Meet Avery Seuter, the student who traveled 2,400 miles on a unicycle

Nationwide

Avery Seuter’s journey raised greater than $5,000 for the East Coast Greenway Alliance.

A New England school pupil simply traveled 2,400 miles from Maine to Florida by unicycle on the East Coast Greenway.

Avery Seuter of Wells, Maine, raised greater than $5,000 on social media for the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the nonprofit group main the event of the three,000-mile strolling and biking route connecting 15 states and 450 communities.

Seuter celebrated his twentieth birthday through the five-month trek, made nationwide information, and was talked about on “The Tonight Present Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

“I’m simply extremely grateful to all people who contributed,” Seuter mentioned. “It does make a distinction within the security of the paths and the standard.”

He left Maine on Sept. 8, 2022, and arrived in Key West, Fla., the southern terminus of the East Coast Greenway, on Jan. 28, 2023. His journey is believed to be the primary unicycle trip from Maine to Florida on the East Coast Greenway route, based on the East Coast Greenway Alliance. Seuter mentioned he met so many unicyclists on his journey that he’s not satisfied he’s the primary individual to do it.

Seuter, a culinary pupil who accomplished the journey throughout a semester off, discovered tips on how to unicycle 5 years in the past at a juggling membership in Portland, Maine. He discovered it a good way to save cash and bypass seasonal site visitors whereas commuting to his summer season job as a tour information on a lobster boat in Ogunquit. He mentioned he quickly grew to become generally known as “the unicycle man.”

He first discovered in regards to the East Coast Greenway whereas at college in Florida, the place he lived till he moved to Maine within the fifth grade. Then, a few decade later, he noticed an East Coast Greenway signal on the Japanese Path Bridge in Kennebunk, Maine, and felt compelled to discover it. He was additionally impressed by the story of Ed Pratt, the primary individual to unicycle around the globe in 2018.

Throughout the journey, Seuter coated 20 to 30 miles a day, carried snacks and water, and stopped every night earlier than sundown for meals and shelter. He documented the journey on social media and organized lodging with strangers by means of a web based group community of riders when he wasn’t tenting or staying with household and pals.

Transportation by unicycle has its distinctive challenges.

“I’d reload every part into my baggage,” Seuter mentioned of his morning routine. “Which was at all times the toughest a part of my day, to get the load proper in my entrance bag and again bag so it doesn’t mess up my stability.”

It additionally has its distinctive perks.

“The unicycle does have handlebars however they’re probably not belongings you use on a regular basis so I can use my palms whereas I’m driving, which is good as a result of you may eat and drink with out having to cease,” he mentioned.

The culinary pupil loved sampling the coastal eating places alongside the route, but in addition ate meals from fuel stations. He marveled on the individuals he met and mentioned he was not often alone through the journey.

“I simply met tons of individuals alongside the way in which, strangers and different unicyclists and those that if I ever go to a metropolis that I visited, I’ll undoubtedly have these connections,” Seuter mentioned.

He was touched by the kindness of strangers.

“They discovered my birthday was arising and so they went out and obtained cupcakes and cheesecake, so I had dessert for a number of days on the highway,” he mentioned.

There have been acquainted faces on the path, too: His father rented a motorcycle and met him in New York for a phase of the path, and his mom packed her bike and met him in Baltimore for one more half.

“When Avery left the home the primary day, it was completely terrifying,” Alison Griffin, Seuter’s mom, mentioned in an East Coast Greenway Alliance video in regards to the journey. “He took a good spill when he was leaving the driveway and obtained again up and took off. He’s develop into very assured in his talents and in a position to actually symbolize the Greenway in a manner that I believe could be very particular.”

Seuter mentioned his fall on that first day was the one unhealthy crash he had throughout the whole journey.

As for his biggest problem through the trip, he mentioned: “The most important problem is the dearth of infrastructure in some spots … the unfinished segments the place you must be on the highway. The shoulder is tremendous slender or the site visitors is simply flying by.”

In Georgia and South Carolina, he bypassed components of the route “because of a scarcity of secure, protected pathways,” based on the alliance.

“One of many issues I seen was, the place it’s not secure, you don’t see individuals out and about,” Seuter mentioned. “You simply type of see vehicles. However the place you could have these very nice trails, you see a great deal of individuals strolling their canine, biking, and commuting to work. I believe that’s the largest measure of how effectively linked and accessible a path is, if there’s a large cross part of individuals utilizing it.”

When the unicyclist crossed the end line in Key West, his mother and father and grandmother, together with many spectators, have been there to congratulate him.

Seuter mentioned it was such a optimistic expertise that he would do the journey once more, although he’s at the moment targeted on ending his culinary diploma.

Now that he’s had first-hand expertise of the path, Seuter mentioned he’d prefer to push for extra path connectivity in Wells. He additionally hopes his journey has impressed people to place down the automotive keys and get exterior.

“I need individuals to attempt to transfer round their metropolis or city and not using a automotive,” he mentioned. “Even when you perform a little bit by biking or by strolling. I believe it’s a massively useful factor you are able to do. It undoubtedly improved my life and my well being.”

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