A man and his dog broke the Guinness World Record for the longest trip on an electric bike, and thanked San Diegans for their support.
Since he started, the dynamic duo pedaled more than 14,000 miles together on their electric bike. That's nearly triple the current Guinness World Record for the longest electric bike trip, Minnick told NBC 7.
The longest journey on a motorized bike is 4,612 miles, according to the Guiness World Records.
Fans of Mike Minnick and his 15-pound rescue dog 'Bixby' may remember when the pair had their bicycle stolen in Mission Beach back in 2015. At that time, Minnick and Bixby had biked over 9,300 miles through 31 states while advocating for pet adoption.
Now the two have been biking around the country for three years promoting local animal shelters. Currently, Minnick and Bixby are adding even more miles to their record as they pass through San Diego.
When his special Yuba Mundo cargo bike was stolen, he lost Chicken Charlie (his rubber safety chicken), Bixby's crate, lights, toys, bluetooth speaker, ipod, GoPro and more, according to his GoFundMe page.
That forced him to place his Hug Your Dog tour on hold, but he quickly raised $16,870 including local donations.
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"San Diego reached out to me in a way that was really humbling. I mean people offered us places to stay, a complete stranger offered me their car," said Minnick.
Locals also kept an eye out for Minnick's bike once it was stolen and eventually were able to get it returned to him.
As Minnick headed back to San Diego, he said he will never forget how San Diegans went the extra mile to make sure he could go back on his bicycle journey.
"I mean people came from everywhere and made sure that we didn’t go without, that we were taken care of. And they took care of us in a really real way," said Minnick.
The pair will head north after they leave San Diego to wrap up their world record. In the future, Minnick says another bike tour to raise money for animal shelters is on the horizon.
