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In his most challenging record attempt to date, Lachlan Morton will look to ride 400km a day to complete a lap of Australia.
The route, known as ‘The Lap’, counts 14,201km around the perimeter of Morton’s home country, with 44,000m of elevation. The current record stands at 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider will begin his attempt this Thursday 5 September, supported for the first time by his friends and family in a camper van.
“It is definitely going to be new to me,” Morton said. “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 32-year-old’s Australia lap will be his longest effort to date. His previous longest was ‘The Alt Tour‘ in 2021, when he rode every stage of that year’s Tour de France route ahead of the peloton, clocking 5,509km in 18 days.
“Australia is big,” Morton said. “The last time I did a big trip in Australia was with my brother when we rode to Uluru. Through experiences like that you realise that you don’t know all of Australia.”
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“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.”
During his record attempt, Morton will be raising funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, a charity that helps give remote Australian communities access to books.
“Any cause that supports children in rural communities is super important,” Morton said. “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.”
The current record for ‘The Lap’ is held by Dave Alley, set in 2011. Riders are allowed to complete the loop in either direction, but tend to go anti-clockwise due to tailwinds along the south coast.
Morton will set out from his hometown, Port Macquarie, in New South Wales, and will attempt to finish the ride in 35 days, stopping for eight hours each night.
Donations can be made through the Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s website. Morton’s progress will also be tracked on EF Education-Easypost’s website.
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