Pedal Se Medal: When A Lucknow Teen Began His Guinness Ride On PM Modi’s Birthday In 2015

Eminent personalities across the world, including the likes of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, extended their birthday wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he turned 75 on Wednesday. However, the occasion brought back a special memory for a man from Lucknow, who etched his name in history with the world’s longest motorcycle ride.

Gaurav Siddharth, an MBA graduate from IIM Lucknow, set out on a challenging solo motorcycle journey of 1,25,000 kilometres – three times the circumference of the Earth – on September 17, 2015, which coincided with PM Modi’s 65th birthday.

Recalling the arduous journey in a LinkedIn post, Siddharth said, “With a lot of pokemon-level enthusiasm, 11 years back today on 17th September (which incidentally was PM’s

b’day), I set out for a ride which entered the Guinness World Record for the longest motorcycle journey ever– this was around 1,25,000 kms (out of which ~1,15,000 were successfully recorded – thanks to limited network back then) – this spans to around thrice the circumference of the earth.”

“Solo travel, no Jio, no YouTube-wala time this was, where you had to count and save mobile data in MBs – interestingly the 3rd highest expense I made during this journey besides petrol and lodging was on mobile internet!” he said.

Siddharth’s ambitious mission was flagged off by Baba Ramdev with a message for ‘Swadeshi’ and he also sought the blessings of PM Modi’s mother Heeraben in Gujarat, according to the Hindustan Times. He rode for one year and eight months across 29 states and five Union Territories on his Hero Impulse bike.

In 2018, the Guinness World Records certified Siddharth’s attempt as the longest motorcycle journey in a single country. This record was previously held by an American biker Danell Lynn, who rode 78,000 km across the United States.

Siddharth also shared several pictures of his journey, from seeking the blessings of PM Modi’s mother to interacting with locals from different states, during his nearly two-year journey.

“Witnessed a lot of transitions – Demonetisation, the rise of Jio and the social media, AddictedA1 transition to CarryDeol to Carryminati (was a big fan then) and a major border unrests. Maybe someday will write a detailed note, learnings and how did it impact me,” Siddharth continued.

Siddharth is currently a Senior Manager at Intel Corporation and previously worked as a Project Manager at Adobe. He completed his MBA from IIM Lucknow in March 2025.

“But once again, this is just me etching a remembrance, for not hundreds but thousands of folk across the country – barring states, religion, political affiliations, who made every possible effort to ensure this guy on the road had the bestest fun time ever! Here I believe lies India’s greatest strength, unity and compassion that flows across all divides. Wishing the Prime Minister a very happy B’day!” he said in his message.

Several users on the platform lauded Siddharth’s challenging mission. “Bro was famous before internet was a thing never knew this side of you Gaurav! So cool,” a user wrote. Another commented, “Cheers to the 11 years of unparalleled achievement.”