There's a two-wheeled missile racking up records on Alpine climbs: in October he snatched the climb record of the Stelvio from the Prato side from Jai Hindley, last week he took the ascent record of the Mortirolo from the hardest side, climbing it in 43'35" and doing better by 1 minute and 7 seconds compared to the official record that belonged to Vincenzo Nibali.

The missile John Burke is Canadian, 29 years old, and has a truly special story.
We'll tell you about it with the necessary premise that climbing records are always debatable, because those obtained in official races are obviously conditioned by what happened in the days and hours before, by race tactics and the development of the stage - because these mountains are always faced during grand tours - as well as by weather conditions, so much so that we are wrong to talk about "records" while we should say "best chronometric performance", Burke's numbers are truly impressive.

Jack Burke is obviously not a newcomer: born on June 12, 1995 in Canada, his profile speaks of a weight of 70 kilos for 180 cm in height: starting from 2016 he pedaled for seven seasons in the Continental category, first in the United States and then in Europe, curiously changing teams in every season. For him no victories and no podiums but some good placements in the first seasons in Canada and in 2022 in Europe with 6th place in the Oberosterreichrundfahrt in Austria and 18th in the Tour of Slovenia won by Tadej Pogacar.
The year things change for Burke is 2022: registered with Union Raiffeisen Radteam Tirol, he falls and breaks his pelvis compromising what would have been a key season in his intentions. At the end of June he changes teams, stays in Austria and wears the jersey of Team Felbermayr - Simplon Wels, still in the Continental category, and with this he participates in the Ötztal Cycling Marathon - which is considered the unofficial world championship of cycling marathons with its 227 kilometers and 5,500 meters of elevation gain - and wins it.

At the beginning of 2023 Burke is still without a team when the "bad thing" happens: he is hit by a car while training, falls and suffers serious brain injuries and back fractures, problems that have tormented him for a year and a half with serious health complications - reduced vision to 30% in one eye and face to be reconstructed - and personal, since upon waking in the hospital he discovers that the health insurance that should have still covered him is no longer there.

The dream of becoming a professional cyclist is shelved to respond to a more pressing need: paying for medical care.
He has an idea... in the drawer: in recent years he had taken notes of all kinds about cyclist preparation so a training guide to sell online is born. A job that immediately becomes huge: nine months of effort to print a 600-page book. A book that today in the audio version includes six podcasts with Sepp Kuss, Alison Jackson, Jan Maas, Dan Bigham, Mitch Docker and Svein Tuft.

The book is an editorial success, he receives appreciation even from cyclists from male and female World Tour teams. And the podcast "How To Become A Pro Cyclist with Jack Burke" becomes an unmissable appointment for many enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, Burke doesn't stop pedaling, in 2023 he is registered with the Austrian amateur team ARBÖ headstart ON-Fahrrad and this year with the American Above & Beyond Cancer Cycling p/b Bike World.
But there is another "sliding doors" in his life: at the end of April 2024 he records an episode of his podcast with Steve Neal, a Canadian coach he confesses he had never heard of. It is suggested to him, he is curious, wants to understand what and if he can learn from him and that interview hits Burke so much that at the end of the recording he decides to be trained by Neal for a few months.

"I didn't have a road bike - he says - and I didn't even know if we would train on the road, gravel, XC MTB or ski mountaineering. I was simply excited to have a person to work with. For the first time in my life, others (my coach and my friends) urged me to try again, but I liked training because I enjoyed it. Actually, I thought my cycling career was over".

From the meeting with Neal, new motivations were born, a new way of reconciling training and work - books and podcasts are now an integral part of his life -, new methodologies to make the best of the hours spent on the bike and new challenges to face, such as measuring himself on Alpine climbs.

Meanwhile, however, he returns to the Ötztal Cycling Marathon and wins it for the second time.
And here we are back to the starting point: the climb of the Mortirolo with the record time of 43'45".
Accompanied by an appeal to professional teams: "I just want an opportunity with a WorldTeam. I don't care which team, I just want to compete against the best riders in the world" Burke writes on Strava next to the recordings of his performances.

Now the ball passes to the managers of professional teams: will someone be willing to bet on John Burke, the record climber?