My name is Kris Peck
and I've been unicycling since I was about ten years old
More recently I've been riding the ultimate wheel, which is basically a
unicycle with the frame and the seat removed, and it's quite a bit more challenging
and also a very good workout
My dad started riding unicycles off-road
in the late eighties, and it's kind of become a family tradition since then
Both me and my sister learned to ride at a young age.
In Seward, rough terrain unicycling
comes out of necessity. Because like - what do you have in
Seward? Well you've got beaches, mountains, some trails
The simplicity of it is really attractive. You're paying attention
and that's one of the really nice things about that and the ultimate wheel
and unicycling, or even biking - you're not thinking about anything else
Wife is Tula Holman, and she's just starting to learn
It takes your whole body and your mind especially, to get over the fact that
this is impossible - so you have to sort of trick yourself
and just total concentration, and you get into that zen
where you're just so focused
on learning, on riding
It teaches you persistence, and if you are,
doesn't matter your skill level, you'll eventually reach a certain
skill level, and you'll just keep going as far as you want
and that's pretty much true of almost anything a human tries
It seems like rough-terrain unicycling is one of those things that's
not going to catch on right away, but a few seeds are planted and
you know, people slowly get interested in it and get their friends into it
and pretty soon there's a whole gang of off road unicyclists
I think my family's legacy to unicycling is
inspiring others to ride, or
to take it to the next level
to try something new, something that they didn't think was possible, like riding rough
terrain or the ultimate wheel
The unicycle is just a challenge, and it's a great challenge
Low impact, but then it leads you to investigate other challenges, and so I've
gotten into two-wheeled biking
There's a certain sense of pride in
keeping the family tradition going of rough terrain unicycling
in Alaska, and it started here with my Dad in the eighties
I guess the torch
has been passed on to me and my sister as well
and so we're both still actively riding
and you know, the scenery is amazing, and the terrain is challenging
I wouldn't want to be
riding anywhere else.