I started messing around with mounting the GoPro camera on the KH20 – some interesting points of view and sounds!

The home trials area is coming along great!

Home Trials Area

Better video to follow… but hey, hope you enjoy it anyway

A pic from the ride with the GoPro camera attached using the Topeak BarXtender

KH24 GUni rigged up for on-uni video

Had lots of fun on the 20″ uni, and took some video along the way.

Go the 20″ Uni!

First MUni of Spring, Trentham Falls

Into the Thunder Dragon is a unicycling adventure film following Kris Holm and Nathan Hoover as they travel across the Kingdom of Bhutan in the heart of the Himalayas. You might have seen the trailer for it on Youtube:

Unlike unicycle films which focus solely on the rider and their tricks, ITTD tells a compelling adventure story with the spotlight ultimately shared by the dramatic landscape, local people and Kris and Nathan’s adventure in a country where it seems no-one has seen a unicycle before!

Into the Thunder Dragon

Kris and Nathan set out to cross the Kingdom of Bhutan, in a small bus, on unicycles, and trekking on foot. The film follows on from their adventures in Unizaba, One Tired Guy.

Adventure Route

Like Unizaba, Into the Thunder Dragon features some evocative imagery that really captures the spirit of the adventure.

Unicycling through Prayer Flags

A feature of Into the Thunder Dragon is the interaction of Kris and Nathan with the local people.

Guys, check out my tricycle mod!

Giving unicycling a go

Kid Frenzy

One of my favorite segments in the video is Kris attempting a trials line, up the steps of shepherd’s hut. After many failed attemps he finally makes it and suggests that

‘”It’s worth the effort,I don’t know why but it is…. it’s just cool”

To me that sums up unicycling perfectly.

Shepherds Hut Trials

Into the Thunder Dragon also includes some great unicycling footage.

Cool Gliding

The DVD also includes excellent extras, including ‘Behind the Action’ where Kris explains several of the riding techniques in the film — large drops, hops, pedal grabs and rolling hops.

KH descending Rodang La Stairway

There are also some good laughs -a mysterious gambling game, a school archery event and a local who gears up and suspiciously blasts off on a unicycle

Thumbs Up!

Even though it was shot in 2002 Into the Thunder Dragon remains fresh and captivating — only the low resolution video hints at its age. A good adventure story produced well is always compelling viewing. Highly recommended.

Into the Thunder Dragon can be purchased through unicycle.com.

With the Freeride KH29′er ready to roll I took the video camera along to record some of the fun:

Once the video camera battery went flat there wasn’t much else to do but ride for the steeper more difficult section of  trail, crash many times and eat copious mud. The trail whooped my butt — by the time I got back to the van I was dripping in mud and realized my Gorillapod had fallen out during one of the UPD’s somewhere along the trail, ARGH!

Scorecard: Trail: 1 Gorillapod, Pete: Copious mud

By the end of the ride....

A highlight of the many kilometres of twisty narrow single track are the numerous log obstacles that can be taken at speed.

Before the mud festivities began

The steeper section of singletrack traverses hillsides before dropping in and out of steep gullies and includes man made obstacles such as raised timber bridges, skinnies and jumps.

Traversing hillside, Woodend Singletrack

Fallen Tree Obstacle

Riding the steeper singletrack loop reminded me of the benefits of staying relaxed and focused in difficult terrain, and going with the flow as much as possible. Sometimes on the trail you’ve got to remind yourself to relax.

A great MUni loop, only 4km drive off the Calder Freeway at Woodend.

Woodend II Route

With an average heart rate of ~160bpm there wasn’t much slouching around on the ride which included 20 or so express stops to shoot some video.

Woodend II Heart Rate Data

Five Tens, say hello to mud…

Later in the ride!

I’m already planning a return trip to Woodend to ride the final section of MTB singletrack!

The cherry on top however is the down to earth commentary by Kris throughout One Tired Guy, which conveys the essence of adventure unicycling and really ties the four short films together nicely. While more recent unicycling movies such as Universe 2 and Defect contain incredibly skillful riding they lack the ‘why’ the commentary in One Tired Guy provides.

One Tired Guy Preview

SKILLETTO, the first of the four short films, features the North Shore, urban trials and the great shot of KH riding along the edge of a slick rock cliff.

Skilletto, One Tired Guy

The commentary by KH is a feature of One Tired Guy

In WHITETRAX Kris hits the ski slopes in Winter, the highlight of which is a finale of bone crunching UPD’s.

Whitetrax, One Tired Guy

UNIZABA is great adventure that appeals to not just unicyclists but anyone who enjoys adventure. Kris and Nathan Hoover trek up El Pico de Orizaba then ride down on unicycles. Classic shots include unicycling past the machine gun guy, and KH screaming down the volcano, wishing he’d crash.

Unizaba, One Tired Guy

Unizaba, One Tired Guy

FAT TIRE FURY has some epic MUni riding with attitude but the scene stealer is the bridge crossing!

Fat Tire Fury, One Tired Guy

That crazy bridge crossing in Fat Tire Fury, One Tired Guy

While you have probably seen bits and pieces of One Tired Guy on Youtube, it’s definitely a DVD that every unicycling fanatic should have on their shelf. Not just because of KH’s role in shaping modern unicycling , but also because it’s a DVD that has broad appeal – it’s something you can hand to anyone and say ‘Watch this, this is why unicycling is the BEST, or as KH says ‘an unlikely cool way of getting around’

One Tired Guy is available through the network of Unicycle.com sites

Here’s a short video of the ride – ‘Spinning Wheel by Blood, Sweat and Tears’

Riding in the wet, slippery, muddy forest reminds me of night riding off road where you rely more on feeling what is happening through the tire at the time versus in the dry where you read the terrain ahead and often just go with that. It’s a fun feeling when you relax and go with it.

Rain, Cold and Mudguard

The WTB Stout 2.3 worked great offering a huge amount of grip which lets go progressively. I had a lot of fun trying to break traction in mud, spinning up the wheel and subsquently UPD’ing. You can really feel the side knobbies on the Stout claw into the mud while traversing slopes. Yeah I think the Stout will be a great winter tire!

WTB Stout 2.3

The Topeak Defender M2 Mudguard worked great! I found myself seeking out puddles, along with climbing and descending hills on the wet line as the rain came down vs my usual practice of keeping out of the wet line. Not that it completely makes sense – it was raining and I was getting wet anyway, just that my butt and back weren’t getting spray off the wheel. Like other unicycle related gadgets, it’s not so much what the gadget is but what you end up thinking and wanting to do due to knowing the gadget is in play – like leg guards!

Topeak Defender M2 Mudguard

As the light started to fade I headed for home, dropping down fire tracks to cross the Loddon River. It was the same place, same weather conditions, same time of day last June that while testing the Panaracer Rampage 2.35 I had a heavy UPD damaging my left knee which still aches 12 months on. Bummer.

The rain seeped in

I arrived home just on dark, soaked and elated – nothing like a crazy fun ride in cold Winter rain to know you are ALIVE!

Time to dry everything out by the fire, for the next ride…

The lack of suitable fixed railings at the school made the initial learning feel trickier than it already is. I got to work on a portable training frame — one that could comfortably fit 8 unicyclists, fit in the back of the van along with the unicycles and take a short amount of time to assemble/disassemble.

When not in use at the weekly Daylesford Unicycling Get Together the training frame is assembled in a corner of the tennis court at the school so the kids can unicycle whenever it fits in — during lunch hours, after school and one weekly session during school time.

The kids are progressing well, mainly riding around the frame in both directions:

• Holding frame with both hands
• Holding frame with one hand, other hand supported by a person (some don’t require this step)
• Holding frame with one hand
• Holding frame with one hand and riding off every now and then
• Riding away from the frame supported on one hand by a person
• Riding away from the frame, solo, woohoo!

Learner Unicycles and Portable Training Frame

Everyone agrees that the training frame has been a big help!

Uni's and Training Frame packed in van

Cameo appearances by our dogs Bhujia and Lulu along with Azlan, king of our crazy cats. Dedicated to Bhujia, the old mongrel. It’s been a chilled out week of uni, hope you enjoy it!

Some pics also taken over the last five days of unicycling:

Day 1 - KH24 MUni

Day 2 - KH36 XC Ride

Day 4 - KH20 in the rain

Day 5 - Uni School & KH29 Cruising

I took my GoPro HERO Wide camera along and captured some funky ‘on uni’ footage of cruising single track on the 29′er before the batteries went flat… DOH!

After experimenting with tire pressures – starting high and gradually letting air out – the feel of the Freeride was terrific, wide, stable and plush, eating bumps – overall a significant improvement off road over the standard 29′er. I had an absolute blast, riding the single track for several hours.

Kris Holm 29 Freeride 'Road Test'

After a hoot of an afternoon I’m considering taking off the ‘hybrid’ 137mm cranks and putting 150mm cranks back on the 29′er and tackling more challenging trails with it. The Racing Ralph worked well too, though it’s hard to judge atm without having ridden other tires on the Freeride rim.

29'er with GoPro Camera attached. Even wore leg armor!

With the Freeride rim finally the 29′er feels like a dedicated off road machine, a big brother of the KH24 rather than a hybrid road/off road uni. AMEN!

Enjoy!

I do love birds too

And a cheesey pic from the ‘Making of’:

The Making of... Cheese!

Now that Youtube allows bigger uploads I thought it would be fun to post it. Thanks kids, great work, pity about my riding

This is my fourth KH unicycle and the most expensive. I had high expectations and was disappointed by a couple of things on the KH36. Most importantly, the wheel build is terrible – the wheel is out of round, out of true and some spokes are way overtightened. It looks like I’ll be getting the wheel rebuilt.

Less important but not great attention to detail – the KH blue seems to have morphed into two tone. UDCA have offered to repaint the frame which is very generous of them. I’m not sure I’ll take them up on the offer as it seems to be a lot of trouble for something that should’ve been ok

KH Blues?

These things aside the 36 is something else to ride, having a very different feel to the 29 and smaller uni’s. It’s much heavier but also much smoother and stable. Once you get the wheel spinning you can really feel the flywheel effect.

I’ve decided to run the cranks at 150′s initially to get used to the feel of it and see where it goes from there. I’d like to participate in some longer road rides too, like the upcoming Bike Around the Bay in Melbourne… we’ll see!