Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/118161
WORDS TO CHEW ON best in smoke BAR-BE-CUE competitions have become as serious and popular as international wine tastings, with the Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association now sanctioning no fewer than 20 pro cook-offs where pitmasters jockey for a run at the big smoke: ON THE ROAD Tennessee's Jack Daniels World Championship AHOOGA OGLERS Invitational Barbecue (October 22). As for Lower One of the world's largest vintage auto Mainlanders who have never attended a best-of- collections has a new home in Tacoma, bones throw down, they can sauce their bibs at BBQ on the Bypass in Langley this September 18. The pork-powered party may not be B.C.'s largest cook-off, but it is the only one on the Washington. The LeMay-America's Car Museum opens May 19, 2012. But watch for sneak peeks such as the $175per-person Hard Hat and High Heels fundraiser September 24 — an exclusive chance to glimpse the mother PNBA circuit that's completely free for the public of all garages before the bay doors roll (bbqonthebypass.com). Booyah! up on the four-storey, 165,000-squarefoot facility next spring. When complete, INTERVIEW galleries will display 500 antique, modern and futuristic cars, trucks and motorcycles and a show field for all manner of gear-heads. lemaymuseum.org FOLKS USED to think of the unicycle as a circusclown prop, that is until Vancouver geoscientist Kris Holm helped pioneer two sports that have garnered the oddball conveyance respect among extreme athletes. The 38-year-old former rock climber founded the sport of competitive unicycle trials in 1999 with an event that pits one-wheelers against an obstacle course of rocks, logs, benches and railings. Holm became the world champion of that nascent competition in 2002, even as he was introducing mainstream audiences to another new sport, mountain unicycling, or muni. Media coverage of him pedalling down Pico de Orizaba — North America's third-highest peak — on a single axle and teetering about on other natural and manmade wonders has since made Holm one of the best-known unicyclists in history. WW What has been one of your most high-profile rides? KH: The battlements of the Great Wall of China. 12 W E S T W O R L D p10-13_FreshTrax.indd 12 >> FA L L 2 0 1 1 WW Was that a smooth ride? KH: No. The parapet is topped with deep notches cut for the archers. I had to hop over the gaps while contending with a 15-metre drop. WW Couldn't you just have pedalled the walkway? KH: Tackling unusual lines really appeals to me, just as some climbers tend to seek the more challenging routes up a cliff. WW Where else have you rolled? KH: On a lava flow in Hawaii. WW Molten or solid? KH: I rode on the crusty part but saw boils rising and falling, and skylights where you could peer down into the red, liquid interior. WW So you're a daredevil? KH: I prefer to think of that as a phase I was going through when I was exploring my limits. One of the main reasons I do these rides now is to experience other cultures. Last year in Mongolia, for example, it was amazing to hand my unicycle to nomadic kids who had grown up riding horses bareback on the steppes and watch them fearlessly attempt to ride it. Still, I surprised myself last summer when I entered the seven-day BC Bike Race and landed fourth overall in the Men's Solo Challenge Category with a third-place finish on Stage Five. WW Wait a sec. You were on one wheel and everyone else was on two? KH: Yes. WW I don't believe you. KH: I'll send you the link. And he did. Check it out at: bcbikerace.com/media/7416/bcbr2010_ challenge_stage.pdf) Kris Holm's Essential Guide to Mountain and Trials Unicycling, the first ever written about these new sports, is due out in early 2012 (krisholm.com). Also, look for his gutsy balancing act in the sequel to the Ski Channel's mountain madness film, The Story, scheduled for release this fall. (bbq) Tanis Sullivan, (child) Taesam Do/Getty 8/17/11 12:10:42 PM