Crossing Canada by unicycle

Taylor Stark is an eye catching sight on the Transcanada Highway as he rolls through the Southwest in an attempt to become the first person to unicycle across Canada.

The 23-year-old Canmore man has now completed the Southwest portion of his trip. He plans on reaching Toronto this summer, and finish his journey in 2019.

“I feel pretty darn good, even after going through the mountains,” he admitted during a roadside interview on Monday.

Ironically, because of his refreshing attitude, the trip is not a stressful effort.

“I kind of stop thinking about it. I usually put in an audiobook, and then you just move your legs a lot, and suddenly you’re 100 kilometres down the road,” he said with a smile.

The idea of the unicycle trip came when having drinks with a friend two years ago. Stark took two years off between his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Toronto and returning to pursue a Masters Degree. When talking about what he should do during the two years off, his friend jokingly suggested he ride across Canada.

“We kind of laughed. And then we actually sat back and started thinking about it,” he said. “And we hammered it all out that night.”

“From there I didn’t really think about turning back from that once it was set in my mind.”

The reality of the trip does require a concentrated effort to put the kilometres behind him.

“The big thing with it is that there’s no coasting on the unicycle, so it’s just constant.”

“If you do want to make good time then you have to work even harder, constantly.”

“Hills are quite difficult. When you get to the top of something like this, there’s no relaxing…you’re spending just as much on the down hill.”

To follow his journey online visit https://www.onetiredcanadian.com/