Check out Walter Colebatch's blog, the Tokyo to London Project. He went through China on a bike in 1994 without a guide.

Best of Luck for your endeavour

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Hi Handy Man,

Keep good and detailed notes and write a book when your finished, or keep good video footage for a doc, it is a unique chance of probably a unique undertaking. It will be shining example for people around the world. Power is in the mind!

Actually a friend of mine met a paraplegic german guy last year who was driving around Africa with his modified Mercedes camper van and he wasn't avoiding the back country and remote area's!

Cheers and bon voyage,
Noel

Wow!

I can't offer any constructive advice about routes or countries, so I'll leave that to others who know more than me. But the level of determination you obviously have will stand you in good stead.

Keep a diary because your story will inspire others and challenge stereotypes.

Good luck with your endeavour. You are an inspiration!

Just do it bro, if you have problems at the border then go somewhere else, it's their loss not yours!

chinas a guide unless you can hire a chinese bike in the country, you can hire the chinese ural copies but then it would need modded but you wouldnt need a guide.
I know there was a double leg amputee who did a rtw on a harley sidecar setup but never heard of a paraplegic.
As for the USA try advrider its mostly american and theres alot of both ural people and also a few folks with modded trikes and sidecars for various medical reasons too, Im very surprised you havnt got ride reports of what you have done already. There is also a few guys with direct contacts with ural who do testing for them stateside you never know you have already proved you can do long trips you might get a little help from ural along the way.

Thanks for the info guys,

I'm thinking of trying to set some kind of world record, 'First paraplegic to tour the world on a motorbike, solo'. But unfortunately after looking at the GWR site they don't accept feats accomplished by disabled people.
Don't ask me why its almost discrimination I'd say.

This is what was on their site as part of the conditions when attempting a record, Its kind of a little unclear to me but I have applied already (4 -6 week wait to see the out come) -

• While we do not want to take away from any achievements, records which are qualified by disability or personal handicap cannot be accommodated in a reference work as general as Guinness World Records.

So I was thinking of trying to set a record as the first person to ride a motorbike around the world, solo using hand controls only?

Reason why I want to try and attempt to set a world record, it to attract more publicity to my trip.

I want to try and make it a charity ride to help benefit other people with spinal cord injuries. As well as inspire them at the same time.

I am currently looking at some organizations that will help me arrange this as a charity ride, although I have never attempted to do anything like this so it is all new to me.

Also if I can gain some kind of publicity I may be able to encourage some type of sponsorship, Like 'pictish' mentioned from Ural, Tilite (the manufacturer of my wheelchair) or any other company that might be interested.

It's still just an idea at this point, but and Idea that I'm pretty keen on.
So I guess the best way to start is by doing my homework first...

AWESOME dude! go for it!

I understand their position because you could easily argue its discrimination to include feats by disabled people ... like saying do they have a category for first black man to ride around the world or shortest man to ride around the world. By categorising people ... you ARE discriminating. You are defining them by their disability / status.

The other issue for them is instead of having one category ... first person around the world, you would have thousands of categories. First blind man to ride around the world, first deaf man, first dwarf, first paraplegic, first spina bifida person etc etc etc. Then there is first deaf woman, first blind woman etc ... then there is the first paraplegic deaf man etc ... it multiplies into thousands of potential categories.

Maybe its just me, but I dont like ANY categorisation of people, whether the reasons are positive or negative.

By removing the focus on the person, GWR can focus on the act. First trip around the world by motorcycle, fastest sailing of the Atlantic, longest motorcycle jump ... or whatever ... that way they can remove themselves from categorising people.

Then there is the grey and somewhat controversial topic of defining how you categorise people.

.... but thats all for external people like me or GWR...

If YOU choose you market your trip as the first paraplegic to ride around the world (subject to my post above re Dave Barr), then there is nothing stopping you. There is no doubt about it, it will be easier for you to get sponsorship and publicity for that than for non-disabled people to get sponsorship for a ride around the world. The fact that GWR wont make a category for it doesnt mean jack squat. There are loads of bike travel records that are quite well known but either non existent as a Guinness category or did not go thru the hoops before the trip to get it verified by GWR. Either way, nobody doubts them. And I really dont think it takes away much from the marketability of the story.

Dave Barr above is the first guy to ride a Harley around the world. They fact that its not verified by GWR doesnt really detract from the achievement.

I wouldnt be put off by it. Do your trip and be proud of it.

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