Look Ma, No Hands! On a Motorcycle! For 525 Miles!

Phil Comar is attempting a Michigan-to-Kentucky ride to raise money for Parkinson's research — without using his hands or stopping for gas.

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image: Biker riding road in forest (personal perspective)
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As if riding a motorcycle wasn’t risky enough, one Michigan man is betting he can ride his Harley-Davidson without using his hands — and without making any stops — from Michigan to Kentucky.

It wouldn’t be Phil Comar’s first. The 61-year-old biker from Adrian, Mich., set the world record in 2011 for riding 327 miles with no hands. This year’s goal is 525 miles. He has modified his bike to hold 11 gallons of gas so he won’t have to stop to fuel up.

The irony is that Comar, a.k.a. “No Hand Man,” teaches motorcycle safety at a community college in Michigan. Comar said his stunt is a prime example of “do not as I do, only as I say,” in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer. For the record, he said he has never been in an accident. “This is not something you just jump on a bike and do capably. I’m the only one who does this,” he told the newspaper.

To honor his father, who died from Parkinson’s disease in 2008, Comar is hoping that the stunt can raise $25,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. When his father was still alive, the two often talked about the art of biking with no hands, Comar told the Enquirer. This year will be the third year in a row he’ll go for a ride with no hands in remembrance of his father. Finding a cure for this debilitating disease has become a source of hope for him, Comar wrote in a blog about his fundraising.

An entourage of more than 50 bikers will accompany Comar on his Sept. 30 journey, which will run from the south side of Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge to Covington, Ohio.