Table of contents
- Record attempt: from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego – The Panamericana as a mission
- The journey in numbers
Sanders
15th pictures
Sanders
1/15
The Dalton Highway runs endlessly through the solitude of the Yukon Territory.
Sanders
2/15
Gigantic journey in record time: From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and back again in 49 days. Heroic achievement or self-destruct trip?
Sanders
3/15
In the vastness of the Atacama.
Sanders
4/15
The Watson Lake, Alaska sign forest contains 30,000 signs. In 1942, a soldier attached the first sign while the Alaska Highway was being built.
Sanders
5/15
Out and about in Tierra del Fuego. Nick meets strange guys on the roadside.
Sanders
6/15
Out and about on dry slopes; breathtaking landscapes included.
Sanders
7/15
At the Roadhouse, Nick meets this mother and her son, both of whom are marked by the hardship of life. The time for encounters is short but intense.
Sanders
8/15
Cold, rough and wide: the landscapes of Alaska seem endless.
Sanders
9/15
In Ushuaia, a sealing ring on the cardan of the Tenere was worn out, otherwise only gasoline, oil and tires were affected.
Sanders
10/15
In the vastness of the American West.
Sanders
11/15
Hand sculpture in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
Sanders
12/15
Out and about in Mexico.
Sanders
13/15
Mobile navigation system.
Sanders
14/15
Changing weather. Here: the snow-covered Garibaldi Pass.
Sanders
15/15
Nick Sanders (55) is a publicist, tour guide, balloonist and extreme tester of motorcycles, clothing and accessories.
to travel
A record attempt: 48,000 kilometers in 46 days
Record attempt: from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego
From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego – The Panamericana as a mission
Extreme traveler Nick Sanders takes a completely different approach than our Panamerica traveler Mathias Heerwagen. For the record-seeking British, the Panamericana is a mission. He wants to cover the 48,000 kilometers from north to south and back in 46 days.
Markus Biebricher
11/08/2012
Huge trucks, heavy equipment for oil production, joyless buildings, with the polar sea behind them. I am familiar with Prudhoe Bay on the north coast of Alaska from previous stays. Many motorcycle trips begin here, which still amazes the landlady of the “Prudhoe Hotel”: “Why do all these motorcycle fools come to our dump on the edge of the world?” Okay, I’m one of them, but my mission is based on the motives of nothing to do with others. I want to go to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. 23,500 kilometers one-way. Then back to Prudhoe. In record time: Others jump out of space with a parachute, climb Everest, dive into the death zone. I ride a motorcycle. Further than anyone else. In less time than anyone else. A kind of project art, a life in time-lapse that becomes more intense for me as a result. I push boundaries, push myself and my material to the limit. No motorcycle is ever tested as hard as my Yamaha. I used to ride the R1. Through sandy deserts and over ice slopes, today the XT 1200 Z Super Tenere carries me, which feels more comfortable.
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The polar sea is frozen over, the sky is radiant blue and ice cold Yamaha purrs to himself. All of a sudden I feel the tremendous freedom of being alone. I am so much my own master that it almost hurts. Pulling a plume of dust behind it, the Tenere sweeps along the Dalton Highway through spectacular landscapes, wild, wide, rough and impassable for motorbikes for most of the year. I know my tour will be very tough. This record attempt, the double crossing of the American continents, has been my dream for a long time, and it took hundreds of hours to prepare. In fact, I cross the American continents three times because I have just come from Argentina. From there I led a group of tourists north. With almost 20,000 kilometers in my bones and on the Tenere’s speedometer, I start my attempt to record. If I were to look at the whole gigantic undertaking as one overall project, I would probably have given up. It helps immensely to only live in individual stages, even mentally.
Sanders
In the vastness of the American West.
The dalton is infinite. I have to watch out for moose that like to step out of the forest onto the slopes. Don’t drive too fast, but not too slow either. I tried to break the record back in 1996. Took 30 days, a few too many. In 2010 I tried again and had to break off at Santiago de Chile, three days before Ushuaia. I had overwhelmed my body, my camera and notes were stolen, my ambitions were broken. Now I am ready to fight. The Super Tenere feels solid, it becomes part of my body. Shortly before the border to Canada, I just lie down on the floor in full gear to relax. Two hours later I wake up feeling freezing cold. I press the starter, it’s raining, a little bear limps into the bushes. The vastness of Canada flies past the windshield.
My microcosm: fill up, check tires, drive. This is what a space trip should feel like. In two days I will sleep four hours. I pass a few rest stops where I used to refuel and eat in earlier years, in a cozy light, close to the stove, served by pretty waitresses. Today these places have been abandoned, the windows broken, grass grows in the entrance, the gas pumps are rusted. Soon I’ll be in the USA, it’s getting warmer, the roads easier, my rear tire is due. The constant flow of adrenaline through my body prevents a real feeling of hunger. I mustn’t go crazy, I ironically unwind my miles, I record the bizarre things of America like a flashlight, cross the landscapes to the Mexican border, stop only for a short sleep, my head on the handlebars.
Mexico. Life here is tough, the traffic is hectic, I try to swim with you, always on the lookout for choleric people who have to cool their heads in traffic. I perceive the poverty, emaciated faces in which fear is reflected, fear of a new flare-up of the drug war. Colors, smells, laughter, children playing, stray dogs. Then the border with Guatemala. I lose a lot of time, the last time I entered the country a few weeks ago, an entry document was stamped incorrectly. Finally on, in one day through the country, then San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua. Theater at the borders, documents, bribes, confusion, once I fall asleep right at passport control, I spend a total of $ 400 on passage through the poor countries of Central America.
Sanders
Changing weather. Here: the snow-covered Garibaldi Pass.
Costa Rica and Panama are like a warm relief, Yamaha and I arrive by air freight over the Darien Gap to Bogotá in Colombia. There another motorcycle drives me in front of my front wheel at night, we touch the handlebars, a car races by by a hair’s breadth, everyone drives on, nothing happens. Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that! The fingers of my right hand are bleeding and swelling, but I want to keep going, pass place after place, drive 150 kilometers in the wrong direction, there are cursed days. I don’t just have to drive, I also have to document my trip with GPS, fuel receipts, emails, blog entries, photos. Incessantly. Although I pay attention to speed limits, I am often stopped. Debates, smack comedies, on. Peru passes by, Chile is getting warmer, the Yamaha runs like clockwork. Every few days I have to take off my boots, my feet are sore and the scent is intense. Heat and storm in the deserts, snow on the Andean passes, murderous truck drivers, near-accidents, but I want to break the record so that I can endure everything. Even a fall in the snow after the bike lies on top of me. Nobody far and wide, a broken ankle, excruciating pain, only hours later I can free myself.
After 21 days and 19 hours, I go to the Ushuaia Police Station to confirm my time. An American named Dick Fish did the tour in 21 days and two hours. Damn! I’ll sleep, take the Tenere for inspection, and drive back north. Drive, refuel, eat, sleep, use the toilet, every damn day, everything back again. Andean passes, desert, Central America, Mexico, the USA. In Del Río, Texas, the Tenere rescues me from an angry mob. Then Canada. Even if I’m only there for a short time, I get to know people intensively. Maybe that’s why. Alaska, Dalton Highway, Prudhoe Bay. I started here 49 days ago. My goal was 46. It doesn’t matter, it’s still a record! Now it’s your turn, Dick Fish.
The journey in numbers
Sanders
In Ushuaia, a sealing ring on the cardan of the Tenere was worn out, otherwise only gasoline, oil and tires were affected.
tire 12th
Motor oil in liters 7th
Petrol in liters 3328
full tanks 148
km / h on average 64.37
Average km / day 1025.15
serious falls 1
Sleep in hours 134 (3 hours per night)
Weight loss in kg 2.4
technical breakdowns 0
Nights in hotels 15th
Nights on the road 31
total cost 6134 euros
(Supplies, tires, nutrition, flights, hotels)
Total cost per km 0.33 euros
total time 49 days, 19 hours, 39 minutes.
Total mileage 82076.57 km
Record mileage 48 119.40 km
pure driving time 46 days, 5 hours, 2 minutes.
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