Intense heat, smoke from burn-offs and the swelling of his achilles have been among the obstacles for Lachlan Morton in recent days but, despite the challenges, the EF Education-EasyPost rider is still tracking well ahead of target as he hits the halfway mark of his around Australia record attempt.
Morton had clocked up 6,989 km of his expected 14,201km ride as he settled in for a rest at the end of a huge day 15, stopping at Western Australia's Port Headland, a major hub for the shipping of iron ore from the Pilbara region. He then set off into the dark in the early hours of Friday morning and not long after dawn had accumulated enough extra distance to hit the halfway mark of 7,100.5km on the road to Karratha.
The 600km day from Broome that Morton delivered on Thursday helped push him even further ahead of the average pace he needs to maintain to deliver on the 35 day target his team outlined before he set out from Port Macquarie on September 5.
Pushing on through the intense heat of the Northern Territory and top section of Western Australia by doing much of his riding in the dark when it is cooler has helped Morton deliver a daily average that is currently sitting at 476km. If that pace continues it puts him on a trajectory that will deliver a time of around 30 days, well under the 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes which the Road Record Association of Australia lists as the current record.
“Feels good but it’s hard earned,” said Morton of his Australia lap experience so far in an instagram update from day 12. “Definitely a few moments last night where I was just like ‘what am I doing out here?’ Why did you think you could do this?’
“Right now the last question is answered but then you know what – couple of hours I’ll be asking myself the same questions again and we will continue to do that until we complete the route or the route completes me.”
The ups of seeing the kilometres quickly tick by with an ever-changing picturesque backdrop and the down moments of heat and headwind fueled doubts are likely to continue to the end – though the sources of those doubts and joys may change as often as the terrain does.
Morton has now tracked up a big chunk of the more heavily populated east coast, heading first through part of New South Wales, onto Queensland and then after Townsville he went inland toward the Northern Territory and up to the coastal capital of Darwin. After that he veered toward Western Australia, crossing the border of Australia's largest state by area on day 12 and working his way through the vast wilderness to the coast in Broome by the end of day 14. He then set off from Broome in the middle of the night, pushing through with a seventeen-and-a-half hour, 600km day on Thursday even as temperatures soared into the mid to high 30s (or close to 100°F).
Morton is now continuing on his journey south towards what are likely to be slightly cooler temperatures and the city of Perth. After the state capital the route continues down to Albany before heading across toward the Nullarbor Plain, South Australia and Adelaide before moving into Victoria and through Melbourne. After that he will head inland until cutting back to the New South Wales coast before Sydney. Then there is he final stretch back to where it all started in Port Macquarie.
You can follow Morton's journey via the live tracking page, and donate via Morton's Indigenous Literacy Foundation fundraising page.
