Ambitious motorbike trip will benefit cancer charity

by PENNY CASTER
Advocate staff
Oct 23 2006

A Red Deer father and his three sons who plan to ride motorcycles from South America to Alaska hope to raise a bundle of cash for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.

Sean Noble, 54, and his sons Ryan, 25, Rob, 24, and Justin, 23, plan to fly to their start point in May: Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southerly community on the South American continent.

There they'll rev up their four versatile Suzuki V-Strom 650cc machines and begin an epic 27,000-km journey.

The trek will end in Deadhorse, Alaska, the most northerly community on the continent.

Besides raising money for cancer, the family hopes to beat a Guinness Book of Records time of 35 days for the trans America motorcycle ride set in 2003 by a British couple.

Guinness no longer endorses such events from a safety perspective, so if the foursome does beat the standing record, it won't go in the famous book.

Safety, however, will be paramount, said Sean during a chat at his Red Deer home.

Just having the four of them along, plus spare parts, tools and so on, is a big help.

And sticking to Guinness rules means they can't rack up even one ticket.

"If you get a speeding ticket, you can't get the record," said Rob.

Sticking to the rules means they must get a pair of witnesses to sign off for them every day, wherever they are. They plan to photograph their witnesses, too.

The riding formation has been well thought out. They'll put Justin at the back of the lineup because he's the fastest rider. The slowest will lead.

At all times, if a rider loses sight of the person behind him, he must stop until the group is together again.

Planning for the trip, which ranges from plane tickets to vaccinations to insurance in the various countries traveled to visas, is already well underway.

One big plus is that Justin is a licensed Suzuki mechanic.

Robert is very mechanically minded and will graduate from the University of Alberta in the spring with a petroleum engineering degree.

Justin will graduate from U of A at the same time with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Ryan is a computer whiz and has created a temporary website that will be replaced with a fancier one at www.way2far.ca, where pledges will be taken.

Traveling from south to north, the opposite route to the British team, means that for most of the trip, the Nobles will be heading for home, said Sean.

There will be a celebration when the foursome passes through Red Deer, in very early June, if all goes well.

The weather will range from just below zero to 40C along the way.

Mountain passes mean snow is very likely at some point.

The family plans to send in reports of the adventure on a daily basis to a local radio station via satellite phone and maintain the website so people can follow along.

Meanwhile, mom Kathy, who Sean says gives her "reluctant endorsement," will keep the home fires burning.

They are looking for about three major sponsors.

Turple Brothers of Red Deer is helping get the bikes for the family and an international shipping firm is helping get them shipped to Argentina.