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Where’s Lachlan Going Now? Morton Sets Off on Epic 14,200km Ride to Break ‘Around Australia’ Record
Lachlan Morton is back home in Australia, readying himself for another adventure. On September 5, the 32-year-old will begin ‘The Lap, a 14,200-kilometer attempt to circumnavigate the country by bike in record time.
Morton will attempt to break the Around Australia Record, which stands at 37 days, 20 hours, and 45 minutes. To go faster, Morton will need to ride about 400 kilometers per day. He will start and end in his hometown of Port Macquarie, New South Wales.
Although Morton rides and races around the world in EF Education-EasyPost pink, he’s found a niche in long-distance exploits and gravel racing versus racing on the road. Every year for the past six or so, Morton has concocted — and executed — adventures that would make most pro cyclists shudder.
Last year, he set an unofficial record on the Tour Divide, completing the 2,750-mile route down the Continental Divide in 12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes despite harrowing conditions. In 2019, he also set a record racing the length of Great Britain in the 2,000-kilometer GBDuro bikepacking race.
His most famous adventure, however, was The Alt Tour. In 2021, Morton bikepacked the entire Tour de France route, including transfers, and ultimately beat the peloton to Paris despite having ridden a full 2,000km more than the race.
‘The Lap’ is more than double the distance of the Alt Tour.
Yet, in characteristic Morton fashion, he’s downplaying the size and scale of the adventure. Morton says that one of the reasons he wants to go for the Around Australia Record is that it will give him the chance to see parts of his country that he has never seen before and interact with people along the way.
“Australians have a very strong sense of community,” Morton says. “People interact with each other a lot, but they also rely on each other. I think that’s born out of the fact that it can be a harsh place and everyone has to make the most of it and just get on with it.
“I grew up with that kind of mindset and it speaks to me a lot. The last time I did a big trip in Australia was with my brother when we rode to Uluru. Through experiences like that you realize that you don’t know all of Australia. Australia is big. There are all these amazing people who live out in remote areas who you won’t cross paths with unless you go out on a big trip like this.”
In 2016, Morton and his brother Angus rode 2500km from their hometown of Port Macquarie to Uluru.
For ‘The Lap,” Morton will set out from Port Macquarie and race up the coast counterclockwise. If all goes to plan, he thinks he can complete his lap in 35 days, an effort that would require him to cover 400 kilometers per day on some of Australia’s more remote roads.
Unlike all of his other ultra-adventures, Morton will be attempting this ride with support.
Friends and family will drive a sag wagon behind him to provide him with food, drink, and mechanical support and give him a rolling place to sleep. He plans to stop for at least eight hours every night and wants to minimize the amount of time he will spend riding in the dark for the sake of safety and his mental well-being. Most days, he will start just before the crack of dawn and finish as the sun is setting.
Having the support on this ride in particular is meaningful for Morton, who has been based in the U.S. for over a decade now.
“I’m super excited that we’ve pulled this crew of people together that are all really good friends and people that I trust a lot,” he said. “It is definitely going to be new to me. I’ve been able to have a lot of really amazing experiences doing long bike rides, but being able to share that with a group of people I’m very close with will be very special.
“There will be less to think about besides just continuing to push and push and push. I’m sure everyone will have difficult moments and I’m sure everyone will have very special moments as well. We’re going to end up with a whole bunch of stories that we’ll save forever.”
“The Lap” is Australia’s most prestigious distance cycling record. It was first attempted by Arthur Richardson, who left Perth in June 1899 and returned 245 days later, having ridden the entire circumference of the Australian continent. Dave Alley of Brisbane now holds the current record, set in 2011.
The rules for The Lap – known more formally as the Around Australia Record – are now maintained by the Road Record Association of Australia.
During their trip around the country, riders trying for the record must pass through at least six of the following cities and towns: Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Darwin, Esperance, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Otherwise, they are free to choose their own route, so long as it meets the minimum distance requirement of 14,200 kilometers. Riders can take on the challenge clockwise or anti-clockwise, though the fastest times tend to be set anti-clockwise, as it allows riders to benefit from prevailing tailwinds across the south of the country.
Morton never does an adventure ride without attaching it to a particular cause or charity, and ‘The Lap’ is no different. For this ride, he’s supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, an organization that helps children in remote Australian communities gain access to stories and books, especially those written in their native languages.
“Any cause that supports children in rural communities is super important,” Morton said. “People in remote Australia face a lot of unique challenges and don’t always have the amount of support they need. Being able to contribute something to the communities that we are going to ride through is important to me.
“I hope that we can make a contribution that will impact the lives of kids in rural Australia, so that they can have better access to books and books translated into languages they understand. That will better equip them to adapt to further education and life in general.”
