Sam Sunderland departed the Royal Observatory in Greenwich on Saturday, officially beginning his attempt to set the world record for the fastest circumnavigation on a motorcycle. He must finish the journey of over 18,000 miles in under 19 days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes.

The rules are straightforward. He must keep moving in a single direction around the globe, cross two antipodal points (two places on opposite sides of the Earth), and he cannot use a different bike from the Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer that he started on.

The effort is split into six legs. The first takes him from London to Istanbul, after which he will take a plane to Bangkok. His run through Southeast Asia will take him south to Kuala Lumpur before flying to Perth, where he’ll cross the width of Australia until he reaches Sydney. New Zealand and Auckland await, followed by a flight across the Pacific to Vancouver.

In North America, he will ride all the way down to Los Angeles, back up north and across the width of the United States before crossing back into Canada and northward for Montreal. From there, Sunderland catches a final flight to Casablanca. The final stretch is a run through the Iberian Peninsula, the tip of France, across the English Channel, and back to London where the finish awaits at the Royal Observatory.

The flight times do not count toward the record.

Sunderland, a two-time Dakar Rally winner and inaugural World Rally-Raid Champion in RallyGP, was supposed to make the attempt in 2025 but called it off due to a back injury. Now recovered, he was cleared to try for real starting Saturday.

Kevin and Julia Sanders currently hold the record, which they set in 2002.

Red Bull has set up a tracker on its website to follow his run.

Featured image credit: Mark Roe / Red Bull Content Pool