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Lone Tandem Cyclist completes epic adventure

As far as madcap fundraisers go, Dominic Gill is certainly one of our craziest yet! The 26 year old from Oldham has just finished his two year journey cycling the length of the Americas on a tandem bike. From Prudhoe Bay Alaska, to the southernmost tip of South America he's pedalled a staggering 20,000 miles.

Passing through 15 countries, Dom had to carry his specialised kit and all his possession on his 1000kg bike. Rarely alone, Dom gave a lift to over 250 willing passers-by. His youngest companion was just months old (he was in a special trailer whilst his dad pedalled on the bike), and the oldest was 83.

Dom says, “This has without question been one of the most challenging and profound things I have ever undertaken. I feel incredibly privileged to have met such a huge variety of people, from each and every one of which I was able to learn something that was in some way life enhancing. However, what really helped keep me going through times of loneliness, physical stress and hardship was knowing that I was not only improving myself, but also in a modest way transforming the lives of vulnerable children in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa with the money I was raising.”

Dom’s trips also saw him battling against the elements. He had to contend with both a foot of snow and a foot of mud and cycled in temperatures from a teeth chattering -20ºC in Bolivia to a sweltering 40ºC in Mexico.

Luckily Dom was not a fussy eater as he tried several local delicacies along the way, including sheep’s head soup for breakfast in Peru, dried crickets as a bar snack and cow’s stomach soup in Mexico.

Dom documented his journey along the way with videos and blogs, which can be found on his website Take a Seat. You can still support Dom’s fundraising by donating on his Justgiving page.

Watch Dom talk about his adventure when he appeared on CNN.

August 2008

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Dominic Gill cycles the length of the Americas

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