To ride around the entire world is a dream nearly every motorcyclist shares. Seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, tasting the food, and immersing yourself in the culture of various countries around the world is enough to make any travel junkie drool. But doing so on a motorcycle surely takes it to a whole new level.
This is exactly what Ollie Gamblin and Lavi Scholl managed to do, as they recently finished the ride of a lifetime—circumnavigating the entire globe on two wheels. They snagged a world record in doing so, too, as they are now the youngest couple to ever circumnavigate the world on a motorcycle riding two-up.
How cool is that?!
The couple’s steed of choice was a Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT, possibly the perfect choice as it’s a super capable adventure-tourer with bulletproof reliability and a sales network encompassing pretty much the entire world.
In 20 months, Ollie and Lavi visited 39 countries across five continents. They kicked their journey off in the iconic Ace Cafe in London, making their way south into France and continental Europe. They made their way to Morocco, where they headed down through Mauritania and Senegal marking their entry into Africa. From there, they loaded their V-Strom into a container, and had it shipped over to Brazil.
After South America, they loaded the bike into a container again, shipping it to Panama, bridging South and North America, where they even got married in Las Vegas, Nevada. They then rode to Canada, where they had the bike air-freighted to Seoul, South Korea.
They then traveled to Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and crossed the Caspian Sea into Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. After this, they ventured closer to home, back into Europe, with Belgium being the 39th and last country before riding back to France, and concluding their journey back home in the UK.
One can only imagine how epic of a journey this would be, and one can only dream of embarking on such a life-changing adventure. The couple racked up 46,705 miles on their Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT—a distance some riders never even reach in a lifetime of riding.
I’ve had the privilege of riding regularly, and through some of the most scenic roads you could ever dream of, clocking in well over 100,000 kilometers (around 62,000 miles) on two wheels in the past three years or so. And as someone with an undying passion for motorcycling—and just like Ollie and Lavi, is about to tie the knot—success stories like these inspire me to make the most of every ride with the people nearest and dearest to me.
It’s true, every ride is an adventure. And even the simplest, most mundane rides are good for the soul.
