29 - 29:32It really opened the unicycle community's eyes to this sport.
-
29:33 - 29:37The Universe video changed people's conception of what could be done on a unicycle
-
29:37 - 29:40bringing a whole new generation into this sport.
-
29:40 - 29:44However, there was still one remaining barrier that plagued all off-road unicyclists.
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29:44 - 29:47The quality and availability of equipment.
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29:51 - 29:56Currently available stock unicycles are not up to long term use in rough terrain.
-
29:56 - 30:00These are a few of the dozens of axles I have broken from these machines.
-
30:00 - 30:05Most of us were on normal, regular, off the shelf unicycles
-
30:05 - 30:09or those same unicycles with a knobby tire stuck on.
-
30:09 - 30:10And the unicycle would just break.
-
30:13 - 30:14You would go out on a ride
-
30:14 - 30:17and your ride would end when your equipment broke.
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30:17 - 30:19It didn't end when you were too tired
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30:19 - 30:21or when you wanted to stop riding.
-
30:23 - 30:25And sometimes that was within 5 minutes.
-
30:25 - 30:28Sometimes you'd get lucky and you could ride for an hour or two.
-
30:28 - 30:31And here another broken unicycle.
-
30:31 - 30:32Damn' it!
-
30:35 - 30:38I had a huge shelf (???) with broken gear, in the beginning.
-
30:38 - 30:41And it also affected what I rode.
-
30:41 - 30:45A lot of the terrain that I rode was bumpy and technical
-
30:45 - 30:49but it didn't involve for example big drops because I would have busted my unicycle.
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30:53 - 30:56We were pretty much breaking something in every ride.
-
30:56 - 30:58If we had a group of six or eight people,
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30:58 - 31:03somebody would break a frame, a hub, a seat, a seat post.
-
31:03 - 31:06The crank arms would bend, the pedals might come apart.
-
31:06 - 31:10Broken rims, broken spokes, broken cranks, hubs...
-
31:10 - 31:12You name it, pretty much I broke it.
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31:20 - 31:24And it was really really frustrating and expensive really, y'know.
-
31:24 - 31:26I'd break it, I'd be off for three weeks.
-
31:26 - 31:31When you were looking for strong equipment, 10 years ago,
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31:31 - 31:33basically unless you could make it yourself
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31:33 - 31:36or you knew a machinist that could make it for you
-
31:36 - 31:39you were pretty much on your own.
-
31:41 - 31:43I started looking around for machine shops
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31:43 - 31:46because that was, really what I thought could be the only solution
-
31:46 - 31:50considering that you couldn't actually buy a mountain unicycle at the time.
-
31:50 - 31:52These one-off were about 1000 bucks a piece
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31:52 - 31:55'cause you were paying a craftsman for his time
-
31:55 - 31:58and then you break it and then you modified it
-
31:58 - 32:01and you pay him another 4-5-600 to something else to it
-
32:01 - 32:04and then you break it and modify it, so it added up.
-
32:04 - 32:08It was expensive, I was paying hourly shop rate for that.
-
32:08 - 32:15I think my first unicycle cost me close to $3000 by the time I went through prototypes and failures.
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32:15 - 32:18These were pretty strong, only broke a couple of these.
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32:18 - 32:23This is off from some kind of mountain bike setup with an elastomere in here, didn't work.
-
32:24 - 32:29So because of all the people in the past like George Peck and Kris Holm and Dan Heaton
-
32:29 - 32:31looking for high-end equipment,
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32:31 - 32:35now there's actually manufacturers making it
-
32:35 - 32:37and it's available today.
-
32:51 - 32:54I started selling unicycles out of the back of my hearse.
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32:54 - 32:57Back in around 1993.
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33:09 - 33:13Everything's got a little bit bigger, I had to open up a shop
-
33:13 - 33:18and here we are, pulling down at the back of the factory.
-
33:56 - 33:59When people come in here, they're totally blown away
-
33:59 - 34:02because they're used to going to a bicycle store
-
34:02 - 34:05where they have like one 20" and one 24"...
-
34:05 - 34:08Occasionally, even maybe a tall one.
-
34:08 - 34:13But there's nowhere you can just go and see like 80 or a 100 unicycles on display,
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34:13 - 34:14ready to ride.
-
34:17 - 34:20Few years back, I thought y'know I want to customise unicycles,
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34:20 - 34:21make them cool.
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34:21 - 34:26So you can see along here, I have powder coated rims in many colours, many sizes
-
34:26 - 34:31and I can pretty much build any unicycle however you want it.
-
34:31 - 34:34You know that kind of personalizes unicycles.
-
34:35 - 34:41The very key component on a unicycle today is definitely hub and cranks.
-
34:41 - 34:44Big tires for offroad unicycling,
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34:44 - 34:46Super big and wide.
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34:46 - 34:48Alloy rims, alloy frames.
-
34:48 - 34:52Just in general, the unicycles have come a long way.
-
34:52 - 34:54This is my t-shirt rack here
-
34:54 - 34:57and I have about 35 different t-shirts.
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34:57 - 35:01And these are all cartoon versions of actual people,
-
35:01 - 35:04people that I thought did something really cool to promote the sport
-
35:04 - 35:07or kind of took it to another level.
-
35:07 - 35:08This is Mike Clarke.
-
35:08 - 35:10This one here is Kris Holm.
-
35:10 - 35:12And here's Dan Heaton.
-
35:12 - 35:15And the last one I have on the rack
-
35:15 - 35:16is Kevin McMullen.
-
35:16 - 35:21What this does is it creates a role model for unicycling
-
35:21 - 35:23which to me is incredible.
-
35:23 - 35:26Like you hear about it in skateboarding and BMX
-
35:26 - 35:29but you never really heard of it before in unicycling.
-
35:29 - 35:37And I feel that it created kind of like, like a culture that unicyclists now can call their own.
-
35:40 - 35:45Businesses like Bedford Unicycles and most notably online retailer unicycle.com
-
35:45 - 35:48have helped to solve one of the sport's biggest problem.
-
35:48 - 35:52They have created a market for offroad unicycles, driving the prices down,
-
35:52 - 35:55while the quality of equipment was continualy improving.
-
35:55 - 35:57With convenient access to offroad unicycles,
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35:57 - 36:00new riders began popping up all over the world,
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36:00 - 36:03continually expanding on the riding that Kris and Dan had introduced.
-
36:04 - 36:06I wanted to go and meet these people
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36:06 - 36:09and film the things that they were doing.
-
36:09 - 36:12So I started taking road trips around the country.
-
36:12 - 36:15I wanted to see the sport unfold first hand
-
36:15 - 36:17and I wanted to document that.
-
36:38 - 36:41People were taking what they saw in my video
-
36:41 - 36:44and not only learning it but they were putting their own style into it
-
36:44 - 36:46and they were riding in their own way.
-
37:03 - 37:04Yeah!
-
37:05 - 37:07First fucking try!
-
37:15 - 37:18Man I was so excited to go down to Boston and film for "Defect" with him
-
37:18 - 37:21'cause I had seen Universe, I had seen Universe 2
-
37:21 - 37:24and then those were the videos to be in.
-
37:24 - 37:27If you were in one of Dan's video, people knew you right away.
-
37:27 - 37:29They knew your name, they knew your style of riding,
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37:29 - 37:30and they were excited to meet you.
-
37:34 - 37:37Being in Dan's videos really changed the way people...
-
37:37 - 37:40well I mean when I went to a unicycle convention
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37:40 - 37:45all of a sudden you'd shop at that convention and everybody knew who you were.
-
37:45 - 37:47And people wanted to talk to you, people would come up to you
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37:47 - 37:51and have their picture taken with you, or asking for your autograph.
-
37:55 - 37:56It was weird.
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37:56 - 38:00You kind of felt like you were a celebrity in this really small community.
-
38:11 - 38:13Once we got better at riding,
-
38:13 - 38:15we could go to a skatepark
-
38:15 - 38:19and when we'd walk up, people would still start kind of laughing at us
-
38:19 - 38:22and look at us kind of weird.
-
38:22 - 38:23You guy trying to join the circus?
-
38:23 - 38:25But now, we were better at riding.
-
38:25 - 38:28So we could go and just bust out one trick.
-
38:31 - 38:32Instantly when people saw that,
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38:32 - 38:35their attitudes changed towards what we were doing.
-
38:35 - 38:40They realized it was the exact same idea as what they were doing.
-
38:40 - 38:42But it was just on unicycle.
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38:43 - 38:47People really started to accept it and respect it.
-
39:03 - 39:07Dan's dedication to filming our sport has been incredible.
-
39:07 - 39:09He barely makes any money off these videos.
-
39:09 - 39:13And this is a guy who broke both of his feet in a unicycling accident
-
39:13 - 39:16and was still out there filming, like, two days later.
-
39:16 - 39:19Dan was in a wheelchair 'cause he couldn't walk with his two broken feet
-
39:19 - 39:21and he didn't want to stop filming.
-
39:21 - 39:25So I drove him from Michigan to Seattle
-
39:25 - 39:29and we stopped at these places and filmed people riding.
-
39:37 - 39:39A lot of the people that are riding now
-
39:39 - 39:42are the same people that might have just picked up a skateboard.
-
39:42 - 39:45And for whatever reason, they tried a unicycle instead.
-
39:50 - 39:53My name is Xavier Collos, I'm 20 years old
-
39:53 - 39:56and I live in Montpellier, in the south of France.
-
40:02 - 40:04I tried bicycle before.
-
40:09 - 40:11It's too complicated, two wheels...
-
40:11 - 40:13There is so much stuff, I don't understand.
-
40:41 - 40:46I like unicycles because you can do very creative stuff.
-
40:54 - 40:58In France, you see more and more people on unicycle
-
40:58 - 41:01and mostly on Street Unicycle.
-
41:08 - 41:11I think Kevin McMullin is a crazy guy.
-
41:11 - 41:16He tries some very hard tricks down a lot of stairs
-
41:16 - 41:17and that's "Whoa".
-
41:21 - 41:22I like this sport so much
-
41:22 - 41:25mostly because of the feeling I get when I land a big trick.
-
41:27 - 41:28You got it!
-
41:31 - 41:33I've fallen a lot when I've been unicycling.
-
41:42 - 41:44Usually it's not that bad, you can get up from it.
-
41:44 - 41:49But sometimes, you know, the same feeling of excitement you get when you land a big trick,
-
41:49 - 41:52it can go completely the opposite direction when you fall,
-
41:52 - 41:54and everything can just come down.
-
41:57 - 41:58Oh my God!
-
42:02 - 42:05Oh man, that was the worst fall I have ever had.
-
42:07 - 42:10I got stuck on it,
-
42:10 - 42:12stepped off, put one foot on the rail
-
42:12 - 42:15and had my right foot cross over and fell directly on the stairs
-
42:15 - 42:17on my back and on my head.
-
42:17 - 42:21I think one of the big changes in this sport has been
-
42:21 - 42:24that now there's risk, physical risk associated with it.
-
42:24 - 42:26That it wasn't, historically.
-
42:26 - 42:27Here we go.
-
42:56 - 42:58My nuts and my head...
-
43:06 - 43:09Oh God ! Oh God !
-
43:09 - 43:11Oh man!
-
43:11 - 43:13Oh son of a bitch! No
-
43:15 - 43:17Fuck man.
-
43:22 - 43:25Shaun Johannesson has a pretty "out there" personality.
-
43:25 - 43:28My name is Shaun Johannesson, and I'm 20 years old
-
43:28 - 43:31from Mandan, North Dakota. Whooo
-
43:41 - 43:45I used to watch videos of Dan Heaton and Kevin McMullin
-
43:45 - 43:48and I always tried to push to do that type of street riding
-
43:48 - 43:51and flow like them, like that type of style.
-
43:58 - 44:03I was always the guy that wanted to be the person people talked about of the street unicycling.
-
44:04 - 44:06I've got to do it again ! I've got to do it again !
-
44:09 - 44:13This is the Mandan skatepark, it's my favorite place to ride.
-
44:13 - 44:16It's got everything, it's got great rails, ledges,
-
44:16 - 44:18and you don't get kicked out.
-
45:12 - 45:13For riders like Shaun,
-
45:13 - 45:15who have become the new stars of this sport,
-
45:15 - 45:18opportunities become much more frequent than in the past.
-
45:18 - 45:19They've provided a little extra motivation
-
45:19 - 45:23to help keep riders interested and involved in unicycling.
-
45:23 - 45:25You can get sponsored fairly easily.
-
45:25 - 45:28You can get big sponsorship if you're good.
-
45:28 - 45:32You can get in TV commercials where you don't have to be a performer.
-
45:32 - 45:36There's all sorts of things now that didn't exist a few years ago.
-
45:36 - 45:40People around here actually don't believe me when I tell 'em some of the things I've done.
-
45:40 - 45:43I've been to California for a fashion show.
-
45:59 - 46:03I did a commercial for an energy drink down in South America.
-
46:13 - 46:17I've been flown to competition to Denmark and Germany,
-
46:17 - 46:21it's been quite a great trip for me with this sport.
-
46:21 - 46:22Ready and action!
-
46:28 - 46:30So Stacey can you just tell me what you're doing,
-
46:30 - 46:31up here in Seattle?
-
46:31 - 46:36I'm up here with a crew of people and we're doing a commercial for Columbia Sportswear.
-
46:36 - 46:38And we're focusing on you,
-
46:38 - 46:40Dan Heaton, great unicycler.
-
46:40 - 46:42Very good, very good.
-
46:42 - 46:46The first time I saw, like, Mountain Unicycling, I was knocked out.
-
46:46 - 46:49I had never seen it before, I didn't know it existed.
-
46:49 - 46:50I rode a unicycle as a kid
-
46:50 - 46:55and never in my wildest imagination, did I think that you guys could do what you're doing.
-
46:55 - 46:56Can you get a little air up at the top?
-
46:56 - 46:59Wether it's pedaling in or jump... you know, stopping.
-
46:59 - 47:00Yeah, I can do it.
-
47:02 - 47:04What this is again ? This is kind of a ???
-
47:04 - 47:07I've been watching the whole damn' thing right here.
-
47:07 - 47:08Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
-
47:08 - 47:10There's some rockin' man!
-
47:10 - 47:11Is he gonna get down this time?
-
47:12 - 47:13Yeah.
-
47:13 - 47:16Oh... Ouch!
-
47:16 - 47:18Man, I'm like going:
-
47:18 - 47:21"How's this dude doing this crap?"
-
47:21 - 47:23It's like... Jesus!
-
47:25 - 47:27What's really cool about what you guys are doing
-
47:27 - 47:31is you're doing exactly on a unicycle what we did on skateboards thirty years ago.
-
47:31 - 47:33You're inventing a sport!
-
47:33 - 47:35When you see kids invent a sport,
-
47:35 - 47:39it opens up everybody's mind because you're showing us all the possibilities.
-
47:39 - 47:41Who would have ever thought?
-
47:47 - 47:50I like unicycle because of the people that are involved in this sport,
-
47:50 - 47:52like you meet new people and riders.
-
47:52 - 47:55Anybody, doesn't really matter, their skills.
-
47:55 - 47:57You get together with them and have a good time.
-
47:57 - 47:59It seems that all you need to do is
-
47:59 - 48:02have that one thing in common that you both ride unicycles
-
48:02 - 48:05and it seems that you'll be good friends from the start.
-
48:11 - 48:14I don't think I can generalize at all in terms of who unicycles
-
48:14 - 48:17because it's everybody, it's anybody.
-
48:17 - 48:22It doesn't seem to be related to age or where you live...
-
48:22 - 48:24There's thousands of people all over the world,
-
48:24 - 48:29there's kids in Australia, New Zealand, in Europe, Japan,
-
48:29 - 48:33all over the US and Canada, that are doing this sport now.
-
48:33 - 48:36I'd like to see it recognized as a sport more,
-
48:36 - 48:39I'd like to see people understand unicycling better
-
48:39 - 48:41because they've seen what we do now
-
48:41 - 48:42and they've seen it more,
-
48:42 - 48:46and the public perception is changing, which has taken a really long time.
-
48:46 - 48:50We don't get that circus music so much, like we used to.
-
48:53 - 48:55Skills are becoming so phenomenal
-
48:55 - 48:57and equipment is so good.
-
48:57 - 48:59I just want it to go where it can go.
-
48:59 - 49:02It's not so much how big this sport is.
-
49:02 - 49:03I don't think this sport is going to get that big
-
49:03 - 49:06because it's too hard at beginning level.
-
49:06 - 49:11I don't think we have to worry that it's going to get so mainstream that it becomes uninteresting.
-
49:11 - 49:13But I do want to see it become something
-
49:13 - 49:17that people do have the opportunity to get into if they choose.
-
49:17 - 49:23And that somehow also kind of keeps a sense of where we come from.
-
49:23 - 49:24Keeps its soul.
-
49:28 - 49:32It's hard to imagine that they can go any bigger than they are now
-
49:32 - 49:35with, you know, rail grinds and drops and hops
-
49:35 - 49:41but I'm sure as time goes on, just like we couldn't believe it would be in the past,
-
49:41 - 49:44I'm sure the future holds a lot more than unicycling.
- Title:
- Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling
- Description:
-
"Revolution One" is a feature length documentary taking a look at the sport of off-road unicycling. The film combines current and historical footage from the last 30 years with interviews from pioneers of the sport.
"I created this film out of my passion and involvment in the sport of unicycling and to celebrate and promote the amazing community of riders." - Dan Heaton
A 10 minute short version of the film won 'Best Film on Cycling' at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (2009), 'Best Film' at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival' (2010) and was featured on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour (2009-2010).
- Video Language:
- English
pierrox edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
pierrox edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
pierrox edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
pierrox edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
loic.guiraud edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
loic.guiraud edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
loic.guiraud edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling | ||
loic.guiraud edited English subtitles for Revolution One: A Story of Off-Road Unicycling |