Brooksville brothers bike from Alaska to South America

bay news 9 ^ | 6-18-2015 | Ferdinand Zogbaum

[Citizen Zed]

Two brothers from Brooksville are back in town after an unbelievable adventure.

Andrew and Matt Sufficool just finished a 17,000 mile bike ride from the northern coast of Alaska to the tip of South America. "Hey, you only live once," said Matt. "We are not married. We don't have kids. Let's do it."

[Citizen Zed]

And in how many countries did they have to show their papers?

[gorush]

Do it while you’re young...but do it.

[upchuck]

I remember when I was 12 or 13 bike riding with friends to a state park that was 25 miles from home. Rode there, hacked around awhile, ate lunches packed by our Moms, and rode home. That was quite an adventure for kids as young as us.

Guess our folks were guilty of raising “free range” kids, huh?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Guess our folks were guilty of raising “free range” kids, huh?”

We were turned loose for the entire day, on our own, in the ‘wilds’ of Milwaukeestan, WI! Bus Pass or bikes, Mom didn’t care - just get out from under my feet!

We had to be home before the street lights came on, though. Our parents really smothered us, LOL! ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Admirable accomplishment! *APPLAUSE*

[arbitrary.squid]

Presumably all of them.

A group of local young adults from Juneau a couple of years ago did something similar. They started in kayaks from Juneau and did 950 miles along the coastline to Seattle, then got on bikes and rode the rest of the way to Patagonia.

I envy the hell out of their journey.

[beethovenfan]

Their butts are still numb.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Yeah but they were going down. Try going up the planet for a real challenge.

[rrrod]

I’m planning a motorcycle trip thru Colombia and Ecuador this January. I’ll be 66 and ain’t slowing down,

[Bigg Red]

Amen!

[minnesota_bound]

It was pretty easy as it was all downhill from Alaska to South America. It was all uphill after that!

[minnesota_bound]

#9 You can be a drug mule.... :)

[SES1066]

They have a web site showing their route in chunks. One thing that I got an answer to a mental question was that they did skip Panama's Darien Gap (East and South of the Canal). That is as unfriendly a jungle as you NEVER WANT TO TRAVERSE and surprise NO ROAD to take. Looks like they made up the mileage when restarting in Columbia. Their bikes appear to be "Surly Truckers" touring bikes (from the pictures). Wonder how many tires, chains and other gear were used.

This is a map showing the overall route: http://end2endadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/route-map1.jpg