When Lael Wilcox rode her bike into Chicago just around sunset on Sept. 11 this past year, it marked the end of a nearly 109-day trip around the world — and a new world record.
Despite just traveling thousands of miles, Wilcox, followed by 100 other riders, was all smiles (and a few tears).
“I hadn’t really thought about what it would feel like to finish because I was so focused on staying in the moment, making sure everything went OK,” she said of the accomplishment. “And then I was just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I think I just felt a huge wave of relief, like, it’s over.”
Wilcox began her worldwide journey in the place she finished, Chicago, on May 26.
During her three-month ride, she traveled over 18,000 miles through four continents, 23 countries and numerous cities.
Upon crossing the finish line of her long trek, Wilcox, 38, became the fastest woman to ride her bike around the world in 108 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes. Guinness World Records certified her “fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle (female)” record on Sept. 20.
The record was previously held by Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham, who completed the expedition in 124 days in 2018.
Riding thousands of miles is no easy feat, but for Wilcox, deciding to attempt to break the around-the-world record was an easy choice. The idea first popped up after she won the cross-country Trans Am Bike Race in 2016.
After the race, she got a new passport, but didn’t really have a plan in place for a global trek, she says.
She took a brief break from riding due to feeling burnt out from the cross-country race and safety concerns about riding on the road.
“I actually rode from Tucson up to Canada a couple of years ago for another race and I was riding on roads and I was having so much fun just covering so much distance every day and being out like that,” she said. “Two years ago, I decided, ‘OK, next year, I’m going around the world.’ I felt like I could make a route that’s safe and that’ll just add more mountain climbing and that kind of thing, which I like, it’ll be prettier, too. And then I thought, even with that extra work, I think I could still get the record. So, then it just became this athletic challenge, but also this huge adventure to get to do it.”
Lael Wilcox seen during her ride from Barstow, California, to Seligman, Arizona, on Days 97 and 98 of her journey around the world.
With some help from her friends at the Adventure Cycling Association, Wilcox was able to find and help create safe routes for her journey across the U.S. Her cycling friends helped create routes through Europe and Australia.
She estimates some 200 hours went into the route planning process.
With the routes planned, flights booked and bike ready to go, Wilcox celebrated the embarkment of a worldwide adventure with her wife’s family in Chicago the night before she headed out.
“I wake up in the morning and I’m like, ‘OK, I guess we’re starting,’” she said, laughing. “And it’s so weird to start something that I knew I’d be out for at least 3½ months, so it’s like (sad) but I also was so excited.”
Despite thorough planning, the ride wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows.
On the first day of her ride, there was a tornado warning in the area she was riding in. She battled through headstrong wind, pouring rain and lightning to her next destination.
Lael Wilcox during her ride from Chicago to New York.
On the fourth day, she dealt with a bout of food poisoning.
“I started getting cuts in my tires and I was getting flats all on the same day. It never stopped raining. And it was so early on,” Wilcox said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what if every day is like this?’ And I committed to doing this. I never thought I’d quit. I just thought, ‘Oh, this is gonna be way harder than I thought it was gonna be.’ But then the next day it passed and it was fun.”
Even through all the challenges, Wilcox never let the hard times get her down for long.
Throughout the journey, she had a plethora of supporters follow along virtually through Komoot and in person as friends and strangers joined her on the ride.
Wilcox says around 3,000 people rode alongside her throughout the entire ride. She once had 300 cyclists with her while riding through San Francisco.
Plus, she documented the ride through photos and a podcast for her supporters to stay up-to-date on her latest travels. The podcast is available through laelwilcox.net.
“I feel so grateful I got to do it in a fun way because (with) records, it’s about speed and you have this huge goal, but I got to actually enjoy almost every day out there and bring people along and it just made the world feel like such a positive place,” Wilcox said. “So, that was cool.”
On average, Wilcox was riding for 12 hours a day, about 162 miles per day. For reference, the distance between Tucson and Phoenix is only around 112 miles.
However, riding long distances (and cycling in general) wasn’t always a part of Wilcox’s life. Now, she can’t imagine a life without it.
She began consistently riding her bike over 10 years ago while in college in Washington, mostly to get to and from work. Those rides later led to her discovering her passion for long-distance cycling.
Lael Wilcox seen from above during her ride from Barstow, California, to Seligman, Arizona, on Days 97 and 98 of her record-breaking ride around the world.
Because she enjoyed long-distance rides so much, she began entering bike races and traveling through other countries on bike. Cycling eventually became her full-time career.
Wilcox, originally from Anchorage, Alaska, ended up in Tucson by pure chance.
Several years ago, during a trip to Austin, Texas, Wilcox and her now wife, Rugile “Rue” Kaladyte, stopped in Tucson to visit a friend. Originally traveling to Austin for a restaurant job, Wilcox fell in love with Tucson and never left.
“Tucson feels a lot like my hometown, Anchorage; it’s really spread out, but good bike paths and life feels easier here,” she said. “I can go out in shorts every day of the year. I can eat breakfast outside.”
When she’s not traveling across the globe, she rides up her favorite place in Tucson weekly: Mount Lemmon.
It would be easy to assume that with such an accomplishment under her belt, Wilcox is eyeing the next record she could break. But she’s taking life year by year, she says.
She plans on competing in more races, including one in Alaska that follows the famous dog-sled Iditarod route and a race across Europe this upcoming summer — mostly for fun but also for the thrill of the sport.
“This is the craziest part. I thought I’d be totally smoked and done with biking for a year,” Wilcox said. “And then the next day, I rode with my dad, an easy ride. And then within a couple weeks, I was back out riding every day. I got back to Tucson and I rode straight up Mount Lemmon. I felt stronger than I’d ever been.”
