A Southern Utah man has cycled 24, 981 miles -- enough miles to circle the world at the equator. Jim Salmon, a 70-year-old retired scientist, accomplished his seven year goal to make it around the world last week, riding on biking trails and St. George city streets.
All he had was his mountain bike, tennis shoes, broken chains and popped tires. Salmon said he considers himself a slow rider, however, he averaged 300 miles a month.
“It’s interesting. It was fun, but it was tedious," Salmon said.
Once he met his goal of riding around the world at St George’s latitude of 37 degrees, he said he realized his dream of biking around the world at the equator could become a reality. He set smaller goals which were equivalent to biking around the world at different latitudes so he wouldn’t push himself.
As he travelled, he said he carefully logged his miles.
“And I said, ‘Boy, I’m going to have to 4,000 miles plus this year’ and I did it! I finally did it! And last week I came in at 24,000," Salmon said.
Salmon said he was excited to finally bike enough miles to make it around the world.
"I think especially those goals when you set your sights high and you kind of go into areas and places not too many people venture forth,” Salmon said. “Then being able to successfully accomplish what you set out to do, it makes you feel really, really good.”
Despite having biked nearly 25,000 miles, Salmon said he isn’t going to give up cycling any time soon.
Morgan Pratt is a sophomore at Utah State University seeking a degree in Journalism and Communications.
