Perth to Sydney FKT: Powered by Purpose
Brendan Johnston’s ride across Southern Australia was a journey of self-discovery
Trinity Advanced SL
Thoughts and emotions swirled around Brendan Johnston’s mind, just as they had the previous few days and as they would over the following few days.
There were concerns, about the painful flare up in his Achilles tendon, the result of long days spend pedaling in a fixed position. There were wistful reflections, on joyous time spent with his five-year-old daughter, but also on the time they regularly spend apart while he is across the globe racing professionally. There was annoyance, due to the ruthless headwind that had thwarted his record attempt and impeded his journey as he pushed onward from Perth to Sydney. There were flashbacks, memories of his battle with cancer as a teenager, a transformative experience that had ultimately led him to this moment, alone and in the wind, raising money for Tour de Cure, the Australian charity organization that solicits funds to support cancer research and prevention.
This is how it was for the rider known as “Trekky,” pedaling hour after hour, hunched over in an aerodynamic tuck, meditating on anything and everything to counteract the monotony and strain of the task at hand. Thoughts came to the forefront, retreated, and returned, swirling in rotation similar to the pedaling cadence that propelled him ever forward. And there he was, having another transformative experience, a second major life experience vastly different but also inextricably linked to the first.
In January, Johnston, 34, embarked on the biggest physical challenge of his life, a 4000km supported ride across southern Australia. It was something he’d been considering for 20 years, and more recently the goal of breaking the record of six days, 10 hours and 58 minutes set by Austrian Christoph Strasser. The record, set in January 2017 by the six-time Race Across America champion, is regarded as one of the most “unbreakable” endurance benchmarks in Australia. Naturally, Johnston was compelled to give it a go.
Targeting the month of January made sense for several reasons. It’s in the heart of the Australian summer, maximizing daylight hours. It also fit perfectly within Johnston’s race schedule, which focuses on the Lifetime Grand Prix Series, allowing for a rest following his 2025 season and with enough time to recover before the 2026 season began.
Though he competes at the Life Time Grand Prix Series aboard either a Revolt Advanced Pro or Anthem Advanced SL, for this unique project Johnston rode a Trinity Advanced SL with CADEX Aero 4-spoke wheels on the front and rear. In instances where crosswinds were an issue, he swapped over to the CADEX Ultra 50 Disc Wheelsystem.
The journey, from Perth to Sydney, was given a title with a double entendre—Project PTSD. But the distance from the acronym’s mainstream meaning was never far. His own testicular cancer diagnosis as a teenager, the way he had compartmentalized the experience, and the physical and mental depths he would access to complete the ride all centered around varying levels of trauma. This wasn’t a conventional adventure ride through pristine single track and steam crossings; this was a journey of self-discovery across a remote and often barren landscape.
Trekky gears up for his Perth to Sydney attempt.
A journey of self-discovery across a remote and often barren landscape
Trekky was followed by a support vehicle.
“I think I was drawn to this due to the competitive nature of breaking the record, but I think all I really wanted to do was take myself to the limits,” Johnston says. ‘And this sort of seemed a real extreme version of that, having to be on bike that long, having to push that hard, and sleep that little. I think I am subconsciously drawn to find my limits, break those limits, and find the way back.”
As an example, take The Straight, a 90-mile dead-straight section of the Eyre Highway. It cuts through the heart of the Nullarbor Plain with no bends, no shade, and almost no visual variation. It came early on the ride, on the second day. At that point Johnston and his support team had already calculated that he would likely not break Strasser’s record—after riding for 18 hours, stiff winds had forced him to cut his first day short by 160km.
Instead, he focused on taking the Strava KOM on The Straight, which he accomplished by almost seven minutes, in a time of four hours, 21 minutes and 37 seconds, averaging 216 watts. But it came at a cost, as the effort required to maintain that amount of power into a headwind would manifest in unforeseen ways.
Trekky riding through golden hour.
Trekky and his team.
Trekky closely followed by his support vehicle.
After three days of unrelenting winds, Strasser’s record had become unattainable—and Johnston’s body had started to revolt. Beyond stabbing pain across his back and shoulders, his biggest concern was the nodule that developed in his Achilles tendon, the result of the sudden overload of repetitive motion. Among Johnston’s seven-person support team was his physiotherapist, who told him under ordinary circumstances, the remedy would be immediate rest.
“He told me if someone came into his clinic with this, he would put them on crutches and no exercise for six weeks,” Johnston says. “We still had 3000km to go. It was bad, I was struggling to walk, you could almost hear my Achilles squeaking away. I was thinking, ‘This is actually really serious. At what point am I going to have to pull out of this?’ The season is long, and I knew that unless I could get it under control, I was going to have to stop. I was thinking about missing races, missing results, and what it would mean for my career. Fortunately, we turned it around.”
The days that followed were a blur of solitude, a roller coaster of emotions heightened with every truck that blazed past. Day 7 brought wind and rain—the worst weather the area had seen in a year—delaying the endpoint by another day. Finally, after more than eight days, Johnston rolled into Sydney having raised nearly $40,000 for Tour de Cure.
Johnston’s body had started to revolt.
Refueling was oh so important.
Trekky resting along the journey.
Looking back, Johnston says he is of two minds about the experience.
“The first and main thing is that I can’t wait to get back out there,” he says. “I fell in love with the idea of doing it. It’s a very unique thing to be able to do. Even though we had bad conditions, my main emotion is that I miss being out there, riding my bike all day, with even people there helping me.
"I also remember some of the harder moments, realizing what’s ahead of you, feeling like it was not surmountable—the rain, the wind, the injuries, the fatigue. There were some tough parts. I don’t know if I want to put my body and mind through that again. It took a lot of energy to crawl out of those holes."
More than anything, however, Johnston feels as though he has unfinished business. He still wants to break the record.
“I put value in learning about myself,” he says. “I thrive in getting out of those situations, in finding the depths of my physical capabilities and trying to find a way back.”