An Alaska woman is attempting to break the Around the World cycling record for women and passed through the Central Coast this week. Her name is Lael Wilcox.
Some Central Coast bicyclists loitered around the Best Western in San Luis Obispo Wednesday hoping to crash the next 20 or 40 miles of Wilcox’s bike ride around the world.
Wilcox said she just finished up breakfast and she’s about to head out onto the road.
“I’m riding about 170 miles [on] average, and this is day 95. So I’ve been out here for about three months and I’m hoping to finish up in 110 days,” Wilcox said.
She said she’s been ultra endurance bike racing for the past decade. That’s when you ride your bike longer than 100 miles per trip.
Wilcox said she has previously ridden her bike around the nation and down the Rockies. When she first thought about riding her bike around the world about eight years ago, she wasn’t sure if she could do it.
“I didn't have a route and I didn't have a plan and I thought, 'oh, that's just too big,'” Wilcox said.
Then she completed a ride in 2023 from Tucson to Banff, Canada.
“And I thought, 'oh, I'm having so much fun every day riding somewhere new. I'm gonna go after Around the World next year,'” she said.
SLO area cyclists biked off with Wilcox – whose next stop is Los Angeles. Afterwards, she’ll travel up Route 66 to finish up the trip in Chicago.
She’s already covered Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe and Canada.
You can track her ride at laelwilcox.net.
