Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
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Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
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Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#2"...since he always had something to show them as interesting as anything that they could show him, he made his way among all nations."
Reminds me of a piece of advice I read when researching one-bag packing for a long trip: learn how to make balloon animals and pack balloons. Then, you can entertain children & endear yourself to their families. [1]
I think both the silly-looking bicycle and the balloon animals create some sort of surprise and delight that set the tone for a good interaction when you are a stranger doing something objectively weird.
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#3I really think that the subject of solo circumnavigation should be a natural part of the study of history.
To expand on this, also see:
- Joshua Slocum _Sailing Alone Around The World_ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6317/6317-h/6317-h.htm
- Half-Safe: The Story of the Jeep/Boat That Drove Around the World https://gearjunkie.com/motors/half-safe-jeep-boat-overland-a...
- The First Human Powered Circumnavigation of the Globe https://wildbounds.com/blogs/culture-and-pioneers/jason-lewi...
- https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/hall-of-fame/er...
(though I think that the latter two are not quite as impressive in that gear was staged/transported --- I want to see someone do this "bikerafting" using a folding bike and a folding kayak)
and there's some Victorian guy who did it using commercial transport with nothing but his visiting cards and a letter of credit from his bank to facilitate the voyage.
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#4I really think that the subject of solo circumnavigation should be a natural part of the study of history. To expand on this, also see: - Joshua Slocum _Sailing Alone Around The World_ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6317/6317-h/6317-h.htm - Half-Safe: The Story of the Jeep/Boat That Drove Around the World https://gearjunkie.com/motors/half-safe-jeep-boat-overland-a... - The First Human Powered Circumnavigation of th…
Also impressive: Jonas Deichmann's circumnavigation by triathlon. 450km swimming in the sea, 21000 km cycling and 5060 km running.
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#5The book he wrote is interesting: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5136/pg5136-images.html
I loved this bit of writing at the beginning:
"Beyond all this the lower coast-range, where, toward San Francisco, Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais - grim sentinels of the Golden Gate - rear their shaggy heads skyward, and seem to look down with a patronizing air upon the less pretentious hills that border the coast and reflect their shadows in the blue water of San Francisco Bay."
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#6I wonder whether he might have been an inspiration behind Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men on The Bummel
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#7I encountered a Steve Stevens in Golden, CO who hacked two magnets on his ordinary to read accurate speeds on his cyclocomputer.
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#8Another person who attempted a similar thing, only walking backwards [0]. He didn't complete the around-the-world journey but he did go about 8000 miles of it.
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#9There's also Frank Lenz who made it as far as Turkey in his attempt to circumnavigate the globe on a two-wheeled safety bicycle in the 1890s before disappearing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lenz_(cyclist)#:~:text=F....
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unsolved-case-of-...
Re: Thomas Stevens (Cyclist)
#10I encountered a Steve Stevens in Golden, CO who hacked two magnets on his ordinary to read accurate speeds on his cyclocomputer.
That interesting. I’d love to know more of the story.
I guess these days you’d use either GPS on its own or a cadence sensor and let your Garmin GPS figure out the wheel size automatically.