At the age of just 19, Australian motorcyclist Mike Schram has entered the record books as the youngest person to ride around the world.
Setting off three and a half years ago, he’s since covered 120,000 kilometres and traveled through 53 different countries along with his parents Jeanette and Aad.
Riding a Yamaha XT660R and supported by Avon Tyres, Mike and his family set off on the Great Ocean Road in south-east Victoria and never looked back.
Mike was recently interviewed about the highs and lows of his trip.
He said: “The best bits were undoubtedly Mexico, because of the culture and the people, and Norway, due to its sheer beauty.
“Also, travelling through Kazakhstan was really special. There’s nobody around for thousands of kilometres – it’s a whole new level of ‘nothing’.”
“The most dangerous moments were when we almost had a head-on collision with a moose in Canada,” he explains, “and when four trucks were overtaking each other on my side of the road in Honduras.
“In Kyrgyzstan, a car was on the wrong side of the road and I had nowhere else to go, so my pannier went through the front bumper, lights, rim and tyre of the car. Luckily I was able to stay on the bike as I was doing about 60km per hour.”
He’s also had some rather scary moments off the bike, including taking a bite from a venomous spider in India, but the lasting memories will definitely be of the warmth of the people he met along the way.
“I realised that actually in poorer countries, the people seem so happy,” says Mike.
“There is a greater sense of community in the poorer countries and, for example, in South East Asia or Central America, the locals are so welcoming. I never realised how important people are when you start travelling.
“Meeting people and speaking to them is such an important part of your journey. It gives you a new perspective.”
Back home in Australia, the family have now set up a business building adventure motorcycles to customer specifications using many of the parts they relied on throughout their trip.
Originally the family set out on Avon Distanzia tyres, and then moved over to the new TrailRider when it replaced it last year.
You can find out more about their trip at earth-roamers.blogspot.co.uk
Find out more about the new TrailRider here.
