‘When I take myself way out of my comfort zone, that’s when something really exciting can happen’: American ultra-cyclist Lael Wilcox on her next big adventure

Lael Wilcox is set to return to race the Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska next February, which she says will take her way out of her comfort zone.

The American ultra-cyclist is no stranger to life changing experiences. Wilcox recently shaved more than two weeks off the women’s around the world record, completing the route of more than 18,000 miles (28,968km) in 108 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes. The record was previously held by Scottish endurance rider Jenny Graham who set the time to beat in 2018.

Despite her round the world effort, Wilcox told Cycling Weekly that returning to the snow of Alaska once more to ride the Iditarod will provide one of the greatest tests she’s faced yet.

“My next project is racing the Iditarod in Alaska where I’m from,” she said. “I’m racing the full 1000 mile Fat Bike race this February, and it goes 1600km from just north of Anchorage where I grew up, out to Nome which is above the Arctic Circle, it’s this historic dog sledding race but for the past 20 years or so, people have been racing it on bikes too.”

“I’m going to head up to Alaska in about three weeks to start acclimatising to the cold,” she added. “Even just to finish that is to me, like way out of my comfort zone. I live in Tucson, Arizona now so it’s warm. Last year when I rode 500km up there it was like negative 40s so it is just like a different planet.

“But it really is something I’ve always been curious about, particularly with growing up in Alaska, as we’d follow the dog mushers so now I get to go see it for myself. I’m really excited for that and that’s the next big one.”

The Alaska native got into bike racing 10 years ago and has continued to set records wherever two wheels have taken her. Wilcox has achieved fastest known times at a wide range of endurance races and events including Tour Divide, Baja Divide, Trans-Am, Navad 1,000, Badlands, Westfjords Way Challenge, and the Arizona Trail.

She explained that just keeping warm is arguably the biggest part of the challenge she is about to embark on once more. The 38-year-old recently completed her round the world journey riding without a chamois, preferring to ride without traditional padded cycling shorts.

She revealed that Rapha has designed her kit that she’ll be wearing this time out at the Iditarod with the aim of ensuring she can retain as much heat as possible.

“You kind of need more animal products for that kind of cold,” she explained. “So the base layers wool then I’m going to have fur trim on my hood, because last year I had a fake fur hat, and it just froze from any condensation or sweat, but real fur never freezes. It might get a bit snowy but then you just shake it off and it’ll then block the cold wind coming in.”

Getting out of your comfort zone

Wilcox said that the “insane” temperatures even resulted in her jacket zip freezing over earlier this year which meant that a change was needed.

“This year I’m having buttons instead on my jacket, so we’re completely removing the zippers,” she revealed. “You have to also carry all your electronics close to your body. So they’ve made me this base layer with little pockets for my phone and different things like that, it’s pretty wild.”

Wilcox explained that having experienced the event before, her training schedule this time was largely unchanged from any other major challenge she had previously attempted. She told Cycling Weekly that simply logging as many hours as possible in the saddle was the key for her.

“I’ve found that if I am a bit scared in advance, that’s a good thing, because I’ll have a new experience,” she said. “It won’t just be like the same thing I’ve already faced where the chance of growing or learning is so small because I’ve already had similar experiences but when I take myself way out of my comfort zone, that’s when something really exciting can happen.

“So I feel like this is a good one for that.”