Trans America: South of the Equator

Kevin and Julia Sanders have reached Peru in their attempt to claim the world record for riding the Trans America route from Alaska in North America to the tip of Argentina.

At present they are half a day ahead of their schedule, and are aiming to be in Chile by Sunday. The pair need to reach Santiago for repairs and an overhaul to the BMW R1150GS they are using for the trip. Unfortunately any delays may mean arriving at the start of a three-day public holiday.

Since the last update the Sanders have crossed the Equator without realising and been stopped when a bolt from the rear wheel shook itself loose. With the rear wheel running out of sync, the pair were aided by a crowd of locals, who removed the wheel, checked the bike over and then replaced it.

” Losing hours here meant night riding in the mountains. As daylight disappeared and with a huge storm brewing ahead, our next bit of bad luck was taking a wrong turning, ” said Julia. ” We didn’t know this until two hours down the road and we had added another 100 miles to the trip. In the black of night we continually faced buses and lorries head-on. It was like playing Russian Roulette and we were forced over to the edge of the road on numerous occasions. ”

The reward was a slightly later departure time the next morning, and the couple were relieved to reach Peru 50 miles later. ” This is the twelfth country on the trip and a much needed boost, ” said Julia. But with 22,000 miles on the clock (12,000 of which had been clocked up on the trip), the bike is starting to show the strain. Luckily, the pair are now entering the final quarter of the journey.

To find out whether the pair arrive in time to repair their bike keep checking back to motorcyclenews.com.