When someone mentions motorcycling records, you might think of drag bike times, wheelie distances, or long jumps. You wouldn’t necessarily wonder who set the record for the longest motorcycle ride inside of a single country, but earlier this month the Guinness Book of World Records told two Canadian brothers they now held this title.
Colin and Ryan Pyle set the record during their 2010 ride around China, a 17,674 kilometre trip they dubbed the Middle Kingdom Ride (see full CMG article about the ride here).
They did the trip in 65 days on BMW F800GS motorcycles, wrapping the ride up on October 17. They are the first riders to circumnavigate China in a single trip.
As anyone who’s ridden China or read about it would know, the trip was no walk in the park, with landslides, government bureaucracy, flooding, hailstorms, road construction, rain, altitude, and a foreign culture to contend with, although Ryan’s ten years in China as a documentary photographer surely must have helped to navigate some of the trouble en route.
Ever see “The Serpent’s Kiss”? Ewan stabs a quill up Charlie’s nose. Probably wanted to for real during their bike trip.
They had a monumental ride, but people like Rene Cormier doing it without support crew are way more impressive.
much rather watch a videography on these two over MacGregor and Boorman