JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Remember the man who made it his mission to ride down from Wells, Maine, to Key West, Florida — all on one wheel? It took five months, but on Saturday, Avery Seuter accomplished his 2,400-mile journey to help make the roads safer.
“It’s, it’s a long way, yeah,” Seuter said. “Once I got on the street [in Key West], and it was straight away all the way down to the southernmost buoy, it was kind of, you know, it felt conclusive. I had my family there.”
The perfect conclusion to a great trip.
But there were challenges along the way.
“The trouble is where you get to roads that are maybe not designed for cyclists or pedestrians it’s very difficult to safely navigate them on a bike or, or even walking. So, I think the biggest challenges were those sections that were maybe not as complete,” he said.
That’s really what inspired Seuter to make this trip in the first place. In early September, he started unicycling from Maine to Florida, raising money and awareness for the East Coast Greenway. A bicycle and pedestrian route connecting 15 states aiming to make travel safer for bikers and riders.
He logged 20 to 30 miles per day and raised a combined $4,000. He even turned 20 during the trip.
“Around that time, I was staying with people pretty frequently, and as soon as they would find out it was my birthday, they’d go out and get like, cupcakes or something. So, I celebrated, I think, five different times and I was so full of sugar. I think that’s what really helped me get over the finish line,” he said.
Seuter says when he gets back home to Maine, he plans to do even more to help improve infrastructure. He also hopes to inspire people to get out and get active.
“I’d encourage people to get out and bike or walk or move around their communities however they can even if it’s not what you do all the time. It’s really, really beneficial for your health and mental health,” he said.
Seuter also told News4JAX he started this trip from his house in Maine, meaning he never completed the full section of the Greenway. He says in the spring, he’d like to go all the way up to the Canadian border, and really complete the trip.
