Exactly one year ago Sam Sunderland He made us participate in what, at that time, was his new sporting and personal challenge: to become the fastest person to circumnavigate the world on a motorcycle. Then the British pilot set himself the goal of beat the current record of 19 days, 8 hours and 25 minutesestablished in 2002 established by the British couple consisting of Kevin and Julia Sanders.
Sunderland returns fully recovered
In a recent interview with MCN colleagues, Sam Sunderland confirmed his intention to resume his express tour of the world on the back of a Triumph 1200 Rally Explorerafter recovering from a back injury suffered last year during training. The challenge remains the same as then, staying true to the parameters of the record established twenty years ago.
Under these conditions, the time you are trying to beat excludes ocean crossings, during which the official stopwatch will be paused. To make matters more complicated, Sam’s journey must be continuous and follow a single direction around the world. It must start and end in the same place, touch two antipodal points (diametrically opposite places on Earth) and travel a minimum of 29,000 kilometers.
Regarding how he approaches this trip compared to his participation in the Dakar, Sunderland himself comments: “In the Dakar, every day you are full of adrenaline, you have other competitors, you are off the track, you have to navigate. Here it is a titanic task, but you don’t have that adrenaline or that direct competition. It’s me, myself and me on the bike”. Furthermore, he confirms that he is fully recovered after his unexpected accident:
“I’m fine. I had the opportunity to visit the guys at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre, get all the scans done and get checked out, and I’m back to 100 per cent, let’s say.”. In fact, he recently put his fitness to the test at the Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Core, where he managed to take second place with his Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro.
A record-breaking trip around the world
To achieve its goal, Sunderland will have to travel the equivalent of the length of the United Kingdom each day, with an average of almost 1,600 kilometers a day for 19 days, crossing 13 different time zones along their journey. This endurance challenge tests both physical and mental strength as Sam battles bad weather, road conditions and unfamiliar terrain.
It will visit more than 15 countries on five continentsstarting and ending your trip in London, United Kingdom. Upon learning of the feat that Sunderland intends to achieve, Kevin Sanders commented: “Records are meant to be broken. We did it over twenty years ago and Sam will face new challenges compared to back then.”
The Sanders have collaborated on this project by sharing information about their route and the parameters necessary to achieve a true circumnavigation. “As motorcycle professionals, it’s always exciting to see other riders taking on new challenges or overcoming old ones. We’re looking forward to seeing how Sam does it.”they claim. Sunderland plans to leave England next September and he knows exactly what he’s up against.
He concludes by explaining what this challenge represents for him: “You have to do something that takes a bit of courage and determination so that people look at it and say, ‘Wow, that’s 1,000 miles! How did you do it? If you could do it, what’s stopping me from going to Scotland this weekend with my friends?’ “I just think it’s a good thing: getting outside a little bit.”
From SMN we wish good old Sam all the best in this adventure.
