How this Inuvik paramedic broke the record for fastest trans-Canada ride

By Melanie Chambers

“Inuvik paramedic may have broken cycling world record on trans-Canada route,” read the CBC headline. It worried Chris Bruckner for more than a year. He knew he broke the Guinness World Record for cycling across Canada: 13 days, three hours and 49 minutes (beating the previous record by two hours and 24 minutes), but he had another journey ahead of him. “I had never done anything like this before. As soon as I had finished, I was mentally checked out,” he said earlier this year.

Many factors – a hectic work schedule, mental exhaustion and procrastination – meant that he didn’t get around to submitting all the evidence until more than a year later. “The adjudication process was looming in the back of my head,” he said. Collecting photos, videos and logs took an entire week, eight hours a day. When he remembered the work, he was amazed he finished on time.

A year and a half later, there was a new headline: “N.W.T. man earns Guinness World Record for cycling across Canada.” He had finally received confirmation of the mark.

Vancouver to Halifax

Bruckner started out at Vancouver City Hall on June 30, 2019 and headed toward Halifax, 5,747 km away, on his 2016 Giant TCR Advanced SL. His team of two helped keep him on track. On some days, he rode roughly 500 km in 20 hours. After he passed Winnipeg, his body started to break down. “There was pain in my hands, and my pelvic region was burning, then stopped,” he said. “By the second week, the guys had to do up my zipper on my speedsuit.”

There was some unexpected emotional trauma. “I was paranoid about cycling in the dark,” he said. “There is something psychologically demoralizing about being in the middle of nowhere. Going through the towns wasn’t so bad. But riding at night and early morning with no one around, just a black highway, and you’re cold – it really took a toll on me psychologically. I dreaded when the sun went down.”

On the 13th day, Bruckner realized he might have fallen off the pace for the record. “I remember the most desperate feeling in the world,” he said. “I was hoping a stream of trucks would drive by really slowly so that they could help push me along. I was looking for a miracle.”

To ensure he finished on time, he rode 24 hours straight, through headwinds and rain. He was so soggy that he was worried about trench foot. His phone flooded, too.

World record and a personal record

The most he’d ever cycled previously was at eight-hour races in his home province of Ontario. When he finished those, he felt elated. This was different. Nothing prepared him for this kind of mental and physical beating. “I felt dead inside,” he said of his condition at the end of the record-setting ride. He had also fundraised $5,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association. “I felt more relief than anything that it was over. I was really just happy to spend time with my parents and take in the moment, but I was so busted up that I really wanted to do a health check and make sure everything worked properly.” It took four months for him to recover the feeling in his hands and feet.

Through it all, Bruckner’s friends and family were his backbone. It wasn’t anything particular that they said during the ride, but rather the chatter that took his mind off the pain. “It was just so nice to have someone who truly cares about you in your ear while you’re suffering along,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the April/May 2021 issue of Canadian Cycling Magazine