On March 11, Swiss endurance rider Urs “Grizzly” Pedraita set out from the Daytona Beach International Speedway, flanked by hundreds of fellow riders revving up their Victory motorcycles after a single Daytona 200 road course lap. With an escort out of town, Grizzly hit the road for the first leg of a six-continent ride. He aims to set a new world record by completing his planned course in less than 100 days on the Victory Motorcycles Cross Country Tour.
From Daytona Beach., he traveled 3,971 miles in six days and 14 hours to Panama City, Panama, then headed south for another 6,269 miles, nine days and 23 hours to reach Ushuaia, Argentina, at the tip of South America. From there, it was another 2,088 miles to Santiago, Chile, where he loaded his bike onto a plane and transferred to Australia, then spent spent six days and five hours riding 4,604 miles west across the continent from Sydney to Perth.
From Perth, it was a flight to Cape Town, South Africa, where, at the time of this writing, he’s in the midst of a 6,503-mile journey from Cape Town to Cairo, Egypt, where he’ll then point his front wheel toward Tunis, Tunisia, and a ferry to take him across the Mediterranean. From there, he’s mapped out a path leading north through Europe, then east through Asia, ultimately arriving in Singapore. From there, it’s another plane ride to Anchorage for a ride across Alaska, then back across North America, returning to his starting point in Daytona Beach.
“I’ve met many people on the road, and at the stops when I had some hours of sleep, and want to thank them for these encounters,” Grizzly said. “They were very hospitable, helpful, open and without distrust – many thanks to them as this makes the world just wonderful! I will surely have many more adventures in the next weeks as I continue my goal of being the fastest man on two wheels across all continents.”
The Victory Cross Country Tour Grizzly is using for this attempt was specially modified by Motostyling Zurich. While the engine, frame and running gear remain relatively untouched, other parts of the bike have been redesigned to fit Grizzly’s needs as he covers long distances in remote parts of the world. Total distance by the time he rumbles back into Daytona will hit upward of 62,000 miles. The current record for such a ride is 120 days.
We here at E3 Spark Plugs are rooting for you, Grizzly!
Keep up with Grizzly’s journey with regular visits to GrizzlyRaceTeam.ch. And if you’re planning a road trip on your bike, make sure it’s in prime working order with a new set of E3 motorcycle spark plugs.
