For almost three decades of the “Aurum 1006 km powered by Hankook” race history, many traditions have been born here. One of them is recording various records or extraordinary achievements the day before the main race starts, and the author of these records traditionally becomes the traveler Vitoldas Milius. However, this time he embarked on an unusual adventure in an unusual way – on two wheels, and the main goal was to cover 1006 miles in less than 24 hours.
This goal is not made up – there is a well-known “Iron Butt” association among motorcycles worldwide, issuing iron butt certificates to those who manage to cover a thousand miles within 24 hours. Covering such a distance grants the first, silver, level.
In 2012, V. Milius attempted a world record for driving a car in reverse – in 8 hours and 50 minutes on the “Aurum 1006 km race” track, he covered 308 kilometers. In 2019, together with Aidas Bubinas, they circled the Baltic Sea in 152 hours and 30 minutes, covering 5008 kilometers.
On Friday at five in the morning, V. Milius set off from Vilnius on a “Honda X-ADV 750” touring scooter and headed towards Palanga – on this trip, he had to choose not the most interesting but the fastest routes: “Since I didn’t know what to expect, as I had never ridden such distances on a motorcycle, everything was quite new. I chose routes based on what would be most convenient to complete this task. It may seem that the task is boring, but once you realize how far you need to go, that after riding 300 km you still have to cover another 1300, everything seems a bit different.
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Of course, everything is definitely doable – anyone who understands what they are doing and knows how to ride can sit down and cover this distance. The hardest part is probably not losing concentration, because there really is no time to rest. Driving such distances by car is definitely easier for me at least.”
Starting in Vilnius, V. Milius reached the race town in Palanga and then turned back towards the capital. However, on the way back, he saw that traffic jams were already forming on the A1 road towards the seaside, so he turned towards Marijampolė, then back to Vilnius, Panevėžys, Kaunas, Marijampolė, and finally returned to Vilnius shortly after midnight. He rode almost the entire route on all highways in Lithuania. By the way, for the last kilometers, Aidas Bubinas joined V. Milius, who recently set the European “Iron Butt” record, covering 20 thousand miles in 20 days.
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