THE FIRST TIME...
‘Around the world in under 20 days’
PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK | APRIL 2013
WHO IS NICK SANDERS?
Nick takes the old PB mantra ‘too far and too fast’ to a new level. His journeys wave two fingers at well-prepared GS biking wisdom. He’s travelled around the globe seven times, and ridden the length of the Americas seven times to make his sportsbike touring the ultimate road test for the Yamaha R1.
BELOW With 19,608 between services, tough isn’t the word for Sanders’ R1
through India you can overtake everything – you are absolutely the fastest thing on the subcontinent. I first rode through India on an Enfield in 1992, averaging 40mph and overtaking nothing. Riding the R1 is a much safer experience as long as you know when to commit. If you see a suitable gap, and I’ve been through suitable gaps barely wider than my handlebars, you have to follow through. Hesitation can kill you. I’m sponsored by Yamaha, and I see my job as road testing the R1 in situations of extreme endurance. But it’s incredibly reliable. Apart from fuelling up, the engine ran non-stop for 24 hours at a time and the R1 wasn’t serviced once in all of its 19,608 miles. I can’t destroy these bikes, and believe me I’ve tried. From Bangkok to Singapore took me just one day. The only time I was riding under the speed limit was when I was asleep, so did I have problems with the police? In a word, no. If they can’t catch you, you don’t have a problem. That might mean I avoided the police a few times, but they’ll try anything to get your money. I remember one policeman who stopped me: he showed me the readout on his speed gun that was flashing 127kph. I confronted him about this – nicely, mind. I took it off him and pointed it at a passing horse. It still read 127kph. I gave the gun back to him, said I wasn’t paying, and rode off. On another trip, one policeman showed me his mobile telephone and tried to persuade me it had a speed camera app installed! After a quick oil change in Perth, Australia was an easy ride. The little I saw of New Zealand as I sped along its single track main roads was very beautiful. It wasn’t the best time of year to be breaking Kiwi speed limits, but I learned long ago not to think about the weather. The USA would have been an easy ride – Anchorage to the Mexican border, and then back up to New York – but by that time I hadn’t slept properly in two weeks. With over 1000 miles to do every day the ride was torturous. There were occasions on deserted roads where I was falling asleep on the bike. I remember thinking when I got to three seconds of being absolutely fast asleep at 90mph, then I’d pull over and stop. Back in Europe, my debit card stopped working. I had utterly run out of money. There was only one hope: my ex-mother-in-law. I called at her house on the east coast of Spain and she gave me just enough money to get back to the UK – without it I would have run out of petrol somewhere in the Pyrenees. I beat the record by four hours, riding the last 1760 miles in 27 hours. I wrote a book, made a film, and made enough money to keep me afloat; all thanks to a rocksteady R1 and an ex-mother-in-law. Don’t burn bridges: you won’t know where you’ll need help from next.
‘Did I have problems with the police? In a word, no. If they can’t catch you, you don’t have a problem’
S
pring 2005 was the closest I’ve ever come to losing everything. I was cleaned out by divorce debts and the bank had given me three months before they would repossess my property. But Long Way Round had also just come out and I decided that if I could break the record for fastest motorcycle ride round the world, and make a film, I could possibly make enough money to survive. Just. I had to beat it. So early one summer morning, I said goodbye to the kids and rode to Dover. Just one man and his bike – no support Jeep in sight. The actual ride covered a total of 19,608 miles on my 2005 Yamaha R1. I would take the most direct route to Turkey, flying from Istanbul to Mumbai and riding across to Calcutta. After that I’d fly to Bangkok, biking down to Singapore in one day. Next up would be Australia, New Zealand, and the US. The final leg would take me from Lisbon back to the UK. A blast across Europe got me to Istanbul in under three days. I’m not scientific about my riding. I do it until I can’t do it any longer. Then I sleep. Sometimes I ride for two or three days without taking a night off; ten-minute power naps every five hours keep me focused. I was very comfortable on the R1. I had all my luggage – toothbrush, sleeping bag, camera – in one tankbag. I didn’t take a change of clothes and I was wearing one-piece leathers, whatever the weather. I caught my flight to Mumbai and into a different world. Riding a litre sportsbike
Interview Benjamin Lindley Photography Nick Sanders, Chippy Wood
With no luggage, no support vehicle, and no camera crew, Nick Sanders and his R1 covered 19,608 miles in record-breaking time. Failure was not an option