German motorcycle manufacturer are giving a biker nod to two women riders for an amazing feat.

Travelling epic distances is nothing new to BMW Motorrad adventurers, but while many ride tens, or even hundreds of thousands of miles, two American women have racked up a record few could even contemplate.

Enter Ardys Kellerman and Voni Glaves, who are officially recognized as the first female BMW riders in North America to cover one million miles (1.6 million kilometers). The distance, which is more than 40 times the circumference of the globe, took decades to accumulate and between them, the women have used 31 different motorcycles.

“I’ve had 15 bikes and Ardys has had 16,” says Voni, “My favorite tends to be whichever one I’m riding at the time, but I do have one which really stands out.”

More than 350,000 of Voni's million miles were completed on her BMW R 1100 RS, which was bought brand new in 1993, when the oilhead was first introduced.

“I keep coming back to BMW because my mechanic husband Paul has learned so much about how they work that I'd have a hard time changing brands!” Voni explains, “They've been amazingly reliable for us and I appreciate the technology, especially ABS brakes.”

Voni, 64, and Ardys, 79, met up to ride their millionth mile together, and the odometers finally clicked over this landmark achievement at Red Mountain Overlook in Colorado. Confirmation of their successful target has already been awarded by BMW Motorrad USA and the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, after the pair sent off paperwork confirming each of their 100,000 mile milestones.

The Iron Butt Association also plans to make it an official record.

“Our record is for being the first two women in North America to do this – we might be the first in the world, but I don’t know how we can confirm it,” explains Voni.

Both have ridden for more than 25 years, with Voni getting her first bike in 1977 and Ardys in 1985. Voni has a trademark color of red, most of her bikes, including her current F 800 S, are red, as is all her riding gear. The friends are both retired now, but Ardys formerly worked as an electronics technician, and is a licensed pilot, while Voni was a teacher, working with special needs pupils.

“Arriving at work riding a red motorcycle and wearing red leathers did attract student attention,” she says. “My high school students, with special needs, were quite proud of me and learned lots of extraneous information about geography when we'd track my weekend and summer trips.”

“More than once I gave them the assignment of writing about their summer vacations just so I could share mine!“ she notes.

Voni’s 35-year journey to one million miles has taken her through all 50 states, all the Canadian provinces, five countries in southern Africa, and New Zealand. Asked what she will do next, the proud grandma to two motorcycle-mad boys jokes ‘two million miles’. But despite her achievement, Voni says she doesn’t think of herself as an extreme rider.

“I don’t see myself like that, but I do like to set personal challenges that are a bit beyond what I think I can do. And then do them. I challenged my students to do the same – and they have,” she says.

“I didn’t set out to ride a million miles, but I really just enjoyed riding and travelling by motorcycle. I found myself going everywhere on my BMWs,” Voni said explaining the recent record, “When I reached 600,000 miles some friends told me I was close to a million kilometers – well, that seemed doable and after that, a million miles started to seem possible too.“

But there was another achievement during her journeys that she’s just as proud of.

“Every one of my miles was accident free, so I’d like to continue to safely explore this vast country of ours close-up, on two wheels,” she says.

Both Voni and Ardys are experienced long distance endurance riders. Voni finished the 11-day Iron Butt Rally in 2003, while Ardys has completed the same event on four separate occasions.

“I still hear from students now and again and they are universally proud of me and didn't doubt for a minute I'd make this milestone,” Voni said excitingly.