Michael Cowan stopped over for the night on his way through town in the middle of his 1,000km journey to raise money and awareness for the Asthma Foundation.

In 2006 Michael rode a unicycle 21km and raised over $10,000 for the Foundation.

This time around the challenge is to ride a replica 1890s Penny Farthing (which he has built from scratch) from Newcastle to Orange with some long and scenic detours raising a target of $100,000.

Consider that a Penny farthing has no gears and that each revolution of the legs is trying to propel Michael over four metres. The shear leg power needed to climb even the slightest hill is remarkable.

Now consider that with no breaks, a down-hill slope can be terrifyingly swift as leg strength is all that can slow the descent.

Michael has a support crew including his wife Amanda and friend Mal Dean who drive the safety car and spot traffic and other hazards through the radio and Craig Bateman, who rides a mountain bike alongside for moral support. Also along on the trip though ranging far and wide organising food, accommodation, spare parts and emergency provisions are Sarah MacLean and Reg Ryan.

The team started out in Newcastle on Monday October 20, from local Bonnell’s Bay Public School with a huge send off.

“It was great, the students had a big sign out the front saying ‘Good Luck Mr Cowan on your 1000km Penny Farthing Journey’, and a huge turnout to see us off,” he said.

They travelled the 104.3 km to Sydney where they attended the National Asthma Summit that night, making several TV and Radio interviews on the Tuesday morning before heading off to Mittagong (96km) then on to Canberra (176km) early on Wednesday morning to meet the Minister for Health, Jan McLucas, as well as another round of media interviews.

Thursday was Canberra to Gundagai (162km) and by now the fatigue was really kicking in.

“That was very hard, it was mind numbing and I reached so many low points, and experienced so much pain that I was beginning to wonder if I would be able to make it,” Michael said.

“There was one hill that was a staggering 5km up and at some stages you’re thinking it looks so high you’re going to need oxygen at the top.”

Friday was a shorter day of only 86 km to Wagga and then Saturday saw Michael and his crew arrive in Young at about 5pm.

“Yesterday (Saturday) was day six and we covered 160km in 11 hours, and we’re getting to the end of what the body can handle.”

“My Achilles tendons on both feet were giving me pain like I have never felt and it is taking quite a while before they warm up and we manage to work through the pain.

Amazingly, the team decided to detour an extra 20km to Junee to check out the fair and to rattle the tin for the Asthma Foundation.

“We left Wagga at 7am sharp, the weather was perfect, no wind, no clouds, and the temperature was just right,” Mr Bowen said.

“We set a cracking pace for the first hour and a half going great guns until the wind came up and hit us right in the face.

“All of a sudden we were back to fifteen kms per hour and pushing hard , straining with every revolution , head tucked down just wishing it would go away.”

Finally, the team hit on the idea of using the support car as a wind-break, and was able to lift the speed back to 20km per hour.

“We are sort-of looking forward to the big 9.2km downhill slope on the way to Cowra today although there will be some scary turns involved,” Michael added.

“The scenery is absolutely beautiful, with fields of canola that stretch for miles on end, you sometimes feel like you are in the Wizard of Oz movie.

“Of course, a lot of the time, your head is down and you’re focused on a spot about 5 metres ahead because even the smallest pebble can send you flying off the bike,” Michael said.

“It is not all pain and torture, there are so many moments of hilarity along the way,