18,000+ miles without a chamois: Lael Wilcox is aiming to set a world record by circumnavigating the planet in 110 days

What do you do when you’ve already written numerous prestigious Fastest Known Times (FKTs) and ultra-endurance races to your name? Well, if you’re Lael Wilcox, you set your sights on the biggest record of them all: the Guinness World Record for the fastest trip around the planet on a standard bicycle.

On May 26, Wilcox will set off in the quest to pedal her way into the history books yet again as she’s aiming to set a new world record by circumnavigating the world in just 110 days.

The 37-year-old Alaska native stumbled into bike racing 10 years ago and has dominated the sport of uber-long sufferfests ever since. The FKT-chaser’s list of accomplishments simply baffles and includes records at basically all of the world's biggest endurance races and trails including Tour Divide, Baja Divide, Trans-Am, Navad 1,000, Badlands, Westfjords Way Challenge, and the Arizona Trail – just to name a few. Wilcox also won the 350-mile Unbound XL in 2021 after riding her bike 600 miles to the start. 

And she does it all with a smile on her face and, famously, without a chamois - preferring to ride without traditional padded cycling shorts.

"Yes, I'm still shammy-free. I've just never had problems but I'll tell you after it," Wilcox tells Cycling Weekly.

Despite her astonishing list of achievements, the Around the World record will be a monumental challenge, even for Wilcox. 

Around the world in 110 days

For an around-the-world bike trip to qualify for a Guinness World Record, the rider must complete the same distance as the circumference of the Earth — 18,000 miles— in one direction, starting and finishing in the same place. The rider may make their own route, and to jump between continents, air and sea travel is allowed as long as at least 18,000 miles are actually ridden by bike.

The current women’s around-the-world cycling record was set in 2018 by Jenny Graham. The Scottish rider completed her 18,400 miles (29,600km) trek in 124 days and 11 hours, besting the previous record, set by Paola Gianotti in 2014, by 20 days.

“The current record is really good. [Jenny Graham] did a great job and it's cool to have something hard to go after,” Wilcox says.

In order to beat this record, Wilcox says she’ll have to ride at least 163 miles a day for nearly 3.5 months. 

“I love competition and an opportunity to try to be the fastest. But to be the fastest for something that takes like three and a half months is just crazy,” Wilcox says with a laugh. “I always get competitive and I want to do my best but this one is so long that I have to give my best effort because I don't want to have to come back and do it again.”

Wilcox says she hasn’t quite pieced together her entire route yet but she has a rough idea. She will start and finish in Chicago, tackling North America first, followed by Europe. She’ll then fly to Bangkok to ride across Thailand and Malaysia and finish in Singapore.Next, she'll hop over to Australia to traverse the vast outback and New Zealand before flying back to her native Alaska. From there, she'll complete her homestretch back to Chicago.

And, like Jenny Graham, Wilcox plans to do the ride self-supported aboard the new Specialized Roubaix, even if the rules don’t have any restrictions around support.

“I've done a lot of these races that are like a week or two weeks and at some point, sometimes the experience, it starts feeling more and more the same, even if the places are new. This is something bigger and scarier,” says Wilcox. “I'm really terrified, but there's also something exciting about that: just try to do something that scares me.”

Now or never

Wilcox vividly recalls the moment this humongous endeavor first appealed to her. As she pedaled to the starting line of the Trans Am race in 2016 —a mere 2,000-mile warm-up of 2,000 miles before tackling a 4,200-mile (6,800 km) bike race— she had an epiphany: "What if this was the start of an around-the-world ride?"

"I was this huge dreamer. I didn't have any money. I didn't have a plan. All I did was get a new passport. And I was like, 'maybe it'll all take care of itself,' which obviously it didn't, but since I've always kind of thought about it," Wilcox reflects.

Seven years later, following the Yomp Rally last May, that lingering idea and a sense of wanderlust began to resurface.

"I just love being out here every day, you know, going somewhere new, being able to ride big miles day after day," she shares. "And now, I have time, I don't have too many obligations, I don't have other responsibilities, and I can imagine what it's like."

"I've been thinking about doing this big ride for years; at this point, I'm kind of like, if I don't do it now, I'm probably never going to do it, so I just want to go for it."

When asked about training for such an endeavor, Wilcox shrugs.

"With these long efforts, it's mostly about saddle time, you know, getting your body used to being on the bike for so many hours," she explains. And Wilcox has plenty of that, continuing to log countless hours. As we spoke, she was en route to Alaska to tackle Iditarod, the world's longest arctic ultra-marathon by fat bike.

Back home in Arizona, Wilcox regularly participates in the infamous weekly Shoutout, one of the fastest group rides in the country.

"I'm not sure how much training helps, but I enjoy it regardless. I'm always thinking, 'What if I could ride half a mile an hour faster for the entire journey?' 'What if I could cover 10 more miles a day?'" she shares. "Over three-and-a-half months, even these small improvements can make a significant difference."

An invitation to ride along

More than just a personal challenge, Wilcox aims to share her experience with the cycling community at large.

Her wife Rue, a professional photographer and videographer, will come along to shoot the endeavor with the intent of producing a full-length video and a daily podcast.

Wilcox also warmly extends an invitation for riders to come join her for a mile or two as she makes her way from one community to the next. 

"What's cool is that I can invite people to come ride with me. I can't draft, but I can ride next to people and have visitors," Wilcox says with excitement. "They can follow my tracker and just pop out and ride with me. The whole thing just sounds kind of like a storybook to me, you know?

"It's like riding around the world but with new people each day. I'm sure I'm going to have plenty of hours by myself but also, it should feel like a big rolling party."

For Wilcox, the allure of this challenge lies in the exploration of the unknown and the experience of seeing the world by bike. While FKTs and race wins serve as motivation, she treasures the journey beyond records.

"Once it's done, I don't really even care that much about records," she admits. "I care about the experience and I know how hard I worked but once it's done, It's almost like they disappear," she admits. 

"More than anything, I feel so privileged that I get to do this. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I'm trying to make it as fun as possible. I know it's going to be hard and it's going to hurt, but I think I'm going to have a really good time, too."