Wendy Crockett and Ian McPhee ride a little ride...

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wfooshee

O, Woe is me!!
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From the Facebook group Third Wheel Adventures:

"January 26, 2023 –

"After five months of riding and four months of anxious waiting, Guinness World Records has officially recognized an entirely new world record.
Between April 7 and September 25, 2022, Wendy Crockett of Rapid City, SD (USA) and Ian McPhee of Luscombe, QLD (Australia) racked up a total of 97,319 miles on two separate motorcycles across the countries of Australia, Canada and the United States. After an exhaustive review process, Guinness World Records has certified that Crockett and McPhee rode a total of 75,846 miles (122,062 km) together within the lower 48 United States; this makes them the first two people to ever be awarded the record for The Longest Journey by Motorcycle within a Single Country (Team).

"By traveling to each of the contiguous states in alphabetical order, visiting every capital including Washington, D.C., the duo documented 49 capitol buildings over the course of this epic ride. After three years of meticulous planning and preparation, they somehow managed to encounter nearly every conceivable kind of stumbling block, including (but not limited to) animal strikes, historic heat and rain, emergency surgeries on two continents, two weeks of hospitalization, crippling illness, sundry minor injuries, and an absolutely staggering number of show-stopping mechanical catastrophes, all while their respective visa clocks were running out. Still they persevered, conquering everything that was thrown at them in order to make their World Record dreams a reality.

"With both riders being career mechanics, they personally conducted nearly all of the necessary services and repairs on Crockett’s 2005 Yamaha FJR and McPhee’s 2000 BMW R1100RT; they only availed themselves of outside mechanical help a handful of times, including when McPhee’s frame snapped in half and the skills of a NASCAR chassis fabricator were required to resurrect the battle-worn bike. While this is the first ride the pair has undertaken as a team, neither is a stranger to big miles; these two intrepid travelers have a combined lifetime total of more than 2,000,000 motorcycle miles. McPhee has successfully finished four Iron Butt Rallies and Crockett has completed six; in 2019 she became the first woman to win the grueling 11-day, 11,000-mile event. In addition, each of them has pioneered and certified huge rides in countries all over the world.

"Crockett told us, “I doubt there are any two riders better suited to successfully pull off a massive, calamitous ride like this one. Our tenacious spirits and goofy humor kept us pushing forward as a team through one absurd left-field disaster after another, and we are absolutely over the moon to have our efforts recognized by Guinness.” McPhee added, “Quite often adventures don’t look like much at the start: A plan, a good idea, and a desire to see something through. The adventure comes when the plan derails but the desire to complete it remains firm.”
After an inaugural team ride of this magnitude, what’s next for Crockett and McPhee? The enigmatic McPhee responded, “Our next adventure is going to be slow, with no ticking clock. Or maybe we’ll think up something even bigger? Watch this space!” In the meantime, they’ll be working on turning all of their wild misadventures into a book."

Well... Dayum! Respect! Holy shit!
 
I would like to read a more detailed account (although perhaps not a book). It would be interesting to compare the maintenance/repair information between the Yamaha FJR and the BMW 1100RT over the course of the ride including start and finish total mileage for each bike.
 
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Hey all - I just stumbled this thread when I came to post that our book has been released. Thank you for the kind words! The book is a real chonker at almost 800 pages, but the feedback (even from our non-motorcycle stunt readers) is that it's a very compelling story. It's kind of hard to summarize - such was the quantity and frequency of chaos - but the Cliffs Notes version is that the FJR made it through the entire ride with basically oil and tire changes. No issues with my 2005 FJR at all, and she's still purring along quite happily today. :giggle: The 2001 R1100RT had, shall we say, a bit of a tougher run.
 
Hey all - I just stumbled this thread when I came to post that our book has been released. Thank you for the kind words! The book is a real chonker at almost 800 pages, but the feedback (even from our non-motorcycle stunt readers) is that it's a very compelling story. It's kind of hard to summarize - such was the quantity and frequency of chaos - but the Cliffs Notes version is that the FJR made it through the entire ride with basically oil and tire changes. No issues with my 2005 FJR at all, and she's still purring along quite happily today. :giggle: The 2001 R1100RT had, shall we say, a bit of a tougher run.
Ordered my copy this morning, delivery should be Sunday, doubting I'll get much done at work Monday.......
 
Book arrived from Amazon, can't wait to start reading it. This is a serious volume of work here. Could easily use as a substitute for a door stop or wheel chock once finished.
 
I bought the Kindle version. (I can't tell you the last time I bought a physical book to read!)

I have to say that I am truly offended by the level of swearing that Wendy turns out to be capable of!!!

Wait!!! How did "amused" get auto-corrected to "offended?!?" :p
 
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