Then there was Fred A. Birchmore who in 1928 or so left South Carolina hitchhiking on a freighter bound for Europe with his trusty one-speed bicycle he named Bucephalus.
While peddling around Europe, he stopped off in Switzerland at the small town of Zermatt. Admiring the local scenery, he decided to do a but of mountain climbing. When he reached the top of the mountain he chose, he found a watch at the top.
Figuring someone had lost it, he climbed down and went to a local gasthaus where he inquired after the owner. The tavern keeper was familiar with the owner and refused to believe how he had come-by the watch, since the owner was the first person ever to climb - with all the latest climbing tech and guides - the Matterhorn. Fred A. Birchmore climbed the mountain with only his bare hands ...
The rest of his adventures on his 25,000 mile bike ride are recounted in “Around the World on a Bicycle With Camera Snapshots” by Author by Fred A. Birchmore 1939. Unfortunately the only copy on Amazon goes for $150.
Perhaps someone will find a copy in a local library as I did.
Here’s my review on Amazon:
This book should be required reading for all mountain bike owners and those who like to climb. Here is a man who road his one-speed bike 25,000 miles, peddled up the Himalayas with only ONE peddle, was the second person to climb the Matterhorn and the first to do so bare handed.
He went around the world on his bike, hitching a ride home on a freighter from Indochina to California and peddled the rest of the way back to his home on the East Coast. After peddling up the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains were not a challenge and the Appalachians just bumps in the road home.
An amazing adventure by an unassuming man, who thought that what he was doing was just “ordinary”.
Where this book reprinted I would buy it in a heart beat. Perhaps some local library will have a copy.
Thank you for sharing that story. I had never heard of Fred A. Birchmore before. It’s odd because just the other day I was looking up about people that travel across the U.S. on bikes. So it’s of interest to me. I looked up Mr. Birchmore and found this:
Fred Birchmore’s Amazing Bicycle Trip Around the World http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Fred-Birchmores-Amazing-Bicycle-Trip-Around-the-World.html
So as of 2011 he was still alive at 100!
Thank you again. I love that kind of stuff where people perform amazing feats.
Wow they’ve got one book on Amazon for over $1000.
Looks like he died earlier this year:
Renowned adventurer Fred Birchmore dies at 100
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-04-15/renowned-adventurer-fred-birchmore-dies-100