I think he’s ahead, but has doubled back en route to the start of the next etape.
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So a pro discovers the ultra cycling world more than a decade after everyone else. Good for him.
In the end he is going to need to be quite a long way ahead of the peloton if he wants to “beat” them to Paris - he is cycling the final transfer from Bordeaux to Paris (~700km), whereas they are obviously flying.
So he will need to start pulling ahead of the peloton before too long.
He’s been doing this kind of thing for years. Just with team support in the last few.
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He ought to enter a proper ultra cycling race to see how he goes.
You mean like the ones he’s already entered and won?
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Seriously, what a crabby a** ( @GoLongThenGoHome ). Can we get a down vote button?
This one too:
https://www.efprocycling.com/morton-completes-colorado-trail-in-under-four-days/
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I read he plans on riding through the rest days to try to compensate for the flight to Paris. There are a few ITT in there which will help as he will be riding 12+hrs when the riders will be doing ITT
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Things that work in his favor:
- Rest days: The teams don’t go anywhere
- Time trial stages: This Wednesday is a mere 27km. He knocks that out in 45 mins, and then has the rest of the day to add ground
- While many early stages this year have longer transfers, but once he gets beyond those, such as in the Alps, and then again down in the South of France, the teams tend to stay in the same hotel 2 nights in a row to simplify logistics, but just transfer very small amounts. So while the start/end towns are different, they tend to be relatively close to each other.
Things that don’t work in his favor
- Everything else
- Plane flight transfer to Paris is a big gap
- The end of this week is beastly long stages, with long transfers. Weds-Sat especially. Not helping matters is that he can’t use the highways for transfers, so his routing is more wonky.
I suspect we’ll know by roughly July 9th. Finish is the 18th.
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Yeah, I did think that, especially the TTs and rest days - but then I wasn’t sure if there were big rest day transfers - sometimes there are. And they might still have decent transfers on the TT days - I didn’t look into it so I deleted it from my post 
Climbing is going to be brutal with the gear as well. I would have to think after three weeks of sleeping on an air pad, he’s going to be feeling it some.
Excited to see how he does / if he beats the peloton. Even just completing this will be an insane accomplishment.
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100% agree with this. I don’t see the point in negative posts like this.
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Lachy just got a shoutout on the international English broadcast. It’s for a good cause too, so I hope they get some traction
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Unfortunately, this is just part of the forum growing. It happens everywhere. We’ve been lucky with how long this one has stayed positive and helpful.
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Waiting for @GoLongThenGoHome to tell us he already did this challenge, uphill, upwind, 2x before the peloton got to Paris, carrying nothing but a piece of string, a match book, and a flask.
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I saw in one of the images that Lachy has a flask with him. I’m sure it’s filled with the “wrong” stuff though. hahaha
I think the alternative stuff that EF does is awesome and definitely inspires me to get on my bike more as someone who doesn’t race or follow the pro tours. Also, this one is meant to raise awareness for a good cause and to raise funds. Not a bad reason for the effort if you ask me.
Just to have the link out here again, here is where you can donate to the cause/track him: https://alttour.ef.com/
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You are right, he is on the transfer to the next stage now. He must have just stopped to let the peloton go past in the other direction.
Excellent. Hadn’t seen he’d entered the new off road one in UK. Good stuff, need to see more if it. Far more exciting than world tour.
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And he’s raised almost 150K for World Bicycle Relief in the process.
That dude and his alt antics are the reason I bought a bike last fall (stumbled across the Gone Racing/DK episode). Down 40+ lbs, chucked the BP meds, can keep up with my kid now.
I’ll root for him to pick up litter in the trash zone wearing a Cowboys jersey, if I have to.
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3400 miles in 21 days. 160mi/day. That’ll be relatively moderate for him. No doubt he’ll beat them to Paris, probably by close to a week, maybe less if he wants to generate some buzz.
In comparison, the tour divide is 2600 miles and the record is under 14 days, unsupported, on a mtn bike, with mostly dirt road, carrying a lot of gear. RAAM is 3k miles and the record is under 8 days, albeit super supported and less vert.
Pavement, on 28s, and you don’t have to carry much because there’s so many little towns and shops along the way. Probably can get a decent sleep each night. Any pictures so far? I wonder what his bike/gear setup is like.
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