The Radavist

Last weekend, Lachlan Morton’s historic record-setting win at Unbound Gravel felt like a rare moment that all cycling fans could celebrate. The Australian pro rider’s journey has been anything but ordinary. For many of us at The Radavist, Lachy represents a soul rider who continually manages to rise above the drama of gravel racing and win for all the right reasons.

Below, Nic Morales offers a meditation on what Morton’s victory in Emporia means to the broader cycling community, accompanied by photos from Richard Pool.

This summer, Lachlan Morton set out on an Individual Time Trial (ITT) on the Tour Divide. He reached the finish in Antelope Wells in 12 days 12 hours and 21 minutes, but due to the presence of a media crew his time is not officially recognized. Watch the film, The Divide, to follow his 2,671-mile journey.

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

In the dark hours of Sunday September 10, 2023 Lachlan Morton reached the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, NM at 9:24pm. According to his sponsor E.F. Education-EasyPost’s recap on Instagram, his individual time trial (ITT) on the Tour Divide Route was about pushing himself in a sustainable way and during his 12day 12hr and 21min run down the divide, he stopped to rest for 12 hours out of every 48. While it is unlikely that his ride will be counted as the official record given the presence of a media crew, it should be noted that he went nearly a day-and-a-half faster than the late-great Mike Hall (13:22:51), with neither rider going over the now-notorious Koko Claims hike-a-bike section (Lachlan being forced to reroute due to wildfires in Canada).

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

Lachlan Morton announced on his Instagram Wednesday morning that he’ll be auctioning off the jersey he wore for the entirety of this summer’s Alt-Tour, his solo transit of the Tour de France route, which he rode ahead of the peloton and completed the entire TdF route.

Lachlan plans to donate the proceeds from the auction to Pedaling Minds, a Louisville, CO-based organization that works in schools to teach students collaborative thinking, teamwork, problem-solving, and coordination through a program designed to build self-confidence, using bikes as tools for learning.

This is a unique piece of memorabilia of a kind not often available. If you think your readers would be interested, I’d be grateful if you’d share this opportunity with them. The auction will end at 5:45 am MST on Wednesday, Dec. 15, and no, he won’t be auctioning off his bibs as well!

Bid at eBay.

The latest installment of Rapha Gone Racing just landed on our Youtube front page and features Lachlan’s Alt Tour. The beauty of this project lies in both the physical challenges Lachlan faced but also in the immense fundraising this effort achieved. Rapha and EF Education First donated 1000 bikes to World Bicycle Relief before inviting those following Lachlan to support the cause. With help from fans around the world, Lachlan managed to raise over £500,000 and counting…

Hit play to spend 40 minutes of your Monday experiencing the details of this achievement.

What a cool project for a great cause, initiated by a truly inspirational individual! Lachlan rode for 17 days, totalling 5,500 km, and raised more than £500,000 for World Bicycle Relief during this year’s Alt Tour! Check out the World Bicycle Relief’s fundraiser:

“Enter to win Lachlan Morton’s SuperSix EVO bike straight from his 2021 Alt Tour!

In celebration of the historic ride, Cannondale, in partnership with EF Education-NIPPO, Rapha and World Bicycle Relief, is offering a chance to win his team-issue SuperSix EVO. Built to Lachlan’s exact measurements and ready for a lucky winner to love this bike as much as he did for his 5,500-km tour, the 54-cm SuperSix EVO features a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain, team Vision wheels and Cannondale HollowGram crankset. The prize winner will also receive a signed EF Education-NIPPO Pro Cycling 2021 jersey for display.

There are four additional prizes of display-edition EF Education-NIPPO Pro Cycling 2021 jerseys, signed by Lachlan. There will be a total of five winners.

The Prize Draw will run from Monday 11 October 0:01 (BST) through Monday 1 November 23:59 (GMT) 2021. Entry is £25, with all money raised from the prize draw benefitting World Bicycle Relief’s work to mobilise people in need around the world with life-changing bicycles!”

Enter now to win at World Bicycle Relief.

What an amazing achievement! You can still help reach the £400k goal by visiting the World Bicycle Relief’s fundraising site. Check out the full press release below.

This is quite the undertaking!

“La Grande Boucle is cycling’s ultimate challenge, with the biggest audience, the toughest parcours and the most prestigious prize. From the outside, the race is a constantly moving feast of sound, colour, effort and emotion but for the racers inside the bubble, life on Tour travelling from one hotel to the next can be somewhat sterile particularly in the midst of a pandemic.

This year, for a fresh perspective on what it takes to compete at the world’s greatest bike race, Lachlan Morton is taking on his own Alt Tour. In a challenge inspired by the inaugural edition of 1903, he’ll ride every stage and every transfer completely unsupported, covering a distance of 5,500km and climbing over 65,000 metres in just 23 days. Starting just before the first stage, he’ll ride nearly double the distance and make the equivalent of an extra thirteen ascents of the Tourmalet, all with the ultimate aim of beating the peloton to Paris.

As well as a fresh perspective, Lachlan will also be riding with a new purpose. To make every kilometre he covers really count, Rapha and Education First are each donating 500 bikes to World Bicycle Relief and, with your help, we can donate even more. If you’re inspired by Lachlan’s challenge and would like to support him, you too can donate to WBR and help provide even more young people with the bikes they need to access an education.

With no teammates to shelter behind, no mechanical assistance and no rest days, the Alt Tour is Lachlan’s greatest challenge yet. How many bikes can we donate? Will Lachlan make it to Paris? And will he arrive before the peloton? There’s only one way to find out…”

Follow Lachlan’s dot!

The Badlands is a 700km non-stop unsupported gravel race through the Sierra Nevada of southern Spain. This route traverses some of Europe’s highest mountains and its only true desert. Only the fittest and capable athletes complete this event and is the perfect challenge for EF Gone Racing’s Lachlan Morton.

After the last-minute cancellation of the Cape Epic mountain bike race in March, the endlessly adventurous Australian was eager for another off-road odyssey. All we had to do was try and keep up…