Within the night twilight hours of September 11, 2024, Lael Wilcox grew to become the unofficial new world report holder for the Quickest Circumnavigation of the World by Bicycle (feminine).
Wilcox left Chicago’s Grant Park at 7:06 a.m. on Might 26, 2024, and returned to the Buckingham Fountain 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes later, having accomplished 18,125 miles (29,169 km) throughout 4 continents and 22 nations.
Together with her time, the 37-year-old Alaskan has unseated Scot Jenny Graham who held the report since 2018 after finishing her unsupported journey in 124 days, 10 hours and 50 minutes.
“I had a lot enjoyable — felt like I may’ve simply saved driving perpetually,” Wilcox commented on the end, the place she was welcomed by household, associates and the Chicago biking neighborhood.
Wilcox travelled the world aboard a customized Specialised Roubaix and tackled North America first, then Europe. She then flew to Bangkok to trip throughout Thailand and Malaysia, ending in Singapore. Subsequent, she flew to Australia and New Zealand, racking up miles alongside the best way, earlier than flying again to her residence state of Alaska, and driving again to the place all of it started in Chicago, Illinois. You may see her full route right here.
On her around-the-world journey, Wilcox accomplished 18,125 miles (29,169 km) with 630,000 ft (192,024 meters) of climbing. She averaged roughly 170 miles a day.
Along with contesting with the lengthy days and parts, Wilcox additionally battled sickness, flat tyres, mechanicals and, at occasions, horrible climate
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“On day 4, I used to be throwing up all day, it by no means stopped raining and I used to be getting a number of punctures. I nonetheless rode 139 miles, but it surely was a tricky one,” she advised her sponsor, SRAM.
Wilcox reveals that she has misplaced some weight however “not an excessive amount of,” fueling herself with six to eight thousand energy a day, together with an ungodly quantity of Coca-Cola.
Wilcox used social media to announce the place she’d be driving every day, and hundreds of followers throughout the globe joined her for a mile or two alongside the whereas. 1000’s extra adopted her tracker and cheered her on from afar.
Her favorite of the 110 days of driving was the primary day she rode via Alaska, which on the time she rode there, had daylight till 11 p.m. and introduced again glad childhood reminiscences for her.
Her spouse, photographer and videographer Rue Kaladyte, documented the journey on social media and revealed common podcasts. A full-length documentary of the try is forthcoming as effectively.
Wilcox is a world-renowned endurance athlete who stumbled into bike racing 10 years in the past and has dominated the game of uber-long sufferfests ever since. The FKT-chaser’s record of accomplishments consists of information at mainly all the world’s largest endurance races and trails, together with Iditorod, Tour Divide, Baja Divide, Trans-Am, Navad 1,000, Badlands, Westfjords Manner Problem, and the Arizona Path – simply to call a number of. Wilcox additionally gained the 350-mile Unbound XL in 2021 after driving her bike 600 miles to the beginning. And now, she’s added the most important FKT of all of them to her record.
Wilcox is understood for dreaming up her subsequent journey whereas nonetheless within the midst of 1, however she has but to disclose what her subsequent nice expedition can be. No matter it’s, given her monitor report, it is certain to be huge.
(Picture credit score: Rue Kaladyte)
The Guinness World Document
Quickest recognized occasions (FKTs) are precisely what they sound like: the quickest recognized time it has taken somebody to finish a longtime route. And the quickest journey around the globe needs to be essentially the most prestigious.
Scot Jenny Graham held the final official Guinness World Document for the Quickest Circumnavigation of the World by Bicycle (Feminine) set in 2018. She rode 18,400 miles (29,600km) in 124 days and 11 hours, besting the earlier report, set by Paola Gianotti in 2014, by 20 days. Lael Wilcox has bested Graham’s time by effectively over 15 days.
To qualify for a Guinness World Document, the rider should full the identical distance because the circumference of the Earth — 18,000 miles— in a single path, beginning and ending in the identical place.
The rider might make their very own route and to leap between continents, air and sea journey is allowed so long as no less than 18,000 miles are literally ridden.
