Take2 days ago
Morton finishes 19:45 inside the 1861 Pony Express horseback time
Lachlan Morton arrived in Sacramento at 11:19 p.m. after 3,217 km across the western half of America, in six days, 21 hours and 15 minutes. That is 19 hours and 45 minutes faster than the horseback relay that carried Abraham Lincoln's 1861 inaugural address. It was also his final ride in EF kit.
What this means
Morton said on 2 October that he would leave EF Education-EasyPost after 2026, having been with the team since 2019. This ride, in EF colours and equipment, was his last in the team's kit.
The horseback speed record for the route was set in 1861 at seven days and 17 hours. Morton started on October 5 from St. Joseph, Missouri, with a truck and his brother Gus filming and resupplying. The plan was to switch between a Cannondale TopStone, SuperSix and Scalpel, mimicking the Pony Express changing horses. On the last day he struggled through the Sierra Nevada in bitter cold. He had moved to a Cannondale Scalpel for the technical sections, and a gravel trail around Lake Tahoe got him back on the road after he went off-track. On October 8 the team said he held a 400-kilometre lead over the Pony Express' fastest time. His own summary: «I had an amazing time. I wasn't desperate for it to end, which was odd, and I was really just having a great time.»
Sources
Cyclist Lachlan Morton Beats Pony Express Record by Nearly 20 Hours'Mind-blowing' - Lachlan Morton's mid-point assessment of Pony Express endurance ride across 'very desolate landscapes' of US western statesLachlan Morton Races the Pony ExpressLachlan Morton's Pony Express | EF Pro CyclingLachlan Morton is racing the Pony Express, will leave EF in 2027
Analysed 5 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work