One-Track Minds

I received a phone call about ten days ago from Matt Burney, who is unicycling the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with Gracie Sorbello on her Divide By One adventure. The two were pedaling in the greater Yellowstone country, not far from my home, when he called. Gracie, who graduated with a degree in music from Duke University — where she was a four-year starter on the field-hockey team — became the first woman to ride across America on a unicycle in 2006. "Gracie and I wanted to talk to you about some of those hills you put in the Great Divide," Matt said, jokingly. "But then we realized that it's called the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, not the Great Divide Unicycle Route." They're raising funds and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as they go.

Last week I also received an email from one Gideon Erkenswick, who wrote to tell me about an Indian citizen and graduate student in Australia who's attempting to become the first person to ride a unicycle from the West Coast to the East Coast of that Down Under country. From Perth to Sydney is about 5,750 kilometers, or 3,570 miles. Sid Rajan's 3 Oceans Unicycle Tour is subtitled "3 Oceans, 1 Continent, 1 Big Wheel, 1 Crazy Dude."

I didn't realize until very recently just how big this adventure-unicycling movement is getting to be. There's even an online publication called Adventure Unicyclist that appears to be out of New Zealand, and a Guatemala-based commercial tour company called Unicycle Adventures.

It all sounds great, but I think I'll stick to two wheels. (My colleague Winona Sorensen, who posts here on Wednesdays, had this to say: "Just one question ... can you do a wheelie on one of those things?")

--

BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle (or unicycle).