Great interview with Jim and Maria

quinsky

New Member
This podcast has a great interview with Jim and Maria

Very cool to learn the history of the bike!
 

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
That is indeed a great listen. The freedom of biking Jim talks about in the intro is right up my GenX alley. Parents didn't care where we were unless it was sundown (for good or bad) and even then it just meant you were in trouble for missing "dinner" and the absence of the plague called cell phones and instant communication made that freedom possible.

"Where were you today?" "Nowhere." "OK." - Gen X

(In reality had went 10 miles from home and broke into the city dump to scrounge for junked bikes to scrounge parts off of... repeat every weekend.)
 
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Frito Bandito

Zen MBB Master
I especially appreciated how the host gave J&M room to expound on many topics without butting in, as some podcast hosts are prone to do.
A really good interview.
I wish all my "legacy" bike riding friends could hear it.
So true. He obviously did his homework and had a great line up of questions that allowed J&M to answer freely at their own pace so that potential customers new to recumbents might be more comfortable and inclined to make the jump.
 

billyk

Guru
This podcast has a great interview with Jim and Maria

Yup. Even though I’ve been following CB for more than a decade, I learned stuff.

But I also noticed that @Maria Parker said she likes the challenge of new skills and is learning to ride a “one wheel”, I’m assuming that means unicycle. Way way back I spent a decade as a circus acrobat, mostly trampoline and partner acrobatics. We didn’t do unicycle in performance, but we all learned it as a way to hone our balance and posture.

The hint here is to hold your chest and chin high and forward, the opposite of looking down. Think of it like walking on a railroad track; you won’t succeed if you’re looking at your feet. We found that it was easier to ride a unicycle while juggling (!) because it forced us into that chest-high position, looking straight ahead. Of course we were all good jugglers and I’m not saying you need to be, but it’s the posture that matters.
 

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
I am pretty sure the Onewheel that Maria is learning is one of those electric ones, not a unicycle. I can't remember if it's one of the "sideways" stance (Actual Onewheel) style or one of the "face forward" style though.
 

Tuloose

Guru
Yup. Even though I’ve been following CB for more than a decade, I learned stuff.

But I also noticed that @Maria Parker said she likes the challenge of new skills and is learning to ride a “one wheel”, I’m assuming that means unicycle. Way way back I spent a decade as a circus acrobat, mostly trampoline and partner acrobatics. We didn’t do unicycle in performance, but we all learned it as a way to hone our balance and posture.

The hint here is to hold your chest and chin high and forward, the opposite of looking down. Think of it like walking on a railroad track; you won’t succeed if you’re looking at your feet. We found that it was easier to ride a unicycle while juggling (!) because it forced us into that chest-high position, looking straight ahead. Of course we were all good jugglers and I’m not saying you need to be, but it’s the posture that matters.
Billy, were you ever on the Ringling Circus? I spent a season on the Ringling show, red unit, in 1980. I was just a vendor but I knew a few of the performers. My best buddy was a flyer with the Farfan trapeze act. The famous clown Lou Jacobs was on then too.
 

billyk

Guru
Nope. Not Ringling. I co-founded a juggling troupe in California (state and county fairs, rock concerts … lot of wild stories I will not tell here), but spent most of my performing time with the Pickle Family Circus, who toured the west coast and did a season in London. We were one of the early “new circuses”, pre our more famous cousins Cirque de Soleil and the Big Apple Circus. We thought of it as theater for adults (as well as children), and we didn’t believe in animal acts. One way this manifested is that our shows had a plot, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, unlike the older circuses where the show order was mostly for convenience. Also music was a fundamental part, and all original. These shows eventually had many of the same people circulating between them. I also did two seasons with a circus that toured Central America (where circus is - or was - a much bigger deal than it is here, and the clowns the rock stars of their day). It was a long time ago.
 
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