Get rid of all the convenient things about a bicycle: that pesky second wheel, gears, coasting, cargo racks, etc. and find yourself the most challenging self-supported bike touring route on the globe.

Yes, Gracie Sorbello, you are amazing.

Early July, she plans to head out of Banff, Alberta to be the first person to unicycle the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, while trying to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. At 2,700 miles, the GDMBR is the world´s longest off-pavement route, crosses the divide 28 times and boasts over 200,000 feet in elevation gain.

She was the winner of the 2009 Evolution of Balance Award, put together by Kris Holm to support ambitious unicycling endeavors like this one. Originally, she had planned to do the ride solo, but Matt Burney (USA) has recently committed to the ride as well.

Can she do it? If anybody can, she´s the one: in 2006, she completed a 3,566 mile trip from the coast of North Carolina to the Pacific Ocean in Washington; raising almost 10,000 dollars for the LLS. That….. and she did it barefoot.

Her site, DIVIDEBY1.COM has gone up and features information about her ambitious GDMBR trip and has links to her Coast to Coast trip as well.

Related posts:

1. Great Divide Mountain Bike Route
2. Great Divide Trail By Unicycle Is Complete
3. Reinventing the Wheel
4. Divide By One is Doing It
5. Across the Continental Divide and into the Storm