Paul Pelland

Paul Pelland, currently residing in Londonderry, New Hampshire,^[1] is a long distance motorcyclist who has set many world records despite living with multiple sclerosis.^[2]

He finished his first Iron Butt Rally – an 11-day 11,000-mile motorcycle endurance event known as "The World's Toughest Motorcycle Competition" – on a Ural motorcycle in 2001. He suffered many mechanical issues along the way and had to install new pushrods made from hardware store materials.^[3]

In 2003,^[2] before getting his diagnosis, Pelland was a top ten finisher of the Iron Butt Rally.^[4] As Pelland continued through the latter portion of his rally, he found that he could not remember the name of a friend whom had fallen off his bike. He also found his hands numb and his mind scattered.^[2] He learned shortly after this experience that these were symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

On September 29, 2012, Pelland, sponsored by National Powersports, set a world record by riding 1,000 miles in under 24 hours on 100 different motorcycles. This event being his first fundraiser for the National MS Society.^[5]

He will continue to ride until he meets his one million mile goal which he calls "Longhaulpaul's Endless Road Tour",^[6] all to raise funds for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

In May, 2014, Pelland rode a Piaggio scooter c. 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Boston to Chicago in 16.5 hours, wearing a blue tuxedo over an Aerostich motorcycle riding suit. At this point he had logged 55,000 miles of his one-million-mile goal for MS awareness and fundraising.^[7]

As of 2016, Pelland had ridden an estimated 900,000 miles.^[3]

As of October 2016, Paul has ridden 200,000 miles for MS while speaking at over 200 events across the United States, while raising almost $100,000 for the National MS Society,^[8]

November 6th, 2016 Paul will attempt his second world record by being the first motorcyclist to document riding 28 hours in the same day. ^[9] More details are here.

References