Lael Wilcox (born July 18, 1987) is an ultra-endurance bicycle racer who won the Trans Am Bike Race [1] in 2016, and set Tour Divide's women's course record on an individual time trial (ITT) in 2015. [2] She was the first American to win the Trans Am. [3] [4] She also set the overall course record with her time on the Baja Divide route.
Wilcox grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2008 with degrees in natural science and French literature. [5]
Wilcox started bicycling in 2008 at age 20, when she and her then boyfriend, Nicholas Carman, decided to tour the world. Working stints to collect money, the two set out on a bicycle tour of over thirty countries. They started in North America, then traveled in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, logging over 100,000 miles. [6]
Wilcox and Carman separated in 2017. [5] In May 2021 Wilcox married Rugile "Rue" Kaladyte, a photojournalist who has documented many of Wilcox's rides. [4] [7] [8]
In the 2015-2016 winter and spring, Wilcox and Carman co-developed the off-pavement bikepacking Baja Divide route, which runs from San Diego, California through San Jose del Cabo and on to La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. [9] [10] [11]
As of 2016, Wilcox and Carman, along with Wilcox's mother, Dawn Wilcox, taught biking skills and repair bicycles for elementary school children in Anchorage. They also ran a program to collect bikes to donate to schoolchildren. [6] As of 2018-2019, Lael co-leads Anchorage GRIT [5] [12] to get more local girls on bikes, and talks about it and other programs. [13] [14] In 2018 Wilcox began the Lael Rides Alaska Women's Scholarship. [8] [15]
As of 2018-2020, Wilcox has general sponsorships from Specialized and Revelate Designs. [5] [15] [16]
Wilcox first became interested in racing in 2014 when she and Carman were in Israel. The pair heard about and entered the Holyland Challenge, a 1000-mile unsupported race across the country. She was both the youngest rider and the only woman. She led the race by 25 miles the first day, and although she did not win the race, she was firmly focused on endurance racing. [17]
In 2016, Wilcox participated in the 4,400 mile Trans Am Bike Race that crosses the United States from west to east. As a small woman dressed in non-cycling clothes and with very little road-racing experience, she was not expected to compete, much less win. She averaged 235 miles per day for 18 days, averaging less than 5 hours of sleep per night. On the final morning, she trailed Steffen Streich by 40 miles. That morning, Streich awoke and mistakenly started riding west. Wilcox met Streich in Bumpass, Virginia. Streich suggested they ride to the finish together, and Wilcox responded, "This is a race" [18] and sprinted the final 130 miles to the coast to become the first woman and the first American to win the race. Wilcox sprinted the final hours to win the race in 18 days and ten minutes. [3]
In 2015, Wilcox, still considered relatively inexperienced at road racing, broke the women's record on the Tour Divide by more than two days. She covered the 2,745 mile race in 15 days, 10 hour and 59 minutes in an individual time trial (ITT). [19]
In 2015, Wilcox set the women's record for the fastest time on the Baja Divide route. In 2017, she broke the men's record as well. [10]
In 2018, Wilcox became only the second female to complete Switzerland's Navad 1000 bikepacking race, finishing in second place. The race features 627 miles distance and 99,770 feet of climbing. [20] Lael's race was commemorated in the film I'm Not Stopping produced by Rugile Kaladyte. [7] [21]
In June 2022, Wilcox became the inaugural winner of the Westfjords Way Challenge. [22]
The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds, owing to it travelling a large distance for every rotation of the legs, and comfort, because the large wheel provided greater shock absorption.
Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, such as air or coil-sprung shocks used as suspension, larger and wider wheels and tires, stronger frame materials, and mechanically or hydraulically actuated disc brakes. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into distinct categories: cross country, trail, all mountain, enduro, downhill and freeride.
The Little 500, is a track cycling race held annually during the third weekend of April at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is attended by more than 25,000 fans.
Adventure Cycling Association is a nonprofit member organization focused on travel by bicycle. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Adventure Cycling develops cycling routes, publishes maps, provides guided trips, and advocates for better and safer cycling in the U.S. The organization grew from a mass cross-country bicycle ride in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial. Adventure Cycling also publishes a magazine, Adventure Cyclist.
Bikecentennial '76 was an event consisting of a series of bicycle tours on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail across the United States in the summer of 1976 in commemoration of the bicentennial of America's Declaration of Independence. The route crossed ten states, 22 national forests, two national parks, and 112 counties between Astoria, Oregon, and Yorktown, Virginia, a distance of about 4,250 miles (6,840 km). The route was chosen to take cyclists through small towns on mostly rural, low-traffic roads.
Rapha Performance Roadwear is a cycling lifestyle brand focused on road bicycle racing and mountain biking clothing and accessories. Rapha has its headquarters in London and a United States office in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Mixed terrain cycle touring is the practice of cycling over a variety of surfaces and topography on a single route, with a single bicycle. The recent popularity of mixed terrain touring is in part a reaction against the increasing specialization of the bike industry.
The Tour Divide is an annual mountain biking ride traversing the length of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to the Mexican border. Following the 2,745-mile (4,418 km) Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, it is an ultra-distance cycling ride that is an extreme test of endurance, self-reliance and mental toughness. The ride format is strictly self-supported, and it is not a stage race - the clock runs continuously from the start until riders cross the finish line, usually more than two weeks later.
A fatbike is an off-road bicycle built to accommodate oversized tyres, typically 3.8 in (97 mm) or larger and rims 2.16 in (55 mm) or wider, designed for low ground pressure to allow riding on soft, unstable terrain, such as snow, sand, bogs and mud. Fatbikes are built around frames with wide forks and stays to accommodate the space required to fit these wide rims and tires. The wide tires can be used with inflation pressures as low as 34 kPa; 0.34 bar (5 psi) to allow for a smooth ride over rough obstacles. A rating of 55–69 kPa; 0.55–0.69 bar (8–10 psi) is suitable for most riders. Fatbikes were developed for use in snow or sand, but are capable of traversing diverse terrain types including snow, sand, desert, bogs, mud, pavement, or traditional mountain biking trails.
Juliana Buhring is a British-German ultra-endurance cyclist and writer. In December 2012, she set the first Guinness World Record as the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe by bike, riding over 29,000 kilometres (18,000 mi) in a total time of 152 days.
Bikepacking is how a bicycle is packed for bicycle touring. As with backpacking, lightweight packing is a popular topic within bicycle packing. Any kind of bicycle can be used for bikepacking, and specialized touring bicycles often have attachment points from the factory such as low riders and luggage carriers, but most types of bicycles can be equipped with a frame bag, saddle bag, top tube bag and handlebar bag.
The Transcontinental Race (TCR) is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across Europe. It is one of the world's toughest ultra-endurance races. The route and distance varies for each edition between about 3,200 and 4,200 km, with the winners generally taking 7 to 10 days. Interest in the race grew rapidly from 30 people starting the first edition of the race in 2013 to over 1,000 people applying for a place in the fourth edition in 2016, 350 of whom were successful; since then, these numbers have been reasonably stable.
The Trans Am Bike Race (TABR) is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across the United States. The route is about 4,200 miles (6,800 km) long and uses the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail that was developed by the Adventure Cycling Association for the Bikecentennial event in 1976. The route runs from the Pacific coast in Astoria, Oregon to the Atlantic coast in Yorktown, Virginia, passing through ten states. The inaugural race was in 2014, which 25 people completed, the fastest of whom took less than 18 days.
The definition of ultra-distance cycling is far more vague than in ultra running or in ultra-triathlon. Any bike race or ride longer than a century ride, which is 100 miles (160 km), is sometimes considered to be ultra-distance cycling. However, such events are relatively common, so using a longer distance to define the category is more useful, such as any race or ride that is longer than 200 kilometres (120 mi), 300 kilometres (190 mi) or even a double century, 200 miles (320 km).
Hemistour was a bicycle tour from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, completed in part by Dan and Lys Burden and in full by Greg and June Siple from 1972 to 1975. Twenty-nine other cyclists joined the Burdens and Siples for parts of the trip, which totaled 18,272 miles (29,405.9 km).
Steffen Streich is a German ultra-endurance bicycle racer living in Greece, who won the 2015 "Trans Africa Bicycle Race".
Jenny Graham is a Scottish endurance cyclist. In 2018 she became the fastest woman to cycle around the world unsupported.
Unbound Gravel, formerly known as the Dirty Kanza, is an event comprising gravel racing covering various distances held annually during the late spring on rural roads in the Flint Hills region of the Great Plains around Emporia, Kansas, United States. The race's organizers refer to the 200 miles (320 km) race as the "World's Premiere Gravel Grinder", and ranked as one of the top gravel bike races.
Gravel cycling, gravel biking or gravel grinding is a sport, or a leisure activity, in which participants ride bicycles mostly on gravel roads. Sometimes, specially designed gravel bikes are used; in other cases, any bicycle capable of covering the terrain can be used.