PRESS RELEASE
Monday 18th October sees Gerry Breen (more info at http://www.gerrybreen.com/index1.htm) of Lagos, Algarve, Portugal fly to Orlando, Florida, USA for the first stage of what is hoped to be the first Pedalcar journey around the world. This will see him cycle unsupported across the States to San Diego, California a distance of over 5,000 kilometres where after a break he will take the southern route down through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras , Costa Rica & Panama. After another short break he will continue down through Columbia, Venezuela and Brazil all the way down to Tierra Del Fuego at the tip of South America. He will then travel through Canada and Alaska before crossing the Pacific to continue through Japan, China and the Far East before heading back across New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East and hopefully ending his journey after a European Tour.
His Pedalcar has many special features including water purification system, solar panels for recharging batteries, stereo music system, GPS etc. He will be carrying everything he needs for the journey including state of the art camping equipment and all weather gear. The whole unit weighs some 30 kg fully loaded and cruises on level ground at 25 kph. He will average around 100 km per day and stage one across the states is expected to be completed in around 50 days.
His wife Karen will join him in San Diego for a two week holiday in California, Arizona & Nevada after which they will return to the Algarve for Christmas before Gerry will fly to Mexico to continue stage two.
One of the aims of his travels is to create more awareness of human power and he will be donating the cost of every litre of fuel he saves to Cadela Carlota e Companhia an animal protection charity in Lagos, Portugal. The Pedalcar known as the ‘Breen Machine’ was designed and built by Gerry over the last two years and has been well tested including two trips to Morocco with one to the northern Sahara. His decision to design the machine came after he cycled from Lagos to Hadrian’s Wall, Scotland some two years ago. He felt that although he was fit enough to do the journey he experience severe discomfort and fell off his bicycle on several occasions.
Wherever he has been it has been well received and has caused a stir. On one occasion a trip to Marrakesh resulted in Gerry and his wife Karen donating various items including a bicycle to deserving local people.
The main attributes of the Pedalcar over the bicycle are that it is more aerodynamically streamlined, comfortable, stable and offer protection from the elements in adverse conditions. Pedal cars or Velocars were extremely popular in the 1930’s but were banned from competitive events due to the fact that they were faster and more durable than the standard bicycle and therefore they suffered a major setback until now….
In the USA and Australia they are now becoming extremely popular and are experiencing a very fast growth once again. Gerry would also like to experiment with electric power systems and is looking for partners in the venture who will be able to assist in production whilst he continues with international promotion.
Gerry’s journey can be followed by a link on his website at www.GerryBreen.com and more information can be obtained whilst he is away by contacting Karen Breen, Algarve Airsports Centre Telephone 00351 91 490 3384.
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