Just had this heads up from Kris Holm about the first unicycle front flip; he said that this kid had been practicing with a gymnastics couch in private for three months to pull it off. Looks pretty bizarre, and impressive no doubt. 

 

I guess perhaps on the same note, I’ll add one of my favorite juggling sequences, it’s simple (not in the moves and tricks, but the fact that it’s only three balls), elegant, and stylish. It’s set to music, so be sure you have the volume up. Enjoy!!! (Thanks Joan Jones for showing this video to me years ago while in Moab).

 

If you are living or working in Vancouver, especially the downtown core, go for a walk at lunch and chill in a hammock! Sounds strange, but Eoin Finn and his Bliss Army are setting up a spontaneous relaxation site by the Art Gallery between 12 and 2 today (Aug 8th). Eoin is a master yogi and is doing his part to help slow down the ever growing pace of life in Vancouver (otherwise we may turn in to Toronto); sure we have the ocean beside us, but that doesn’t guarantee the associated lifestyle. You have to make time to chill, and if you don’t, then hopefully a few minutes in one the hammocks they set up today will help make you realize this!

From one hammock fan, to hopefully another, I wish you a happy Friday!

 

Caryn and I enjoying our handmade hammock while camping

If you have ever seen unicycle trials, or mountain unicycling, you have probably watched Kris Holm. Through his passion for unicycling, and his incredible skills, he has helped fuel and create an extraordinary network of unicyclists, you’d be surprised at how many people around the globe are enthusiasts.

Kris holds a masters in Geology from UBC, and splits his time between being out in the feild as a geologist, and running his unicycle business called Kris Holm Unicycles. He has always said that “Unicycles are simple, building good ones is not”, that is why he has basically redesigned and re-engineered the entire thing from scratch, based on his real world experience (watch vid below).

I have known Kris for quite a long time now; we have performed dozens of shows together, and we have had some amazing sessions together on the beaches around Vancouver. So I just wanted to give a shout out to him and plug his new website; if for some reason you haven’t seen Kris in action, check out the youtube video below.

Way to go Kris, you’re rocking it!!!

 

When it comes to deciding whether to take the bike to the grocery store, to do errands, or to ride to work, it’s pretty easy to come up with excuses to take the car instead. 

The photos below, found at this site, may help you re-think excuses like - my bike’s not good enough or I have too much to carry. Don’t know about you, but after looking at these, my excuses seem quite princess like!

While googling for these photo examples, I came across a fantastic article that address’s all the common reasons someone might have as to why they don’t commute to work or school. It’s a fantastic article, and very thorough. The intro encourages you to be honest with yourself about the reasons why you don’t commute; honest self reflection always goes a long way. Here’s the link to the full article, and the intro is below:

“More people indicate a desire to get to work by bicycle than ever try. There are three kinds of reasons given for not trying: unsolvable problems, unresolved problems, and excuses. While some would consider any problem resolvable, I don’t. Some hardy soul may be able to trailer three kids to daycare before riding another 35 miles to work, but most people can’t. While I will be providing solutions to all kinds of problems, I do not expect all solutions to work for all people. Excuses are at the other end of the spectrum, but most people’s interpretation of an excuse is incorrect: an excuse is given when we don’t know (or don’t want the other person to know) what the real problem is. I’m not going to accuse anyone of making excuses. This is between you and yourself. But look at your own reasons for not riding with a hairy eyeball. Perhaps the reason you have been giving yourself is not your real reason at all. Discover what your real reason is, because bike commuting will be impossible until you identify the real problem. Finally, there are the resolvable problems. I’m going to include a very wide spectrum, not only practical problems but social and mental ones as well. I can’t guarantee that these solutions will work for you, but they may give you ideas which can lead to something that will work.

Unlike my usual practice, I am going to list all the problems and excuses for which I think I have solutions, and you can click on your problem and jump straight down the page to it (don’t do this if you intend to read them all): Bicycling to work is too dangerous. The trip would be too slow; you don’t have that much time. There are no usable routes anyway. The distance from home to the job is too far. You have to take the kids to daycare or school. You could die of heat stroke, freeze to death, or be drowned in torrential rains along the way. If you ride a bike to work, you will arrive too dirty or smelly, and you have no place to change and clean up. Besides, you could have a flat along the way and be late for work. You can’t carry your important papers, your laptop, and/or extra clothing on a bicycle. There’s no safe place to park the bicycle. Bicycling is socially unacceptable anyway.”

Please read the full article here!!!

Happy Biking Everyone!

Ryan

I took advantage of some time at home and rode a local trail. Caryn and I snuck out with our friend Francisco and rode a classic trail called Acadamy on Eagle Ridge. We live close enough that we were able to ride from home, which makes it that much better, and the icing on the cake is that the trail ends at Buntzen Lake, so we got to jump in to cool off. We are so fortunate to live in such an amazing place!

 

Norco Fluid LT ‘09 at Buntzen Lake

I decided that the only mountain bike I needed this year (except my trials bikes of course) was a Fluid LT. Sure I am a spoiled sponsored rider and could have a special bike for every kind of riding, but the Fluid LT seems to do everything I need. I was playing at the SilverStar bike park the other day, and today went on a three hour cross country ride, this bike will do it all. It keeps life a little simpler as well, in the past, with special bikes for every kind of riding, it seemed that I was always up late the night before a ride fixing and maintaining bikes, but with just one to keep dialed, it saves so much time. I was telling the ‘09 Norco Launch guests that having one bike is like being a bachelor and having only one spoon, bowl, and plate to keep clean; keeps it simple!

 

 

Post Update…For VPS Festival photos from SilverStar, check out this link from photographer Mark Bakker.

 

First off, Happy 150th Birthday to British Columbia! 

Late last night I arrived home from SilverStar Mountain, one of BC’s best Bike Parks (the skiing in the Winter there aint bad either). Norco hosted a RAD (Rider Appreciation Day), technically it’s called VPS Fest (Variable Pivot Suspension). So anyone who rides a Norco bike gets a free lift pass for the day; it’s a totally original idea by Norco, and a fantastic way to show some love to their customers. They gave free tech services all day, and I performed some trials shows; then they gave away a whole whack of prizes including a DJ bike. Thanks for the great festival Norco! I’ll link to some photos from the event soon.

Today I got up early to play some golf with the Trailside Physio crew. Back when I was performing with Cirque du Soleil in Orlando Florida, I took up the game as something to do in my spare time, but I’m not particularly hooked on it these days, played only a couple times over the last few years. What I do enjoy about the game is the mental aspect. My friend Nick who played with us today said he was watching a round of golf in person and mentioned that he saw Tiger step away from a chip shot after he heard some camera click; then he saw an NBA game a few days later, and the guys at the free throw line had an entire stadium of people screaming while trying to make the shot. Both are incredibly mental, but two totally different cultures and rules surrounding the sport. One way to turn off the thinking mind, which is the enemy of a good shot whether golf of basketball, is with a pre shot routine or ritual. This little youtube piece below shows some famous examples from the NBA. 

Caryn and I were hanging out cleaning the kitchen last night after chasing our nephews all day (well, she was cleaning the kitchen and I was surfing - thanks love). Through the ipod speakers came the Counting Crows cover of A Big Yellow Taxi. Now this is a song I have grown up hearing, but it wasn’t until I heard it last night that it struck my environmental chord…Are we going to wait until it’s gone until we realize what we’ve done to this planet? (yes that’s an oxymoron). Or are we finally coming to terms with the message Joni MItchell shared in this song that she wrote some 38 years ago? I sure hope so!

10-big-yellow-taxi

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see em
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Dont it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Just wanted to pass along a link to an interview I did with Dirt Rag magazine recently (Sea Otter ‘08), here’s the first part of the interview….

 

Although bike trials action may be hard to find these days, Ryan Leech has carved a niche out for himself in an otherwise faded sport. In so doing he has inspired not just riders of any discipline, but through his innovative Trials of Life program, school kids across his home country of Canada.

DR: Through your email newsletters, I found out about the Trials of Life program. It sounds like a great idea, the kind of thing that trials is good for.

DR: What was your inspiration in getting that set up?

DR: I watched one of the videos on your website and it was cool to see the kids get really excited. What’s the message that you try to convey in your talks?

DR: That’s a really good message. What kind of schools do you work with, is it pretty much anyone that’ll have you?

DR: Are they in Canada only or have you gone other places?

DR: I was reading on your blog about your friend that got to work with students a little more through the Boys and Girls club, taking them on rides. Do you see yourself going into that role a little more, working with students one-on-one? I imagine you don’t have a lot of time…

DR: It seems like a good approach since your talents lend themselves to a display.

DR: I read that you changed your style in order to make it more audience-friendly. Tell me more about how you got away from focusing on competitions, since I imagine if someone’s into trials, competition’s sort of the easy route…

RL: It’s one route for sure, and it perhaps wasn’t so much that I changed my style for an audience, I guess it was more I grew tired of the structure of trials competition and rather enjoyed the freedom and creativity of riding for a film or in front of an audience. I enjoyed that outlet, that sort of creative release style of riding, more so than competition. In order for me to really feel excited about riding a line it had to be smooth and flowy to a certain point, which is why I was motivated to create my first film which sort of took away a lot of those slow hopping style things that you often see in trials. That’s kind of how that started and it just lent itself really well to doing shows. 

Click here to read the rest of the article….

After a shoddy sleep in an overheated hotel room, I woke up, walked across the street to the bakery and bought a freshly baked croissant and cinnamon bun, then rolled down the street to the World Cup venue at Mont Saint Anne for my third day of demos here in Quebec. After a fairly quiet first show in the morning, I hung out, ate some healthier food, caught up with e-mails in the press room, and watched some of the DH preliminaries.

Second show was great fun, rode a couple hard lines, and because I purposely started the show early, the audience, and myself, had time to watch most of the women DH action. Congrats to my teammate Fionn Griffiths who took a 5th. Solid! She later snatched up a bronze in the 4X, she’s gotta be all smiles tonight.

I caught up with my buddy Marc Landry from FastTimes, he was shooting for Shimano, and I shadowed him for a while to catch all the best views of the mends DH, which was well under way at that point.  Close to tend, I had to race back to the bottom, but still saw the top few guys blow away the rest of the pack, with Minaar, Hill, and Atherton rounding out the top three (if my memory serves correct that is). Right at the same time I got a call from Caryn who had just finished her first mini-tri back home in BC, nice work love!

My 4:30 show was the busiest yet. For some reason it still lacked the magic from four years ago when I was here with my mentor and friend Robin Coope, but it was the kind of show that still left me smiling. I miss Robin’s dedication to his french rhetoric!

I rode my trials bike back to the hotel room, showered up with the intention to head back to the hill. But my hotel room was changed, and I had this beautiful room instead, with a large living room that just begged for a yoga session. So I decided to put on a yoga podcast from Eoin Finn (the Tragically Hips one), because when I flow naturally, I just don’t push myself as much, and after this practice I was sweating and tired and feeling incredible. At that point the weather was sketchy, and I ironically decided to watch the 4X live on freecaster from the hotel room, while multi-tasking with a few other ‘puter chores.

It’s raining a little right now, so with a full belly, a happily tired body, and a day of shows tomorrow, I’ll think I’ll skip the famous Mont Saint-Anne party (which goes until 4am), and catch a good night sleep.

 

Just wanted to share Al Gore’s latest vision of action for America. I’ll link you to an article from WorldChanging that reflects on his words. 

The speech below is certainly a worthwhile way to spend 30 minutes, it’s either that or another sit-com re-run. Check it out…

If you’re in a rush, here’s the short version…