An intrepid Brit has become the first person ever to travel around the world – on a UNICYCLE.
Ed Pratt, 22, has peddled 18,000 miles across four continents – on only one wheel.
He set off on his global adventure over three years ago and has unicycled across Europe, east Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
During one trip on a perilous rocky desert roads in Kazakhstan he had push his unicycle 50 miles on foot along the unforgiving Mukur Road.
And in November 2015, just eight months into his three-year journey, Ed was almost crushed by a skidding car that left spinning on the ice roads in Aktobe, Kazakhstan.
The 22-year-old, from Curry Rivel, Som., then spent six months away from the saddle, seeking sanctuary in nearby Kyrgyzstan.
But yesterday (Weds), Ed announced he has finally completed the last leg of his global adventure – cycling across the USA and finishing in New Jersey.
Ed, who has raised £20,000 during his journey, wrote: “Today I completed my fourth and final continent of my world unicycle tour.
“I started from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco five months ago – 4,000 miles and sore bum later and I’ve finally rolled into New York.”
He added: “I know it seems like it’s just me out there sometimes, but without your support I know my crossing of the States would have been nowhere near as enjoyable.”
Ed will now catch a plane back to the UK next week (July 10), landing in Edinburgh, and will unicycle back down the country to his home in Somerset.
Ed, who has cycled across San Francisco, Las Vegas, Dallas and Washington in the past four months, has spent most of the past three years of his journey camping around the world.
He has carried a sleeping bag, tent, cooking stove, clothes and supplies in two panniers attached to his unicycle.
But his journey has also seen his path cross with plenty of characters who have supported and taken him in.
In 2016, in Kyrgyzstan, Ed became close friends with a young woman called Aishola Aisaeva, with whom he went on a 140-mile tandem bike ride to her home town.
Ed said at the time: “I couldn’t have asked for a better co-adventurer than Aishola.
“Always positive, pedalling hard, chatting (and singing) away, riding with her made the ride feel like there was a constant tailwind behind us.”
And more recently, on the American leg of his journey, Ed came across councillor Jim Quick, from Cullman, Alabama, and his wife Mitzi, with whom he stayed for a few days.
Jim, 46, said: “We met Ed at the Quick Stop just before our little town of Berlin.
“My wife has been following his journey on Facebook and told me who he was so we went in there to speak to him.
“He asked me if he could camp at our house and I told him I could do better than that.
“We had a camper that was already set up so he could have a nice warm bed and a hot shower.”
Ed’s trip has raised a whopping £20,000 for the charity School in a Bag, which provides school equipment to vulnerable and disaster-affected children.
It was founded in memory of Piers Simon, of Chilthorne Domer in Somerset, who died in Thailand during the 2004 tsunami.
To donate, visit: www.worldunicycletour.com
