Looking for Lael

 

post by Corrine

"Do you know Lael?!”

The young bicycle traveler at the Tok hostel was a bit taken aback by my enthusiasm, but he nodded yes. 

“She’s going to be coming by any moment!” I exclaimed. “You should get on your bike and go meet her and ride with her a bit!”

It was 9 PM and the man, Bryce, had just showered, but he immediately jumped on his bike to find her. 

After he took off, I decided I should ride with her a little, too. Just as I got my bike out of the car, they cycled past. I quickly threw on my helmet and raced as hard as I could to catch up. I rode about 5 miles before turning back for the night, letting Lael know that my friends and I would find her again tomorrow. I had already worked a full day and driven to Tok from Fairbanks. I wanted a good night’s sleep. I knew I would need it to keep up with Lael.

Around the World

Lael Wilcox is a 38-year-old endurance bikepack racer extraordinaire. She is well known in the small world of bikepacking. She has won many long distance self-supported bikepack races and had the women’s record for the Tour Divide race. (It was broken just last week) She hails from Anchorage, Alaska, although she and her wife Rue now live in Tucson, Arizona. I met Lael in 2016 when we hosted her prior to her racing the White Mountains 100 – a 100-mile multisport race just north of Fairbanks. We’ve kept in occasional touch since then, although the last time I saw her was when we incidentally met up while separately biking the Denali Park Road in 2020. 

Meeting up with Lael and Rue and Christina in Denali May 2020

Lael is trying to set the record as the fastest woman to cycle around the world. The record is 124 days. Her goal is 110 days. She started in Chicago on May 26 and has already biked through Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She is averaging over 160 miles. Every. Single. Day. Except when she must take a plane flight to get across an ocean. I’ve been following her journey closely and early on I saw that she would bike through Tok, a small town just 220 miles southeast of Fairbanks, where I live. I hoped I might be able ride with her. But what were the odds she would go through Tok on my regular three-day weekend? 

The Alaska part of the route. The arrows show Fairbanks and Tok.

As she made her way across New Zealand, it looked like the timing might be right. I texted her and she said she was hoping to be in Tok on Friday morning. Perfect. I could leave after work on Thursday, spend the night in Tok, and ride with her on Friday. Then I could spend the rest of the weekend riding on different roads in the area to keep training for the Arkansas High Country Race in October.

I mentioned my plans to my WOW (Women on Wheels) friends, since I would miss our weekly ride. Lara and Hannah immediately said they wanted to come. A flurry of texts later and our plans were set. They would drive down later Thursday evening, but Hannah would come back home with me Saturday evening. Lara had to be at work Saturday morning so had to leave Friday night. (Although I did offer to write her a doctor’s excuse for work!)

WOW friends Hanna and Lara are up for an adventure

I got to Tok about 8 PM and checked Lael’s tracking page. She was about 10 miles south of town. I decided to go look for her before checking into my hostel. I found her and her wife Rue, a media journalist who is supporting Lael and documenting the journey. Even though it was 8 PM and Lael had already biked 150 miles, she felt good, so she was going to keep going and camp instead of stopping in Tok. I drove back to Tok to check into the hostel. That’s when I encouraged Bryce to find Lael.

I found them!

Back at the hostel, after our short ride with Lael, Bryce, said he was glad I encouraged him to ride with her. He couldn’t wait to let his mom know. She was closely following Lael’s journey and had mentioned they might pass each other. Bryce is on a long-distance solo bike tour from San Diego to Deadhorse. 

At nearly 11 PM, Lara and Hannah showed up at the hostel. Before turning off the lights, we checked Lael’s tracker, and she was STILL riding! She ended up riding 188 miles, going about 30 miles past Tok. 

An Entourage!

It was raining the next morning, so we packed our rain gear before heading out. Lael was already on the move. Like me, Lara and Hannah are big fans of Lael. They couldn’t wait to meet her. We excitedly piled into Lara’s truck to catch Lael.

Excited to look for Lael!

We finally passed her about forty miles from Tok. She was moving! We pulled into the gas station at Northway Junction a few miles ahead and barely had time to get on our bikes before she came by. We latched on and started riding and chatting. The rain had stopped, and the temps were warm for August in Interior Alaska. It was turning into a great day!

We finally pass Lael about 40 miles from our hostel

We were about 50 miles from the Canadian border, so we decided to ride with Lael into Canada (but before the border crossing) and turn back, making a nice century ride for us. But Lael was riding a lot faster than the evening before. I kept getting dropped on the uphills. I was able to catch back up on the downhills and flats, but I had to ride at a race pace. That worked for the first twenty miles, but I couldn’t keep it up. On a longer uphill, I let them go and backed off to my all-day pace. I wanted to talk more with Lael, but I knew she couldn’t slow down! And I was fine with riding alone. It was a beautiful day, the traffic was light, and I was just enjoying being on my bike. 

I let them go ahead while I drop back

Meanwhile, Lara and Hannah had no problems keeping up with Lael. They rode together and shared stories. They passed the US customs station and then cycled another 12 miles into the Yukon before Hannah and Lara decided to let Lael go. (The Canadian customs station is 20 miles from the US station.) They had biked 52 miles and still had to ride back. So, they waited for me at a scenic spot and then we biked back toward Northway and Lara’s truck. 

Lara, Lael, and Hannah cross the border

On the way back, I still could barely keep up. I’m sure it was because my friends were on road bikes, and I had my gravel bike. Or that I had already ridden over 150 miles that week. Or that I’m a lot older. Or maybe I’m just slow! Whatever the reason, I was slower so after getting through US Customs, I told them to go ahead without me.

Selfie at the border

They got a little separated, too, but we all had a pleasant ride back, even with the headwind and the rain showers that hit us the last 30 miles. Well, Lara’s ride was pleasant until she got a flat less than two miles from her truck. It was raining hard, the mosquitoes were bad, she had really cold hands, and she couldn’t get her tire off the rim. She thought about walking and carrying her bike, when a good Samaritan stopped and gave her a lift back to her truck. She still got in her century ride so didn’t feel bad about not doing the final two miles. We had dinner at Fast Eddy’s and then Lara headed home. 

Even the rain couldn't get us down

Now the Nabesna

Hannah and I had one more day to ride, so we drove to Slana to bike the Nabesna Road. Hannah had never been on it. I had, but it’s a fun gravel road with great views of the mountains and almost no traffic. 

The day was mostly cloudy, and the temps were cooler than the day before, but the rain stayed away. It felt like autumn. We drove in ten miles before starting to bike. I wanted to be sure we could get to the end of the road where the views are better. The road climbed slowly for about 15 miles before descending again. The mountain vistas were stunning even with low clouds. 

Several creeks cross the Nabesna Road. Sometimes they can run so high they are impassable even for trucks. Fortunately, they weren’t deep for us, but they were difficult to ride with skinnier gravel tires, though. Hannah even fell off her bike in one, so we just walked the rest and got wet feet. Well Hannah did. I was smart and wore my waterproof socks, so my feet were mostly dry. With age comes lessons from experience! 

Hannah checks to make sure her phone still works after falling in the stream

We made it to the end of the road, where we took a snack break before biking back. We stopped often to take photos. We kept commenting that it was a great day. We felt bad that Lara couldn’t be there. 

Rain finally did come, but we beat it back to the car, having ridden 61 miles. Luck continued to ride with us, and we made it to Tok just minutes before the Thai restaurant closed. We filled our bellies with good food before the four-hour drive home.

Tired but happy after a fun weekend riding bikes

A Small Part of History

It was a perfect weekend with great friends, and it was really fun to be a small part of Lael’s record attempt. You can follow her tracker here, and you can listen to her daily podcast Lael Bikes Around the World wherever you get your podcasts. If you are interested, I’m mentioned in episodes 75 and 76!