Lachlan Morton has conquered the Nullarbor Plain, making quick work of the ride across the long straight stretch of road that crosses the remote and arid stretch of southern Australia but that doesn’t mean it was an easy run.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider, who is in the midst of his attempt to deliver the fastest ride around Australia, set out from Norseman in Western Australia and onto the Eyre Highway on Thursday afternoon, with headwinds turning to crosswinds, rain and then finally clearing weather and a welcome tailwind.
Far less welcome, however, were some of the close encounters, starting with snakes on the road – Morton saying in one of his Instagram updates that he’d nearly run over two – but then moving on to a far larger threat.
“I just had the first truck driver actually try and kill me,” said Morton on his day 24 Instagram update. “He just kept driving directly at me until I realised he wasn’t going to move so I bailed off the side of the road. He didn’t flinch, didn’t move his truck one inch”
Sadly, a history of cyclist fatalities on that stretch of road indicate it is not an isolated incident, with ABC reporting that a truck driver was charged with manslaughter over the death of 62-year-old cyclist Chris Barker on the Eyre Highway near Madura in March this year. 21-year-old cyclist Leif Justham, who was cycling the Nullarbor Plain also died on that road in 2021, hit by a truck with the driver sentenced to four years in jail.
“Basically I just get off the road when they come,” said Morton, referring to the trucks, often multi-trailer and referred to as road trains. “There is no shoulder and it’s just not worth taking the risk.”
It wasn’t the only time Morton decided to get off the paved surface. He took a diversion off the main road and planned route as he took on the last stretch toward Adelaide on Monday to enjoy some gravel roads instead, and judging by the course diversions later in the day it looks like he enjoyed them enough to go off the main road again at sunset as well.
By late Monday evening local time Morton had ticked off 12,122 kilometres, or over 85% of the distance, leaving him with just over 2,078km to go. He had lifted his daily average to 472km toward the end of his 26th day on the bike.
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At his current pace, Morton will finish in around 30 days, a time which would see him slashing both Dave Alley’s 14,251km, 2011 effort of 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes listed by the Road Record Association of Australia as the current record – adhering to a 14,200km minimum agreed in the 1990’s – and also Reid Anderton’s 14,178km effort of 2013 – 37 days, 1 hour and 18 minutes – which is listed by Guinness World Records.
Morton still has to head through to Melbourne, and onto Sydney before finishing where the effort started, arriving in home territory at Port Macquarie in New South Wales with 14,201km in the legs since he started on September 5.
The map of Lachlan Morton’s planned around Australia record attempt (Image credit: EF Education-EasyPost)
