Lachlan Morton Talks Unbound Finish, Kokopelli’s FKT, and Biking Without Brakes

Lachlan Morton is a professional cyclist and mountain biker from Australia, currently riding for  UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost. He’s notched podium finishes at the Leadville 100, rode the Fastest Known Time for Kokopelli’s Trail in 2020,  and set the Everesting cycling world record in 2020. He also completed the Alt Tour in 2021, cycling the entire Tour de France route unsupported, beating the peloton by five days.

In this interview we ask:

• Congrats on your podium finish at Unbound earlier this month. Were you thinking there might be such a close finish from the beginning of the race?
• How did you get into cycling competition initially? Has your motivation for racing changed?
• What did you learn while riding and filming Thereabouts in 2014? 
• We’ve heard that you’re hoping to make a run at the record for circumnavigating the world by bike. Is an attempt still on your radar?
• Have you mapped out a potential route? How long do you think it would take?
• Is it risky to publicize an FKT attempt before you make it?
• It seems like a lot of your adventures are tied to fundraising for various non-profits. Which causes are near and dear to your heart?
• Are you someone who learns by reading books and listening to others, or are you more of an experiential learner? How is EF a good sponsorship fit for you?
• In Thereabouts you mention riding a frankenbike as a kid that didn’t have brakes. What did that teach you about riding? About life?
• Is there a pressure on professional athletes to have a strong social media presence today? How does that compare to 5-10 years ago?
• How can the sport support pro athletes better, and how can athletes better support the sport?
• In the video of your Kokopelli FKT run you look super calm and collected. Is that an accurate reflection of how you were feeling? Do you think you could have done it faster?
• What do you want your legacy to be?

Keep up with Lachlan @lachlanmorton and EF Education-EasyPost @efprocycling

A complete, edited transcript is provided below.

Transcript

Jeff
Hey everybody, welcome to the Singletracks podcast. My name is Jeff and today my guest is Lachlan Morton. Lachlan is a professional cyclist and mountain biker from Australia currently riding for UCI World Team EF Education-EasyPost. He’s notched podium finishes at the Leadville 100, rode the fastest known time for Kokopelli Trail in 2020, and set the Everesting cycling world record also in 2020. He’s competed in the alt tour in 2021, cycling the entire Tour de France route unsupported, beating the peloton by five days. Thanks for joining me, Lachlan.

Lachlan
No worries man, thanks for having me.

Jeff
Well, first off, congrats on taking third at Unbound.

Lachlan
Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, nice to have a little race at the front there.

Jeff
So you finished the 200 mile race in just over 10 hours, which is obviously a long time on the bike. Were you thinking there might be such a close finish from the beginning of the race?

Lachlan
Yeah that race now, it’s always got a pretty strong start field. And there’s a lot of riders who can who can really compete at the front. And there’s nothing… I mean, it’s long, and it’s pretty rough roads, and that kind of thing. It’s definitely a challenging race. But there’s nothing super obvious to split it up in the last sort of 50km. You know in general if you’ve made that group, you’re going to be in decent shape. And everyone’s at a pretty similar level. So I tried my best to sort of split things up, because I’m not the fastest in the finish. But yeah, it came down to a group of us.

Jeff
Yeah, that’s interesting to me. I mean, I have much more of a mountain bike background, and you’re not used to seeing those close finishes. I mean, you are in road racing, obviously. So is gravel in that way, is it more like road racing? Or is there kind of that mountain bike element that can also kind of split the field up?

Lachlan
It’s definitely in between, I think. You know, the fact that like the race went down to — I think we were just twelve riders after probably 20 miles — that would very, very rarely have happened in a road race unless there was like a big climb or something. And that kind of came down to some mud sections and rough gravel sections. And then obviously, like legs, so yeah, I mean, that’s the fun challenge of, of gravel racing, I think it kind of falls… I think the best gravel courses fall like right in between mountain biking and road racing.

Obviously you get a big spread of courses the same way you do in mountain biking, you know, but for me the races I enjoy the most are the ones that kind of fall right in the middle where there’s still a tactical element. And, you know, if you’re able to ride the technical sections efficiently and smoothly there’s something to be gained there. But then you also still just need like raw horsepower. So it’s a fun format of racing.

And to be honest I think I enjoy racing gravel more than I do riding gravel. I don’t like wake up in the morning… I genuinely have two bikes with me and it’s always pretty hard to choose your gravel bike over a mountain bike, unless you’re in a certain place where you don’t have access to trails for that. But I think gravel racing is really fun. Because the speed is really high. It’s a lot about controlling traction, still positioning, reading the roads, that kind of thing. So it’s definitely like, you race something like, Unbound, it’s 10 hours long. Yeah. But it goes really, really quickly. Because you’re constantly focused on what you’re doing, trying to keep the air in the tires and put out your best result possible. So yeah, it’s good fun. You know, if I’m honest, I think gravel racing is actually growing on me.

Jeff
Yeah, it’s interesting what you say about choosing between the mountain bike and the gravel bike… I mean, looking at your Instagram, you ride your gravel bike, like a mountain bike. You’re always, it looks like, hitting singletrack when you can and just trying to have as much fun as possible with the gravel bike. Do you think the gravel bike is kind of the perfect mix of the two where you can do both? You can go on a long ride, but you can also maybe ride some more fun stuff like singletrack.

Lachlan
Like if I ended up on singletrack on my gravel bike I would almost always prefer to be on my mountain bike. Yeah, it’s usually just because I’ve either found something or have gotten bored with what I was doing. That being said, if you have a very specific type of singletrack where it’s really smooth, and just like fast flowing, like you get with singletrack that like cows make or something, that’s really fun on a gravel bike. It’s a fun challenge, and you can go quite fast on it.

But for me the ultimate bike is a cross country bike for what I do. You know they’re very capable now. So you can ride most of the stuff that I want to ride, and they’re self-sufficient that you can you can really do big loops on them and still cover quite a lot of ground. I think the best kind of use case for me for a gravel bike is if you’re doing like a mixed-terrain ride where you will end up maybe on the road for more than 40% of the ride, then the gravel bike is right because you could still be quite efficient and fast. Or, you know sometimes I’ll do a ride and then meet up with a group or something who are on road bikes, and then it’s nice to be on a gravel bike. I used to have this idea when I first started riding off road, because I just like simplicity, “there’s got to be just like a bike that I can have…”

Jeff
A quiver killer.

Lachlan
Yeah, and I messed around with the smaller wheels, like 650b wheels, mountain bike tires, and then there’s always a compromise with any bike. So now I just realize that I need more bike.

Jeff
But yeah, it sounds like you’re getting it done with just two bikes for the most part. For a lot of people that’s not a lot of bikes.

Lachlan
Yeah. And I mean, I have more bikes, but I basically don’t ride my road bike ever anymore. I just have two sets of wheels for my, my gravel bike. And it’s basically the two extremes. I just have road tires that I think I’ve used like twice this year. And then I have the biggest possible tires I could fit it in it so like a 2.1 on the front, and then like a 47 or something in the back.

And then I I just have a [Cannondale] Scalpel that I ride all the time. I have been messing around a little bit with the hardtail. Just with the Lifetime series that I’m racing. The mountain bike races are all pretty fast and smooth sort of trails. So there is there is an advantage to riding a hardtail. And it’s a fun, new skill to learn. You know, I think it’s a good thing to learn technique on a hardtail. Because you definitely have to work a little more to find speed. But generally, I would say 90% of the time it’s just two bikes and I would be happy with that.

Jeff
You’re known for taking an unconventional approach to bike racing. How’d you first get into cycling competition?

Lachlan
There was a local club where I grew up in Port Macquarie, a road cycling club. It’s not a big town. And for a smaller town in Australia, it was a proportionately big cycling club. It was run by an Olympian, Graham Seers who became my first coach. Anyway, he did a really good job of pulling this club together.

My dad was pretty big into motor racing, so we were gonna race go-karts, but we had family friends who lived just down the road, kids the same age, and their dad was also really into motor racing. And they wanted to split us up because we were pretty competitive kids. And so we’d had like little peewee 50s and motorbikes that we’d almost killed each other on so they didn’t want us to be in the same category. They started go kart racing. But we wanted to do something different. So part of the deal was we could get bikes, then once we got bikes, we wanted to race.

So we went down to the local club. And this was pretty much all my older brother pushing it. And then I was just copying him because he was two years older than me, and the coolest person in the world to me at that time. So I just basically went down to the local club, and then we started racing. On Saturdays, they would have a handicap. On Tuesdays, they would do a criterium. And it just kind of grew out of that.

I didn’t train at all at that point, I was pretty young, I was probably eight or nine years old. Then, when I was, I think 11 or 12, we went on a big family holiday to Europe. And on that holiday, we saw a stage of the Tour de France. And then, for me, it just clicked. I thought that’s what I want to do. This is a real sport. This is cool. And then that’s when I just started training like a maniac. And that was the whole goal. The only plan, you know?

Jeff
As an eight or nine year old kid, I would be bummed that I don’t get to do go-kart racing. That seems like it’d be way more fun than riding bikes. But, it sounds like you’re such a competitive person, no matter what the activity was you were going to go all in. Was that kind of your motivation? Just competition?

Lachlan
Initially, for sure. I think when you’re a kid who’s young, you just gravitate towards things that you’re good at. And, cycling was pretty low-hanging fruit. There weren’t many bike riders my age that I grew up with. You think, I’m good at this, I can do well, and you get that gratification from going to a race once a weekend. From doing well.

I think what I really liked was that I’m not alone. But, I don’t mind spending time alone. And so once the training element kicked in, that’s when I really fell in love with it. Because I could, get up at five in the morning and put lights on my bike, and go to training. I’d have this freedom. I would spend three hours a day before school on my bike. I always just remember having this feeling of I’ve already kind of had a day before the day even started. I could have the ownership of that. And that’s what really pulled me in that and trying to win races. But I’m really only competitive in the race scenario. I’m not one of those people who needs to be winning all the time.

Jeff
Are you competitive? If you’re playing cards, board games, or other stuff like that? Or is it just biking?

Lachlan
Absolutely not, just in riding. I used to be even competitive in training, but now it’s purely if I’ve got a number on now. I’m not a hectic athlete that needs to be first every race.

Jeff
It seems in 2014, you did the documentary film with your brother, Angus, “Thereabouts,” which made it seem that it was a turning point for you. Did you start to look at competition differently after that? Or was that not a change, was it more like “I know what I want to do now”?

Lachlan
It was a different shift. Anyone who’s 20 years old, you’re still trying to work out their whole direction in life. And for me, there was a big turning point, because I essentially achieved what I wanted, which was to make the elite level of the sport, and I was only 20 years old. I had a good season, won some races, but was just still unhappy. And when I say still unhappy, I think once I got to that point, for a number of different reasons, I kind of isolated myself and I was so far down the rabbit hole with trying to win races that it just eroded everything thing else away.

It was like, on that ride, it was kind of taking stock a little bit, and working out what I wanted. And I think that was probably the first bike ride I’d done, or not the first but the first big bike ride I’d done that didn’t have like a purpose to it. It wasn’t training. It wasn’t a training camp. It wasn’t racing. It was just, let’s just go ride bikes. It was just a big shift in mindset for me. I was thinking, Oh, wow, I can have these kinds of experiences through riding. And that was such a departure from everything I’d done on a bike before that. And that was me feeling like I want to do more of this.

So that kind of led to a transition out of racing for a while because I knew I just needed that timeout for myself. And then we started to do a few more trips. And I came to the US to race in a bit less intense environment and joined a smaller team. And, that was kind of a beginning, eventually, I did go back and race the world tour for a number of years, another five years or something. But it was definitely more on my own terms with a conscious decision to do it. And definitely seeking to find much more of a balance in my riding, and in life in general, but it was pretty much the same thing.

Jeff
Well we’ve heard that you’re hoping to make a run at the record for circumnavigating the world by bike. So is an attempt still on your radar for that?

Lachlan
It’s a possibility, there’s obviously the conflict, between Ukraine and Russia. That definitely complicates that. But, yes.

Jeff
Do you have a route in mind? Russia is huge. I imagine pretty much any route is gonna have to go through there.

Lachlan
Yeah, you really do need to go through there if you’re trying to go fast. It’s actually been good, because we sort of had this idea, and there’s always a temptation to just look for the next biggest thing. What’s the next biggest thing? That’s because you can go here. So, it’s definitely something I still want to do.

I think I would like to play with the format a bit because I’m where I’m at now, if you do it, you do it supported. You just have to think about the circumference of the Earth is the distance you have to cover just like more or less 30,000k? And then you have to hit two points of polarity. Basically, the opposite sides of the earth.

Jeff
Yeah, antipodal points.

Lachlan
I think the reality of it is a lot of logistics. It’s wildly expensive. And you don’t even have to hit every continent. For example, the route, you could skip like Africa. So I think it would still be a cool experience, but it would be like a lot of highways. A lot of being in the aero bars cranking along. Which is one of those records that you’re thinking, “what am I just trying to do, have the record?”

Jeff
It’s such an experience, there’s so much you would potentially see.

Lachlan
Yeah, it would be a shame to miss all this nice riding, because you’d like to go on the hot route and cover the best case. So it’s been good because I can have a bit more time to think about how we want to do it. And what would make for the best experience as well as the biggest challenge.

So it’s definitely something I still really want to do. I just don’t know if I’ll do it in the initial format that we thought. I mean, maybe I will, and I’ll come around to that idea. But it’s on the back burner for now, but definitely, on the list of things I want to do. Maybe, in the next three or four years,

Jeff
Well, Mark Beaumont, I believe is the one who still has the record. And he wrote a book about it, The Man Who Cycled the World, which is an awesome book, super fascinating. Have you spoken with Mark, or have you read his book? Did that kind of inspire you? Or is this one of those doing your own thing?

Lachlan
No, no, I haven’t read the book. And I haven’t met him. He’s obviously an incredible athlete. That’s a very stout record to do a lot of kilometers every day. It takes a lot of mental and physical ability to do that, I have a lot of respect for that. But no, I haven’t. I haven’t read the book, I like to go into things a little bit naive, slightly underprepared. So there’s still an interesting element of I don’t know what’s going to happen. But it is a hell of a record for sure. The crazy thing is, it must be a lot about getting in and out of airports quickly.

Jeff
Right, it’s almost like a triathlon.

Lachlan
You need a group of people who are helping you do that. So I think maybe one of the things that have me second-guessing the record is it’s so inaccessible. Unless you have a lot of funding. There aren’t a lot of attempts at it, I think it’s because it’s such a big undertaking. I like the idea of an established route that is safe but also interesting. A big challenge that anyone can throw some bags on their bike and have a crack at it. I think that’s a cool idea. But again, a huge project.

Jeff
Is it risky to sort of publicize your FKT attempts ahead of time? Do you normally do that if you’re going to do an FKT? Are you letting people know that you’re doing it? Or would you rather do it as a sneak attack?

Lachlan
I don’t really mind. The plan with around the world… there wasn’t… we’d literally just started speaking about it. And then I saw it on the Internet somewhere. So it wasn’t a big plan to go on and announce it, I’m gonna go do this.

Jeff
Around your Kokkopellis FKT, do you worry if you say, “Hey, I’m gonna go for the FKT?” And then you end up not doing it, or you fail, and you don’t set a new record time? Are you worried about that at all? Or does that help motivate you to kind of put it out there?

Lachlan
I don’t know. I think if you’re purely in it for the record, then you’re gonna have a shitty time anyway. So I try and make it as if you’re trying to go as fast as you can. But if you’re only going to get the record out of it, then that’s a bad motivation. But I rode Kokopelli, two or three weeks ago, and didn’t tell anyone. And I had an hour and a half to do the last 15k, then sliced a sidewall, and just had to hike out. But I just wanted to go do that, because I was in the area. And I was thinking it’d be sweet to go out there and have another on the day on the trail.

It wasn’t a big announcement, even though it’s going significantly faster than the last time I rode it. So I guess I think ideally, no one knows. Because then it’s easier to create your own mental environment. But I think I’ve just kind of learned, but it’s also part of my job, to go and do things that the team can publicize. So I’ve learned that you just have to decide on how you’re going to do it, the experience you’re trying to have, and then go about executing that, as opposed to thinking about the broader appeal of a record or a film. I just kind of focus on the riding element.

Jeff
It seems like a lot of your adventures are tied to fundraising for various nonprofits. So I’m curious, which causes are near and dear to your heart?

Lachlan
Well that shifts. Sometimes you get passionate about different things, but I think generally anything that allows other people to have experiences on bikes, I think is probably the thing I’m most passionate about. I do genuinely believe that. If everyone had access and could ride bikes every day, the world would be a better place, and people would be happier. So I think Access to Bikes, and Bicycle Relief, do a very good job at what they do. And that’s a cause that, I think is, really worth getting behind. But there are so many different avenues that you could put your energy into, to try and help. But I think for me, it makes the most sense to do something that I have a connection to, and understand a little bit.

Jeff
It seems you’re definitely someone who’s always trying new things and learning, a very experiential learner. So in that way, do you think EF education is that like a good sponsorship fit for you? It seems that’s kind of their mission, too. Do you feel a connection between that?

Lachlan
Definitely, the most valuable things I’ve learned have all come through traveling and putting myself in foreign or uncomfortable situations. Their whole program is about taking people and putting them in different locations for the process of learning. It makes total sense to me, the way they value cycling as a sport and they see value in it, even on a business level. So I think that’s important.

Cycling tends to have a pretty high turnover rate of title sponsors and people who would sort of come into it either because they have a lot of money that they can throw at something and give away, maybe it’s sometimes poorly managed by a team who just want a sponsor to put a name on a jersey and then that’s kind of the end of it. EF’s good because they’re very involved. Just in what I do, they can see the value in me going to road races, for example. Because it makes sense, financially for them, if you’re honest. I think it’s been a really, really cool partnership.

Jeff
There’s a part in Thereabouts where you mentioned, as a kid, riding this Franken bike, a bike that didn’t have any brakes. What did that teach you about riding? Did you learn anything about biking from riding without brakes?

Lachlan
I think that’s why I still feel so much more comfortable, like in flat pedals because we used the foot brake. But yeah, we had like a course around the house. And to be honest, I think that was us trying to replicate motor racing on a bike. We would set up these courses and do qualifying and all this kind of stuff. So it was definitely a good foundation. It was learning racing and bike skills in a very informal, fun environment. I think it’s pretty hard, you can’t really replicate that.

A lot of my most fond cycling memories were spent with mates just racing each other around the house. Probably also the biggest crash I’ve had. Just like pulling the bikes apart. What if we put the big wheel on the front? That was just a lot of fun. That was my initial introduction to bike racing.

Jeff
They say you learn a lot from crashing, more than from some of the riding you do. And it also seems like a good metaphor.

Lachlan
I was just a slow learner then.

Jeff
That seems like a good metaphor for life too, though, no brakes. Just considering that, what does that mean? For life? For racing and career and all of that stuff?

Lachlan
Yeah, it means you go through a lot of pairs of shoes.

Jeff
For sure. You kind of have talked about this, but is there a lot of pressure on professional cycling athletes to have this strong social media presence today? Is that different from kind of when you started racing?

Lachlan
I don’t have any pressure on it. My social media will only really be Instagram, that’s actually alive. I’ve never had to like to push it. I just kind of put things out there that are just what I’m doing. Genuinely.

Jeff
Do sponsors ever say you’ve got to post something once a week and you’ve got to mention us?

Lachlan
There’s definitely a lot of that, I think that goes on but I don’t take any of those things on. One because like, it’s a pain in the ass.

Jeff
Yeah, you’re busy.

Lachlan
You can see it in the last few years. Riders obviously have a big push on their social media account because it has value. But, I’ve never had anything like that directly enforced upon me. I think the second that happened, I would probably do away with it.

There are obviously positives and negatives to it. I’ve met so many great people and had so many great bike rides and people I’ve met through Instagram, basically anywhere I go, now I can find someone to ride with, and they can show me local routes or I can just connect with people, who are maybe new on their cycling journey or have specific questions, and I’ll do my best to get back to people. I can’t get back to everyone. But that’s definitely one of those things that are good.

And sometimes, you’ll be on a plane for like, the second time in a week, going somewhere to do something that you’re thinking, What am I doing, and then you can find people who it gives you motivation to, because people might send you a message to say they’ve connected with what you’re doing.

So there’s a lot of positives, you know, and I think it’s just about the way you approach it. If it’s a pressure, or if you only are drawing comparisons with people, that’s when it becomes a little bit toxic. When it just makes me sad is when I see people who are like that, it’s like they’re all kitted up, and going for the ride, just for the video, just to say that. And I’m just missing the point a little bit. I mean, it’s great, because it’s drawn more and more people into cycling, which is always going to be a positive. But I think the people out there doing it purely for the reaction they’re gonna get, on social media, ultimately, they’re missing out a little bit. I’m not dumping on the internet. It’s definitely not a negative thing because I think there are so many good things that have come out of it. You do see a lot of connections that are made, through social media that become real-world, genuine relationships that I think, that’s a positive for sure.

Jeff
Thinking more broadly, do you think there are things that sponsors and the bike industry can do to support athletes better? It seems like a big part of it is brands seeing athletes as influencers or whatever? Is there a better way you think that people can support the athletes?

Lachlan
It’s really evolving, At the moment, it used to be when I started racing, at least, as it seemed to me, the only way to make a living riding bikes was to win races or do well in races. That was a requirement. So that’s a very thin cross-section of the people who were asking to ride bikes. I think it’s exciting now that there are more and more people who are able to carve out a living in cycling, who aren’t competitive, or competitive in a very different way. So I think that’s cool. I’m glad to see brands get behind that. I think the more they get behind that, the nicer cycling, the community will grow. It will draw more and more people in but you’re just going to have a much more varied and interesting cycling landscape, especially among, professionals. I guess hopefully, it’s not just a trend. Because as much as my cycling career is based, a lot less on results than it used to be, there is always an element of like, you but have still have to be fast.

I enjoy racing, so I don’t really mind. But I think the more that evolves, the more interesting things you’re going to see, out there. It’s just an evolution that’s taking place and I think ultimately, it’s a positive thing. And the more the bike manufacturers and the industry can get behind it, the better it is to be open to different and new ideas.

Think of something like that Unbound XL. Even just four years ago, I was saying, that’s crazy, that’s just crazy people. Now it just is, a few hundred people on the start line ready to race, the whole thing, which I think is exciting.

But, as even those spaces become more competitive, it’s going to draw people into even further out and more interesting places. So I guess I’m excited to see where it goes. And I think there’s probably never been a better time to be a professional athlete really. Even though it’s potentially more complicated. I think that it’s more now what you can make of it, as opposed to having to follow a set path, which I think is a good trend.

Jeff
It’s definitely a two-way street. As you said, the athletes obviously owe something to their sponsors. And, the conventional way is you win races. But as the athlete, it’s kind of up to you as well, to find different ways to support your sponsors. Being creative and doing these different projects, for the same result, maybe it’s even better than winning a race. Who knows?

Lachlan
For sure. I think if your ideas and your execution and your intent are all in line, then you can go into things outside of racing that can have equally or if not more of an impact than winning a bike race. But as you said, no one’s ever going to pay you to just go ride your bike, and no one knows about it. So like there is a way right, but maybe one day.

Jeff
In the video of your Kokopelli FKT run from — I guess it was a couple of years ago — you look super calm and collected. Was that an accurate reflection of how you were feeling at the time? What are you feeling during something like that?

Lachlan
I love those big days by yourself when you’re just in control of your effort and what you’re doing. Like, for me, that’s a must at home, in those situations, and that was something I discovered in the first ultra race that I did. I was like, Oh, wow, I’m good at this. I’m here. And it took me a long time to find that sort of spot in any competitive sense. But I’ve also learned that you need to be very calm, and try and have a good hold on your emotions, doing something like that.

Jeff
Does that work? You can’t just be saying, “Be calm, be calm,” and then you calm yourself when you’re stressing out.

Lachlan
It’s just sort of experience. I’ve definitely lost it my fair share of times, and I’ve realized that every time you do that, not only does it take away from the experience, but it also slows you down generally. It’s just more of always gonna have ups and downs, that just happens, but it’s about managing your emotions in a way that you still have control of it. And you’re still able to sort of execute what you’re doing without getting overly excited or overly down on yourself at any time.

And I think also doing something like that, where maybe you’re running a line on how much water you’re carrying. It’s those things where it’s like, are there consequences if I get this wrong? And you need to be calm. Because otherwise, you can make rash decisions that have broader impacts down the trail. I’m genuinely very calm with that.

As I said, the other day when I was on the trail, and sliced my sidewall, I knew immediately, that’s unfixable. With what I have here, it was when I would put a tube in it and then I broke my pump. But then I got phone reception. I’m just gonna make a new route to hike to the I-70. If I lost it and was upset and trying to continue riding it would have taken me hours to get out of there because I want to track down the trail and whatever. Instead, I looked at what’s happened. You’re walking now. Just, get out to a road where you can call someone.

That kind of goes back to that, at the end of the day, I still got to have all the experiences I had up to that point in the way that I really liked. So it doesn’t detach from that. And it kind of forces you to be feeling as if you weren’t out here just for a record. So you still had everything, but you still got to do all the riding that you did. Yeah, I think if you’ve seen me in the first long-distance competitive thing I did. That was much less kind of,

Jeff
Something you learn?

Lachlan
Yeah. Or the first time I did the Colorado trail, I was just a mess. Because I did it last year, I was so much more collected and calm. And it was such a nice experience, so I’d say it just comes to experience.

Jeff
Yeah, well, you’re calm during the race. What about beforehand, do you get nervous?

Lachlan
No, not really. You have all the preparing and stuff, getting bikes and food and all that kind of thing. Sorted GPX tracks. It’s almost nice when you can just be saying, Alright, sweet. Everything’s already in there. I can just go and do the thing. I guess there were probably more nerves before. But the second you start riding, you’re thinking, Oh, this is what I know. This is my comfort zone.

Jeff
Yeah. Is it like a frenzy for you, though preparing? Are you like running around the house? Like, where’s my thing? And you know, I gotta have this and I gotta have that? Or are you able to kind of stay calm with that too?

Lachlan
I’m calm about it. I’m never as prepared as I want to be. But I kind of thrive in the chaos of it a little bit. But at least now I know, I have all the things that I need. It’s just a matter of locating them and deciding what I’m going to bring. But that’s also much easier than it used to be just through experience, right? The things you need, and you know, the things you don’t need. And now I always bring a little bit more than I probably am going to need because it just makes you that much more comfortable and calms when you’re out there knowing that you’d like prepared. It’s still a little chaotic. Normally, it’s just a time crunch. But, yeah, not too bad.

Jeff
Okay. Well, so you’re at a point where obviously, you can pick and choose kind of the races and the adventures that you take on the bike, what do you want your legacy to look like? What is kind of the end goal? What are you shooting for?

Lachlan
To be honest, I think the most satisfaction I get out of riding, is on a day-to-day level. I just like the fact that I can go out and decide what I want to do with my day. I want to go ride my bike. So that’s ultimately to just extend that as long as I can. That’s my goal.

But I think the goal with racing or taking on challenges, and that kind of thing is one to just continue to challenge myself because I think it’s important to keep pushing yourself in different ways. Because once you stop doing that, it’s easy to stagnate, which I don’t want to do. But the satisfaction is always probably from now when I go to different events. And people have picked up a bike, whatever, three years ago, because they saw our YouTube video and decided that they wanted to do that. And then now that they’re on the start line, giving it a crack, and that’s the goal is to get people involved in the sport, and challenging themselves and hopefully bettering their own lives on the way.

That’s why I would like to leave the sport having drawn a number of people into cycling that otherwise would never have interacted with the sport. That’s what I would like to do. But to be honest, it’s genuinely everything I do, is drawn out of a genuine interest and motivation to do it. And I want to keep that intact because going back It’s easy to get drawn into things and there’s so many opportunities to race and do things now that it’s easy to get drawn into things for the wrong reasons, in terms of maybe you’re trying to get more views on a video, or maybe you’re trying to race something because you just want to add it to like a list of races you’ve won or something. And I think if you’re doing it for those reasons, you’ll ultimately, you know, lose passion for what you’re doing, or you just won’t have a good time in whatever event or that isn’t like that’s probably my biggest, biggest priority or a kind of rule, I guess, is only taking on things because I’m genuinely excited about going to do them, you know?

Jeff
Yeah. Well, clearly it shows in your videos and all the projects you do and your racing. Inspiration is definitely the word that comes to mind. So thank you so much for joining us. We’re really excited to follow along with you on your next adventures.

Lachlan
Thanks for having me.

Jeff
Well, you can keep up with Lachlan @lachlanmorton on Instagram. And be sure to keep following singletracks, where we’ll continue to update you on his accomplishments. Thanks for joining us.