Edmonton just got a whole lot faster, thanks to Liane Langlois. The 50-year-old rider rolled back from Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats with a brand-new world record under her belt. And honestly? That deserves way more than a polite round of applause. She’s now the first Canadian woman—and only the fourth Canadian, period—to land an official Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme motorcycle land speed record. Her top speed was 136.331 mph.
Or 219.403 km/h, if you’re counting in metric.
Now, if you’ve never heard of Bonneville, picture it: a blinding white desert, flat as glass, stretching forever under the Utah sun. It looks like a mirage until you’re standing on it, squinting through the heat. For more than a century, this salty stage has been the place where dreamers and daredevils come to push past reason. Burt Munro chased history here in the 60s—his story turned into the film The World’s Fastest Indian. This is where legends are born, where records fall, and where every run feels like it belongs to something bigger than you.
That’s the world Liane stepped into.
And it wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment joyride. She’s been trekking down to Bonneville every August for the past eleven years, slowly carving her own path into the salt. Last year, she set two national U.S. records. This year, she aimed higher. With a custom-built bike from JKR Powersports in North Dakota, she finally had the machine to match her stubborn streak. She lined up, twisted the throttle, and rode straight into history.
The thing that makes her story even better? She doesn’t actually live in the high-octane world full-time. Back in Edmonton, she serves as a senior advisor at Chrysalis, an organization that supports individuals with disabilities. She laughs about her workplace giving her time off to “do crazy things like set world records,” but you can tell she means it when she says everything in her life feels rewarding right now. Chasing history one week, giving back to her community the next—that’s grounding.
And her run wasn’t just personal. It ties her to a line of women who’ve taken on Bonneville with the same mix of grit and fire. Jessi Combs, the fastest woman on four wheels, tragically lost her life chasing another record. Denise Mueller-Korenek, who pushed a bicycle—yes, a bicycle—past 180 mph on this same stretch of salt. Bonneville has always drawn the bold, but women like these prove that speed isn’t reserved for just one kind of rider.
So yeah, Liane’s record matters. It’s not only about the numbers on a timing slip—though 136 mph is nothing to shrug at. It’s about a Canadian rider walking into one of the most storied venues in motorsport and staking her claim. It’s proof that dreams from Edmonton can carry just as far as any from California, New Zealand, or anywhere else. Bonneville is about chasing limits, and this year, Liane showed the world that Canadians are right in the mix.
In her own words, it was the coolest thing she’s ever done. For the rest of us, it’s a reminder: records are meant to be broken, history is meant to be written, and the salt will always be there, waiting for the next brave soul willing to go just a little bit faster.
