Lael Wilcox is the new women’s Around The World record holder, arriving back at her Chicago start line 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes after she set off, having cycled 18,125 miles (29,169 km). That’s an average of roughly 270 km (168 km) a day, for nearly four months.
The 38-year-old from Alaska beat Jenny Graham’s 2018 record of 124 days and 11 hours by more than two weeks, with an average moving speed of 14.42 mph (23.2 km/h) as she passed through 21 countries across four continents. Her time spent moving and stationary was remarkably evenly split, with 54 days and 12 hours spent on the move and 54 days spent resting, eating and recording a daily podcast.
Her record will now be verified by Guinness World Records, but what won’t be apparent from her name and time sitting atop the leaderboard will be the way she went about setting her new fastest circumnavigation. Wilcox estimates that at least 3,000 people have joined her out on the road, all documented on her Instagram account, which has taken people along for the very long ride.
“Had the opportunity to ride along today for about 12 miles,” Escape Collective member Bryan Sechrist said in the comments of a recent article on this website. “If you didn’t know you would never guess she is at the end of an epic journey. I think she gains energy from the adventure and all the people that come out to share a portion of the ride.”
Along with photos with supporters joining her for a few miles at a time, her wife, the videographer Rugile Kaladyte, has accompanied her to document the journey, capturing stunning vignettes showing Wilcox traversing myriad landscapes and meeting numerous cultures.
Supported by sponsors including Specialized, Rapha, Komoot, SRAM, and Quad Lock, Wilcox has accomplished a feat at the apex of modern cycling culture, bringing together social media, sponsorship deals, and live tracking that allowed thousands of bike riders to join her for a taste of the adventure, while those at home could read Instagram captions (collated below into a retelling of Wilcox’s ride) and hear her describe the experience on a daily 10-minute podcast.
Around the world in 108 days
Two days into her journey east after setting off from Chicago on May 26, cycling off along the Chicago Lakefront and across the bike paths and country roads of Indiana and Ohio, headwinds, thunderstorms and dark clouds accompanied buckets of rain to ease Wilcox into her challenge.
“The ride has just felt like a celebration,” Wilcox said after the skies had cleared. “People are coming out to meet me and telling me that I’m riding right by their house. This ride feels special — I’m riding through people’s lives.”
But then the rain returned, a punishing start to a journey that can’t just be powered by vibes alone, but necessitates robust health to cover the 160-odd miles (~260 km) every day.
“Rough day yesterday,” was Wilcox’s assessment of day three. “I woke up nauseous and ended up throwing up several times. It never stopped raining and I cut both of my tires. All I could think was I have to survive, but really I just wanted to crawl under any awning I saw and go to sleep — there was a fireworks stand I was really considering. I couldn’t eat anything.
“I still made it,” she continued. “138 miles (222 km) and 10,709 feet (3,264 meters) for the fourth day. I feel pretty proud for gritting that out. I was just praying that I would feel better the next day. And I did! And the sun came out. Now I’m just having a picnic in a park with a lovely group of people. What a turnaround.”
Eight days in and she’d made it to New York: 1,147 miles (1,845 km); 6% of her total ride. With half a day to spare before her red-eye flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Porto, Portugal, Wilcox took the ferry across to Manhattan from Jersey City for a late-night dinner in Korea Town followed up by “the biggest bagel of my life” the next morning.
Landing in Portugal for the first time, it was hot and sunny and Wilcox headed straight into the mountains, gunning it east to Madrid and up into France.
“This is hard!” Wilcox said. “10 days down and 100 to go. I’ve ridden 1,655 miles (2,665 km) and have 16,345 (26,300 km) to go. Sometimes this really feels impossible, but if I keep pedalling, I’ll make it.”
By June 9 Wilcox had reached Paris. “Riding through these big cities is more complicated for routing and traffic,” she explained. “It may be a bit slower, but totally worth it just to see these iconic places and dear friends.”
Belgium and the Netherlands were soon ticked off, turning south in Amsterdam and stopping by Düsseldorf, Germany, for some maintenance work on her Specialized Roubaix.
Another week and she’d made it to Bosnia, 24 days in. 4,088 miles (6,579 km) with 160,395 feet (48,888 meters) of climbing, then heading through Montenegro and Serbia.
“It’s incredible to be back in the Balkans,” came the update from Wilcox. “Yesterday was my first day riding totally solo, no riding companions. The weather is a lot nicer now — humid and hot. I forgot how green it is here.
“It’s crazy. I’m not even a month into my four month ride. I feel small in a very big world, but I’m doing my best to enjoy every day.”
One month in and Wilcox was in Turkey. “This is my 17th country of the trip and my fourth day in Turkey,” she said. “Headwind, a puncture and really heavy traffic. The weather is good — it’s hot, but I’m grateful it’s not raining. I’m doing my best. This is hard. I started a month ago and have ridden 5,218 miles (8,414 km) and climbed 220,898 feet (67,330 meters).”
A day later – and after sharing the road with huge trucks, tractors, and motor scooters, as well as a surprise group joining her in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia – she had made it to the Black Sea, with only 1,000 km (620 miles) until Tbilisi, reaching the Georgian capital on June 30, marking a third of the ride (6,000 miles/10,000 km) complete.
After a layover in Dubai, Wilcox took an overnight flight to Perth, preparing to adapt to the Australia winter after the Balkan summer conditions.
Retired WorldTour pro Mitch Docker had helped put together Wilcox’s route across Australia, which would account for 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of her record attempt.
July 5 and spirits were still high. “Long nights and remote stretches across Australia,” Wilcox reported. “It was so wonderful to meet these families last night. They were waiting for me in the dark for an hour. They were camped just one mile down the road for their school holiday. It had been a tough day pushing the pedals and their cheers lifted my spirits. I love Australia.”
“The days are short and the distances are long,” came another update a few days later. “I haven’t seen too many people, but the ones I have met have been super friendly — roadhouse clerks, tourists and truckers. I’ve made it past the Nullarbor Plain. The wind has had a strong influence on my ride. Some days I’m fighting a headwind and others I’m just flying. 47 days on the road and I’ve covered 7,590 miles (12,215 km) with 281,582 feet (85,826 meters) of climbing.”
July 13 and another video postcard. “Someone recently asked me [whether] after all this riding if I feel like the world is bigger or smaller?” Wilcox relayed. “The world feels bigger and I feel so small.”
Up next were some milestones: July 18 marked her 38th birthday while July 21 saw her pass the halfway point on day 56.
Into August and next up was New Zealand, across the South Island from Invercargill to Picton. “It was probably the most spectacular yet,” she said of day 70 on the road. “Snowy mountains, rugged coastline, rolling green vineyards and a couple dozen people coming to ride and cheer.”
Wilcox then took a night ferry to Wellington.
“Getting off the ferry in Wellington yesterday morning, there were over 30 cyclists waiting in the cold and dark to ride me out of town,” Wilcox said. “I couldn’t help but tear up — so many lights in the dark, so much positive energy & excitement. I had company all the way into the mountains yesterday and will be riding past volcanoes today. So stunning here!”
Then came a flight from Auckland to Anchorage – a return for Wilcox to her home state of Alaska.
Arriving in her hometown of Anchorage on day 82, 13,255 miles (21,332 km) in, Wilcox said the miles felt easy. A huge crowd filled with familiar faces gathered to send her off for the final stretch across Alaska, down through Canada and the west coast, before turning left in Los Angeles to ride Route 66 back up to Chicago.
The first four days back in North America were spent without cell phone reception on the Cassiar Highway, before 100 riders joined her in Vancouver, riding her up to the border before a group of Americans joined her. A couple of Canadians were unable to resist and also crossed over to continue.
“Sometimes I forget that I’m riding around the world,” Wilcox said. “It just feels like the most fun pop-up group ride I’ve ever been on.”
Having had to alter her route inland due to a highway closure near Big Sur, Wilcox continued the coastal route south of Cambria, reaching Los Angeles by September, with less than 2,000 miles (3,220 km) remaining until Chicago.
“It felt like a big deal to get through Los Angeles,” Wilcox said. “The next challenge was crossing the Mojave Desert. I slept during the day and waited until nightfall and lower temps. My dear friend Julie drove down from Salt Lake City to meet me at a Chevron at 2 a.m. so we could ride together. We crossed into Arizona just after sunrise — so beautiful. There are wild burros in Oatman, AZ. The SpokesMann in Kingman replaced my tires and chain. Then I gained elevation into northern Arizona and got out of the heat. It was really sweet to see friends in Flagstaff and I’ll be crossing into New Mexico later today. Can’t believe we’ve made it to September. Everyday feels like a marathon.”
“It’s day 104 and I have 1,194 miles (1,922 km) to go!” Wilcox wrote on September 7. “I crossed into Texas yesterday and will be in Oklahoma tonight. I’m out of the mountains and into the plains. Heading east, it’s either a crosswind or a headwind. Tough going, but I’m getting there!”
Missouri followed Oklahoma before Wilcox reached Illinois, arriving back in Chicago on September 12, 108 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes later. 18,125 miles (29,169 km) covered with 630,000 feet (192,024 meters) of climbing.
“Thank you to Chicago and thank you to everyone at my finish (especially my parents and Rue’s family),” Wilcox wrote in her final update from the adventure. “I had so much fun — felt like I could’ve just kept riding forever.”
One ride ends, another continues
One thing is clear about Wilcox, demonstrated in our conversation prior to the record attempt and throughout her ride – she’s not all about performance and breaking records. It has to mean something. This is evident from the thousands of people who joined her on her group ride around the world, but once that ride has finished, things like her GRIT cycling mentorship programme for girls in Anchorage, Alaska, who want to learn and do bikepacking, ensures the spirit of her achievement has a legacy.
It also goes beyond Wilcox. Her journey in bikepacking has been one of discovering new frontiers, of growing and spreading the adventure to more and more people. The world may now feel bigger to Wilcox, but it’s likely never been easier to circumnavigate the world and attempt to set new records than now. Technology, from routing software to social media, has created an ecosystem that has allowed bikepacking and ultra racing to thrive.
While Wilcox has reached Chicago, Vedangi Kulkarni, a 25-year-old Indian adventurer who became the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world by bike back in 2018 when she was 20, is currently in New Zealand, at the time of writing, 66 days and 7,688 km (4,780 miles) into another Around The World attempt.
“LEGEND!” was her simple reaction to Wilcox’s new fastest circumnavigation; an effort that will provide the sort of fuel for the remaining 29,000 kilometres (18,020 miles) you can’t find at any gas station, no matter where you are in the world.
What did you think of this story?