On Wednesday Lael Wilcox set out to set the fastest known time (FKT) on the the 2,745 Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) stretching from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. The current FKT is 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes set by the late Mike Hall in 2016.
Wilcox is making her attempt outside of the Tour Divide race, which took place beginning in June, and was shortened to just the US portions of the trail due to Canadian border restrictions. With the border opening just days ago, Wilcox wasted little time and posted on Instagram Tuesday that she was ready for her attempt. “We just crossed the border into Canada 🇨🇦 (opened yesterday) and I’m starting my time trial on the Tour Divide tomorrow morning at 9am from behind the Banff Springs Hotel.”
The current FKT is 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes set by the late Mike Hall in 2016. Wilcox currently holds the record — 15 days, 10 hours, and 59 minutes — for the fastest female time and is seeking to beat the overall record. The attempt is officially an individual time trial (ITT) and as such, will be completely self-supported in the spirit of the GDMBR and FKTs.
The latest Instagram update says Wilcox has crossed the border into the US. “Lael has crossed over the border and just resupplied in Eureka 261 miles (420 km) into her ride. The batteries in her SPOT tracker died near Elkford, but with fresh batteries her dot is moving once again.” As of this writing, she is currently ahead of Mike Hall’s pace and is near Kalispell, Montana.
Fans can keep up with her progress on both the Rapha website and Trackleaders, where her location is being displayed on a map in realtime. Her team will also be providing updates on Instagram.
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