Halfmoon Bay, BC, Canada — Bruce Gordon, a 48 year old roofing contractor living on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada, has beaten the Guinness World Record for fastest solo global circumnavigation by bicycle, doing it in 153 days — 10 days faster than the previous record holder, according to World Records Academy. + Pending Guinness review.
“I feel pretty good about it. I’m happy that I made it. Ten days sounds like a big gap, but really over the course of 153 days that’s a pretty narrow margin and it’s a lot narrower than I expected,” Gordon said.
”I was pretty boastful about thinking I could do it averaging 200 km a day and doing it in something like 125 days, so I’m almost a month later getting home than I thought I would be.”
He has many memorable moments from the ride that took him through New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, England, the United States and Canada.
Australia was his favourite place to visit, although he enjoyed seeing all of the countries he travelled through. “I would say for sure the most fun I had was in Australia, partly because of how friendly everyone is there,” he shared to Coast Reporter.
”The culture and everything is different enough to be really unique and exciting and yet similar enough, with everybody speaking English there and so many things are similar to what you would expect in America as far as being able to get around and communicate.”
Fastest solo global circumnavigation by bicycle: Bruce Gordon sets world record
My name is Bruce Gordon. I’m a 48 year old roofing contractor living on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada.
In January 2010, I was taking a break from roofing and hanging out in the Kootenays with my family. Alpine skiing at White Water and Nordic skiing up near Paulson Summit. Really enjoying the down time (no pun intended) and doing a little research on the California desert ride Ken and I were planning for march.
Thats when I stumbled across Julian Sayarers website and was instantly seduced. At the time, he was attempting to beat the Guinness World Record for fastest global circumnavigation by bicycle. (he succeeded). I read everything there was to read and clicked on every link.
That led me to Steve Strange who set the record in 2005 at 276 days. (his site is gone now I believe). In 2008, Mark Beaumont raised the bar by completing his global circumnavigation in 194 days.
I discovered James Bowthorpe was riding around the planet at the same time as Julian and proceeded to devour everything on his website. He finished in 176 days. Julian in 175.
Each of these riders were competing in accordance to the rules set by Guinness World Records. I wont go into all the details since you can read about them on their websites or on GWRs.
In a nutshell, rider must complete 29000kms cycling in one direction around the planet. must start and finish in same place, and must cross a pair of antipodes en route. Julian’s site lays out everything in a very clear and concise fashion. I’m guessing you wont be able to turn away from mine without clicking on some if not all of the others.
At some point during all this global circumnavigation surfing I was doing, the idea that I could probably ride around the planet, cycling some 29000 kilometers in under 175 days, solidified. I did the math. Gave myself a daily average of 200k . 145 days. That’s a 30 day window over Sayarers time. (I hope to do better than 200k/day. I just used that as a guideline).
So, tentatively, hearing the words stumble forth for the first time, and strangely, as if coming from someone else, I voiced my idea to Jessica.
Jessie has always been very supportive and encouraging (or maybe the correct adjectives are patient and enduring) about my twice annual bike tours as well as the BCBikeRace, the TransRockies, 24hrs solo, the Test of Metal, and all the local xc races. She didn’t even bat an eye. I told her what I meant to do and though I’m sure she thought it a crazy idea that would probably never come to pass, told me to “go for it”.
At least that’s what I recall her saying. Maybe it was actually “oh forget it”. At any rate, she hasn’t threatened to leave me or throw all my belongings out into the yard and change the locks if I persist so she must really love me:)
In 2010, 2 more cyclists completed the challenge. both destroying the previous record. Cyclist Vin Cox finished in 163 days and is the official GWR holder for fastest solo circumnavigation of the planet. Alan Bate, the only one of the bunch lucky enough to make the trip (or 2/3rds the trip) with a support crew and vehicle finished in a blistering 113 days. That’s an average of some 257kms/day. The guys a machine. For some reason, he didnt submit evidence of his accomplishment to Guinness so his time isnt official.
Dispite the fact that mine is an unsupported solo adventure and I’m the oldest guy to take a kick at the can, I’m still going for it. Besides, I’ve got a secret weapon. Something that just might give me an edge. It’s called… BACCHETTA.
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What an amazing accomplishment Gordon. I’m sure all of the Sunshine Coast is super proud of you! Well done!!!
It’s Always A Good Day on the Sunshine Coast! Duane Burnett
[...] here is something to look at. Someone set a world record for circumnavigating the world on a bicycle. I did not know that this was as contested as it now [...]
[...] here is something to look at. Someone set a world record for circumnavigating the world on a bicycle. I did not know that this was as contested as it now [...]