Lael Wilcox entered the history books this morning as she completed her record-breaking Around The World ride.
Riding a custom Specialized Roubaix SL8, Wilcox rode 18,125 miles / 29,169 kilometres in 108 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes.
This sees the American ultra-distance specialist take the official Women’s World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by bicycle from the previous record holder, Jenny Graham, by almost 16 days.
Wilcox has been documenting her latest feat via Strava, giving a fascinating insight into the extraordinary ride.
Let’s check out some of the stats from her ride, and the bike and equipment she used.
Every day is like a marathon
Wilcox averaged around 166 miles / 267 kilometres per day, at roughly 14.5mph / 23.3kph, according to SRAM (one of her key sponsors).
Along the way, she completed 630,000 feet / 192,024 metres of climbing.
To fuel this monstrous effort, Wilcox said she consumed “between 6,000 to 8,000 calories” per day (although she notes “I’ve lost a little weight, but not too much”).
Setting out from Chicago on 26 May, Wilcox headed East towards New York, before flying to Portugal and riding across Europe to Tbilisi in Georgia.
From there, Wilcox flew to Perth in Australia, rode to Brisbane and crossed over to New Zealand to ride from Invercargill in the South to Auckland in the North.
The final leg of Wilcox’s ride saw her fly to Anchorage in Alaska, where she followed the west coast of America down to Los Angeles before heading cross-country and back to Chicago.
Her wife, photojournalist Rugile (Rue) Kaladyte, supported her throughout the journey, logging distances and documenting the ride along the way.
Speaking to The Guardian in mid-July, halfway through her attempt, Wilcox said: “Every day is like a marathon, and then I go to sleep and do it all again.”
Counterintuitively, Wilcox said her toughest day on the bike came early during this attempt, on day four: “I was throwing up all day, it never stopped raining and I was getting multiple punctures.”
Perhaps proving that women do make the best ultra-endurance cyclists, she “still rode 139 miles”, although she admits that day “was a tough one”.
Lael Wilcox’s Around The World record bike
In contrast to her snow and ice-focused bike setup for the 500km Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska, Wilcox opted for an endurance road bike for the Around The World record attempt.
The frameset comes courtesy of Specialized, with Wilcox picking the latest Roubaix SL8 model.
Notably, Wilcox appears to be riding the slightly cheaper and heavier Fact 10R carbon frameset, rather than the lighter (and pricier) S-Works model.
We don’t know for certain, but we'd speculate that the cheaper model may be slightly more durable, given that expensive, high-modulus carbon fibre tends to be more brittle (this is partly why bike brands use different types of carbon fibre across different parts of a frame or component).
Her drivetrain was top-of-the-range, though, with SRAM supplying its new Red AXS groupset, along with a power meter crankset.
The power meter may have been useful to help Wilcox track her calorific output, so she could eat accordingly, for example. It could also have been used for sensible pacing of climbs.
The bike rolled on a set of Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels and Specialized Roubaix Pro 2Bliss Ready tubeless tyres.
We’ve previously reviewed the clincher version of Specialized’s Roubaix Pro tyre and found it to be fast-rolling, durable and grippy – a good choice for a trip around the world, then.
Wilcox’s bike was completed with a Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror 3D-printed saddle and a set of Zipp Vuka clip-on triathlon bars.
It appears she navigated the route using a Wahoo Elemnt Roam V2 bike computer and a smartphone, both mounted up high on her aero bar for easy visibility while riding.
She also carried some bikepacking bags under her saddle and handlebar to carry essentials for the ride.
