21-year-old Ian Fletcher from Goodrich has ended his “Ian and the XLR” adventure that he had planned to last for more than two years. Ian left home on Sunday, April 9th, to ride his motorbike around the world.

The Ross Gazette reported his plans before he set off on this epic journey in the paper on April 5th.

Ian told the Ross Gazette that he first started planning the journey after his friend, Billy Rudge, died in a tragic incident in February 2015 while working at his home farm.

For his trip, Ian bought himself a 27-year-old Honda XLR motorbike and fully rebuilt the engine and the suspension. He fitted it with a larger fuel tank, giving him a 350-mile range.

Ian has been on the road for over 170 days, travelled 23,800 kilometres and been through 14 different countries; Spain, France, Andorra, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia when he had to change his plans.

In Ian’s latest Facebook update he posted about a change of plans as he is unable to move the bike on from Russia. He said: “The XLR is going to be stored here in Ulaanbataar with Koji the mechanic for $250 a year and I’m going to fly from here to Melbourne, Australia as planned. I would have continued to Vladivostok to store the bike but my temporary import cannot be extended anymore and expires next May, not giving me enough time to earn money in Australia to fly back and move it. Plus the weather will still be snowy and cold in Russia. The importation doesn’t have an expiry date in Mongolia and other bikes are stored here, so my plan would be to return for the XLR to ride to Magadan and home in about a year or two.

“A bit sad to say I didn’t hit my goal of Vladivostok, if I hadn’t been delayed with the engine failure in Kazakhstan I’d have made it there. But things happen for a reason and I’ll have a bike here in Mongolia, a prime location to fly to and take north east Russia by storm!”

Ian said that he is most proud of the fact that he left home at 21, on a 27 year old bike, without any fancy gear or sponsorship and with money he had earnt himself.

He said that there has been a lot of ups and downs and the emotional toll has been bigger for him than the physical side. He said: “It has all been so worth it, the beautiful views and bizzare things I’ve seen, weird conversations, friendships and mechanical disasters! But small good times certainly outweigh the bad.”

More than anything, Ian said it is the views, the people and circumstances he will really remember.

Ian said: “I wanted to show and inspire people that it is possible to do these things on an old bike, and on a tight budget without any special tools or gear. The most important things are that you save the money, check what visas you need and buy a bike you’re happy with!

“Other than the ride home on the XLR, eventually, I would never do this trip again on a 250 trail bike! But I’m glad I did.”

He continued: “I’ll still be posting on my Facebook as the adventure continues in Australia, but this will be one of the last posts as "Ian and the XLR" I’m going to change the ending to my new bike I’ve put a deposit on in Australia!”