Lachlan Morton has a packed schedule of races this year but he has continued to squeeze in a number of other feats along the way, the latest a flying run on a 300-kilometre mountain bike route in Bergslagsleden, centred on the popular Swedish hiking trail.
Morton set a time of 15 hours and 21 minutes on the trail, one that his EF Education-EasyPost team said looks to be a possible new fastest known time on a route which follows a large portion of the hiking trail, along with some diversions including those that detour around some unrideable sections.
“It had been raining overnight, so it was really wet in there, and it was slick as hell,” said Morton post-ride.
“It was all rocks and roots with zero traction, a proper hiking trail. So, the first few hours were very challenging and slow going. It was very difficult just to stay on the bike.
“The trail kicked my arse for the first four or five hours. There was lots of hiking. You were constantly trying to work out where traction was. At that point, I was like, ‘This is going to be a long, long day.'”
Morton is a former winner of Unbound 200, the holder of an around Australia record and has also set a time of just 12 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes to cover the 2,671 mile Tour Divide route. He is not afraid of long days particularly given as the hours on the bike stretched, the terrain eased.
“It slowly started to dry out and after the first 120 kilometres or so, there was a bit more flow, and then, I started to enjoy it a lot more,” said Morton.
“The first half felt like I was just against the trail and it was trying to kill me and I was trying not to die, and in the second half, I felt like I’d made peace with it and worked it out. It is a pretty relentless, but beautiful route.”
The wilderness trail, where the only others Morton ran into along the way were a couple of bemused hikers, swept through heavily forested terrain, lakes and lookout points as it works its way across an old Swedish mining region on nearly all unpaved road. About a third of the course was single-track and with an elevation gain of around 3,500 metres according to a map of the course on Bikepacking.com.
“I wanted to do it for the sake of doing it versus a race,” Lachlan said. “I rode it hard and fast and whatever, because I only had a day, but I was hanging around a bit more than I normally would, because it’s not a route I’ll probably ever get a chance to ride again,” said Morton.
“This was my one shot at it. Once I got halfway through, I realised it would be possible to finish in daylight hours, so then that became a bit of a carrot towards the end, but it wasn’t an all out assault.”
Morton, who had squeezed in the effort after The Traka 360 in Spain, said that the Bergslagsleden is ideally a route where you would take your time and “enjoy the very peaceful forest riding”.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider who is taking on a wide range of events in the year of his “Far Beyond” tour, had little time to spare with the United States calling and the Unbound XL to prepare for at the end of this month.
