RTL: An injured Kris Holm did not Ride the Lobster but tells how he started on unis

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RIDER FLYING HIGH RTL

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.

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He didn’t race but he did borrow a uni for a ride. He was a few months past ACL surgery at the time.

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Thanks so much for the picture, and the news that Kris did ride during during RTL, but not as a competitor. I believe he and Florian Schlumpf traveled to the event together.

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Our team car drove along with Kris momentarily and had a brief conversation. I was part of the Centurions team (100 years of unicycling between us–then). Now it would be more like 142! :slight_smile:

I don’t know the details, but Kris Holm also did a lot of publicity for RTL, being Canadian and a top rider. He was also better positioned to talk to the press while the rest of us were out racing all day.

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Thank you, John. RTL was delighted to have Holm along for the ride. I was not on the road w/ the wobble, but stationery in Annapolis Royal, feeding the PR machine. I appreciate your comments on the boards here. 1TL.