2024 — summerGuinness Record Attempt: Around the World
My goal is to ride the 18,000 miles in 110 days. The current women's record is held by Jenny Graham at 124 days, 10 hours and 50 minutes.
Just before racing the Trans Am in 2016, I got a new passport with the thought that the Trans Am would be the start of my Around the World attempt. I was a bit of a dreamer-- short on cash and without a route, plan or visas. After the Trans Am, I was totally fried. The ride has been on the backburner since.
This spring, I rode nearly 4,000 miles from home in Tucson to the start of the Tour Divide in Banff over 5 weeks. It brought me back to how much I simply love riding my bike every single day and reignited my excitement for chasing the Around the World Record. It's an opportunity for a long adventure, personal challenge and riding through some new places like Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Turkey and Georgia. Places I've always dreamed of. I'm working with Bea & Luca, organizers of the Trans Balkan Race, on designing a route on Komoot.
At this point, in regards to the record, there's no distinction between supported and self-supported rides. I'll be carrying all of my own equipment and food and figuring out all of the logistics on and off the bike. That's how I like to travel-- with a sleep kit and winging it along the way. I like open-ended adventures and I like competition and riding around the world as fast as I can feels like a great combination of both. Rue will be documenting my ride and I'd love to encourage people to come out and share a few miles with me along the way.
I'll be starting in Chicago May 26th.
I'm already excited for it!
2024
2024 — March & AprilTucson GRIT
Lael's six week mentorship program is returning to Tucson for March & April of 2024. She'll be working with 12 students from 2 Title 1 schools in South Tucson to build up to the final weekend campout ride. Each student has a local mentor. The program is free for the students and supported by Specialized, Gnarly Nutrition, Bonk Breaker & Trailbutter. All of the mentors are volunteers. Upon completing the program, the students earn their bikes.
2024 — FebruaryIditarod Trail Invitational
350 miles from Knik Lake to McGrath, Alaska.
4 Days & 27 Minutes
1st Woman, 11th Overall
2023
2023 — NovemberKomoot Women's Tucson Rally
50 riders from 18 countries spent a week riding the 644 km (400 miles) dirt loop with the goal of making it to the finishers’ party in Tucson, Arizona in a week.
2023 — AugustColorado Trail Race
5 Days, 8 Hours & 16 Minutes
2nd Woman after Katya Rakhmatulina
This year, 5 women & 1 non-binary rider broke the previous women’s record. The competition for women’s bikepacking is growing!
2023 — JuneTour Divide
16 Days, 20 Hours & 17 Minutes
1st Woman, 13th Overall
2,673 miles (4,300 km) & 156,600 feet (47,730 m)
2023 — MayRapha YOMP Rally
An ultra-distance event that challenges riders to complete a nearly 400-mile route following mixed-terrain tracks through the mountains of Southern California within five days. A quick detour for Lael’s ride to Banff, Canada for the start of the Tour Divide.
2023 — April-MayRiding 4,000 miles to the start of the Tour Divide Tucson to Banff
2023 — MarchIditarod Tour
Touring the first 300 miles of the Iditarod with Rue and Ana Jager.
2023 — JanuaryGranGuanche Road Audax
40 Hours & 15 Minutes
1st Woman, 9th Overall
503 miles (810 km) & 44,175 feet (13,465 m)
Photo by Michal Makyo
2023 — JanuaryKomoot Women's GranGuanche Rally
2022
2022 — SeptemberKomoot Women's Torino-Nice Rally
46 women from around the world spent a week riding the 400-mile (643 km) route with the goal of making it to the finishers' party in Nice, France in a week.
2022 — SeptemberBadlands
2 Days, 9 Hours & 42 Minutes
1st Woman, 15th Overall out of 300 Participants
485 miles (780 km) & 50,000 feet (15,000 m)
2022 — JuneWestfjords Way Challenge in Iceland
595 miles (960 km) around Iceland's most remote region.
1st Woman finisher.
2022 — JuneTrans Balkan Race
6 Days, 4 Hours & 22 Minutes
1st Woman, 6th Overall
839 miles (1,350 km) & 89,000 feet (27,000 m)
2022 — MayKromvojoj
4 Days & 10 Minutes
1st Woman, 5th Overall
870 miles (1,400 km) & 78,740 feet (24,000 m)
2022 — April & MayKomoot Women's Montañas Vacías Rally
54 women from around the world spent a week riding the 680 km (423 miles) dirt loop with the goal of making it to the finishers' party in Teruel, Spain in a week.
2022 — aprilArizona Trail 800 ITT
9 Days, 8 Hours & 23 Minutes
A new fastest known time on the full 827-mile route.
Note: Lael’s time is not recognized by the AZT Race administration which prohibits visitation and media coverage.
The official records as of April 2022:
Men’s – Nate Ginzton – 9:10:44
Women’s – Chase Edwards – 10:18:59
2022 — AprilTucson GRIT
A cycling mentorship program that Lael started with Cait Rodrguez in Alaska in 2017. Lael rides with middle school students (11-13 years old) for six weeks to build up to a camp out ride. At the end of the program, the girls get to keep their bikes.
They are invited back in future years to be student mentors.
2022 — MarchTEDxAnchorage
2022 — February24 Hours of Old Pueblo
17 laps, a total of 279 miles.
1st Solo Woman and 4th overall.
2021 —SeptemberKomoot Women's Torino-Nice Rally
This is the first Komoot Women’s Rally — a 700km mixed terrain ride through the Alps from Turin, Italy to Nice, France.
50 women from around the world to start the route together. The goal is for everyone to make it to the finishers’ party in Nice within eight days. It’s not a race, but definitely a challenge with 10 mountain passes and 17,500 meters of climbing.
2021
Photo by Evan Ruderman
2021 —MayUnbound XL
26 Hours & 55 Minutes
358 miles (576km) in the Flint Hills out of Emporia, Kansas.
1st Woman & 10th Overall
2021 — SeptemberWestfjords Way
In partnership with Visit Westfjords, Lael scouted a 1,055km route that traces the Westfjords of Iceland with Rue, Chris Burkard, Nichole Baker and Payson McElveen.
2016
2016 — summerTrans Am Bike Race
18 days and 10 minutes
1st Overall & New Women's Record
4,400 miles (7,080 km) across the United States
Lael is the first woman and first American to win the Trans Am Bike Race.
2016 — Winter & SpringScouting and C0-Creating the Baja Divide Route
The 1,673-mile Baja Divide connects the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, historic Spanish mission sites rich with shade and water, remote ranchos and fishing villages, bustling highway towns, and every major mountain range in Baja California on miles and miles of beautiful backcountry desert tracks.
Photo by Anthony Dryer
2015
2015 — August2015 Tour Divide ITT — New Women's Record
15 days, 10 hours, 59 minutes
Photographer unknown (New Mexico newspaper)
2015 — June2015 Tour Divide Race — New Women's Record
17 Days, 1 Hour & 51 Minutes
2,673 miles (4,300 km) & 156,600 feet (47,730 m) of climbing
Photo by Monica Garcia
2008 - 2014
2014 — JulyFireweed 400
Lael entered her first endurance race in 2014 called the Fireweed 400 in Alaska. It's a 400 mile road race to qualify for Race Across America. She borrowed her mom's road bike and finished 2nd overall. “I didn't even know if I could ride that much in a day.”
Photo by James Wilcox
2008 — MayGraduated from the University of Puget Sound
Double-Major in French Literature & Natural Science with an emphasis in Chemistry.
Photo by Christina Grande
2008 — 2014Working to Save Money for Bike Touring
From 2008-2014, Lael bike toured around the world with her then partner Nicholas Carman, working half of the year in restaurants and bike shops to save money to travel the other half.
She kept her expenses low: no car, no permanent residence and no smartphone.
It won’t be until late 2020 that Lael is able to pursue cycling full-time.