News

Daniel Stuprich

Daniel Stuprich

Hello, My name is Daniel Stuprich, From when I was young, always like the idea to ride long distance motorcycle trips, I started riding motorcycles mid 80’s in Argentina when I bought an old bike 98cc, a Puma ’56 , 2 strokes, it was beat up, noisy and really not pretty but I didn’t care what others said about it because “ I have a motorcycle to ride when and where I wanted ” .

Since that time I had few bikes and I liked all of them. As a youngster I had bullet bikes, years later (more than one will feel related to these reasons) done with college, got married, working over time, and then kids, not much time to ride, but even in that little time I found fun riding dual sports bikes. Now in my 50’s, I turned to more straight riding position, also (real reason here) because my loved kids are older and my wife lets me spend more time riding, I just changed to touring bikes for Long Distance Rides as I always wanted, currently I am riding a BMW K1600 GT, it’s an amazing machine.

I live in Utah, USA, and as in many other places, we have snow from November until March, right now, all riders in this areas are looking to the bikes, cleaning them, fixing something or doing maintenance, just waiting for spring to start melting the snow to ride again, in my case, around the beautiful Rocky mountains.

Every time I ride somewhere I like it more, that’s why I decided to start making holes in my busy schedule and ride the different challenges that Long Distance Riders certify. In September 2020 I rode the 500 miles in 12hs and the experience was very nice, then the 1000 miles Full Throttle and also accomplished the King of the Road 1500 miles in 36hs, which was a really long trip, but I enjoyed every moment.

I always remember something that my dad told me a long time ago “Plan your trip, ride safe, nod to other Bikers and enjoy every time you ride, if you like to ride your motorcycles, you will never need a therapist” . I love to ride and enjoy every time I do it, for this reason, I wish all riders, no matter where you are, a safe and happy time riding your bikes. Enjoy life!

One more time I want to thank you Jack and your team for the great devotion you have for safe motorcycling, certifying bikers from around the world.

Daniel S.

Posted by Heather Mims in News

Tom Gaines

I have been riding motorcycles since 1972. Our family had moved to Louisville, Kentucky and a bunch of the kids in our neighborhood had dirt bikes. I wound up with a Honda 90 and used to love riding the trails.

I had a few beaters while I was going through school, but my first real bike was a Honda CB 750K. I got my first touring bike in 1988 when I found a 1978 Honda Goldwing 1000 sporting a Windjammer fairing and bags with only 5000 miles on it. In 1996, I rode that bike 1200 miles from Saint Louis, Missouri to Durango, Colorado. I currently ride a 2015 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide Ultra Ltd that I have ridden to both the east and west coasts.

Posted by Jack Powis in News

Happy New Year Members!

Long Distance Riders has been a successful venture these past 14 years thanks to you, our members.

I thoroughly enjoy hearing from all of you, and it has been a privilege charting your rides throughout the United States and into other countries. I feel as though I rode alongside of you as I documented your rides and have enjoyed learning about your experiences and your countries, and your stories. I share with you the feeling of accomplishment. I am always envious of the great rides that LDR members have taken.

Thanks to all the members who I have emailed and talked to during the many years. I value your friendship. Most of you I have never met personally, but feel as though I know you well.

In the past years we have grown. We wouldn’t be the company we are if it weren’t for our loyal members, our ride organizers, our proud riders, our charity event coordinators, our LDR web site and Facebook design teams, and our LDR behind the scenes people who create certificates, get your packages mailed efficiently, and organize inventory. We thank you and appreciate you!

We thank you to all our members, for giving Long Distance Riders the opportunity to do what we love. Thanks again to each one of you for your loyal support and your friendships.

Let’s toast to yesterday’s achievements and tomorrow’s new adventures!

Ride safe,

Posted by Jack Powis in News

Bill and Debra Jeffries

We are Bill and Debbie Jeffries and we love to ride. This is our first Long Distance Riders Easy Rider certification. We ride long distance rides on a regular basis so, we thought we should get one certified. We even took our honeymoon on a Harley. It was a toad strangler rain on the first day of our honeymoon, but we kept on riding. Stopped now and then when it was raining so hard we couldn’t see. I’m sure people thought we were crazy, riding and smiling in pouring down rain.

We take our vacations on our motorcycles every year. We agree if we can’t go on a motorcycle, we don’t want to go there. Some destinations of interest – Moab, Utah a 10 day excursion; New Orleans, LA another 10 day ride, Tail of the Dragon, and Sturgis, SD. And this year’s vacation is a 2 week trip to Glacier National Park and Lolo pass. One of our favorite rides is northern Arkansas. We make a yearly pilgrimage there each fall. The mountain roads there are quite the challenge. Mount Nebo, Pig Trail, Mount Judea, to name a few. After we rode the Tail of the Dragon, we both agreed, we had ridden much more challenging roads in Northern Arkansas.

When we aren’t on a long distance ride, we ride day rides and weekends. It’s a passion, not a pastime.

Posted by Jack Powis in News
Adriano Carvalho

Adriano Carvalho

King of the Road Challenge, 2415 kilometers in 36 hours

I have been riding motorcycles for almost 40 years now. Started at 13 years old on a 50cc Garelli at my family’s farm. Riding just trail and big trails until 1995 when I bought a VMax and changed my style to street and travels. Never stop riding them, but had my phases from every day to once a week rides. My current bikes: Yamaha VMax 1995, Harley Deluxe 2013 and Harley Ultra Limited 2021.

I have completed some long-distance challenges before and really enjoyed how much I learn about my body, limits and the machine while accomplishing those rides. I really enjoy spending that much time riding and fulfilling some planned route. Then I learned about the LDR website and loved the proposal, the logo, and the beautiful people sharing their experiences. After that I decided to be the first Brazilian in the group, and here I am!

My challenge started at Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil, went through São Paulo, Minas Gerais, back to São Paulo and finished in the São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro border. It included: 3 states, 53 cities, 2516 Kms, 29:30 hours and 79 gas gallons at last September 18/19 2021.

I’m planning to do a new challenge next year, probably in the first quarter. On June 22 will also make an expedition starting in Seattle-WA through Canada and Alaska, Prudhoe Bay and back. Can’t wait to accomplish another long distance ride!

Greetings everyone,
Adriano

Posted by Jack Powis in News
Gokul Pradeep

Gokul Pradeep

805kms in 12hours, Easy Rider challenge with a Ninja ZX-10R in Tamil Nadu, India 06 September 2021

Hi, I’m Gokul Pradeep P, 32, from Tamil Nadu, India. My love for motorcycles started at a very young age. Always fascinated at riding on two wheels. The young boy’s love for motorcycles came true at 21 when I got my first motorcycle, a TVS Apache RTR 180.

Then in 2014 I bought my Ninja 300. Learned a lot about riding with my 300. Did a lot of memorable tours and rides with my 300. As time flew by, the young boy became a man and the man finally realised his dream. Got my hands on a 2019 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

My brother who completed the Easy Rider challenge in 2019 on his KTM RC 390 asked me to try this challenge. Initially, I thought of doing it with my Ninja 300. Later, I went on and browsed through Long Distance Rider’s members list and found that just 3 ZX-10Rs have done this challenge. So I thought, why not do this challenge on my ZX-10R.

So everything came to fruition on 06.09.2021. I planned to start the ride a bit early, but I was able to start around 8.45 AM only. Started at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. I planned to complete the ride in 8 hours. The climate was very good, but there was a lot of construction work going on the highway which hampered my ride.

Finally I touched the 800kms mark in 9 hours. Since I had a lot of time left, I took some rest and finally completed the ride at 838kms in almost 10hours.

It was a great experience for me and opened the door for trying endurance rides. Looking forward to completing the Full Throttle ride. I have also shared my experience in my youtube channel – Dashcam Dasher.

Posted by Jack Powis in News
Barry Donovan

Barry Donovan

My foray into any long-distance riding began the day I registered for the Scooter Cannonball Run 2020 in early 2019. However, due to Covid-19, like many other events, this event was rescheduled to 2021 with a route change necessitated by the Canadian border being closed. This caused the route to expand to 4500 miles over 10 days.

To participate in this event, a scooter must meet 3 of 5 requirements: unit construction of engine, transmission and rear swing arm, wheels no larger than 10 inches, originally equipped with a step through style frame originally equipped with running boards or leg shield and a single engine design. My scooter was a 2006 Vespa GTS250 which met 4 out of 5 requirements as the wheels were 12 inches.

The Long Distance Rider’s qualifying ride was on Day 7 and was 527 miles of which 75 were dirt and gravel and elevation changes from approximately 3,000 ft at start, rising to over 10,000 ft and then finishing about 7,000 ft. The start was at Hot Springs, SD and traveled through parts of Wyoming and Colorado finishing for the day in Rock Springs, WY.

It was a memorable day of riding with amazing scenery and riding a scooter really allowed for one to soak up the beauty and vastness of this country.

Posted by Jack Powis in News
Matt Brooks

Matt Brooks

I started riding on the street when I was 14 years old, I’m 45 now. I took a few years off after kids came along, but in 2019 I was able to buy a 2001 Heritage Softail that belonged to a guy that was near and dear to me. He “adopted” me as his own. The bike was concord purple & diamond ice. He named it GRIMIS. He lost his battle with cancer in 2007 and the family sold GRIMIS. I was not able to afford it then, but was able to buy if when it was for sale in 2019.

Fast forward to 2020. I wrecked on Arkansas Hwy 7 and totaled out GRIMIS. Three weeks later I bought a 2014 Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited with 9350 miles on it that I named BIG PIG. That’s when the fun began.

I have a riding buddy that really likes to put down the miles. We have been on a trip to the Natchez Trace Parkway in its entirety and back home that ended up being 5 states in 4 days 1390 miles. We rode Arkansas Hwy 7 in its entirety and back home that ended up being right at 900 miles round trip. We rode all that was open of the Blue Ridge Parkway and through the Smokies that was 8 states, 8 days and just over 2500 miles. That was the most I’ve been on two wheels in one trip. Started that trip off with 592 miles before we stopped for the night. I also rode the Talimena Drive round trip that was right at 600 miles total. I’ve put 15,000 miles in 14 months on The Ultra with many more to come.

Posted by Jack Powis in News
MEMBER RIDERS NEW OPTION:  Get your certificate electronically!

MEMBER RIDERS NEW OPTION: Get your certificate electronically!

At this time, shipping both inside and outside the United States has become very difficult. We are suggesting a more cost-effective alternative.

Long Distance Riders will be happy to certify your ride by sending your certificate electronically. This special $20 package includes:

  1. Certificate of Achievement (suitable for framing).
  2. Your name and achievement listed on our Long Distance Rider’s Web Page.
  3. Your name and achievement listed on our Long Distance Rider’s Facebook page.

The cost for this service is just $20 instead of the full package price of $35 (not including shipping). Once our postal service is running more smoothly, you’ll be welcome to apply for additional items via mail.

Note: Long Distance Riders is still accepting orders for the full package if that is what you prefer. However, please note that we cannot guarantee a timely delivery.

After your ride is completed, please send your documentation to jackp210@aol.com, and let us know if you’d like the $20 special package.

This is an unfortunate circumstance for businesses in the U.S. and abroad. We hope to ease the burden on our members by offering an easier, more cost-effective solution.

Posted by Jack Powis in News