J
JJuggle
Guest
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
(c) 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 [email protected].
--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists
Faith's understanding is first and foremost not achievement, but
sympathy, empathy, care, concern, kindness -- in a word, compassion. -
Lars Clausen, -One Wheel - Many Spokes-, page 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/33479
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
(c) 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 [email protected].
--
JJuggle - Last of the Dogmato-Revisionists
Faith's understanding is first and foremost not achievement, but
sympathy, empathy, care, concern, kindness -- in a word, compassion. -
Lars Clausen, -One Wheel - Many Spokes-, page 58
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JJuggle's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/24
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/33479
