A former pastor at East Lansing’s University Lutheran Church hopes to wheel his way into the Guinness Book of World Records by unicycling from Washington to the Statue of Liberty.
His trip, “One Wheel, Many Spokes,” began on April 29 and he is scheduled to arrive at the Statue of Liberty at August 10. He averages 65 miles a day, at 9 to 14 mph.
But before visiting Lady Liberty, Lars Clausen will make a stop in East Lansing to visit friends and perform the marriage services over a former member of his congregation.
Clausen has already beaten one world record by traveling 202.7 miles in 24 hours on his unicycle. In the process of beating records, the pastor also is raising money for the Inupiat Eskimos in the Seward Peninsula of Alaska.
“That’s going to make a lasting difference for generations for these people,” Clausen said.
By taking donations of $1.49 per turn of the wheel for his trip, Clausen said he hopes to raise $5 million for the Seward Peninsula Endowment Fund to preserve the Inupiat Eskimos’ 12,000 year culture. Clausen served his first parish in Alaska before 1997, when he came to University Lutheran Church, 1020 South Harrison Road.
But his initial purpose for the trip wasn’t to break records or to raise money.
“I just wanted to unicycle across the country,” Clausen said. “But we decided we wanted to do it for something we cared about.”
Clausen will be accompanied by his wife, Anne, and his two children, 6-year-old Kai and 8-year-old KariAnna.
The family follows him in a RV and meets with him at designated resting stops.
One of Clausen’s colleagues, Robert Martin, will ride his bike alongside the unicycler.
Several strangers have joined in on the fun by bicycling with him. He encourages residents to join him when he arrives.
Clausen is expected to reach the Capitol at about noon on Friday, and will remain in his RV outside University Lutheran Church for the rest of the weekend. He will lead services at 9:30 a.m. Sunday and will speak about his trip at 1 p.m.
“It’s a good ride,” said Anne Clausen. “People have been really hospitable wherever we’ve gone.”
Harold Cowheard, an MSU doctoral student and member of the campus ministry at University Lutheran Church, said he looks forward to seeing Clausen again.
“I’m one of his greatest supporters,” he said. “I think he lives out what a Christian should be, and I don’t see that in the church a lot.”
