Have to get an interview with this guy!
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He’s amazing. Well worth watching his video of the GB Duro (Lands End to John O’Groats the hard way)
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Lachlan’s entire life story is just incredible. I remember reading about him many years ago and now I see his name everywhere. He’s a beast.
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Not just an Aussie, that’s Lachlan Morton!
His Thereabouts videos are fantastic, especially the first where he road into the Outback with his brother:
https://cyclingtips.com/2016/11/thereabouts-1/
His Rapha / EF Racing video where they joined in on Kanza last year is great as well:
That GBDURO video is just bonkers.
For something slightly different, his Leadville 100 participation with EF was a fun watch too:
Basically, Lachlan is just a chill, awesome dude who rides his bike obscene amounts and has gotten to be a pro who does unconventional rides with EF Racing, and I love it.
Super cool to see that he went for Everest — I had wondered if he might try it.
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Agree. I only watch the EF Racing videos that feature Lachlan. Love the GB Duro one. One day I might be as chill and Zen as him, but unlikely…
And now downgrade and dethroned.
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And knowing him, he won’t gaf.
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Ouch, that would be rough.
One would think that Strava could program its segments to periodically update (say, on a yearly basis) with an average of the device-reported GPS data gathered by users:
- Elevation: Users / activity files with barometric sensors get a higher priority in an elevation calculation
- Distance: Give higher weighting to users with more device-reported GPS satellites / more GNSS systems (e.g., GPS / Navistar, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC) informing their geospatial positioning, and having a lower reported error margin
By doing that, they could have a “canonical” segment that represents a regression of the three-dimensional heatmap created by a large number of users. Of course it’s not perfect (think universal complications, like all riders having to go through a tunnel on the way to Cap de Formentor), but it should be much more precise than the current method of using the track of the person to create the segment.
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He posted on IG with the comment “Guess I have to do it again 
”
I wish I could be that laid back, haha.
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Don’t miss the rest of his post:
(I checked this segment with them prior)
That sounds to me like his record should be safe.
Nope. Same link as above but with an update at the beginning.
UPDATE, June 18: Hells 500 has confirmed that Lachlan Morton’s Everesting attempt was not valid and Keegan Swenson has been reinstated as the world record holder.
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There’s also this article which is actually a really good breakdown of the effort.
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Maybe these types of things shouldn’t be so heavily reliant on a single (known) faulty third-party platform.
Maybe use a national/regional topography/map database/registry for elevation and then simply record reps…? 
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Thanks for the link to the Hells 500 post.
I’m somewhat confused about the disconnect between Lachlan saying he had checked with them, and them saying that it wasn’t checked. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t surprise me if he goes back for another attempt.
On top of that, I still think that the wisdom of crowds —and their smart devices— is the way to go in terms of creating basically a 3d “orbital” of segments, indicating a most-probable path for a certain segment based on a weighted mean of the saved GPS tracks.
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If everesting is going to have legitimate world records it needs actual surveyors involved. None of this head unit nonsense.
I’ve seen what happens when a pool builder doesn’t allow for the thickness of the tile adhesive and the lap timer guys show up to certify. 
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That’s kind of the problem here, because Everesting was never designed for racing or records. It seems like the Hells 500 are open to improving things but the sudden and unexpected demand for their services seems to have put the pressure on them a bit.
The rules seem fairly clear regarding what’s needed to complete a successful attempt and I can’t help but feel that Buchmann and Morton didn’t spend enough time planning/reading the rules because most people making the attempt know that there’s some uncertainty in elevation data and complete a couple of extra reps, just in case! Must feel pretty lame to make a big effort like that and fall short
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Lachie is a freak of nature. He’s going to give it another crack when he feels like it. 
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Imagine being Keegan and having to congratulate him twice. 
So…tomorrow, prolly
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More likely that he has to wait for his bike to finish it’s recovery week.
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