Sam (22), a final year Computer Science undergraduate student at Aberystwyth University, plans to raise this distance to between 250 and 300 miles. This will involve riding his giant 36-inch-wheeled unicycle with customised handlebars around a 400m track at Aberystwyth University over 1000 times between 10am Saturday to 10am Sunday 30th September 2007.
Sam says “It will probably be the most exhausting thing I have ever done, but I wouldn’t plan an attempt at this record if there wasn’t a chance of breaking it. This unicycle has become my main form of transport, and my longest distance is 150 miles in a day when I rode to Manchester recently so I have a fairly good idea of what it may feel like.
It means getting into a good, steady rhythm at 14-15mph, and then sticking at it for several hours at a time between short breaks. I’ll be trying to take off no more than about ten minutes at a time until the finish. I use a customised air-cushioned saddle for maximum possible comfort.
“I hope to have lots of my friends come along to help me get through the endless hours because I’ll need all the support I can get to help me get through it, and to give it everything that I can. If anyone wants to come along, it will be great to have as many people as possible. Long distance unicycling is also still such a young sport that the boundaries haven’t really been pushed far yet, so that’s what I hope to do a bit more of.
I can remember only a few years ago when I was holding onto walls and counting the number of pedal strokes that I could wobble along before falling off. It would have seemed crazy to think that I would be trying something like this now, counting in hundreds of miles not a few meters. But anyone can learn to unicycle – just get hold of one, and keep practicing!”
He also wants to use this feat to raise money for the charity Christian Aid, who work with partner organisations of all faiths and none around the world to tackle both the causes and effects of poverty. Their current campaign focus is climate change, and the devastating effect that this has on those least responsible for it.
Sam learned to unicycle four years ago, starting out as just something fun to try. He then learned on the internet about bigger-wheeled unicycles and people riding them on and off-road, and has now become a regular unicycle off-road racer at 24-hour team endurance events such as Mountain Mayhem (the largest mountain bike 24hr race in Europe) and Sleepless In The Saddle.
In 2005 he completed a 1000 mile, three week journey by unicycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats with three other Aberystwyth students to raise money for the Christian International Development charity Tearfund, and has also completed the UK Three Peaks Challenge by unicycle with a group of the UK’s top mountain unicyclists.
In June 2008 he plans to compete with 60 of the world’s top distance unicyclists at the first international ‘Tour de France’ style unicycle road-race, covering 800km in five days, to be held in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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