A “hurricane” passed through North Battleford late last week.
It was Danny “Hurricane” Halmo, riding an e-bicycle across Canada in pursuit of a Guinness World Record for the longest journey on a motorized vehicle: 8,209.10 kilometres.
Halmo is originally from Windsor, Ont. but calls Langley, B.C. his home these days. He is a former Guinness World Record-holder looking to reclaim a record he set in 2012 for the longest journey on a motorized vehicle, at 6,721 kilometres. All the while, he collected 6.4 tons of food for food banks.
The next year in 2013, he did the Sun Country Highway e-Mazing Race in which he claimed the record for longest journey for electric vehicle (non-solar) at 12,163.42 kilometres.
Then, no sooner did Halmo set that record than he lost it a couple of months later. While doing the mounds of paperwork needed to claim the Guinness record, an “American beat it by the time we got our copies in the mail.”
“This is part of the game of it all,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going on in India or China or Japan or wherever. So it’s always a gamble.”
Halmo got a back dated record for his trouble, and a nice certificate to hang on the wall, but couldn’t get to brag about being the record holder. “That pissed me off,” he said.
He continued to hold the Guinness record for longest journey on a motorized vehicle until 2016, when it was claimed by another American who extended the record to 8,209.10 kilometres.
Halmo’s goal in this latest journey is to not simply reclaim that record, but to annihilate it so completely that there is no doubt as to who the Guinness record holder is.
For Halmo, it’s a matter of national pride.
“This is about us, eh? Not U, SA. Get it?” Halmo said. “It’s about a little friendly rivalry.”
He has set up FEVER, Formula Electric Vehicle Entertainment and Racing, which is designed to compete and go after Guinness records using motorized e-bicycles.
Halmo began his latest journey Aug. 28 in Vancouver and hopes to make it all the way to Halifax, N.S. before turning back and finishing up in Windsor.
So far the vehicle has been able to withstand the elements as well as the mountainous terrain in British Columbia and Alberta.
Halmo made it into Saskatchewan last Wednesday, crossing the border at Lloydminster and ending up in Maidstone.
But his journey hit a rough patch soon after, as he encountered difficulties finding a place to stay. The hotel rooms in Maidstone were all booked up.
Coming to the rescue was Battleford Furniture proprietor Chris Odishaw. He was contacted, and he picked up Halmo on the way back from the Gerry Ritz tribute dinner he attended in Lloydminster.
Odishaw dropped Halmo off at the new Comfort Inn and Suites where he spent the next two evenings. Halmo dropped by Battleford Furniture to visit Odishaw the next day.
So far Halmo is impressed by his electric bicycle, a GenZe e101, which he describes as “bullet proof. I’m so impressed with this bike.”
Halmo said he tested out his e-bike for more than a year in all kinds of conditions including 100 F heat, as well as -20 F and pouring rain.
“Nothing stops this bike,” said Halmo. “I’ve had no equipment failures at all.”
The bike is electric, and has been able to pull 440 pounds of weight, pulling a trailer that is also motorized.
For his latest journey, Halmo has again partnered with Kent Rathwell and Sun Country Highway. That company has set up 4,000 charging stations along highways across Canada, many of them at Peavey Mart, to supply electric power to eco riders across Canada.
Sun Country Eco Rides has also supplied the e-bike Halmo is using. He took time Thursday to charge up at the Peavey Mart charging station in North Battleford.
It’s a long journey and potentially a cold one as well, not likely to wrap up before the end of December. But that is part of the challenge.
“I’m not going to let anything stop me, except me,” Halmo said.
On Friday, Halmo departed the Comfort Inn towards Langham. That journey would be a full day’s ride in itself.
You can follow Halmo’s journey across Canada on Facebook under the name “genzefrenzy”.
