I did a search and saw no reference to this fellow, Patrick Thomas. He is riding cross country from San Francisco to New York. I posted the story in the articles thread, but thought someone riding 3,000 miles alone deserved their own thread.
[edit]Apologies to the other 5,700,000,000 or so people on the planet. I meant, of course, US cross country unicyclist.[/edit]
Cheers,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
Cory Farley - Opinion
Cory Farley
Staff
489 words
25 June 2004
Reno Gazette-Journal
1
English
© Copyright 2004, Reno Gazette-Journal. All Rights Reserved.
Could you pick a worse ride?
This Space never meant to become the Reno Gazette-Journal’s Weird-Vehicle-Across-The-Country Reporter. Yet whenever anybody comes through town bound for Boston in a birchbark canoe, I wind up with the story.
Take Patrick Thomas, who stopped this week en route from San Francisco to New York. Thomas is traveling not on two wings, nor on four wheels, nor two.
He’s on a unicycle. One wheel, and it’s even less suited to the task than you’re thinking:
o There are no brakes.
o There are no gears. One turn of the pedals equals one revolution of the wheel.
o There’s no coasting. The foot bone’s connected to the pedal bone, the pedal bone’s connected to the wheel. If the unicycle is moving, so are Thomas’ feet.
o The only luggage space is a backpack. Where would you attach a rack? He set out with four changes of clothing, but has mailed three home to save weight.
o Whatever water Thomas needs for the desert has to go in the backpack, too.
o It’s slooooow. A reasonably fit bicyclist might average 15 miles per hour. Thomas can maintain “eight or nine” on a short ride, but on longer trips he shoots for six.
“It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,” the San Francisco elementary school teacher said. “A unicycle is my main mode of transportation around the city.”
You can’t have an adventure without a cause these days, and Thomas has two: America’s Second Harvest, a Chicago-based organization that feeds the needy, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in honor of his mother, who has survived two bouts with cancer and “is on her third life.”
He isn’t accepting donations personally. He intends to make it on his own, about 3,000 miles in 65 days. His Web site describes how to contribute to the two organizations.
It also explains his route and tracks his progress, which so far has been disappointing to him, though impressive to the unicycle-challenged. As of Monday, he was four days, about 175 miles, behind. But he said he has no doubt he’ll finish.
From Reno, Thomas was scheduled to head for Fallon, then spend the next six or seven days crossing Nevada. Salt Lake City should come two days later; he’ll continue through Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, reaching New York in late August.
Along the way, he’ll hit up the media for stories. His goal is to average $1 in donations from everyone who hears about his trip, feed some hungry children and ease the lives of some people with cancer. Learn more at pedalthewaves.org.
Cory Farley can be reached at (775) 788-6340 or cfarley@rgj.com.
