Gregory Waldner has fulfilled a dream in riding a motorbike across the continent of Australia, from west coast to east.
Taking place in late December 2011, the Canmore resident made the 4,247 kilometre journey from Freemantle, near Perth, to Coffs Harbour in just 48 hours, 11 minutes.
Becoming the first non-Australian to complete the journey, the ride was sanctioned by the international organization Iron Butt Association and the Far Riders of Australia.
“To get the ride certified, I had to have three witnesses at the beginning and three at the end, and the IBA has now certified the ride,” said Waldner. “The Far Riders had already certified it.”
In order to prove the legitimacy of the ride, Walder had to keep receipts for every 300-350 miles, to show stops along the way. This led to problems, as not all stopping points had 24-hour fuel.
“I ran into a fuel problem in Broken Hill – there was no 24 hour fuel – so I held up in Yunta – there was no place to sleep really, so I pulled some chairs together in a dining room and made a bed out of them,” he said.
Though Waldner did have a GPS device with him, and his journey was being tracked by a group of dedicated spectators through an online forum, unbeknownst to him the device shut off after the first 24 hours.
“They knew I was going to need fuel, but didn’t know exactly where I was,” he said. “Along the way, there was a guy who drove 300 kms to bring me fuel.
“When I rode into Broken Hill, there was a car at the side of the road with flashers going and a guy ran out waving his hands, and my first thought was ‘I’m sorry you’re having car troubles, but I don’t have time to stop,’ and I kept going.” Eventually, the helper did catch up to Waldner and was able to give him the fuel.
Waldner chose to undertake the ride as a way to make an ordinary vacation into something more interesting.
“No one outside of Australia has done this yet. Australian David Jones would have been a little quicker and longer, so it’s not a world record, but I was pretty happy to get through it,” he said. “The fact that it hadn’t been done by an Australian is the intriguing part.
“The challenges were intriguing too – the heat, the crosswinds, wildlife like kangaroos at night, riding on a motorcycle you’ve hired, riding on the left side of the road – all of those aspects made it interesting for me.”
Having now wet his lips, Waldner plans on doing more long distance rides.
“It was fun, it was very challenging, and I’m planning other rides this year,” he said. “I’d like to go back and do one ride that hasn’t ever been done there, and maybe later this year, but we’ll see.”
A ride panned for this year will be a Vancouver to Halifax Trans-Canada ride. “It’s a lot of fun, but I feel like something’s missing, so I’ve contacted a charity and I’m looking at doing a couple rides for Kids Cancer Care out of Calgary.”
Waldner started riding motorcycles when he was 14.
“I was working at a bakery in Victoria Beach, Man., and my neighbours had this old Honda 50, and said ‘If you can get this working, you can use it,’ and somehow I got it going,” he said. “After working in the bakery for the summer, I bought my first motorcycle.
“The guys that ran the bakery were all into dirt biking, and that area of Manitoba is heaven for dirt biking. I made the transition to street bikes when I was 18.”
After losing interest in the sport for a while, busy with life, Waldner picked it up again a few years ago while living in Texas, after which he moved back to Canada.
“In 2009 I did my first Iron Butt ride, and rode Canmore to Winnipeg,” he said. “But I went through Camrose, to make it 1,600 kilometres in 24 hours.”
Waldner now lives in Canmore where he owns and operates Summit Motosports, where he offers motorcycle sales, service, rentals and tours.
