Lachlan Morton will raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Lachlan Morton is back home in Australia, ready for his toughest challenge yet.
Starting Sept. 5, Lachy is going to brave “The Lap,” a 14,200-kilometer attempt to circumnavigate his country in record time.
“I’m excited to be back in Australia,” Lachlan says. “I grew up in Australia. I am from Australia and this is the biggest ride you could do there.”
On bush roads and remote highways tracing his continent´s hot and rugged coast, Lachlan will try to break the Around Australia Record, which stands at 37 days, 20 hours, and 45 minutes. To go faster, Lachlan will need to ride about 400 kilometers per day. He will start and end in his hometown of Port Macquarie, New South Wales. The loop is double that of his longest previous effort in The Alt Tour.
The effort also marks a first for Morton in that it’s the first of his ultra-rides that is supported. Friends and family will follow him in a camper to share the journey with him and keep him well-fed and safe.
“I’m super excited that we’ve pulled this crew of people together that are all really good friends and people that I trust a lot,” Lachlan says. “It is definitely going to be new to me. I’ve been able to have a lot of really amazing experiences doing long bike rides, but being able to share that with a group of people I’m very close with will be very special. There will be less to think about besides just continuing to push and push and push. I’m sure everyone will have difficult moments and I’m sure everyone will have very special moments as well. We’re going to end up with a whole bunch of stories that we’ll save forever.”
For Lachlan, one big reason why he wants to go for the Around Australia Record is that it will give him the chance to see parts of his country that he has never seen before. Lachlan grew up in small-town Australia and has always admired the people who make their lives on the edge of the bush. Their ethos is his own.
“Australians have a very strong sense of community,” Lachlan says. “People interact with each other a lot, but they also rely on each other. I think that’s born out of the fact that it can be a harsh place and everyone has to make the most of it and just get on with it. I grew up with that kind of mindset and it speaks to me a lot. The last time I did a big trip in Australia was with my brother when we rode to Uluru. Through experiences like that you realize that you don’t know all of Australia. Australia is big. There are all these amazing people who live out in remote areas who you won´t cross paths with unless you go out on a big trip like this.”
Lachlan is also aware that life for people in Australia´s small towns and villages can be tough, especially in the First Nations Communities that lie far away from the country’s big coastal cities. That is why he has decided to raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, an organization which helps children in remote Australian communities gain access to stories and books, especially those told in their native languages.
“Any cause that supports children in rural communities is super important,” Lachlan says. “People in remote Australia face a lot of unique challenges and don’t always have the amount of support they need. Being able to contribute something to the communities that we are going to ride through is important to me. We also just want to acknowledge the amazing work that the Indigenous Literacy Foundation is doing. I hope that we can make a contribution that will impact the lives of kids in rural Australia, so that they can have better access to books and books translated into languages they understand. That will better equip them to adapt to further education and life in general.”
Lachlan hopes that you will donate to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation as he takes on the Around Australia Record. Every $10 raised will put a book into the hands of a child living in rural Australia.
“The Australian land mass is made up of hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and is home to over 250 languages,” says Indigenous Literacy Foundation CEO Ben Bowen. “The ILF shares Lachlan’s passion for boldness and not being contained by other’s opinions. The ILF is so excited to have someone as unique as Lachlan to share his talents, skills and endurance to promote the work that we do for over 456 remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities around Australia. Thank you, Lachlan!”
The Lap
“The Lap” is Australia´s most prestigious distance cycling record.
First set by Arthur Richardson, who left Perth in June 1899 and returned 245 days later, having ridden the entire circumference of the Australian continent, it now stands at 37 days, 20 hours, and 45 minutes, a time set in 2011 by Dave Alley of Brisbane.
The rules for The Lap – known more formally as the Around Australia Record – are now maintained by the Road Record Association of Australia. During their trip around the country, riders trying for the record must pass through at least six of the following cities and towns: Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Darwin, Esperance, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Otherwise, they are free to choose their own route, so long as it meets the minimum distance requirement of 14,200 kilometers. Riders can take on the challenge clockwise or anti-clockwise, though the fastest times tend to be set anti-clockwise, as it allows riders to benefit from prevailing tailwinds across the south of the country.
Lachlan’s Approach
Lachlan will set out from his hometown of Port Macquarie, New South Wales and race up the coast counter clockwise, determined to return home having circumnavigated the Australian mainland in the fastest time ever. If all goes to plan, he thinks he can complete his lap in 35 days, an effort that would require him to cover 400 kilometers per day on some of Australia’s remotests roads. Friends and family will drive a sag wagon behind him to provide him with food, drink, and mechanical support and give him a rolling place to sleep. Lachlan plans to stop for at least eight hours every night and wants to minimize the amount of time he will spend riding in the dark for the sake of safety and his mental well-being. Most days, he will start just before the crack of dawn and finish as the sun is setting.
Since Lachlan’s record attempt will take over a month, maintaining a relatively balanced diet will be important. Along with the AMACX gels and bars that he will use to fuel on the bike, he will make sure to eat three square meals per day with stops for a proper lunch to take in enough protein and fat and nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables.
Equipment-wise, he will ride a Cannondale road bike with clip-on aerobars. Although a time-trial bike might be faster, Lachlan opted to prioritize comfort for an effort of this length. The rest of his kit is the same gear he rides throughout the year. He does not want to be slowed down by an overuse injury, so he is sticking with the same Prologo saddle and handlebar tape, Rapha bib shorts, and Speedplay pedals to which his body´s contact points with his bike are already accustomed.
The biggest challenges that Lachlan will face on the road will be the Aussie heat, especially in the tropical north, headwinds for thousands of kilometers, and maintaining his energy and morale for over a month.
He is riding into the unknown on the roads–and with the people–that he knows and loves most.
Follow Lachy´s dot.
About the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation helps children in remote Australian communities gain access to stories and books, especially those told in their native languages. For these kids, it is often very difficult to find reading material, because the nearest bookshop or library could be hundreds of kilometers away.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation provides them with new books that will be meaningful to them. Since 2011, the organization has gifted 869,266 books to children living in 424 remote Communities across Australia. It has published 126 books reflecting 36 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and introduced its early literacy program Book Buzz to 116 remote playgroups.
By emphasizing Indigenous storytelling, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation helps First Nations kids build a sense of connection, belonging, and pride and encourages them to develop the literacy skills that will help them to suceed in their lives.
The funds that the Indigenous Literacy Foundation raises go directly to its Book Supply, Book Buzz, and Community publishing initiatives.
Every $10 AUD ($6.79 USD) raised will get a book into the hands of a child living in a remote Community.
Photos courtesy EFproCycling.com
