It was an ordinary day. Reading an article in my local newspaper that was written by Lancaster's Connor Hollinger who writes for Lancaster News Paper. Story was about a 30-year-old fellow who graduated from Hempfield High School which is where my grandson is currently a high school Junior. Fellow's name is Alessandro Pagliai who plans on setting out on a 30,000-mile, five year unicycling trip around the world. Yes, you read that right...a five-year, 30,000 mile trip on a unicycle. Can you imagine how many times his legs will have to rotate around his one and only axle to achieve his goal? But, if he completes his mission he will set a Guinness World Record for the longest unicycle journey. The current record was set by Lars Clausen who set the record in 2002 when he covered 9,126 miles while crossing the USA two times. Another unicyclist, Edward Pratt, who is a British unicyclist, rode about 21,000 miles around the world in 2015, but it isn't a record journey, since it wasn't documented as needed. Alessandro plans to take his 20-year-old nephew, Corby Trego with him. Corby will be riding a mountain bike and will video the entire trip for his uncle's social media page as well as help in carrying the camping gear which would be a monumental task for a guy on a unicycle. Pagliai credits his nephew for his interest in the unicycle.
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Photo taken by Connor Hollinger for
Lancaster Newspaper/Lancasteronline. |
Seems one day his nephew asked him to teach him how to ride a unicycle so Pagliai had to buy himself a unicycle to learn how to ride it before teaching his nephew how to ride it. The trip will begin on April 30 in Washington, D.C. and will take the two relatives on the Great American Rail Trail system to Illinois then to bicycle Route 66 until they reach Santa Monica, California. Next comes the Pan-Am Highway south through Mexico, Central and South America to Argentina where they will fly to Portugal where they will pedal through Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. They plan to travel 35-55 miles a day...if possible. Alessandro credits Ed Pratt and Ryan Van Duzer, both unicyclists who have shared their experiences with Pagliai. The longest trip that Pagliai has taken to date is a 200-mile trip on the C&O canal Trail and Gap Trail. He recently has been trying to take longer trips for practice for his upcoming journey. He needs to train his legs as well as researching the locations they will hit on their journey. Everyone is hoping the duo of uncle and nephew will be successful in their journey, but even if they are not successful, just the idea of setting your sights so high will make their journey successful. I'll be anxious to see some of the video when they return. Perhaps they will return to Hempfield High School for a presentation. I know I will be there if they do so. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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