Lael Wilcox going for Jenny Grahams RTW record

Linky no worky

A couple of articles here

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/18000-miles-without-a-chamois-lael-wilcox-is-aiming-to-set-a-world-record-by-circumnavigating-the-planet-in-110-days

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/this-is-the-bike-thats-going-to-carry-lael-wilcox-18000-miles-around-the-world

Hmm, depends if it's truly solo or controversial with a following film crew for "support"

She has a podcast, Lael rides around the world, for more details.  Her bike has been fitted with a recording device so that spesh can sue anyone who gives her an Allez! on the way past.

Hopefully she stays healthy and makes a good go of it

Hmm, depends if it’s truly solo or controversial with a following film crew for “support”

I know this is tongue-in-cheek, but support is allowed, so I can't imagine even her usual critics will have much to go on. Hope she has a fantastic experience.

Lael is on her way. Tracker here.    

There should also be podcast updates here.

Interesting starting where she has - wonder how the weather/seasons will help or hinder her in the northern and southern hemispheres - hitting Australia/NZ late winter/spring presumably?

Something Jenny Graham talks about in her book, and Laura and Stevie with their tandem record.

Impressive yes, but the RTW rules followed to the letter (km?) for record-breaking purposes probably wouldn't constitute most people's idea of 'cycling around the world'

EDIT: Or is Lael's route map missing a leg in Asia?

That’s a big bike ride, but the entire continent of Asia is missing!

Wilcox will start and finish in Chicago, tackling North America first, followed by Europe. She’ll then fly to Bangkok to ride across Thailand and Malaysia and finish in Singapore.Next, she'll hop over to Australia to traverse the vast outback and New Zealand before flying back to her native Alaska. From there, she'll complete her homestretch back to Chicago

Does seem to skip a bit but I guess she just needs to cover the minimum distance?

Lots of places she can’t go due to her passport. I hope she has a great, and safe ride, but I want her to come just short of JG’s record.

I had read that Lael intended to ride through Thailand but the entire route is now up on Follow My Challenge and Komoot and it jumps directly from Georgia to Australia which does seem a shame. She's on Day 2 now, nearly 300 miles done, average moving speed 16mph.

Yeah she talks about it in the podcast, her original plan was a flight to Thailand to skip some countries that a solo American female would understandably want to avoid. However doing more diagonal milage in Western Europe and North America instead seems a very artificial way to chase the record.

It's one of these "by the words of the rules but the spirit of the rules" things. I wonder how much of the earth's circumference you'd need cover if one leg of your round the world trip was Alaska to Cape Horn?

Doing nothing in Africa or Asia is understandable, especially for a solo female, but that route map for  a RTW looks all wrong.

That’s how people do these challenges. Look at the fastest crossings of Antarctica, people have gradually found shorter and shorter routes. I believe the current record holder has a lot of critics about the route he took compared to previous holders.

You're missing the point. It's not about the route, it's about the ego (and sponsorship career) of the individual involved. It's in the 'Everest' category for me - undoubtedly physically difficult and with objective danger attached but of zero interest purely from a philosophical viewpoint.

I think all round the world records have to meet the same criteria

1. You must travel continuously east or west, no back tracking

2. You must cover a distance equal the circumference of the Earth (24,000 miles)

3. You must pass through 2 points that are on opposite sides of the world

Quite alot of negativity towards some one who i thought was quite an athlete. Have i missed something?

Just to point out the obvious, you can’t cycle round the world in anything like the way you can sail round the world. Mark Beaumont did a similar route in his supported record. I think as much as anything the routes are chosen for good surfaces

Have i missed something?

Everyone's an expert from the confines of their keyboard

I don't imagine anyone would doubt the impressiveness of cycling 160mi a day for 4 months unsupported. However doing diagonals to make up milage for the record, then skipping big rideable chunks on a plane isn't really 'riding around the world' in my book. And that claim is absolutely valid for scrutiny even from the confines of my keyboard given that is what is being pushed by/for sponsors and publicity.

Mark Beaumont does a good job at the beginning of his book 'Around the World in 80 Days' of explaining the rules and how they've changed over time and have been quite contentious.

(actually audio book is better as he narrates it and add some audio recorded at the time).

I think all round the world records have to meet the same criteria

1. You must travel continuously east or west, no back tracking

That can't be a rule then.

Have i missed something?

Just folk trying to understand the rules I think. Maybe it's a bit like the Pirates Code...

Interesting, old like that gets discounted

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_record

Quote

I don’t imagine anyone would doubt the impressiveness of cycling 160mi a day for 4 months unsupported. However doing diagonals to make up milage for the record, then skipping big rideable chunks on a plane isn’t really ‘riding around the world’ in my book. And that claim is absolutely valid for scrutiny even from the confines of my keyboard given that is what is being pushed by/for sponsors and publicity.

Quote

You are of course entitled to an opinion as we all are. But flying is clearly essential and rules are in place to cover what counts for the Guinness book of records. It would seem odd to except lael to invent new rules. Presumably to you neither of Mark Beaumonts attempts, or Jenny Grahams count either

Oh and what’s a diagonal on a sphere?

 It would seem odd to except lael to invent new rules. Presumably to you neither of Mark Beaumonts attempts, or Jenny Grahams count either

This was Jennys route.

It certainly gives the impression of being a more complete circumnavigation.

It certainly gives the impression of being a more complete circumnavigation.

I can see why Lael may have to reroute a big chunk of that.

Jenny Grahams excellent book covers the "official" rules, and the rules she set herself, which were stricter.

If there's one thing Lael's chosen route demonstrates it's the appalling state of global politics.

Oh and what’s a diagonal on a sphere?

I think the random zigzag up to Amsterdam would probably come close. Lael herself admits she chose to do more miles in W Europe then fly to Aus because it would be quicker than riding in SE Asia. Then announcing she is going to try and beat JG's time by 2 weeks when JG rode through Russia, Mongolia and China is a bit cheeky.

Yes flying is inevitable but JG's and MB's (both) routes were all fairly consistent in their horizontal progress, with flights generally from/to the edges of land masses.

You might like to follow Vedangi Kulkarni https://www.instagram.com/thisisvedangi?igsh=aXZzcndudno2NjVi

She’s already done a round the world once and announced she’s going to do it again and go for the speed record before Lael did the same. But Vedangi is still getting all her visas in order - she has an Indian passport but is living in the UK on a temporary visa so all the applications are extra complicated!

@stwhannah - I hope she can sort it out better this time. She was also riding the same time as Jenny Graham but only after massive hassle with visas. IIRC at some point on her last attempt she dropped the "solo" part of the bid, possibly for personal security reasons.

My understanding of the rules (based on listening to a podcast a few weeks ago so not entirely accurate) seems to be you must ride 18000miles (earths circumference), must ride in both hemispheres and complete a lap of the globe. Planes (and other transport) were acceptable in any place.
based on that, I’m going to suggest that finding the longest continuous downhill in the world, shuttling it via helicopter to meet the distance, then finishing off with a round the world flight with a brief stop off in the opposite hemisphere to turn a few pedal strokes; would meet the rules - and make a mockery of them.

Jenny’s route seems to match the spirit of the thing much better.

I agree but Jenny's route is currently unavailable.

Anyway, Lael. 478 miles in the first two days and that's stopping to sleep each night.

Quote

My understanding of the rules (based on listening to a podcast a few weeks ago so not entirely accurate) seems to be you must ride 18000miles (earths circumference), must ride in both hemispheres and complete a lap of the globe. Planes (and other transport) were acceptable in any place.
based on that, I’m going to suggest that finding the longest continuous downhill in the world, shuttling it via helicopter to meet the distance, then finishing off with a round the world flight with a brief stop off in the opposite hemisphere to turn a few pedal strokes; would meet the rules – and make a mockery of them.

Quote

You missed the substantial back tracking rule

Mark Beaumont told me Russia was the hardest part due to the crap roads & awful driving standards. Avoiding the toughest parts of the route doesn’t sit well with me.

Amazing achievement, just not really in the spirit of the record imo.

Mark Beaumont told me Russia was the hardest part due to the crap roads & awful driving standards. Avoiding the toughest parts of the route doesn’t sit well with me.

You know they are avoiding Russia for reasons other than shit roads and crap drivers?

It's a difficult position - effectively they can't ride a "proper" route like Jenny Graham until international peace and love break out, which is tricky with a finite career as an athlete.

L

Again though, comes back to the fact she originally planned to ride in SE Asia but then decided to add some zigzags in Europe instead, and specifcally chose to go up to NL for the flat. I'm still not entirely sure how the W coast of the US is within the rules either.

Obviously geopolitics are inescapable and out of anyone's control, but there's a distinct lack of humility in announcing you are going to beat the record by such a large chunk of time when you are so clearly using those circumstances to your advantage.

If it's a speed record why wouldn't you go for the fastest, flattest, least hassle route that's within the rules?
If you cared about pure route quality you wouldn't be racing for a record?

Don't get me wrong, not a criticism of the riders, just saying that going for a record (as has been said above) isn't really about having the sort of experience that thousands of tourers are having right now and have been having for a long time. It's about a challenge, a certain sort of experience and getting your name up there from a result. Otherwise why time trial for a record? If you want the record, take the fastest route, ride aero bars, take advantages within the rules, do all that stuff.
Vin Cox had the record at 186 days not that long ago and he stopped to do touristy things along the way. Efficient touring by someone with good fitness got the record. The days of the amateur record holders end as the record gets trimmed down, inevitably?
In the end the route will be so convoluted for a fast time it'll look daft but I'm not sure that makes previous rides worth more or less, they were all attempts against the record of the time. If the routes have to change that much maybe it's just a daft record concept : ) but whatever, good luck to Lael Wilcox, I hope it's a great trip for her.

I'm watching the attempt progress dot.

I don't have a problem with the chosen route.

If it’s a speed record why wouldn’t you go for the fastest, flattest, least hassle route that’s within the rules?
If you cared about pure route quality you wouldn’t be racing for a record?

I listened to the first podcast - there's a series called Lael Rides Around the World -  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/lael-rides-around-the-world/id1743983335  - which is mostly about the route planning of the European leg, which she outsourced to some more local planners. Interestingly 'fastest' and 'flattest' didn't seem to be the only priority, also interest in riding on beautiful roads, hence legs over the Alps and through Switzerland, so it's not quite that simple.

She also, in an echo of a chat I had with the late Mike Hall before his RTW ride, says that she figures she can always go back and revisit places that she's going to be racing through if they pique her interest. I hope she does, it seems a shame to be hurtling past all those amazing, beautiful places, even if that's mostly the point of it.

Choosing a route is absolutely part of the challenge of the record IMO. If the backtracks in Lael's route satisfies the GWR folk then it's fine with me. If it turns out it's an easier route than previous records then that's fair play.

I'd be really interested to hear what Jenny Graham thinks of tihs attempt. It's got a lot of differences to her approach but also a lot of similarities. I strongly suspect she'd be nothing but suportive.

hence legs over the Alps and through Switzerland

Including the Stelvio.

Interestingly ‘fastest’ and ‘flattest’ didn’t seem to be the only priority

Lael has finished the first leg from Chicago to New York. Her first 6 days are on Strava and "flattest" certainly looks like a low priority.

I’d be really interested to hear what Jenny Graham thinks of tihs attempt. It’s got a lot of differences to her approach but also a lot of similarities. I strongly suspect she’d be nothing but suportive.

Very much this.  In her book Jenny explains her self imposed rules that would have made it harder for herself.  She did the record the way that she wanted to do it, but that doesn't mean everyone has to do it that way.  I don't think this takes anything away from Jenny's record or anyone else's attempt. Is Marc Beaumant's record less valid because he had a support crew and large budget?  I find the idea of "the spirit of things" for a world record a bit ridiculous.  Either it's within the rules or it's not.  If you really care about the record then you will do everything in your power to take the quickest, easiest route to give you the best chance of success and not be beaten by someone else who pushes every rule to its limit.

It would definitely be more impressive if she did a leg that went though Derbyshire, as the shit stae of the roads and th number of ****as in Audis would most definitely slow her down.

Long podcast interview with Lael discussing just about everything mentioned up thread, for those interested, apart from ****ers drive Audis in Derbyshire

Escape Collective: Ultra: Lael Wilcox’s race against time for the Around The World record

Episode webpage: https://share.transistor.fm/s/b5131012

Media file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/b5131012/f7622c09.mp3

Anyone got any idea what's happening with Vedangi? Her tracker has been stationary just outside Kolkata for several days now.

I think she got heat stroke in India and is jumping to Mongolia

https://www.instagram.com/thisisvedangi?igsh=MWV6Z2kwZ3g0d2UwbA==

Do you have a link to the tracker!

Ah thanks for that. I see she is now in Mongolia and setting off on Wednesday. I wonder if this will be a restart.

Here's the tracker:

Vedangi Round the World

Sorted, I'll aim to watch both attempts. I'll open another tab for Vedangi.

I have been dot watching every day and it looks like Lael is nearly back in Chicago. Probably Friday morning?