New Cannonball Run record for the US!

[advrider]

Say you heard that a guy named “Alex Jones” was getting involved in a “Coast to Coast” project. You might wonder: Could this be the greatest alternative radio team-up of all time?

No, it is not! The Alex Jones involved in this project isn’t a talk show radio host, he’s a motorcyclist who just set a new cross-country Cannonball Run record for the US.

Now, take note: There are two different types of cross-continental speed records for the US. There is just the plain old coast-to-coast record, where riders take any route they choose. Then, there’s the traditional Cannonball Run route. This runs from the Red Ball Garage in New York City to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California. It was the basis of the Cannonball Run race from the 1970s, and to this day, this rough route is still an informally recognized challenge in the long-distance speed run community. There certainly isn’t any official sanctioning for something like this, as it runs on public roads and participants are often above posted speed limits.

Challengers generally stick to the same basic course, but will switch up their road choices at times. Alex Jones’ route covered more than 2,800 miles, reports Road & Track, and he accomplished the run in 32 hours and 52 minutes. That’s supposed to be a new Cannonball Run record for motorcyclists.

Impressive! Even more impressive, Jones did this run on a 2014-model Yamaha FJR1300, a competent bike but hardly the latest and greatest machine; he told Road & Track he bought the machine for $4k used, with 80,000 miles on the clocks, because he thought it was the most affordable way to complete the run! Many, many Iron Butt Rally participants would likely agree with his machine off choice, but it sure looks bad on all the Euro sports cars whose times he beat.

You can read more details on Jones’ impressive run in Road & Track.

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