{"id":95357,"date":"2025-08-27T02:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T02:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/95357\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T02:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T02:36:13","slug":"when-matt-met-lachlan-cyclist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/95357\/","title":{"rendered":"When Matt met Lachlan | Cyclist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lachlan Morton is a hard man to tie down. The Australian rider began his career in traditional fashion, leaving home to race in Europe and America, building a palmar\u00e8s that included victory at the Tour of Utah in 2016 and appearances at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and Giro d\u2019Italia. However, the pro race scene didn\u2019t really suit him. Morton was happier taking on less formal but more gruelling solo challenges that captured the imagination and built a loyal following of fans.<\/p>\n

His team, EF Education-EasyPost, was quick to spot the value of this so released Morton from standard racing duties to concoct a calendar of gravel races, ultra-endurance events and record attempts that it called Far Beyond.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanKarter Machen<\/p>\n

Morton found himself flying around the world, pursuing an intense schedule of challenges that required him to ride lots and sleep little. These included the 320km Unbound in Kansas (which he won last year), the 2,000km GBDuro race from Land\u2019s End to John O\u2019 Groats (which he won in 2019), the 4,418km Tour Divide race across America (for which he would have achieved the Fastest Known Time but his effort wasn\u2019t recognised owing to the presence of his film crew), as well as numerous other events from South America to Africa to Asia.<\/p>\n

Last year Morton set a new record for riding around Australia, completing 14,200km in 30 days, nine hours, 59 minutes. The feat was captured for a film called The Great Southern Country And this year Morton met up with ex-pro and presenter Matt Stephens in northern California to go for a ride and produce another video (available on YouTube<\/a>) as part of Sigma Sports\u2019 Caf\u00e9 Ride collection. This is an edited extract from that film.<\/p>\n

Related questions you can explore with Ask Cyclist, our AI search engine.If you would like to ask your own question you just need to , or subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanKarter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: So when was the last time you did a ride like this?<\/p>\n

Lachlan: I did a little bikepacking trip in December with a few mates. I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that, when you have the time, you should really enjoy it. Not epic days, just enjoying the ride, eating and hanging out.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanMorton leads Stephens! But Morton has left traditional road racing behind, and his original ambition of competing in the Tour de France is not what drives him now.Karter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: Because most of the time you\u2019re pushing yourself to the limit so there\u2019s not a lot of room for this sort of stuff. How do you tolerate such punishment?<\/p>\n

Lachlan: All the extremes I push myself to, it\u2019s always a choice to do it. I\u2019m lucky that I have to seek out hard things to do in my life, because a lot of people have hardships imposed on them. The intensity of racing is something I grew up with and something I still crave. I actually really hope that there\u2019s a time when I don\u2019t need that.<\/p>\n

Matt: It will come. Your body and mind will tell you, at some point, \u2018I don\u2019t need this anymore.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lachlan: Exactly. But for the time being I want that intensity. I enjoy it, but I also enjoy the contrast. There\u2019s always discomfort and a part of me that says, \u2018I\u2019d rather not do this now,\u2019 but then what happens beyond that is growth. It\u2019s a fine line between overextending yourself and what is a healthy realm of growth and development. I like flirting with that line. That excites me and that\u2019s something that I want to continue to do for as long as it excites me.<\/p>\n

This calendar I\u2019m doing, even having completed a small bit of it, I\u2019m like wow, this is going to be a huge year and it\u2019s going to push me in different ways. I know there\u2019s a bunch of things that will make me uncomfortable, but again I feel lucky to be in a spot to do it, so I feel obliged to do it.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanKarter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: What\u2019s it like being you at the moment? There\u2019s a lot of people who follow what you do. They love the videos you make, yet you\u2019re a very private person. There\u2019s this enormous media spotlight on you. How do you cope with it?<\/p>\n

Lachlan: It makes me uncomfortable, for sure, because I feel like there\u2019s a bit of imposter syndrome. Everything I\u2019ve done, it\u2019s things I would like to do. So I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m out there with this huge goal to do anything except enjoy the experience that I\u2019m having.<\/p>\n

The thing I enjoy most is when I see people who have watched a video and gotten into cycling, and later they\u2019re at an event that they thought they could never do. That gives me a lot of satisfaction, but that wasn\u2019t ever my intention. It just happened. So if I could do what I do and have less attention with the same effect, I\u2019d prefer that.<\/p>\n

Matt: What strikes me, and I think it\u2019s why people care so much, is that you haven\u2019t changed. You\u2019ve evolved as a rider and you\u2019re one of the biggest names in our industry, yet you just continue to do what you want to do on your terms.<\/p>\n

Lachlan: Yeah, that\u2019s kind of the way I go about it. I\u2019ll never take something on if it\u2019s not something I genuinely would like to do. The second that motivation is not there, I guess it would be time to find something else.<\/p>\n

To start with, in my head, it was always about racing the Tour de France \u2013 like you needed to do that to be a real bike rider. It\u2019s like if you\u2019re sitting on a plane and the person next to you asks, \u2018What do you do for a living?\u2019 and I say, \u2018I race bikes\u2019. And they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, have you raced the Tour de France?\u2019 And the second you say \u2018no\u2019, it\u2019s like they lose interest. It would be so nice to just be able to say \u2018yes\u2019. But once you detach the ego of it, it shouldn\u2019t really matter what this person thinks of me. And once that part of it passed, I haven\u2019t wanted it back.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanKarter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: And here you are in the public eye, doing these things that are, like, mad \u2013 in a wonderful way. The lap of Australia, I mean, wow. What a record.<\/p>\n

Lachlan: I have no doubt that someone could do it quicker, but for me it was just about the idea of committing to doing it.<\/p>\n

Matt: In the film about that ride, the moment that stuck most with me was the bit where you were reduced to walking on that sandy stretch, you know, towards the end. You had less than 1,000km to go, and you were reduced to walking. It wasn\u2019t even a big incline, you just couldn\u2019t ride your bike because it was sand. You picked up your bike and I thought, \u2018He\u2019s going to hurl it in the hedge.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lachlan: I was. I was going to chuck it. But that\u2019s when you return to the thought: I chose to be out here, to do this. This is my mission and everyone who\u2019s around me is here because I wanted to do this. So now, as ridiculous as this moment is, this is my task.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanMorton\u2019s bike computer is still recovering from the crazy numbers it recorded on his ride around Australia: 14,200km at an average of more than 450km per day.Karter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: Having Rachel [Morton\u2019s wife] there must have been pretty special. I would imagine it adds another dimension to your relationship.<\/p>\n

Lachlan: I think we were both nervous going into it, like how are we both going to react to being in such a pressure-filled situation? How will we be together? It was amazing. She knows me better than anyone, and then she got to see even further beyond what I knew myself, to points where I would be so fatigued and so despondent.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanKarter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: She would likely have never seen you like that before, and that\u2019s really quite raw and challenging in a relationship, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Lachlan: One hundred per cent. But then it\u2019s doing those things where I feel most myself. There were times when I\u2019m sure she could see strengths in me that maybe she hadn\u2019t seen before. But then also it can be ugly when you\u2019re on those limits, as there are parts of your personality you can\u2019t hold in \u2013 they\u2019re just on show.<\/p>\n

Matt: Then there\u2019s the rest of the [support and film] team. They need to be at their best for you, so was there a time when you thought, \u2018I need to strike a balance here, where it\u2019s on my terms, but I can\u2019t go too far beyond that because these people are here to help me.\u2019 How was that?<\/p>\n

Lachlan: Normally the mindset of going into an ultra is the less emotional you can be, the better, because emotions get in the way of progress. If you get frustrated or angry or sad, it only gets in the way, so you have to manage that. Whereas this experience, the more I could actually express the way I felt to other people, what I was going through, the more it served everyone. I could shift that emotion in a lot of ways to other people.<\/p>\n

\"LachlanMorton brings EF Education\u2013EasyPost plenty of extra coverage via his YouTube videos and social media stories.Karter Machen<\/p>\n

Matt: And it\u2019s OK to do that because that\u2019s what they\u2019re there for. I bet they\u2019re waiting for that so they can say, \u2018We can help.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lachlan: I\u2019d give myself half an hour from when I woke up to when I left. And in that time it was just Rachel and me, and that\u2019s when I could be like, \u2018I\u2019ve got no idea how I\u2019m going to do this. I\u2019m screwed, I can barely walk, I don\u2019t know how the hell I\u2019m going to ride.\u2019 But just to be able to say that out loud, and then hearing someone say, \u2018It\u2019s fine, it doesn\u2019t matter if you can\u2019t do it.\u2019 Well, that then enables you to do it. To do the thing.<\/p>\n

Links to the full film can be found on the Sigma Sports Caf\u00e9 Ride video on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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