Ian

Ian McPhee

AKA Tabledrain

Ian started riding motorcycles as a teenager in the early 1980’s. He began his career as a diesel mechanic in New South Wales, Australia and took his first overseas contract in 1994. He has since worked all over the world, visiting more than 30 countries and fixing far more broken bits than any 10 people are likely to see in their combined lifetimes. He has owned motorcycles in many of those countries; he has been able to bring several of those bikes home to Australia, where they remain today as part of his impressive collection.

Even as he travelled the world, he found his wanderlust to be insatiable. He began dreaming up wild rides that were bigger and more difficult than anything that had been previously attempted. In 2010 he became the only person to every document riding 3,000km (1,864 miles) in less than 24 hours. In 2017 he became the first (and so far, only) person to ever document a SaddleSore (over 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours) in Zambia, Africa.

He is also the architect behind the Alphabetical Capitals Expedition, spending 12 years planning and three years preparing for the epic history-making ride that is recounted in their book, Pushing Miles. He has successfully completed four 11-day, 11,000-mile Iron Butt Rallies along with a slew of other incredible endurance competitions in North America, Europe and Australia, and he is a member of the illustrious 100k Club for riding more than 100,000 miles in a calendar year.

Since retiring from international work in 2017, Ian has continued working as a heavy equipment mechanic on oil and gas rigs throughout Australia. When he’s not busy spinning a spanner, he lives a quiet life in the country outside Brisbane, Queensland with his wife and his shed full of motorcycles and projects.