Except for riding on a few of the islands, in following with Guinness guidelines, I had not done any major riding in 3 weeks. All of the sudden I found myself battling the massive mountains of this rugged country.
After not even a week of riding, I had reached Medellin, a major city just north of the country’s center. It was there that my trip, and consequently my whole year would change.
In the garage of the hostel in which I was staying, I had stashed my unicycle and a pile of my clothes. On top of that pile was an unmarked bag containing my passport, debit card, gopro, GPS, and all the data on my zipdrives.
They stole the bag with everything in it.
I had little choice but to fly home. I got on an overnight bus to the embassy in Bogota, got an emergency passport, and charged a flight home to the credit card I luckily had in my wallet.
I spent the next 2 1/2 months at my parents’ house in St. Louis, MO. All I could do was start over. And at the same time, I was continuing the trip. I made sure that I followed the Guinness rules as closely as possible, riding at least every 2 weeks (though I rode 10 miles to work each way, every day–all of which does not count, as it is repeated mileage.) I was able to use my custom-dressmaking mother’s sewing machine and studio to remake ALL of my bags. I was able to work and save money both to replace what had been stolen, and to get back on the road. I was able to write over 75% of my book, which I hope to publish in the next few months, entitled “The Naked Unicyclist.”
September 5, 2014 I was back at it.
I had been riding an average of 20 miles per day (mostly sprints to work and back) and felt readier than ever! I sought to come back stronger than before, and I did. I broke my previously held personal record of most consecutive riding days (averaging 62 mi/100 km per day, no rest days) which was 14, set in Mexico. I broke this record, at 17 consecutive days from St. Louis, MO to Rapid City, SD. I followed the Missouri River and the original Lewis & Clark Expedition trail more or less to Montana, taking in Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone and much more.
