Long-distance riders are a special breed. Competing in events like the Iron Butt requires great endurance and concentration (even when sleep-deprived). Urs Pedraita (aka “Grizzly”) will leave Daytona’s Bike Week in early March aboard his custom Victory Cross Country for the ultimate endurance ride.
Urs will attempt to break the “round the world” record, riding through all sorts of weather conditions. A huge fuel tank, special navigation systems, custom seat and extra lighting will help. You can visit a special web site concerning Grizzly’s endurance riding here. Here is the press release from Victory:
February 15 2015, Medina MN: Grizzly (real name Urs Pedraita) plans to roll out of Daytona’s packed and bustling main street at 1pm on Friday 11th of March 2016.
True to his name, Grizzly has been bear-like in his preparations to ride a Victory Cross Country around the world through all six continents in under 100 days (the record currently stands at 120 days). His aim is to ride with a continuous speed with as few stops as possible and he even plans to put the wheels on the ground in Antarctica.
Over the past year Grizzly has put himself through challenging acclimatisation rides in sub-zero temperatures and he says he is now ready to flex some ‘Modern American Muscle’ on board his Victory Cross Country. While this powerful bagger might be more used to cruising on paved highways, Grizzly shows that this kind of bike can be ridden everywhere – even on ice, snow, sand, mud and gravel.
Additional items on his Victory Cross Country include navigation systems, a 33-litre fuel tank, a customised seat with back support and two LED headlights added on the front for better visibility during his long night rides.
This won’t be Grizzly’s first big ride on a Victory Cross Country – in 2013, he completed a 9,000 mile trip in just 37 days – during the winter.
After leaving Daytona in March, Grizzly’s route can be seen in the attached imagery to this release.
Fans can follow his progress using the ‘Grizzly Tracker app’ which shows where Grizzly is at any time during the attempt. The web page for this is at http://www.grizzlyraceteam.ch/?page_id=1540
The 100-day mark puts the date as Friday 20th May 2016 and he’ll need to finish by then to achieve his goal.
With his boundless energy, ability to survive on very little sleep and the ultra-reliable Victory Cross Country, we can count on Grizzly to add this attempt to his growing list of world distance riding records.
Owners of Victory Motorcycles are invited to join Grizzly for one lap of the Daytona 200 road course prior to the start of Grizzly’s record breaking attempt on Friday 11th March 2016.
See more of MD’s great photography:
Good luck and Godspeed Urs.
My great friend, Gus Rebel, and I have done several long trips. Gus rides a Goldwing and I ride a Victory Vision.
In 2010 we did a round trip of Key West to the Arctic Circle in Alaska – 14,000 miles in 41 days. 2012, Florida to Newfoundland via Nebraska – 9,600 miles in 35 days. 2014, Florida up to and across the Trans-Labrador Highway (rough, rough, rough road) – 7,010 miles in 30 days. This year we plan to do the four geographic corners of the USA. We call these bucket list trips.
My best advice is to take short breaks often.
Wow! Fair play to him and best of luck.
I don’t know if I would be game to ride Asian ‘highways’ on a bike that I couldn’t really stand up on for long periods of time.
Hundreds of miles of corrugations, he’s going to have the backache from hell, no matter how good the suspension.
Sitting back in that armchair he isn’t even going to see those RV-swallowing potholes coming, before they hit him.
Even Ted Simon’s Tiger 100 ‘Jupiter’ back in the 60’s would have been a much easier thing to ride dirt roads on. It’ll be probably the hardest round-the-world ever done, and huge kudos to Victory if he succeeds. Go Urs!
Wife & I did a “saddlesore 1000” in 1992. 1103 miles in 23:45. We both have certificates.
Would never (Couldn’t anyway, but if I could, we’d never) do it again…
But with that said: “Utmost Respect for the fellow…..”
and wish him a safe Journey!
Great for Victory Motorcycles and I couldn’t ride that distance in that time. His riding skills and level of attention are few and far between (pun not intended). Thumbs up hope he posts updates or a end story.
Hmmm. Now whilst truck and bus drivers have their driving hours policed and controlled (in Europe, anyway), other road users don’t. I’ve ridden just short of 1000 miles in 24 hours and i would never do so again. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture (like I need to tell americans that….) and as far as your road reflexes and decision making processes go, it’s fairly obvious what we’re staring down at here.
If they were doing this on a track or closed-road of some kind, then sure. But we rely on other road users not being drunk, not using their mobile phones, not messing with the CD player etc etc.
How is this a good idea, exactly?
I don’t get how it’s ’round the world if he don’t cross the Atlantic Ocean. Planned path does not cross back over itself.
Well, to be fair, I don’t think anyone has managed to cross the Atlantic or any other ocean on a motorcycle. 🙂
In America, the world is comprised of 50 states. In Houston TX, Galveston is the end of the world.
TKC knobbies with ice studs on a bagger – there’s something you don’t see every day..
In 2014 I did 5500 miles in 11 days or 1/2 an ironbutt ( I know officially no such thing) but it gave me some insight to how grueling a full Ironbutt must be. Cant’ imagine riding twice the mileage I did each day. It was exhausting as it was. 10 hours or more in the saddle each day. Rain, heat, traffic. Nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for Endurance riders, although to tell the truth I don’t know why someone would subject themselves to that on purpose lol
Definitely a badge of honor, that most don’t get.. I did a couple 1,000 mile rides, and can’t imagine doing it back to back! Not many understand why you would want to do it, and it is hard to explain.
On the other hand, if you need to make some miles and get somewhere fast… 750 mile days are a piece of cake now!
(It is probably easier with a giant truck and trailer following you around as well!!)
It was done by others, years ago, including a small Japanese man riding clear around the globe, unassisted, on a Honda Valkyrie, with no big fanfare. He just set out and did it.
Somebody needs to check their math. March 11th – May 20th seems a lot like 70 days to me.
Cruiser face in place.
LOL! I thought the same thing.
I bet the Dodge truck breaks first.
Is that thing water cooled? It sure looks like it has a radiator.
Good luck, Griz. It’s good to have a truck and trailer along for the run, no?
Anyhow, look up Steve “Rollin'” Rolland sometime. He has a big handful of IBA and other rides on his Vic Vision. Did them by himself. No pickup truck, no trailer. No video/photo people. No Voctory factory support.
I ran into Steve at a gas stop while I was on my Alaska trip in June of ’12. He’s a very nice guy and talented rider. He was telling me about his mods to his bike to make it more dirt-worthy – actually a pretty cool bike. Here’s a pic I took – my blue Super T. is just seen in the background:
http://gisdata.nrri.umn.edu/pers/pm/AK_2012_big/pages/Alaska_2012_0461.htm
Also, good luck, Griz.
Wanting to ride around the world on a bike. I get that. Wanting to get it done in under 100 days just for the sake of holding a record that three people might care about? I don’t get that.
But hey, whatever drives you! Good luck Urs!
Do it on a sport bike, and then you have my respect. Preferably on a R1. 🙂
Like that guy? Search “sjaak the world” in youtube if the link does not work
http://youtu.be/aR3jrq7gKfI
Unless he does it on a hardtail flathead HD sporting an undamped springer fork then he is as far as I’m concerned a complete and total candy-ass.
I bet none of you guys ever done any endurance riding, or you wouldn’t make such remarks.
Chill Gary. Ever heard of hyperbole? I think our friends are just having a little fun here. This whole adventure is so over the top you can’t help but make some equally absurd comparisons. No lack of respect involved.
Wouldn’t even consider it,best of luck Urs.
Best of luck to him. Many moons ago, I drove non-stop from Chicago to Amarillo, stopped for a half-hour to wait for the sun to clear the horizon (no sunglasses, duh), went on to Albequerque (sp?), where if I didn’t stop for four hours I would have driven off the great divide into a ravine in the snow), came to and went the rest of the way into Phoenix – I forget the total time, it was somewhere between 25 and 30 hours, I think. And that was in a big, cushy conversion van, not on a Victory. So, I can only imagine the endurance it would take to do what he’s attempting. How many total miles will this be? For a true “round the world” record, I would think it would be at least 25K miles, right?
“My name is Bear, Grizzley Bear.”
I hope those bigass ferry trucks are around for getting thar cruiser past the flooded_out sections of the Grizzley ‘ol Road o’ Bones (ala Ewan & Charlie). And what’s the deal with the truck and trailer? The winning Hoka-Hey winner I know would chuckle at that. He spent months packing and shipping depots of food and spares along his route. Those guys have to sleep on or beside their bikes.
This almost looks like “conquering” Mount Everest via a short-rope guide from Adventure Consultants.
Point taken, I guess there are varying degrees to “adventure”, but not everyone needs to put their life in the crosshairs in order to do something most people (like me) wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do on a bet.
There are some Hugh Glass types still out there, willing to risk everything – didn’t a guy just die while trying to cross Antarctica on foot? The toughest part may be that he was very close to making it, I think he died of peritonitis or something similar. My guess is if he had to do it over again, he would have had a chase vehicle. Just sayin’.
Point taken, I guess there are varying degrees to “adventure”, but not everyone needs to put their life in the crosshairs in order to do something most people (like me) wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do on a bet.
There are some Hugh Glass types still out there, willing to risk everything – didn’t a guy just die while trying to cross Antarctica on foot? The toughest part may be that he was very close to making it, I think he died of peritonitis or something similar very close to the end. My guess is if he had to do it over again, he would have had a chase vehicle. Just sayin’.
Hope he makes it.
Is that support truck and trailer going with him?
You know, tha just doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me. Visiting 6 continents by motorcycle..oh yea that sounds like fun. Doing it in between the second week of March and the third week of May, not so much. Doing it in a year might be fun.
At any rate good luck with your quest Urs.
Urs is the man.