Seventeen years after falling in four times, Zhang Xue rode a motorcycle 25 miles (40 km) across a river

The first time Zhang Xue tried to ride a motorcycle on water, in 2009, he fell in four times and managed 20 metres (66 feet). This week in his hometown in Hunan Province, the founder of motorcycle maker ZXMOTO completed the pursuit: a Guinness World Record for the longest distance travelled on open water by a modified motorcycle — more than 25 miles (40 kilometres) of repeated crossings of a river in Mayang Miao Autonomous County. His MX450 is no boat: it accelerates on land, then skims, held up by amphibious skis, steered by the front ski and pushed along by its rear tyre churning the water, with an enlarged fuel tank and waterproofing for the repeated runs. Seventeen years of tinkering turned four splashes into a world record.