Headwinds may have been making the riding hard going for Lachlan Morton in recent days in his around Australia record attempt, but he pushed past the 10,000km mark on early Thursday afternoon and has now ventured onto the long exposed roads of the Nullarbor Plain.
Morton's average of over 400 kilometres per day may have dropped a little since the EF Education-EasyPost rider charged through the halfway mark in the north of Western Australia – back then it was 476km and now it is 466km. But as day 22 of his lap of Australia unfolded, Morton was still well ahead of target.
The plan was to try and finish the circumnavigation in 35 days, allowing a margin of around two days to the existing record. But if this pace continues he will ride the 14,201km back to Port Macquarie within an even faster 31 days.
EF Education-EasyPost have outlined that Morton is setting out to beat Dave Alley’s 14,251km, 2011 effort of 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes which is listed by the Road Record Association of Australia as the current record. That total adheres to a minimum distance requirement of 14,200km, which was introduced in 1996 when the record was first formalised with Cycling Australia and Guinness World Records.
There is also Reid Anderton’s 2013 effort of 37 days, one hour and 18 minutes, which the Guinness World Records has listed as the record, having confirmed in response to a query from Cyclingnews that it doesn’t currently have a 14,200km minimum distance requirement. Regardless of which you lean toward, both look likely to be former records within the fortnight.
First, however, Morton has to tackle his next big obstacle, the straight and seemingly never-ending Eyre Highway which extends for around a thousand kilometres over the flat and arid terrain of the Nullarbor Plain.
Morton has been tackling headwinds more often than he’d like as he worked his way down Western Australia, joking at the start of his day 20 Instagram update that here comes the “next instalment of Lachlan rides into a headwind.” Though the increasingly lush terrain, “great bike paths” of Perth and peaceful back roads in the remote south of the state put him in high spirits regardless.
“I feel like I’m in no hurry to get anywhere,” said Morton. “Just loving every moment. It’s hilly, it's slow, I’ve got a headwind but I just don’t even care.”
Heading up from Esperance on the south coast and past Norseman, however, means a dramatic change in the terrain ahead and also no escape from the wind, be it friend or foe, as the lack of vegetation and flat landscape leaves the road exposed.
It was at this point in Alley’s 2011 journey that he was looking forward to a flying run, having had reports of a stomping tailwind. But no sooner did he make the Nullarbor Plain that it swung into a vicious headwind, slowing his pace to as low as a brutal 9kph at some points.
Morton will now have his chance to see just what the Nullarbor has in store for him.
You can follow Morton's journey via the live tracking page, and donate via Morton's Indigenous Literacy Foundation fundraising page.
