Yesterday as the grand military and civic parade was disbanding a lone cyclist arrived from New York, fresh and hearty to all appearances, after a ride which from start to finish, lacked but a few days of filling three months of his history.

The wheelman was Nelson A. Bradt. He made the trip partly for pleasure and partly for business, is connection with the Eastern press offering him opportunities for correspondence, of which he availed himself largely on his transcontinental ride. He was favored with fair weather from first to last, and his journey was made particularly pleasant by the friendliness of the wheelmen's clubs en route.

Mr. Bradt left New York on April 9th, and traveled by way of Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City, Topeka, Denver, Salt Lake, Ogden, and Sacramento. He completed the first stage of his journey, Chicago (980 miles) in ten days. Resting there for six days he resumed his journey on April 25th and pushed his way by Quincy, Ill., to Kansas City, where he arrived nine days later. He spent four days at this place and on May 8th made a fresh start via Topeka over the prairie to Denver, riding through five inches of snow on the way when about twenty or thirty miles east of Colorado Springs.

He put up at Denver on the 23rd of May, and next morning pushed forward for Leadville. It took him eight days of hard work to cross the mountains, which, besides being very steep, were covered with a thick mantel of snow, and then another eight days were spent in the saddle before he gave his wheel a rest in Salt Lake. This was the most trying portion of his trip, as he had to sleep outdoors during all of the sixteen days.

On June 4, after a five days' rest, Mr. Bradt bade good-bye to Salt Lake. He reached Ogden next day and was there stricken down with fever and ague. Recovering after a nine days' siege he set out again on June 24th, crossed the Sierras, dropped down by Sacramento into the land of gold and climate and pursued his course without stop to the Golden Gate. (He reached San Francisco July 4th)

The venturesome wheelman's outfit consisted of a full riding suit, one extra suit, shirts, collars and toilet necessaries, pair of revolvers, fishing-tackle and blankets - weighing in all about twenty pounds. He stopped at every likely stream and fished with plenty of success. On very warm days he rested during the midday and pushed forward at night.

On January 1 (1891), instead of resolving to turn over a new leaf, as many young men do, Mr. Bradt determined to make a 10,000-mile record with his bicycle during the year. Between New Year's and his start on his present trip his cyclometer registered 2485 miles, to which he has just added 4420 miles in his meandering across the continent, a total of 6904 miles so far.

Based on this account it appears that Mr. Bradt was a very fast rider who averaged over 71 miles per day on the 62 days of the 86-day trip that he was in the saddle. Some Wheelmen of the era, however, viewed his time/mileage claims with suspicion. It seems that he was not trying to set a new record for the crossing or he would not have tarried in Chicago, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City, devoted time to fishing, or take a circuitous route. He was interested in mileage that would help him reach his goal of a 10,000-mile year.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11766249/bradt-in-san-francisco/ 

Tutti conoscono le peripezie del podista Jesse Brandani di Pontedera, che avendo divisato di andare a piedi al polo nord, alla ricerca del superstiti della Stella Polare della spedizione del duca degli Abruzzi, venne messo in prigione a Trieste, perchè scambiato per un anarchico pericoloso.

Almanacco italiano, 1904

While the Atlantic had already been crossed in sea kayaks twice, Peter Bray was the first to paddle west to east, without the tropical trade winds to ease his passage, and without the safety of the southerly east-to-west route’s warm waters. “It’s one of only a handful of transoceanic crossings by kayak,” says Chris Cunningham, editor of Sea Kayaker. “He’s in very good company. When I first looked at it I thought it was a strange idea: lots of times these transoceanic things turn out to be just drifting events, riding the currents. Bray actually set out to paddle…I think it’s a remarkable achievement.”

His first attempt in 2000 almost ended in disaster. He launched from St. Johns, Newfoundland, in June with 100 days worth of food. He made fair headway during the first day and then bedded down for the night. When Bray awoke, he found his cockpit three-quarters filled with water and his electronic pumping system inoperable due to a faulty outlet valve. Forced to use a hand pump, he was unable to keep the water from rising and was washed out into the open water twice. Seeing that the boat was lost, he inflated an emergency raft, which was torn by the foundering kayak upon inflation. Bray survived 32 hours submerged in 36-degree seas. After being picked up by the Coast Guard, the former British Special Forces soldier spent the next four months learning to walk again. A year later, Bray launched again from St. Johns on June 22, 2001 in a kayak designed by Rob Feloy and constructed by Kirton Kayaks. Instead of a hung keel to make it self-righting, this version used an ingenious system of water tanks to provide the necessary ballast. With a sleeping compartment and ultra-high tech systems, including satellite phone and tracking system, GPS, desalinization units and electric bilge pump, all powered by solar panels, the kayak was the most advanced transoceanic kayak ever built. This time, Bray encountered a storm that pushed him 60 miles off course, a broken rudder, a broken hatch, insufficient sun to charge his solar panels, a close call with a killer whale and an Icelandic current that swept him so far north that he risked missing Ireland altogether. But after 76 continuous days of paddling, Bray dodged the scattered boats of the Irish fishing fleet and made land at Beldereg, Ireland, on Sept. 3.“

He certainly took a technological advantage wherever possible-which is really the only smart thing to do,” Cunningham says. “It may seem easy to discount his trip in comparison to earlier open boat trips, but it shouldn’t downplay the achievement, which is a remarkable one that only two or three other people have ever attempted.”