One other thing about Lael that I don't think the article mentioned is that on top of being an amazing ultra-endurance cyclist, she also has had to deal with lots of respiratory problems. I don't remember if it's Asthma or what, but her lungs literally shut down at times. This makes it even more impressive to me.
I’ve read about the prevalence of chest infections on other long events (Tour de France). I’ve just been searching and can’t find any supporting evidence.
Breathing very hard for hours at a time for days on end would seem to have consequences
Athletes in most sports report significantly above-average rates of asthma. Athletes with an asthma diagnosis generally outperform their non-asthmatic rivals. Some of that is almost certainly confounded by the fact that many asthma medications - most notably salbutamol - are performance-enhancing drugs; an asthma diagnosis allows an athlete to take drugs under a therapeutic use exemption that would otherwise result in a ban.
therapeutic use exemption for salbutamol. same reason the entire norwegian winter olympic team "has asthma". or why the a ton of russian athletes "had ischemia" and needed meldonium. or why many gymnasts "have ADHD"
all your favorite athletes are cheating, especially from rich countries :)
That rate isn’t that impressive in isolation, but in a 12 hour day, drink refills, toilet breaks, food etc will add up, so the average moving speed would be considerably higher for sure.
Doing a long ride is one thing, doing it 108 times in a row is quite another.
She also self imposed a few rules that as far as I know aren't required for the world record, like no drafting. She had a ton of people meet her on the way that she could've drafted off of to conserve her energy, but she didn't. Another fun fact, she rides without padded shorts! I was listening to her podcast on the way to work every day, which was pretty interesting
13.9 miles an hour is extremely impressive for any time over a couple hours. I’m an avid cyclist and average 15 mph over 2 hours and can’t imagine putting up those numbers.
Did she though? I was certainly surprised to see that the furthest east she got in Asia is Tbilisi, and then started up again in Perth. That is 71 degrees of longitude where the bike was not cycled. Before you ask, yes, I am a lot of fun at parties.
What an impressive feat. Sometimes makes you wonder how far the human body can adapt. It would also be cool to see a sped up video of what she saw. Say one hour representing the 108 days...
Doing it in that time? Certainly not! But doing it at all? I reckon most people should be able to do it in like 4-5x the time. It would just cost a lot of money because she's not working or finding food/water/shelter along the way. I've walked 100s of miles over several weeks. You realise after a couple of days you could keep going indefinitely. Money is the limiting factor.
Interesting , his ashes were scattered at Grey Creek Pass, the highest point on the trans-canada trail, between Nelson and Kimberly in the lower mainland of BC. I completed a 10-day tour from Vancouver to Edmonton 2 weeks ago, and we got absolutely slammed with rain, hail, sleet and subzero temps up on that pass.
My partner and I rode 1671 km total over the 10 days, and on Day 9 we pushed ourselves and logged 290 Km between the Mosquito Creek Hostel on the icefields parkway and the town of Lodgepole. It was a personal daily distance record for me, but an average day for Lael on her round-the-world tour.
She passed through Vancouver on the 19th, which was 2 days before I landed in Van to begin my ride. She had about 100 Vancouver cyclists riding with her a ways through the city.
I saw Iohan fly past me walking on the KVR once, although I didn't realize it until I watched one of his videos and recognized the bike and flare on it. His suicide was so tragic. It's amazing how so many people from different walks of life can feel a kindred connection to him through his videos. RIP.
When I was in my 20s I rode the coast of California. I did back-to-back centuries (>100 miles) for maybe 4-5 days in a row at one point. Granted that was self-supported, with loaded panniers front and back, but I can't imagine doing 170 miles per day for months on end.
I'm curious how much route was a factor here. In the Race Across America (RAAM) they've used several different routes, and even apart from distance it's clear that the fastest route is 10-20% faster than the slowest they've used.
The route wasn't much of a factor. To meet the parameters set out by Guiness world records people she had to log at least 18,000 miles, was not allowed to count miles that work against her general easterly direction, and had to end the trip in the same place she began. So she sought routes that mostly kept her off of highways and bad roads. She skipped Asia entirely.
I think it has to have been a significant factor just in general. And now I checked the route the previous record-holder rode, and it's a very different story: https://jenny-graham.com/round-the-world/ tl;dr: rain, riding at night, sleeping out in the cold. And I just noticed that article has the average miles per day, which ranges from a high of 184 to a low of 117 -- so the route can obviously affect performance by a factor of 1.5 or more.
She chose a route that was "fun" (at least, for some value of fun when riding 270 km a day!), rather than the shortest/easiest route (it's in the article). As it is probably a once in a lifetime trip, she wanted to enjoy it as well as getting the result.
Readit News
EDIT: It's Asthma - https://youtu.be/h0hkoee6sI8?si=NaR4GZjUppQE78xm
Breathing very hard for hours at a time for days on end would seem to have consequences
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653278/
https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/12/2/148
On the Netflix series ‘Tour de France: Unchained’ there is mention of the cyclists getting run down, losing weight and getting chest infections.
This seems to be a thing, though upper respiratory tract infections, ‘the cyclists cough’ seem better documented.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81153133
https://www.kheljournal.com/archives/2020/vol7issue6/PartD/7...
all your favorite athletes are cheating, especially from rich countries :)
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(Or 28968.19 km, 268 km / day, 22.4 km / hour.)
EDIT: Some more detail from her Instagram[0]
108 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes
18,125 miles
630,000 feet of climbing
[0] https://www.instagram.com/stories/laelwilcox/345586796087577...
Doing a long ride is one thing, doing it 108 times in a row is quite another.
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But indeed looking for a map of her around-the-world trip might be an exercise in futility..
Oh here it is https://content.rapha.cc/us/en/story/laels-ride-around-the-w...
That said, border crossings and geopolitical situations are ever changing, and since she was timed, I can see the complexity.
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Her, maybe, I don’t believe most of us could approach that feat.
https://youtu.be/Z0wAPztOO2U?si=alP5fQNRNAyPYrkj
https://www.cyclingabout.com/tribute-to-iohan-gueorguiev-bik...
My partner and I rode 1671 km total over the 10 days, and on Day 9 we pushed ourselves and logged 290 Km between the Mosquito Creek Hostel on the icefields parkway and the town of Lodgepole. It was a personal daily distance record for me, but an average day for Lael on her round-the-world tour.
She passed through Vancouver on the 19th, which was 2 days before I landed in Van to begin my ride. She had about 100 Vancouver cyclists riding with her a ways through the city.
I'm curious how much route was a factor here. In the Race Across America (RAAM) they've used several different routes, and even apart from distance it's clear that the fastest route is 10-20% faster than the slowest they've used.