Swiss rider sets new world travelling record

Swiss Rider Urs “Grizzly” Pedraita has set a new world record for travelling around the world on a motorcycle, completing the journey in 119 days and 21 hours – and all on a heavily modified Victory.

Previous records – the most recent set by Nick Sanders – were circumnavigation records, while Grizzly’s record is for world circumnavigation through each continent’s longest axis.

Nick’s 2005 attempt saw him circumnavigate the globe on a Yamaha R1 with a riding time of 19 days and 4 hours, compared to his earlier attempt in 1997 of 31 days on a Triumph Daytona 900, covering 32,070km. Grizzly’s riding time was 72 days and 13 hours, covering 76,277km.

Sanders only counts time riding the bike and does not count time sleeping, at borders, or in transit. Urs’ complete journey time of 119 days and 21 hours counts everything – including sleep – from start to finish.

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Just to make life that bit harder, Grizzly opted not go with the obvious adventure bike – instead he modified a Victory Cross Country Tour for his journey across all six continents. He spent a total of 72 days and 13 hours in the saddle.

The epic began at Daytona International Speedway, Florida on March 11, before heading south to Ushuaia, Argentina via Panama.

Once there Urs headed back north to Santiago, Chile and flew to Australia, which he rode across in six days and five hours, covering 4,604 miles from Sydney to Perth.

Urs then packed his Victory on a plane, flying to Cape Town, South Africa, before heading north through Africa and into Europe via ferry to Spain. The journey then continued north into Norway, before heading east through Russia to South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

From Malaysia Grizzly boarded another plane to Anchorage, Alaska and passed through Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Chicago and Santa Monica before returning to Daytona.

At the end of the trip Grizzly exclaimed: “With this journey the spirit of the pioneers of the past has been re-established.”

“There is no place for time-stops in this kind of adventure,” he said referring to not stopping the clock for the transfer flights. “This victory belongs to the team and is dedicated to my brother and my guardian angel, Emelie from Peru.”

Pictures from Grizzlyraceteam on Instagram.

www.grizzlyraceteam.ch

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