"I'm from Australia and this is the biggest ride you can do there," the EF pro explained before the start. After 30 days, 9 hours and 59 minutes, Morton reached his destination in Port Macquarie: a new record for the circumnavigation of Australia on a bicycle. He was around a week faster than the previous record. Over the 30 days, including breaks, he reached an average speed of 19.5 km/h and cycled almost 470 kilometres a day.
Lachlan Morton with accompanying crew
Whilst he usually rides in bikepacking mode, this time he was accompanied by a campervan. The support crew consisted of his wife Rachel Peck, his brother Angus Morton, his childhood coach Graham Sears, his long-time mechanic Tom Hopper and two close friends, Karter Machen and Athalee Brown. They prepared his meals, washed his gear, supplied him with bottles, found motels whenever possible, maintained his road bike and took care of a variety of other tasks so that Lachlan could concentrate on riding.
Lachlan Morton collects donations
He covered large parts of the route on the trailer in an aerodynamic position. He started in the evening and usually cycled through the night. He spent around 16 hours a day on his bike. Morton started and finished the circumnavigation of Australia in his home town of Port Macquarie, New South Wales. The old record was 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes, set in 2011, so Morton fell around a week short of the previous record. With the record ride, he raised funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which finances books to promote reading among Australian children.
"Every morning you wake up and your body is destroyed, but you fight through it. The last four or five days have been quite a challenge mentally. You just try to get up every day and keep going. It got pretty tough. I was definitely in a state of fatigue that I'd never reached before, so I had to lean on the crew and pull myself together to get home. You just have to put in so much time every day to motivate yourself. That's the real challenge of the Around Australia record in my opinion. I've never been so relieved to finish anything as I was today," he explained at the finish.
The difficulties on the track:
Extreme weather conditionsLachlan Morton experienced temperatures of over 40°C, which led to extreme exhaustion and dehydration. He had to stop regularly to cool down and top up with water.
Unexpected obstaclesOn his journey, Morton encountered various Australian wild animals, including kangaroos and emus, which suddenly crossed the road and posed potential dangers. He also experienced attacks by Australian magpies (birds). However, motorised road users were the most dangerous - which is why he occasionally considered taking side roads.
Technical difficultiesLachlan had three punctures, which is not much over this distance.
Video to the Alt-Tour from Morton
Kristian Bauer
Editor
