True story. I just tried to ride to town but turned around after five miles because of high wind. Lael Wilcox just set a New Women’s Guinness World Record for riding her bike around the world. 108 Days, 12 Hours, and 12 Minutes. I can’t even comprehend what this required. Just the Visa situation would make me cry, throw a temper tantrum, and say mean things to the neighbor’s dog.
Want some stats from NPR?
Riding 18,125 miles over nearly 109 days means averaging over 166 miles a day. Sometimes, she rode more than 200.
And the world is not flat. Wilcox climbed a total of 629,880 vertical feet on her bike — equivalent to scaling the height of Mount Everest more than 21 times.
Guinness World Records does not require cyclists to literally ride the complete globe, as oceans would make that difficult (though perhaps not impossible). The requirements call for at least 18,000 miles of bicycling and for riders to cross two antipodal points — in Wilcox’s case, Madrid, Spain, and Wellington, New Zealand. Riders also have to take commercial transportation when they cross oceans — no private jets.
Based on the trailer, it looks like she could have made better time had she not stopped to ride with strangers. But Lael being Lael, this seems par for the course. I’m not sure I’ve ridden 18,000 miles in my lifetime. I’m jealous, but don’t get me wrong. I have no desire to do what she did, nor do I feel I like I have the body or mind to get that job done, but I am truly jealous of anyone who gets to ride their bike for 109 days straight, and she rode through plenty of places I’ve yet to visit. Would I love to try this? Sure. Maybe my record would be the longest ride without ever achieving any particular goal.
If you don’t know Lael, just know she’s a total badass. This is but one of her cycling exploits. To do this kind of thing takes incredible, atypical will, but unlike some other endurance athletes, Lael seems pretty normal. Well, as normal as someone like this can be. Like someone you might encounter on the road and not think twice about what she is doing. And she might even ask to ride together. For those of you snappers out there, Lael’s wife is photojournalist Rugile Kaladyte. Just like I can’t imagine undertaking a ride like this, I also can’t comprehend how one goes about filming it. Heck, even shooting stills. I give up. I’ll be in the van with my bow and arrow. I love being blindsided by someone else’s epic feat. In elementary school, my friend Kim ate an entire jar of olives in less than five minutes. Not a little jar but a colossal CostCo-size jar. I remember his buzz cut, Korean War veteran father saying, “Boy, you are gonna be mighty thirsty in a little while.” All I could think was, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” So, you could say I’m easily impressed, but I think most of you will agree, Lael’s ride is worth a look.
Comments 14
Danielsan, Wow! so inspirational. The filming and trailer edits are so-good…And I thought getting out of bed this morning was pretty good.
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I woke up at six. Neck inflamed. Cold. I’d never make it.
Around the world, on a bike, in 108+ days? WTF? That’s insane! Thank you for the clip, what a story. I hope your neck is feeling better. I’ve had chronic lower back issues after I broke my back in two places in a work-related injury 20 years ago, and I refused to get spinal fusion surgery because everyone I knew (this is two decades ago, I’m sure it’s gotten much better) who had fusions developed other issues equally as debilitating. I have good days and bad days, but if I keep my weight down, do my core work and stretch, strengthen and keep moving I actually have many more good days than bad days. I hope you do too.
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My neck is touch and go.
Fantastic —- I wonder how many calories she burned in those 108 days.
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She said she had an average of 3 cokes a day. That’s 45,000 calories JUST from coke.
What a badass lady! The video footage on Rugile’s website is pretty cool, looks like she’s a badass, too. Nice to see inspiring people like them living life large.
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She used to have more stills work. Not sure where it is now.
She a pro, she rides sponsored all year long I recall, she loves the ultras and mostly is in top 3 or wins them. She is the top of the ranking in ultra events even beating the strongest guys on their bikes.
But, on a sideline: Re. the exploits of these unbelievable physical and mentally strong persons I keep thinking: what’s next for her? Is there still anything to motivate you when you finished on this ultra of the ultras?
I also keep thinking about the danger of living this “ultra” life. We once had a Belgian double-iron man (!) world record athlete, he also played classic piano concertos in wintertime and raced in summertime and spoke 9 languages. He took his own life in 1994 because he presumably didn’t have any ambition left in him.
The stats of ultra triatlon have proven that a human being is capable of crazy things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-triathlon?wprov=sfti1
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I think some of these folks will always find motivation and others will try crazy things because they are hooked on that buzz. She seems pretty normal. Started by riding all the roads in Alaska. That in itself is scary. A lot of alone time.
This reminds me (albeit on a far different scale) of a friend of mine who is drawn to lonely places with no people. I guess I’m the opposite, and then I bitch constantly about nasty drivers.
But I’m in awe of these people. https://www.roseandermain.com/kyrgyzstan
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God that looks good. It’s all downhill from here!
Shew, makes me wanna try motorcycle training again. Still got that fear, though. If a motorcycle hadn’t fell on my knees, I’d be probably be all over the place by now. Least I can live vicariously through others. Ha.
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Get a small bike. I went from a 411 to a 150 and am loving it.