Lachlan Morton is no stranger to pushing boundaries, but his latest challenge took ultra-endurance cycling to a whole new level. In September 2024, the EF Education-EasyPost rider set out to break the Around-Australia cycling record, covering over 14,200 km in less than 40 days. Battling extreme heat, exhaustion, and the relentless Australian outback, Morton’s journey—captured in the feature-length film “The Great Southern Country”—showcases his endurance, determination, and unique approach to long-distance riding. Here’s a look at how he took on one of the toughest endurance challenges ever attempted.
Australia’s Lachlan Morton rides for the UCI World Tour team EF Education First-Easy Post but his career as a cyclist has taken a very different direction from what he might have envisaged when turning professional in 2013. While he has in that time ridden many of the noted races in Europe (the Giro, the Vuelta, Il Lombardia) his wins on the road have been in the Tour of Utah and the Tour of the Gila. Rather, he has become noted for his ultra-endurance rides, winning GBDuro, Badlands and Unbound Gravel 200. Since 2023 his racing has been almost exclusively in mountain biking and gravel events. As well as setting records on the Kokopelli’s Trail and the Tour Divide Trail, he acquired a degree of fame with his Alt Tour in 2021, riding the route of the Tour de France route that year, including transfers, unsupported and arriving in Paris five days ahead of the peloton. In September 2024 he set out to break the record for riding around Australia and this is the subject of a recent video posted by EF Pro Cycling and presented by Cannondale and POC. The principal filming was by Angus Morton, an accomplished videographer and Lachlan’s brother.
The record that Morton aimed to beat was set 13 years earlier by David Alley, who took nearly 40 days to ride the 15,152 kms of his trip. In order to achieve the new record, it was necessary to ride at least 14,200 kms, passing a number of specified cities on route. During his ride, Morton was not only accompanied by his support crew—mechanic, coach, massage therapist, wife Rachel and film crew—but also by a representative of the Road Record Association of Australia, who points out at the beginning of the video that Lachlan Morton rode the equivalent of four Tours de France in a month.
In his previous Alt Tour Morton raised money for charity (World Bicycle Relief in that instance) and for lap of Australia he again raised funds, this time for a charity close to home: the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. There are numerous references in the video to the Aborginal and Torres Strait Islanders and one has to admire their capacity to survive in a region like this for some 65,000 years. Because Australia, which calls itself “the Lucky Country,” is also a continent of harsh environmental conditions in addition to being noted for its beautiful coastlines.
The video opens with Morton and his wife Rachel talking about the challenge. He tells her that to beat the record one would have to ride something like 200 to 400 kms each day, which would be the longest he would have done to that point, noting that his longest race is “only” 200 miles, or 320 kms. (probably a referent to the Unbound Gravel 200). Departing from his home in Port Macquarie, NSW, with his support crew attentive in their RV, it is pretty clear from the start that he won’t be doing any 200 km days on this trip as on his first day he finishes with over 400 done and for the remainder of the video we never see rides of less than that and a number that are well over 500 kms. No rest days are taken by Lachy and even when dehydrated and vomiting from food poisoning he just keeps on going on. The only day when he appears to miss his target is when, to avoid a freeway, the little company ends up on a dirt road only suitable for 4x4s and he has to push his way through the sand for 10 kms. To the average rider his speeds seem incomprehensible: on the first day he completed over 400 kms with an average speed of 36 km/h.
To attempt a ride like this one you have to have a very particular mindset. Morton speaks of going beyond what is expected, to push boundaries, because, in his view, to stay within limits and do only what you think you can, is like somehow cheating people. To ride for up to 20 hours a day, often in intense heat and on what appear to be endlessly dead straight roads, must call upon an impressive ability to focus. Morton rides while listening to podcasts but even that grows stale after a while.
Compared to other ultra-endurance riders, Morton’s approach seems to be somewhat casual as he varies distances depending on how the mood strikes him, in one instance just riding without stopping to eat but taking on food from the RV as it drives alongside him. His capacity for fast riding is amazing as the only injuries or stress he seems to endure is from an Achilles tendon that is bothering him. The crew has brought along a child’s wading pool that they put ice into and he sits in at the end of the day. A number of stops are obviously in hotels and he and his coach even enjoy a beer together one evening.
The video is a full length feature at 1 hour 47 minutes and there are moments when the viewer feels the relentlessness of the record attempt, with mile after mile of empty landscapes, punctuated by brief stops. At one point Morton remarks that he does not know what day it is, or how long he has still to ride. In addition to what must be world-class boredom on some of these stretches, there is also the omnipresent danger of the famous/notorious “road trains” of Australia. These are huge trucks with multiple trailers, barrelling down the roads at high speeds, and seem everywhere in the video. At one point Morton has to pull off onto the non-shoulder as one of them makes no move to go around him but keeps on coming.
Making an appearance are a number of people shown in the credits as “characters,” and that they are. A young Australian with a pushcart walking across Australia; an elderly couple from the Sunshine Coast; an Aboriginal artist; a Frenchman riding a battered Royal Enfield motorcycle around the country; a pair of truckers who need to be subtitled as they sound straight out of “Crocodile Dundee,” providing helpful advice such as not driving at night but given the temperatures (40ºC in the Northern Territory) means some departures are at 11 pm.
Throughout the video we are given an indication of how many days have passed, the daily mileage and what remains. From early on it is clear that Morton is riding far ahead of the old record pace. As he approaches the final stretch he mulls ideas like what it would be like to just keep going for, say, 1200 kms in one burst. He knows what he intends to do and for the team it requires some careful management to keep him in bounds enough to finish the ride. As he passes Sydney and approaches his hometown others come out to meet him, some of them riding alongside, and many are present for the triumphant conclusion.
“The Great Southern Country” is an epic video about an epic country and one can only imagine what Lachlan Morton might do to top this ride next.
“The Great Southern Country—Lachlan Morton’s Around Australia Record”
Released February 2025, 1 hour 47 minutes run time
An EF Pro Cycling and Thereabouts Production
Written & Directed by: Scott Donald Mitchell and Angus Morton
Starring: Lachlan Morton, Rachel Peck, Thomas Hopper, Graham Seers, and Athalee Browne
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