He rode a motorcycle 40.74 kilometres across open water — on the surface of a river in Hunan

Motorcycles are not supposed to float. Zhang Xue, founder of Chinese motorcycle maker ZXMOTO, spent years preparing to prove a modified bike could do something close: skimming across the Jinjiang River in his hometown of Mayang, Hunan, fast enough to stay on the surface. On October 25, with Guinness World Records officials verifying by GPS, timing and video, he covered 40.74 kilometres (25.31 miles) over open water — beating the previous record of 31.8 kilometres by almost nine. It is a stunt, proudly. It is also years of engineering and failed attempts distilled into one very wet, very determined ride.