2,641 miles in 46 hours on a BMW R1200CL
Many endurance riders choose BMW motorcycles including British GS rider Kevin Sanders who received a Guinness World Record for the ‘Fastest Circumnavigation of the World by Motorcycle’ and ‘The Trans-Americas by Motorcycle’; and Canadian brothers Ryan and Colin Pyle who picked up the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous journey by motorcycle within a single country, when they rode two F800GS machines 10,000 miles around China in 2010. Then there are thrill seekers such as Gary Orr, a BMW dealer who rode from California’s west coast to Florida on his K1200LT in 2008 – a distance of more than 2,200 miles – without stopping!
The latest motorcyclist to join the ranks of the endurance elite is BMW-riding Kiev resident Vladimir Chernyshov, who recently picked up two records on his R1200CL luxury touring cruiser for the longest distance ridden in 24 and 46 hours on Ukrainian roads on a motorcycle.
It all began at midnight on July 12, when Chernyshov pulled out into night-time Kiev from one of the city’s filling stations. Having already had his motorcycle’s odometer reading of 49,394 km (30,692 mi) checked by experts from Ukraine’s National Register of Records (who also verified his onboard GPS and video recording settings) there was only one thing on Vladimir’s mind, to just keep riding…
Vladimir Chernyshov on his BMW R1200CL.
Twenty-four hours later Chernyshov pulled into the very same filling station in Kiev, where he was met by the same expert from the National Register of Records. A quick check of the R1200CL’s odometer revealed that he had ridden 2,685 km (1,668 mi) in just 24 hours, at an average speed of 123 km/h (76 mph) according to his onboard GPS.
However, Vladimir wasn’t finished. This was just an ‘intermediate’ reading and he was soon on his way again, out into the night to continue his punishing ride of endurance. Twenty-two hours later – at 22:00 the following evening – Vladimir arrived back in Kiev, this time at the European square in the city’s Old Town region, having ridden a total of 4,250 km (2,641 mi) in 46 hours – an absolute record for Ukraine and an amazing achievement in less than two days.
At the finish line, the odometer on Vladimir’s R1200CL showed 53,643 km (33,332 mi). For the second 24 hours of uninterrupted riding, his average speed was 99 km/h (62 mph), which was slower than the first day largely due to a problem with a damaged rear fender that he sustained in the city of Rovnos in the northwest corner of Ukraine. Although it slowed him down, this incident fortunately didn’t prevent Vladimir from reaching Kiev successfully.
With tiredness also becoming an issue, Chernyshov had allowed himself a couple of rest stops, of just 15 minutes each, for a ‘power nap’.
To verify the distance traveled during his 46-hour marathon, Vladimir provided the National Register of Records with 64 gigabytes of video footage and 20 separate confirmed validations from filling stations situated along different points of his route.
Two weeks after his amazing journey, a fully rested Vladimir was presented with two diplomas by representatives from the National Register of Records at his Route 66 bike club. The two diplomas confirm his long-distance riding achievements and are entitled ‘the longest distance ridden in 46 hours on Ukrainian roads – 4,250 km’ and ‘the longest distance ridden in 24 hours on Ukrainian roads – 2,685 km’.
Many famous Ukraine motorcyclists came to congratulate the record breaker, including the head of Ukraine BMW importer AWT Bavaria’s motorcycle department, Vladimir Roschin, various motorcycle club presidents and former World’s Strongest Man winner Vasily Virastjuk.
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