8 ms·

18,000 Miles Later, an American Woman Has Cycled the World

98 points by Fricken 2y ago

gcanyon 2y ago
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.
- awjlogan 2y ago
  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.
- Fricken 2y ago
  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.
  - gcanyon 2y ago
    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/ 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.
Fricken 2y ago
https://archive.ph/JJOzf#selection-659.0-659.58 https://archive.ph/JJOzf#selection-659.0-659.58
LikeBeans 2y ago
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...
- lostlogin 2y ago
  > Sometimes makes you wonder how far the human body can adapt Her, maybe, I don’t believe most of us could approach that feat.
  - globular-toast 2y ago
    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.
- thfuran 2y ago
  I'm not sure you'd really see much zipping along the ground at 18,000 miles an hour.
  - kibwen 2y ago
    For reference, the ISS orbits at 17,700 MPH.
hprotagonist 2y ago
I didn't even have to read the article to know it was Lael who did it. She's a beast.
neogodless 2y ago
Just doing napkin math, that's 166.7 miles per day. Given the cited 12 hour days, that's 13.9 miles per hour. (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/3455867960875774558/ https://www.instagram.com/stories/laelwilcox/345586796087577...
- bastawhiz 2y ago
  That's honestly unbelievable. I can hardly manage to get 130 miles on my motorcycle in a day.
  - joked56 2y ago
    And since you can't do it on a totally unrelated vehicle under different circumstances, clearly nobody else can.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- lostlogin 2y ago
  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.
  - milch 2y ago
    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
    - 2y ago
brudgers 2y ago
Reminds me of this youtube rabbit hole I fell down a couple of years ago. https://youtu.be/Z0wAPztOO2U?si=alP5fQNRNAyPYrkj https://youtu.be/Z0wAPztOO2U?si=alP5fQNRNAyPYrkj
- virgulino 2y ago
  RIP Iohan Gueorguiev, my tragic cycling poet! He is a great inspiration, as an earthling, as a human being and as a cyclist. https://www.cyclingabout.com/tribute-to-iohan-gueorguiev-bike-wanderer/ https://www.cyclingabout.com/tribute-to-iohan-gueorguiev-bik...
  - Fricken 2y ago
    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.
    - lostlogin 2y ago
      That’s a long way. It’s interesting how I feel after a long ride (and I haven’t been much over 100 miles). Sort of empty for a few days following. Hitting hills or long flights of stairs doesn’t stop me, but my heart rate won’t go up enough to move quickly. Doing that every day for 1/3 of a year is phenomenal.
  - zeagle 2y ago
    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.
denvaar 2y ago
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. EDIT: It's Asthma - https://youtu.be/h0hkoee6sI8?si=NaR4GZjUppQE78xm https://youtu.be/h0hkoee6sI8?si=NaR4GZjUppQE78xm
- lostlogin 2y ago
  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
  - jdietrich 2y ago
    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. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653278/ https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/12/2/148 https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/12/2/148
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - Lio 2y ago
      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. That's not true at all. WADA does not require a therapeutic usage order for normal usage salbutamol. Anyone who needs it can use it at the dosages required to control asthma. At these dosages it has not been shown to improve performance, as mentioned in the abstract of the first link you cited. Further I would offer [1],[2] and [3] as evidence for why you are wrong. Salbutamol does not improve performance at normal dosages. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135409/ 2. https://thorax.bmj.com/content/56/9/675 https://thorax.bmj.com/content/56/9/675 3. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/sporer1.pdf https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files...
IncreasePosts 2y ago
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.
- netsharc 2y ago
  I suppose, for your satisfaction, she has go to the North Pole and do a 10 second loop around the axis... 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-world https://content.rapha.cc/us/en/story/laels-ride-around-the-w...
  - reustle 2y ago
    Oh wow, that is a pretty huge gap. I went around the world by train, and tried to get as close as reasonably possible: https://reustle.org/rtw https://reustle.org/rtw That said, border crossings and geopolitical situations are ever changing, and since she was timed, I can see the complexity.
    - IncreasePosts 2y ago
      Did you write more anywhere about this? I'm particularly curious what the Sapporo-Sitka situation was like?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- choppaface 2y ago
  The competition has a precise definition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_record https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_rec...

98 points by Fricken 2y ago

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.

awjlogan 2y ago
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.
Fricken 2y ago
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.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  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/ 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.

Fricken 2y ago

https://archive.ph/JJOzf#selection-659.0-659.58 https://archive.ph/JJOzf#selection-659.0-659.58

LikeBeans 2y ago

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...

lostlogin 2y ago
> Sometimes makes you wonder how far the human body can adapt Her, maybe, I don’t believe most of us could approach that feat.
- globular-toast 2y ago
  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.
thfuran 2y ago
I'm not sure you'd really see much zipping along the ground at 18,000 miles an hour.
- kibwen 2y ago
  For reference, the ISS orbits at 17,700 MPH.

hprotagonist 2y ago

I didn't even have to read the article to know it was Lael who did it. She's a beast.

neogodless 2y ago

Just doing napkin math, that's 166.7 miles per day. Given the cited 12 hour days, that's 13.9 miles per hour. (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/3455867960875774558/ https://www.instagram.com/stories/laelwilcox/345586796087577...

bastawhiz 2y ago
That's honestly unbelievable. I can hardly manage to get 130 miles on my motorcycle in a day.
- joked56 2y ago
  And since you can't do it on a totally unrelated vehicle under different circumstances, clearly nobody else can.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lostlogin 2y ago
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.
- milch 2y ago
  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
  - 2y ago

brudgers 2y ago

Reminds me of this youtube rabbit hole I fell down a couple of years ago. https://youtu.be/Z0wAPztOO2U?si=alP5fQNRNAyPYrkj https://youtu.be/Z0wAPztOO2U?si=alP5fQNRNAyPYrkj

virgulino 2y ago
RIP Iohan Gueorguiev, my tragic cycling poet! He is a great inspiration, as an earthling, as a human being and as a cyclist. https://www.cyclingabout.com/tribute-to-iohan-gueorguiev-bike-wanderer/ https://www.cyclingabout.com/tribute-to-iohan-gueorguiev-bik...
- Fricken 2y ago
  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.
  - lostlogin 2y ago
    That’s a long way. It’s interesting how I feel after a long ride (and I haven’t been much over 100 miles). Sort of empty for a few days following. Hitting hills or long flights of stairs doesn’t stop me, but my heart rate won’t go up enough to move quickly. Doing that every day for 1/3 of a year is phenomenal.
- zeagle 2y ago
  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.

denvaar 2y ago

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. EDIT: It's Asthma - https://youtu.be/h0hkoee6sI8?si=NaR4GZjUppQE78xm https://youtu.be/h0hkoee6sI8?si=NaR4GZjUppQE78xm

lostlogin 2y ago
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
- jdietrich 2y ago
  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. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4653278/ https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/12/2/148 https://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/12/2/148
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - Lio 2y ago
    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. That's not true at all. WADA does not require a therapeutic usage order for normal usage salbutamol. Anyone who needs it can use it at the dosages required to control asthma. At these dosages it has not been shown to improve performance, as mentioned in the abstract of the first link you cited. Further I would offer [1],[2] and [3] as evidence for why you are wrong. Salbutamol does not improve performance at normal dosages. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135409/ 2. https://thorax.bmj.com/content/56/9/675 https://thorax.bmj.com/content/56/9/675 3. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/sporer1.pdf https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files...

IncreasePosts 2y ago

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.

netsharc 2y ago
I suppose, for your satisfaction, she has go to the North Pole and do a 10 second loop around the axis... 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-world https://content.rapha.cc/us/en/story/laels-ride-around-the-w...
- reustle 2y ago
  Oh wow, that is a pretty huge gap. I went around the world by train, and tried to get as close as reasonably possible: https://reustle.org/rtw https://reustle.org/rtw That said, border crossings and geopolitical situations are ever changing, and since she was timed, I can see the complexity.
  - IncreasePosts 2y ago
    Did you write more anywhere about this? I'm particularly curious what the Sapporo-Sitka situation was like?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
choppaface 2y ago
The competition has a precise definition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_record https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_rec...