The wildest motorcycle ride that ever took place in Wyoming was likely one of the very first.

In 1903, George Wyman became the first man to successfully ride a motorcycle across America, nearly a month before the first cross country car trip.

Amazingly, he may have never made it through Wyoming if it weren't for some help from the President of the United States.

Wyman's wild ride began in San Francisco on May 16, 1903. A couple weeks later, his 1 1/4 horsepower motorcycle encountered its biggest obstacle, the Rocky Mountains.

Luckily, as Wyman rode through Wyoming on a rough road that would later become Interstate 80, he made his way over the rugged mountain range using a trail left by Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt had been visiting Wyoming to promote a recently passed land reclamation act. After speaking in Evanston on May 29th, the President made his way to Cheyenne.

Wyman was able to travel across the Cowboy State by following the hoof prints that Roosevelt and his associates had made only the day before.

Eventually, after covering nearly 4,000 miles in 50 days, Wyman arrived in New York. His motorcycle was so beat up that he had to pedal the final 150 miles of his epic adventure.

 

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