Cycling Project
Back to feed
Continues: Morton finishes 19:45 inside the 1861 Pony Express horseback time
Take2 days ago

Morton beat the Pacific storm as well as the 1861 time

Cyclist Lachlan Morton Beats Pony Express Record by Nearly 20 Hours
Velo
Morton rode much of his final day in morning and evening darkness to get ahead of a tropical storm approaching from the Pacific. He covered the last 120 km, from Middlegate Station in Nevada over the Sierra Nevada into California, and still finished ahead of his target schedule. The 19:45 margin over the 1861 horseback time was set against that clock as well.
Morton called those last 120 km probably the toughest of the journey. He had expected worse terrain: «I really thought we were going to be bushwhacking». EF Pro Cycling said he was exhausted after struggling through the Sierra Nevada in bitter cold. On that day a gravel trail around Lake Tahoe put him back on the road after he went off-track, and he took the Scalpel for the technical sections. He still arrived at the Pony Express Terminal in Old Town Sacramento ahead of schedule, with dot watchers, friends and family waiting. His own line at the finish: «I feel like my mantra right now is that I'm riding home. I know tonight I'll be in my bed.»
Sources
'The scale of it blows me away' - Lachlan Morton eclipses 160-year-old Pony Express record by more than 19 hours in adventure across eight US statesLachlan Morton's Pony Express | EF Pro CyclingCyclist Lachlan Morton Beats Pony Express Record by Nearly 20 Hours

Analysed 3 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work

Related