Some would call it the ultimate motorcycle road trip.

In 2002, after having smashed the Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by motorcycle, adventure riders Kevin and Julia Sanders planned their next challenge – the “Trans-Americas by Motorcycle".

This ultimate endurance ride covers around 27,000 kilometers of tough riding and extreme weather conditions through Alaska, Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

The previous record had stood at 47-and-a-half days but Kevin and Julia beat this by more than 12 days.

According to BMW Motorrad’s website, the double Guinness world record holders realized that a trip of this magnitude would definitely appeal to adventure riders the world over, albeit taken at a more relaxed pace, with time to look around and experience other cultures and lifestyles. Thus, the Trans Americas Expedition was born, with the first one leaving in 2003. Every two years since then, this ride of a lifetime from the top to the bottom of the world has opened the door to a new world of overlanding opportunities for many.

The current Trans Americas Expedition – the fifth so far – is the first one that Kevin won’t be leading, as he had only just returned from the amazing eight-and-a-half month Discover Our Earth round-the-world adventure as the Trans Americas was due to leave. In charge of this latest epic voyage is expedition leader Richard Millington. An extremely experienced rider, he is enjoying guiding the 2011 group across some of the most inaccessible parts of The Americas.

Globebusters trips are always dominated by BMW motorcycles but this time they are being ridden by every one of the 14 participants, with two R 1150 GS machines, three F 800 GS, while the rest are R 1200 GS and GS Adventure models of various ages, from 2005 to 2011.

The international group includes explorers from America, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Four of those riding are former policemen, and there are also two pillion riders – one taking part in the entire tour, and another who will join in from the Northern Andes section onwards.

It is the kind of route where motorcyclists can forget about the day-to-day pressures of the commute. However, roadworks and traffic lights can sometimes be replaced by more exotic hold-ups – like waiting for a family of bears to cross the tarmac. “We’ve had a bear bonanza on this trip,” says Richard. “Even as far south as Utah, we were still seeing bears. On the whole they were not interested in us, and if you keep your distance you’re fine. However, the mother of two cubs seen by two of our team, Drew and Andy, was clearly nervous. They’d had to stop sharply for the bears and were closer than was ideal.

“At one point, the mother bear stood up on her hind legs and roared at them just to make it clear that she would protect her cubs. They both took more than a few steps back at that point!”

Bears are not the only potential danger on the journey. The group had to safely negotiate their way across the notorious ‘Banana Bridge’, a rickety old crossing at the border of Costa Rica and Panama.

“When we arrived at the bridge, we could see new steel pylons rising from the water, so we’ll probably be the last Globebusters group to cross the old bridge,” explains Richard. “It was originally built for trains, but the line is now defunct and is shared by pedestrians, trucks, buses, cars – and occasionally a host of BMW bikes."