A U.S. motorcyclist made the 5,632-mile (9,011-km) trek from the northernmost road in Alaska to the southernmost tip of Florida in 100 hours and set a transcontinental record certified by the “Iron Butt Association” of bike enthusiasts.
“I’m a little tired ... a little bit bruised,” biker Gary Eagan said by phone from Key West on Tuesday, a day after finishing the journey on his Ducati Multistrada.
He bested the old transcontinental “Iron Butt” record of 114 hours and 49 minutes, set last year by a BMW rider from Maryland.
A few hours after starting his solo journey on a gravel road in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a truck forced Eagan off the road and his motorcycle flipped over into the tundra, breaking his windshield, one rearview mirror, auxiliary fuel tank and shearing off the saddlebag containing his spare clothes.
“I think I broke my big toe and dislocated my finger and elbow a little bit,” said Eagan, 56, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
He patched the bike together with zip ties and drove on through Alaska, Canada and the continental United States, making a pit stop in Kansas City to change tires, and stopping occasionally to nap or refuel.
Eagan said he endured suspicious border patrol agents, traffic snarls and torrential thunderstorms but completed the trek without any speeding tickets.
“You don’t have to really ride that fast to do a record like that. You just have to stay on the bike and be efficient,” he said.