A little over a year ago, on May 26, 2024, Lael Wilcox started her around-the-world by bike Guinness World Record. 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes later, she arrived back in Chicago, with over 3,000 people joining her at some point during the journey.
“I don’t know who will show up and for how long they will stay,” mentioned the ultra-endurance athlete before setting the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bike. The excitement among her audience was apparent as people traveled long distances and rode with Lael for multiple hours to support her in one of the biggest challenges a cyclist can think of.
The Guinness World Record Rules state that the journey should be continual and in one direction, so Lael decided to ride from West to East. The first leg brought her to New York, where she took a commercial flight – it is allowed – to Porto, Portugal. She would then ride past several European capitals in a non-straight route to achieve the minimum distance to be ridden, in this case 28,970 km. She also opted to include in the itinerary tough but rewarding segments like the Alps mountain range, which, despite reducing her average speed, provided her with the dose of motivation needed to continue pushing.
After crossing Europe, she flew from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Perth, Australia. There she would spend several weeks crossing the country on its long, monotonous roads along the south coast. The stretch in New Zealand was rewarding, and there she ticked off another of the conditions to be eligible for the record; she had to pass two approximately antipodal points, with Madrid-Auckland being one of the few feasible options.
The long-awaited part of the record attempt in her home region, Alaska, came later. After more than two months away, she was back on roads that she knows like the back of her hand. Additionally, the route heading south to Los Angeles had already been part of some of her past ultra-distance challenges. From California, she rode the full Route 66, which brought her back to Chicago.
She broke the previous women’s record set by Jenny Graham in 2018. Lael did it 16 days faster, and the more than three months on the road allowed her to get a good look at the entire world.
“People now ask me if the world feels bigger or smaller. I don’t really know, but it definitely feels more connected.” – Lael Wilcox
“Lael Rides Around the World,” a film by Rue Kaladyte, was publicly launched today after several screenings over the last couple of months. We had the chance to watch it at Velodrom Odeon in Girona during her European tour, and we highly encourage you to block one hour in your agenda to learn about what she experienced during her around-the-world by bike record.
