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Penny Farthing bicycles are dangerous and uncomfortable to ride but this did not stop these 5 maniacs from achieving incredible feats on these machines.
1. Thomas Stevens 1884
In 1884 Thomas Stevens started a journey that didn’t end until 1887. He was the first person to ever circle the globe using a bicycle as the primary means of transportation. He set a world record when he mounted a penny-farthing in San Francisco and headed across the continental US to Boston and then pedalled all the way across Europe and Asia to accumulate approximately 13,500 riding miles before cycling all the way back home to the US eastern seaboard. This no doubt an amazing record, but what makes this feat even more extraordinary is the fact that Stevens made history while riding a penny-farthing.
The only supplies Stevens had when he set out from San Francisco were fresh socks, one clean shirt, a raincoat that did double duty as a tent, and a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. Because paved roads and automobiles were so scarce at the time, Stevens restricted most of his journey to wagon trails, towpaths, limited public roads, and, on sometimes even railroad tracks. Naturally, the penny-farthing was not built for the same rugged terrain as a locomotive. Therefore, he was often forced to walk, carrying his bike, hopping the railroad tracks, hoping that he would never hear the sound of a locomotive bearing down on him from behind. Those of us who remember the railway scene from the 1980s movie Stand By Me can relate to that image. But in this real life drama, the character portrayed by Corey Feldman wore a Victorian era moustache and carried a gigantic bicycle.
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2. Joff Summerfield
Adventurer Joff Summerfield pedalled his hand-made replica of the Victorian era penny-farthing bicycle into Greenwich Market, where his journey began two and a half years earlier.
He set out from the Greenwich Observatory at zero degrees longitude and averaged eleven miles per hour, covering approximately forty miles each day. As he traversed the globe on his 22,000 mile odyssey, Summerfield, who was forty at the end of the journey, visited four continents and twenty-three countries. He averaged eleven miles per hour and covered up to forty miles each day as he made his way across Europe, Turkey, India and Nepal, where he even crossed the Himalayas at 17,000ft and made it to the Everest base camp and China. Summerfield didn’t let a little detail like not having permission stop him when he managed to sneak into Tibet under the cloak of the darkness of night in spite of the penny-farthing’s enormous front wheel.
After that excursion, he then pedalled his way south through Australia, where he placed second in the novice category of the Penny Farthing World Championships before making his way to New Zealand.
Summerfield is the first man to successfully circumnavigate the globe on a penny farthing since Thomas Stevens set the world record in 1887.
3. 1,000 km on a Penny Farthing
Michael raised over $10,000 for the Foundation when he rode a unicycle twenty-one kilometers in 2006.
He recently accepted the challenge to ride a replica of the penny-farthing, a classic antique from the 1890s, which he built from scratch with his very own hands, using schematics and drawings from that era. He pedalled from Newcastle to Orange, taking advantage of long and scenic detours and achieved his goal of raising $100,000 to benefit the cause.
When one takes into consideration that the penny-farthing has no gears and takes into account the fact that that each revolution of the legs represents an attempt to propel Michael a distance of four meters or more, the shear leg power necessary to climb even the slightest incline is astonishing.
Now consider that the authentic penny-farthing has no breaks. An exhilarating down hill ride can be one of the most terrifying experiences one can experience since the only thing that stands between a safe descent or a crash landing is sheer leg strength.
So far this year, Michael has already raised over $60,000 through sponsorships, online, individual and cash donations, and the proceeds from a pre-race charity event.
4. Lands End to John O’Groats on a Penny Farthing
Mesiceks made a replica of the 1890s penny-farthing for Stuart. With its fifty-two inch solid front tire, one can almost overlook the fact that it falls short of simply luxuries like brakes or suspension. Stuart had the foresight to install a GPRS system so he could follow his route with confidence by simply logging on to his website. Since then, Stuart and his supporters have jokingly teased him that an SAT NAV would have probably been far more useful as he navigated the one thousand mile journey. Climbing hills turned out to be particularly difficult for Stuart because there were no opportunities for him to take breaks and he was forced to frantically pedal backwards in order to slow down. Because of the penny-farthing’s sheer height, Stuart got blown off several times during windy weather, leaving him with an assortment of bruises and scrapes. It was only through the encouragement of some amazing people he encountered along the way who spurred him on that he was able to muster the energy to finish the race.
"The penny farthing is very, very narrow and it doesn’t like drains and potholes. You also have to judge the other traffic and whether you’re going to make it past traffic lights in time.
"If you stop, you fall off."
5. 2,700 miles across Australia on a Penny Farthing in a Tweed Suit
Forty-three-year-old Lloyd Scott of Rainham, Essex, cycled 2,700 miles from Perth to Sydney on a penny-farthing while wearing an authentic Sherlock Holmes wool tweed costume.
He pedalled twelve hours a day, ended his sojourn at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, and raised £60,000 for leukaemia research. Mr. Scott is also credited with setting the record for the slowest time in the London marathon while wearing an antique deep-sea diver’s suit.
He finished the Australian trip with a flourish by ceremonially dumping his antique bicycle at Bondi Beach.
During the Australia event, Mr. Scott, who survived leukaemia himself in the 1980s, was able to cycle only about ten to fifteen miles per hour and faced temperatures of approximately 40C (104F).
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In the mid-80s I had a customer named Dennis in the camera store I worked in on the south side of Milwaukee, WI. who was a very active rider of a penny farthing. As I recall he actually completed a century in a day on his. While his accomplishments were perhaps not in the realm of those stalwart souls reported on here, to me he was a man iron in that accomplishment, along with other rides of considerable distance on a regular basis.
“covering approximately forty miles each day” averaging ??
“covered up to forty miles each day” averaging again ???
vague, vague.vague.
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