The 2025–26 Mac McHugh Mileage Challenge wrapped up on March 31, 2026. From Pennsylvania to Ohio, Texas to Colorado, our top finishers show just how many ways there are to build a life around motorcycles.

Minnesota led the state standings with 44 finishers and 309,389 miles. Pennsylvania followed with 265,763 miles, then Texas with 216,250. Wisconsin’s 15 finishers and Pennsylvania’s 14 rounded out the top three states by participation.

Meet the three men and three women who topped the mileage standings, plus the two average rider honorees whose adventures show how much can happen between the starting and ending odometer readings.

Adapted from Jim Low’s introduction and the riders’ accounts in the September 2026 BMW Owners News. Statistics and the list below use the corrected finisher results.

First place. Endless inspiration.

First place male

Blaine Paulus Jr.

Pennsylvania

89,380 contest miles

A ride almost every day

Retirement gives Blaine time to do what he loves: ride. Based near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he fills his calendar with breakfast rides, parts deliveries and weekends with fellow motorcyclists. His 2025 travels included the MOA National Rally in Tennessee, but much of his remarkable mileage came from simply getting on the bike again and again.

His season also included a major interruption: heart surgery kept him off the motorcycle for 42 days. Back in the saddle, he finished the local Polar Bear Challenge with 11,001 miles and another win. His photo celebrates two million documented motorcycle miles across all brands. That lifetime achievement is separate from the 89,380 miles that earned this year’s first-place finish.

Keep the wind on your chin.

First place female

Stephanie Pischke

Ohio

48,119 contest miles

One ride becomes another

Six years after buying her first motorcycle, Stephanie had accumulated more than 300,000 lifetime miles and discovered an entirely new way to experience the world. Her 2022 R nineT Classic is for fun; her 2023 R nineT Urban GS is for travel. Most of her riding is solo, with the freedom—and responsibility—of choosing her own route and pace.

Moving from coastal Virginia to Ohio brought a new relationship with weather. Preparation, good gear and careful decisions about conditions became part of the ride. She also shares long-distance adventures with her husband. Through all those miles, the feeling that started it remains: excitement whenever she walks toward her motorcycle.

My answer is simple: one ride becomes another.

Second place. A season well spent.

Second place male

Steve Ladd

Texas

67,384 contest miles

At home on the back roads

Steve built retirement around great places to ride. After leaving his construction career in 2019, he sold his house, bought a 38-foot toy hauler for himself and his two motorcycles, and set off around the country. In late 2024, he settled near Bandera in the Texas Hill Country, drawn by the riding weather, friendly people and quiet back roads.

His 1985 R 80 G/S Paris Dakar and 2022 R 1250 GS carried him through Texas, Oklahoma and Washington, where visits with children and grandchildren are part of his summers. Rallies and San Antonio BMW Club outings added more friends and miles. After taking a road captain course, he began sharing some of his favorite Hill Country routes as a ride leader.

Every mile is an adventure

Second place female

Jennifer Ott

Michigan

37,472 contest miles

We ride

A full-time job did not keep Jennifer from a personal-best riding year. She logged 37,472 miles, including 7,500 commuting to BMW Motorcycles of Detroit. Careful planning stretched her season from February through December, with southern rides in Alabama, Georgia and Florida helping keep winter from closing the door.

Lake Superior was a recurring draw. Jennifer completed the Iron Butt Association Great Lakes Challenge with five fellow MOA members, circled Superior with a friend and joined the BMW Touring Club of Detroit for adventures including Ferries and Fun in Canada. Her garage now includes an R 1300 GS Adventure and an R 12 G/S. For Jennifer, the contest celebrates a way of life—and offers other women a visible example of what is possible.

I love to chase miles and follow my front tire, and every one of them tells a story.

Third place. New horizons.

Third place male

Lee Nelson

Colorado

41,438 contest miles

The long way keeps calling

Lee began riding in 2009, but his appetite for distance really grew in 2023. The northern Colorado neurosurgeon made this his highest-mileage year yet, with finishing the Iron Butt Rally among its highlights. Cross-country travel, commuting and the simple urge to see where a road leads all contribute to his riding life.

He enjoys the touring comfort of a K 1600 GTL and the versatility of a GS Adventure, adjusting routes as weather changes. His travels have taken him to the Pyrenees, the Alps, New Zealand and the Canary Islands. When he wrote his magazine account, he was headed toward the Arctic Circle north of Fairbanks, with a gathering of long-distance riders in Yellowknife still ahead.

Safe travels, everyone—see you out there.

Third place female

Kerri Lundy

Colorado

31,637 contest miles

Curiosity around every corner

Only a few years ago, Kerri started with a BMW G 310 R and a desire to travel. That beginning has grown into tens of thousands of miles across countries and continents—and a finish in the 2025 Iron Butt Rally. She fits that riding life around full-time work as a nurse anesthetist in Colorado.

On her R 1250 GS Adventure, she seeks roads with adventure and spectacular scenery. North America, the Pyrenees and the Canary Islands have all been part of her travels; her photograph captures an Alaska adventure. Along the way, motorcycling has brought lifelong friendships and experiences she could never have imagined when she started.

The miles are never the goal. They are merely the result of a constant curiosity about what lies around the next corner.

Average miles. Exceptional memories.

Average male rider

Dave Mangun

Virginia

11,012 contest miles

Wanderlust has no average setting

Dave lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, about 15 minutes from Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Between volunteering with local nonprofits, the retired civil engineer explores on his R 1200 GS, often choosing the mountain roads beyond those famous routes.

His travels also included an R 1300 GS in Spain and Portugal and an F 900 GS in Thailand. Over two years he rode on four continents, alongside coast-to-coast trips at home. With 60 years of motorcycling experience, he still plans journeys by connecting friends, family and interesting places—with a generous interpretation of “along the way.” His award-winning contest total was 11,012 miles.

This is the first time in my life that I have won a prize for being average!

Average female rider

Jane Bixby

Florida

11,493 contest miles

Anything but an average adventure

Jane lives in Florida and spends summers in Vermont, with much of her contest riding centered on New England. She divided her adventures among a K 1600 GTL, an R 1250 GS and an F 850 GS. One highlight was leading her husband and three friends on a 12-day back-road journey to the MOA Rally in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Her season included Ohio’s Windy 9, the Flight 93 National Memorial, West Virginia’s Mothman country and Pennsylvania’s Little Grand Canyon. Vermont dirt-road weekends brought camping and camaraderie, while Coddiwomple stops turned everyday outings into treasure hunts. The result: 11,493 contest miles, and a season rich in friendship, scenery and discovery.

I may have finished as the “Average Female Rider,” but every mile felt anything but average!

Thank you, Jim.

This was Jim Low’s final year coordinating the mileage contest. His work helped sustain a longtime MOA tradition and connected riders through their shared love of the road. Join us in thanking Jim for keeping those miles—and those stories—coming.

Thanks also to Dunlop, sponsor of the Mac McHugh Mileage Challenge.

Every finisher. Every mile.

Find your name, cheer on your friends and see how your state stacked up. Open a state or Canadian province below to view every finisher and their total contest mileage.

234 finishers • 37 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces • 2,606,130 total miles