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#1 THING I LEARNED RIDING 37 ULTRA DISTANCE RACES | ROADMAN PODCAST

with Roadman Podcast

45:51·3 October 2022

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Racing replaces structured training. Across 37 ultra events, Lael uses consecutive races (with recovery between them) as her primary fitness stimulus rather than periodised training blocks.
Sleep is the lever, not the obstacle. About four hours a night is sustainable for multi-day events; 10–15 minute roadside naps are enough to restore focus for safe descents.
Don't practise sleep deprivation outside of races. Lael calls lack of sleep the least healthy part of the sport and won't replicate it in training.
In extreme heat, prioritise calories you can actually stomach over macro targets, and treat every water source as an electrolyte refill stop.
Media coverage of ultra racing widens the door, especially for women, without materially changing competitive outcomes — most of the pushback is projection.

TOPICS

Leo Wilcox has raced 37 ultra-distance events and learned that success in bikepacking comes down to consistent effort and strategic sleep management rather than perfect preparation. She breaks down how she won the Trans Am, her approach to balancing racing with life, and why the debate around media coverage in bikepacking misses the point of inspiring others.

Key Takeaways

Sleep strategically: 4 hours per night is sustainable for multi-day races; even 10-15 minute naps can restore focus enough to descend safely, but sleeping every third night leads to diminishing returns and a poor experience
You don't need a perfect training block—tour the route beforehand if possible, and let consecutive racing serve as your training with rest days in between
Gravel bikes with suspension forks and dynamo hub lights are the practical setup for 2-3 day desert races; simplicity and reliability matter more than weight optimization
Nutrition in extreme heat is more about calories you can stomach (Leo ate mostly ice cream in Spain) than hitting macros; hydration with electrolyte mixes at every water source is critical
Media coverage of bikepacking races inspires new participants and breaks down barriers to entry—especially for women—without materially affecting competitive performance, making the criticism of it largely projection of others' fears

Expert Quotes

"I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of never ends."

"I think it's the dedication day after day of just keeping that focus and working hard to actually make it happen—nobody wins these races by accident."

"When you're passing through these areas most crime is premeditated; if I'm just riding through a random place people aren't sitting there ready to attack me. The risk of getting hit by a car is much higher and more common."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

EXPERT
Lael Wilcox has finished 37 ultra-distance bike races, including a win at the 2016 Trans Am Bike Race.
Source: Lael Wilcox, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
Lael uses racing itself as her primary training stimulus, with recovery between consecutive events serving as her main form of preparation.
Source: Lael Wilcox, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
Lael identifies sleep deprivation as the least healthy aspect of ultra cycling and avoids practising it outside of races, preferring to sleep normally when not competing.
Source: Lael Wilcox, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
For multi-day desert events, dynamo hub lights are practical because riders cannot carry enough battery capacity to power lights through two consecutive nights.
Source: Lael Wilcox, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
OPINION
Lael argues most crime in remote areas is premeditated and that a passing cyclist is statistically more at risk from cars than from people they ride past.
Source: Lael Wilcox, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast

KEY QUOTES

“I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of Never Ends”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

“I don't practice not sleeping if I'm not racing then I sleep or I or I try to because I feel like the lack of sleep is probably the least healthy aspect of this whole sport”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

“for endurance you need it because you'd never have enough time to charge your lights so I mean it's hard to carry enough batteries to to get through two nights you know I mean it's possible but it's heavy and it's complicated and you're wearing like will this last”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT2 SECTIONS

Welcome and touring Lithuania with Rue

I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of Never Ends thank you Leo welcome to the romance working podcast yeah thanks for having me Fresh Off in order to venture I see you're in Lithuania at the moment so are you aware of quite recently yep just left Lithuania a couple days ago so I went there uh to visit my wife's family she was born there and so he biked all over the country to see both sets of grandparents and her mom and dad so it was a lot of fun how how good is your wife is she a similar level to you I'm sure she doesn't have that crazy no sleep Ultra endurance G and you do but can you go around with her yeah of course it's my favorite actually touring with Rue is is the best we actually sleep at night ride during the day stop for snacks but um you know especially visiting family was the best way to go because once you get to their house it's a lot of sitting and talking which is nice but you know you're always looking out the window so that way we could ride there and then show up super tired and happy to just take a break so it was a really nice balance for the trip what's that balance like normally because I had a glance at your calendar for the year and it's pretty jam-packed like so what's that balance like between Family Social training I'm such a newbie virgin at this whole world of ultra distance and bike packing I don't even know what training looks like for an ultra endurance Rider like we'll get to that in a minute it's just like staying up late at night watching Netflix movies and getting no sleep for me wait no no I don't practice not sleeping if I'm not racing then I sleep or I or I try to because I feel like the lack of sleep is probably the least healthy aspect of this whole sport but I'm always riding and this year I was racing so much that I was never really training that the racing was the training and then I would rest and then I would race again uh I didn't know I could do so many events in a year I think I've already raced six Ultras this year and then also done two women's rallies and some tours in between so this was kind of a test to see if I could even make it through and it's been so much fun it's taken me all over the world and I still have a couple months left in the season with two more races so uh just hoping that I can um you know do my best out there and have fun and and ride fast so when you sat down I assume you sat down on a you know roughly disappoint last year to plan out the season do you plan out the entire race calendar or are you picking it sort of corner by quarter and sort of going oh we'll see how it pans out we'll see what fatigue is like yeah I mean I didn't really I think I think I started making plans for this year in the spring and then it was just from race organizers asking me if I could come um and then I just saw what I could actually fit in and I mean even on paper looked like I don't know if that's really gonna work but I'll just try and see how it goes and mostly I had planned April to end of June or beginning of July and then I thought after that I'll be done racing and then it turns out that I ended up doing Badlands kind of last minute because I could fit it in before a women's rally and I'm in a race rhino run in three weeks uh and that was also last minute because the organizer asked if I could comment it just you know I look at these things and I think what a what an opportunity to go race in southern Spain or in South Africa and um you know I never know I'll be back so it's a 2 700 kilometer race across South Africa and Namibia it is the first year of the race it's uh put on by Ryan Flynn and the guys from curve uh out of Australia and Ryan is from South Africa and he's been trying to organize this for three years but with covet it kept getting canceled and finally it's on and I think you know a week ago he was like can you can you come or two weeks ago and then he kept asking you know if I could come and I'm thinking I'm just so tired I can't do it and then I talked it over with Rue because we've been on the road since April um and she was like well if you don't go you'll just be wishing you were there so we have to go um yeah so we're going so I keep thinking everything I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of Never Ends and logistically with Rue how does that work for her does she have a nine to five job back home or is she working as part of the media crew with you yeah she's uh we work together quite a bit now um she used to she's a photojournalist uh that's what she went to school for so she used to work for newspapers now she does a bit of freelance for newspapers but she also shares my stories or our stories and then also works with other um teams and and people within the cycling industry um so she's not working a regular job and I'm so fortunate to have her traveling with me but then also shooting because you know that's how I can share my story is she's shooting photos and videos and um and she's really talented at it so people can see the beauty that I get to see too and you guys are killing it like your media game is on point oh thank you well it's all Rue to ride my bike to say to you two days nine hours and 42 minutes what's that mean um Badlands finish I think 15th overall and I don't think anybody within like the top 20 slept you know nobody was sleeping it was I mean I I like pulled over to take some cat naps on the side of the road but like no real sleep uh and nobody was asleep I got a funny story on this one so you were so we were chatting offer about my dnf after about like what was the first climb it was like six K long or something and then we had that bumpy descent with the pillars yeah just around that won't be the Sands with the pillars like I got to the bottom of that and my boycott basically exploded like my DOT would stop working my ball okay it's just had fallen off my bag had broke and I was like oh my god with the do2 I couldn't fix anyway so I ultimately ended up dropping out of the race but my teammates aren't currently he went on just to complete it anyway he wasn't eligible for the the prayers category anymore obviously without a teammates and they don't transfer you over to the solo category which is maybe a little bit unfairable yeah I don't know but so he went on so first night I was watching and I'm a total newbie to this ultra distance but I someone had said to me you need to check out Leia Wilcox she's like hardcore best female so I was kind of looking out for your name and after the first day our end of the first day going into the first night my teammate Aaron he was like 15 or 20 kilometers ahead of you and I was like go on Aaron like what a legend he's ahead of Leo Wilcox then I woke up the next morning in my Granada Hotel room and I checked and you were like 240 kilometers ahead oh no well he probably stopped to sleep you know like a normal person would stop to sleep and then I just kept going through the night but yeah I mean so what's the what's that like are you are you totally setting out your stall like I've seen some of the guys there like we rode the first climb like way too hard and when we got to the top there was like seven of us there and I'm sure to experienced people like you were just laughing gone look at these idiots right in the first climb so hard I was way too casual starting the race and I ran into my friend and I was super excited to see her so then I'm like just in the very very back of the entire race just chit chatting and I was just like like I wasn't even in Focus mode that this was a race at all and then I you know like about I mean like 20K in I was like what was I thinking just being back there just goofing off I should have you know had a little bit more like serious focus at the start but I just didn't so then I you know I mean every minute counts like every other minute in these races and it's something that takes two days and almost 10 hours is like well that's a lot of minutes uh but I mean I kind of I kind of blew it not not like being ready for the race because I think I was just like I've done so many races this year and so many events I'm kind of in la la land and I really need to kind of get that razor Focus back uh I we just want to get over that first client because that at the briefing the day before he'd said uh forced to scent was super sketchy and it had the Ballers and stuff on it so I kind of air thinking was well we want to at least take The Descent in the front and then we can chill out and start riding our own pace so we rode the first climb kind of a bit harder than maybe we should have but what I noticed on the first climb was all the guys who were in the front and it was almost exclusively guys I don't know if there was any girls there but they ran such a super light setup like are you going into the event knowing you're not gonna sleep you're not bothering to bring a bivvy bag no ground Mass I brought him you're just busy planning to yeah I brought a bivvy because I was like well I really don't know maybe I'll get really tired and then I want to sleep but fortunately it was so hot even in the nights I didn't even have to put anything on I could sleep on the ground in a T-shirt and be fine it was so warm I mean the days were super hot but then the nights were still really warm so uh yeah I mean that was kind of a nice thing was that you really didn't need any layers for Comfort or survival or anything like that but I did bring a bivvy that I borrowed from a friend because I'd gone to Europe with the expectation that I was not racing and then another friend of mine was like you could do this you could do Badlands I'll drive you there I'll I'll drive you to the next event you have she works for commute that was sponsoring the event and so she gave me this idea and I was like oh my God I could actually do it I could fit it in so I got all excited and I signed up for the race and then I had like none of the equipment that I needed I'm like asking friends you know can I borrow this can I borrow that and you know kind of Cobble together the stuff that I needed for the race um mine's so grateful I got to do it it was so much fun such a beautiful route and um something I've been looking at for a few years so it was really good so in terms of your bike setup for us uh was there anything you would have changed what retards did you run I ran 700 by 48 they're Renee Hurst Oracle Ridge Nabi tires and they were perfect you know fortunately going into this race I was I had time to tour some of the route with Rue before so we rode about half of it before the race so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into um and I thought you know before we toured I thought oh I'll probably ride a mountain bike because it heard it's pretty rough and usually if it's somewhat rough with endurance in mind I I ride a bigger bike just for Comfort but after the tour I realized gravel bikes perfect for this especially my gravel bike because I have a suspension Fork so that helps a lot um in terms of your light setup what did you go with yeah was um I have a Dynamo front light which was great sine wave light runs on the cool kids had the Dynamo well for endurance you need it because you'd never have enough time to charge your lights so I mean it's hard to carry enough batteries to to get through two nights you know I mean it's possible but it's heavy and it's complicated and you're wearing like will this last so Dynamo light headlamp on my helmet and that was good how does the Dynamo light work it's built into your hole but it's charging off that exactly so you have a Dynamo Hub and then the light is connected to the hub so you can turn it on or turn it off I also have a USB port in the back so I could charge Electronics out of that as well but it's just nice that it's consistent you know you oh you can always have light you never have to worry about charging anything the only issue is if uh the train is super technical and I'm riding like a really slow speed climbing on mountain bike trails for instance I'm not generating enough power to have a consistent light so for that I have to go back to regular bike lights with huge batteries and it's a pain but that's going to be depressing if you're going so slow your lights won't even charge well you know if you're if you're doing technical mountain biking it's common to go less than 10K an hour um through the woods so that's kind of the speed that you have to go to have a consistent beam okay so it won't work if you're doing super technical stuff or if you're just weak as pissed but otherwise otherwise they're great otherwise they're great I guess there's a bit more weight in the hub and a bit more resistance but I'm not really thinking about that when I'm riding uh do you plan out your nutrition strategy or is it totally just calories whenever you can get them I mean in Spain it was like I definitely I hardly ate anything which is terrible because you need so many calories to go through this I probably I just lost a lot of weight but um it's so hot it's hard to eat and then I didn't want to really stop for prepared food so I just would take like ice cream to go and eat it on the bike and that's pretty much all I ate I ate tons of ice cream and I I usually love ice cream and by the end I was like wow this is the first time in my life that I'm really burnt out of eating ice cream that's pretty bad I thought you were going to come with this like really complex Fuel and strategy where you take like a beta fuel every 45 minutes yeah nothing like that I mean I had like have like gnarly nutrition nutritionist drink powders and actually having drinks and electrolytes for Badlands was pretty essential because it was so hot uh so I did have like drink mixes anytime I'd see a fountain I'd drink a bottle fill it up with a mix drink that refill the bottle and then continue on because I just did the race with uh two bottles but I also had like over a liter of Coke and over a liter of orange juice that I started the race with because I was like oh I'm just going to want to drink stuff uh so that was my nutrition more or less there's such a cool void at the bike packing Adventure stuff as opposed to road racing like my background's road racing so sitting in at the pre-race did you go to the Saturday it was it the day before briefing like that was hilarious I thought it was like an american guy asked at one point like will we have cell phone reception on the whole course and he's just like no you absolutely will not this is Spain yeah yeah I know nobody really knows what they're getting into and that's kind of the fun of it too is you you bring what you think you need and then you figure it out while you go and I like that part of these races is that it's not so serious you know of course it's serious that it's really hard uh but you know the things that actually work are are all over the place it's not the most aerodynamic or efficient system that maybe will win the race yeah I seemed like Taylor Finney wore like denim jeans yeah and he had a cool bike too with like a flat bar and you know it's that's also like another approach you can take you can you can still ride hard and just have fun and when you're sort of planning out a race like this is there any thought of I need to get a training block before this so I need to simulate the conditions I'm gonna face or is it a case like you were saying just bouncing from race to race I mean I think I was really fortunate that I had time to tour some of the route first uh Before the Race I think that's super helpful because then you kind of know the terrain you'll be riding what you actually need out there you can acclimate to the conditions um that all helps but as far as like a training block I've never had that in my life so I I don't even know where to start I used to if I had time I'd ride to the start of all my races so for instance like the first time I raced a tour divide I rode to the start from Alaska um and so if I had the time I'd ride to the start and that was my training because it I'd take do long days in the saddle get used to my equipment and be mentally prepared for the race uh but now I'm so much busier that I often don't have time for that so really it's just I mean as the race goes knowing where I can find food and water knowing what kind of clothing I need for like the harshest conditions um and beyond that it's I don't know I just go for it and see how it turns out the Tour de void is wild like what's it like over four thousand four hundred kilometers starting in Canada across the Rocky Mountains finishing in Mexico like I can't even fathom how you get your head around an event this big like even logistically you're a full-time bike rider but for most people already taken like weeks off work to complete this so they just disappeared on family saying to the Missus and going to get milk and then they're coming back like four weeks later yeah it's a big commitment I mean the fastest time is 14 just under 14 days and that's the fastest time so you know you're gonna need and then you need a better time to get to the start and it finishes at the border with no services at all there isn't even water there so you have to figure out an exit strategy as well so it's definitely it's a beast but the thing is the writing is not super technical it's all dirt roads gravel roads pretty straightforward a lot of public land great camping small towns it's really lovely riding uh it's really just the distance that makes it so hard it's so long but really that was my second race ever was the tour divide and I knew I could ride distance because I'd been traveling the world on my bike so I wasn't intimidated by it I I thought the longer the better at that time and now I think God it's a really long ride you know that's a long time to stay focused and to deprive yourself of sleep and you know a lot can happen out there but it's I you take them you look at a map and that's what's so inspiring about this kind of writing you can actually trace a line of where you're going to go and but you really don't know what's going to happen when you're out there so something about that is just um so exciting there's something so refreshing about it so when I Badlands didn't really work out dnf they're sitting in the hotel room my teammates Aaron came back from Badlands and he was you know he's pretty fatigued from a port he's an ex-pro bike rider so he wasn't you know dead and we were sitting on the Hotel Beds and we had a friend starting a bike packing trip in be Ritz and he was gonna ride from beeritz to Girona and we were sitting in Granada and we were like you know we should just ride the beer Ritz yeah it's like oh it's gonna be like 1200 kilometers or something and they were like [ __ ] let's just do it so we rode from beeritz from Granada to birritz and then beeritz across the Girona it took us like 11 days sort of around 200 kilometers a day but it was so much fun and like you're saying just watching the map where you've come from looking back and tracing where you're going there's something really satisfying about looking at your progress that's so cool that you did that but that's the kind of thing that's like what is exciting to me about this sport is that you can go real places but you really don't know what you'll see along the way you can make you know change you can make decisions back your route where you stop where where you sleep and eat and you know it's an adventure with a purpose so trips like that like you said you're like riding to be reads to see your friend I mean that's almost more fun than doing a race because it's you're you're making your own decisions and you're not in like in competition but you still want to ride huge days just for the fun of it in the challenge we bumped into this guy and we were nearly at Brits and he was bike packing also and he was from Singapore and we were chatting to him at a service station and we were kind of you know giving it a bit of a flex he's like oh where'd you come from and we were like on a chest out yeah we came from Granada I'm thinking we were hot [ __ ] and we say to him where have you come from and he's like Norway or like oh yeah I mean that's the thing somebody will always ride farther or faster you know yeah so then you realize like I'm doing this because I want to do it yeah and it's it's super personal nobody else is going to care as much as you do I watched you the super kill video on YouTube if anyone is looking for to kill 20 minutes it's really enjoyable I think it's made in collaboration with perilizumi about your 2019 Tour de void yeah but something I taught was really interesting and I could almost hear the frustration in your voice during it it's you had a media crew following you but there was a portion of this I don't even know if you could call them the cycling Community but there's a portion of keyboard Warriors who objected to the morale boost you would get from having a media crew following you I'm still dealing with that uh oh seriously oh yeah yeah this is like when this kind of idea erupted and I don't know it's a little crazy because many many men in the past have had media Crews and nobody cared since this has happened men have had media Crews nobody cares when they do it but if I do it all of a sudden it's a huge problem um and it's super sad for me because the whole point is that I want to share these experiences and these beautiful places but it's driven me to the point where next year I'm racing the Triple Crown of the U.S bike packing races which is tour Divide Colorado Trail and Arizona Trail without media at all and the whole my whole goal is just to show up and race other people do my absolute best um and kind of show that I can perform well with media and without media which I've also done in the past in 2015 when I got into this sport I raced a tour divide twice and the Trans Am with zero photos and zero video and that's sad to me because I don't have anything to show from those uh races I mean that was a total of of I don't know let's see like nearly 60 days of racing with zero photos and it's so kind of to summarize the debase for someone who doesn't really know what we're talking about I kind of I'm well you're obviously a lot closer to debate than I am I've literally just picked it up this morning so it it kind of the the keyboard Warriors who are complaining about your media crew their point of view is that by seeing having media crew and specifically having your girlfriend as part of the media or is it your wife now apologies and congratulations oh thank you having your wife as part of the media crew this is going to provide a morale boost which other competitors don't get and then that morale boost is going to have a cascading knock-on effect into your physical performance I mean this is from your from your end and you're just like I want to document this stuff to inspire others and you know show the beauty of these events so is there like is there a compromise or where is the compromise at the moment Beyond you just not bringing any media crew which I don't think serves anyone because we all want to go like I want to go and ride the tour divide now haven't watched your video from the 2019 certified but that's the power of the video I know and it it worked actually got so many more people to to ride the tour divide and also just to even consider bike packing I get messages every week from people that have seen that video for the first time and it made them feel so inspired that they went out and challenged themselves um more than they ever had in the past and I love those stories um but I guess at this point I've made a video about the tour divide actually two I've also made a video about the Arizona Trail so I think in like for next year I've kind of already done that work and it was super hard I mean it's it's hard to coordinate media it's hard it's hard for them to find me on these routes they're very remote uh it's hard to put this all together but we've done that work so now I can go back to just Folk focusing on the race in I'm hoping to make animations about my races next year so I narrate the story and then we have an animator work to to share that story um with a cartoon which is fun it's a different way to kind of do this um a different approach so I think with the sport if only there was a podcast you could come along and get onto this podcast I occasionally keep people up there yeah I know that would be something magical yeah I think uh that's the thing is like you want to bring people along for these rides because they love following them especially while they're live because you really don't know how it's going to turn out I mean even think for you it's like you had no idea you were gonna like break your di2 and that's tragic but that's also like that could have happened in the last 10K and then what would you have done would you have just walked to the Finish or would it be over you know something like that and that's that's kind of the the sport is you never know what's gonna happen and I mean a terrible Mechanicals is always tragic because it's like there's nothing you can do it's very very frustrating but I think yeah the media debate is frustrating because I know sitting on you know the media side of the fence and it's weird even call myself media being just a bike rider with a podcast but I get so many messages emails Instagram DMS from people who like say last week that ride from Granada to be written across the Girona like we've got so many messages from that from people stuck into work saying I always want to do a bike packing trip and I never had the confidence and following your trip has given me that confidence to like book the time off work and do this trip you can see how impactful it is to real people and that's such a net positive gain for our cycling Community right versus the absolutely minuscule perceived damage that somebody's keyboard Warriors think it's causing and the reality is most of them probably don't even cycle anyway uh yeah I don't know I think some of them do but I don't know I sometimes I wonder about the motivation for this criticism because it's like it's only only directed towards me and now these races are getting new rules where bike packing race basically they say bike packing has no rules except you can't receive outside assistance and you have to ride the route uh and then all of a sudden there's like an asterisk at the bottom that says and no media uh on an individual Rider and Asterix lail's not allowed to use their phone yeah yeah that was also part of it like they asked me not to use my phone everybody else is using their phone and FaceTiming their families the first time I raced the tour divide I had a flip phone uh and I don't think I had service yeah old school so you know it's like and then I was riding down from Alaska to the start I had a flip phone with no service they changed the track and I didn't even know because I was offline you know so it's like you just the stuff I mean you go into it with the best intentions and then you have to just kind of reevaluate like am I making good choices am I doing my best to to share the sport that I love and have it be fair for everybody and I I honestly believe that I am I don't think that you know making videos is is helping me ride faster in fact it may slow me down because I stopped to you know talk to the camera to update what I'm doing and what's happening and then I lose time and I lose focus as well um so I don't know I had a really interesting guest on the podcast oh it's probably like 200 episodes ago and he is an adventurer but he mainly hikes and walks and he walks around Europe brings his tent and like he's walking around some crazy places Africa and stuff but he said the number one question he gets is aren't you scared to comp he said when you actually take time to pause and think about what that question means the question isn't aren't you scared to come the question is I'm scared to camp well like why shouldn't I be scared to Camp some people are projecting their insecurity onto him they are scared to come so when I look at your videos and my girlfriend's just getting into cycle and she was over at Badlands with me and she's thinking like oh I'd love to do that next year like when she sees you know 15 20 guys at the front of the race that doesn't help erodes that fear for her when she sees you killing it and mixing it with the best guys in the world all of a sudden she's watching some YouTube videos of you and she's like oh Leia just looks like a normal girl like you're obviously a superhuman X-Man but you just look like a normal girl and that helps break down barriers and that helps get more female participation in his work which we badly badly need at all levels yeah yeah I totally I I totally agree with that because people look at me and they see that I did something they're like well if she did it maybe I could maybe I could do it too or maybe I could at least try and that's the the energy that I want to encourage it's not about being the best or winning all the time but people instead of feeling like they're they are not welcome or they can't even try they're not strong enough they they're not limited by that thought they give it a go and then if they don't like it that's fine you know do something else but like you never want that like stunted feeling like you can't do it you're not capable so I think and I like that thought you had about they're projecting their fears on you because I feel like as a woman we get that so so much where people are like do you feel safe is it okay for you to do this as a woman and I've actually you know I've traveled all over the world and I've never had a problem and I've I've ridden solo and I've raced solo and I've done all these things and I've never had anyone put me in danger and I know that that's a risk but I don't think it's like a grave risk for me as a woman more than for you know a guy I think we all kind of you know face this and also when you're passing through these areas most crime is premeditated if I'm just riding through a random place people aren't like well sitting there ready to attack me you know so I think that the risk is pretty minimal compared to you know you could get hit by a car that's a much higher risk that's much more like common thing that would happen and that's something that I'm also willing to accept because I want to ride my bike so that's why I taught even the the concession you made not having a phone for the tour devoid like there's actually a safety element for Badlands like we have that WhatsApp group where you could put messages in and one kind of almost hilarious but equally tragic message I put seeing someone put in it's like cup six zero please send help is there a WhatsApp group that doesn't sound good and then the next message came from someone else going oh I just found cop six zero he's in a bad way he has he's exhaustion we'll reply directly yeah I didn't join the WhatsApp group yeah I guess I did uh I don't know I still have like a spot tracker or we have trackers so there there is like safety in that that people know where you are uh but you know people have brought that up to me too they're they're like aren't you worried that people could stalk you and I've never had like I mean that's possible that's kind of a creepy thought um but I've never had like a bad stalker you know maybe a fan comes out to say hello or something but usually these these events are so hard to access that that's probably also a safety too from people it's like nobody can actually find you uh you're that you're gonna be a committed stalker to like go into the the graphy deserts yeah totally um so I don't know for the non sort of ultra bike pack and nerds among our audience uh talk to me about uh Trans Am records and you know even the event yeah so I raced the Trans Am in 2016.

Racing the 2016 Trans Am

It's a road race across the U.S uh west to east it's 7 000 kilometers um all on paved roads it's a historic touring route in the U.S based off of the Trans Am bike touring route that Adventure cycling put out in 1976 and this is actually a cool backstory in 1976 4 000 young people across the U.S on this route um which is wild to think about because they must have like signed up by sending letters to each other so for somebody to organize how big of an event that summer is really cool yeah exactly uh anyway so I signed up for the race in 2016. with very little experience Riding Road but I thought because I had experience with gravel and mountain biking and I thought ah it's on the road it'll be easy and that was such so far far out it was so so hard um but I was so determined going into this race I had huge Ambitions I said I'm gonna win overall and I'm going to break the current record which was held by my call at the time at 17 and a half days and then I get like five days into this race and I felt horrible and I was way behind the leaders and I was like what was I thinking there's no way I can win this race or break the record but I was like I still just no matter what just have to keep working as hard as I can and do my very best and that's all I can do so I stuck with it I was sleeping I think like five hours a night um mostly in like grass fields because I was super poor I didn't have bike sponsors I worked in restaurants to save money to do this race and I thought I better do well because this is like all of my savings uh so I stuck with it kept like pushing on then getting into the race I start kind of like gaining um like getting more towards the front of the pack uh by like a weekend I'm in third or fourth place chasing these two in the front then I catch there was like one guy and one woman and they were way out the front they were sleeping maybe an hour a night um but finally I catch the woman in Colorado Sarah Hammond from Australia uh pass her and then the guy um by the time he gets to like to the halfway point in Kansas he gets so stressed that I'm like gating on him that he stopped sleeping he's just like like it like a hunted animal but I'm gaining on him and I'm like I'm gonna get him and I get within like uh I've probably a thousand K from the finish and I'm like okay this is where I really have to start making moves because you know the only way I can catch this guy is if I start cutting sleep so in the last three nights I sleep like a total of six hours and I catch him in the final night at like three in the morning and we still have like 200 over 200k to go and I start sprinting like it's the end of the race when I see him because I got so excited I finally caught this guy I didn't know who he was I'd never seen him because he'd always been ahead of me and then um and then I was uh sprinting and then he's like you know ask me if we can just finish together and I was like no way I was like chasing you for over two weeks this is a race and so then I drop him and then I end up winning the race overall and I couldn't I mean it really didn't hit me that this was real until you know he was like behind me and I was like oh my God I might actually win this race then I got super paranoid because it's all self-supported and I was like you know what if I have a mechanical now or what if something goes really wrong or what if I go off Route and so then I was like dead focused on like don't make any mistakes don't get a flat tire finish the race uh and I did and then I I waited for the guy at the second place guy to finish so he came in about two hours later um and then I was I mean more than anything it was just so happy that it was over it took 18 days so I didn't get the record but I finished eight hours slower than the record for something that took 18 days so I mean I was actually pretty close but from the start I was like this is impossible because it seems like you know it seems like it's never going to end it seems like there's no way you could succeed but I think it's the dedication day after day of of just keeping that focus and working hard to actually make it happen you know nobody wins these Races by accident so much sacrifice um and then so many things happen and like my seat post broke in Missouri and I had to ride standing up for adk to get to a bike shop to get a new seat post uh you know I slashed my tires sidewalls twice and then I had tubeless which I thought was going to be perfect and then it ended up you know I just put tubes in anyway um but uh that's all part of it where's the tip and points where the where's the Tipping Point with sleep versus performance like obviously the less you sleep to to more potential writing errors you have but I'm sure it is a diminishing marginal returns at some points if you're sleeping one hour a night that's going to catch you after like you know four or five days right versus if you're sleeping four or five hours a night that may be more sustainable is like where is the sweet spot for you I think for me it's about yeah four hours a night for something that takes you know over a week that's great for me but then I find the more competitive this is getting the less people are sleeping you know some people will sleep only every third night which I think is just horrible I'm like at some point you like you can't focus your eyes your whole body feels awful I actually like I'm in this because like I'm competitive but I also love the experience like I love being out there and if I don't sleep at all then I really don't love it anymore I'm not really with it so I I tend to sleep I I try to be a bit strategic with it sleep while it's dark sometimes I'll sleep earlier in the night and then wake up in the middle of the night and continue um because when you think about it it's like the hours don't it doesn't really matter when you do anything as long as you have a good plan did you even have a nap in Badlands or was this just straight true no I I laid down on the side of like gravel road and just I would set my alarm for 15 minutes and then I would wake up I would wake up before it went off um in the end I you know maybe I should have slept for an hour instead because I think I pulled over like six times uh just to sleep a little bit but it's amazing like some of this too is it's just fascinating to see how your body and mind will respond because I would I'd just be like to a point where I really couldn't focus and this was probably the scariest for the descents because like you need to focus when you descend you need to be looking and paying attention to where you're going and then you know my eyes just felt like they were all over the place so I'd stop sleep a little bit and then I would open my eyes and I would see so clearly again you know even after just 10 minutes so it's it's kind of crazy like how how you can recover at least a little bit and then an hour later I'd be tired again sleep a little bit again and then continue on but um your body can everything becomes normal at some point yeah because it's I've had a sleep doctors on the podcast and what you're actually doing is it's low level like brain damage you're getting for every waking error when you should be sleeping and how we repair that is with sleep but when you go without sleep you're literally brain damaging yourself as you go along so you start feeling quite Dopey and that sort of tactile link between your thoughts and being able to actually perform motor actions with your hands and your feet that all slows down so I can see how look at the scent where you're having to like perceive an obstacle and that's where every round that I jump over it how that just all slows down to the point that it becomes quite dangerous yeah yeah exactly and I mean I used to be like you know if I can't focus then then I'll stop and I guess I'm still like that where I feel like if my eyes can't focus then that's when I need to stop um although I sound like the more I do this like I don't hate those moments I it's harder to to ride through the night it's just harder to feel awake to feel alert once the Sun comes back up I feel totally fine my Energy's back I'm not sleeping so many people it's crazy so the long nights are definitely the toughest part um but yeah I mean it's not healthy it's just something that we do and it's part of the competition if somebody was trying to get into bike packing now what sort of piece of advice would you have something that you know now that you wish you knew when you were starting oh oh I guess the concept that like it's it should be fun like even these trips you set up for yourself like you have to get from point A to point B you know it's like if it's not working out change the plan you know if you need to hitch a ride for a section that's fine nobody else cares if you make this like completely from point A to point B like these rules we make for ourselves are not serving anything uh it should be like you should have a good time out there because this is like it's hard enough without putting extra pressure on yourself like I used to be like I'm riding up the west coast of the U.S and that's my plan and I have to do that and then you know one trip I rode into a headwind for I think over a month and I was like then like years later I'm like why didn't I just ride the other direction you know why didn't I just like take a train and then ride south or another trip I was riding down the west coast and I had rain every day for six weeks and now I'm like why didn't I just go somewhere else and have a better trip uh but I think I was so like dead dedicated to just this one thought that that's all I had to do now I guess I do that with the racing because no matter the conditions everybody's facing it you just have to do it uh but if it's your own trip and it's for fun just make it like the best time you can actually enjoy it have have the adventure that you want to have because nobody else cares what you're doing out there isn't it funny people just get like agitated on social media we had two or three days in a row of just block headwinds like we're running super hard I'm going like 11 kilometers an hour on the way up to be rich yeah so a tractor pulled out one of the day is like going like 25 26k an hour and I put up a video on my Instagram of holding on to the back of the tractor and just Towing along but then you can go into you know your Instagram you can go into the like the order of folder where people you aren't friends with consensual messages and people are like replying to going like you're [ __ ] cheating like this is disgraceful I'm like what are you yeah it's like there aren't any rules for this it's my trip I could do it however I want I know that's so I think that's awesome for the whole trip if I was part of cycling is that it you know because it's like such a simple beautiful machine it's also you know a lot of purists are involved in the sport so then you know if it's anything outside of of cycling or outside of like this pure concept then it's something that's negative and I I don't like that I feel like we should welcome more people people should ride e-bikes people should do it in any way that gets them involved in cycling and that's like the joy of it and that that will change their life spending that much time outside being active you know it's like in any capacity you can do that that's that's what I'm all for yeah I'm so excited to see e-bikes coming because like I look at you know I'd love nothing more than to do a bike packing trip my dad but he's like almost 70 and he can't ride the bike for six seven eight hours a day but with e-bikes it's like a handicap and golf if this is possible again it's so brilliant yeah you can bring more people along and they still are doing the adventure and it's still hard for them it's still a super challenge you know it's not like you just get a free ride so that yeah I hope you do that with your dad Leo uh thanks for chatting you're inspiring so many people I think uh I'm specifically getting really helped with female participation and breaking down those barriers so keep doing your media stuff don't listen to the haters and keep having those Adventures hey thanks so much so good talking with you and are you gonna go back for Badlands again next year I was just talking to the organizer today so I am indeed gotta go back next year super cool see you then thanks gentlet that was Carl thank you very much for that yeah of course uh thanks so much that was uh so much fun yeah so you're welcome to jump back on anytime so as I say the podcast is totally just like I'm not a cyclone journalist I'm a cyclist and I want to give like that platform like it's in order to 100 000 people tuning in every week now and I feel there's not many independent podcasts now most of them are like you know podcasts that are owned by a company that you know zwift or BBC or something like this so it's like I want the podcast to be almost like a community podcast where anyone with a cool interesting story that's gonna Inspire others can jump on at any point or if you have big you know you're trying to promote stuff for sponsors and things like that you can always just say hey I also have access to a podcast and I can jump back on there whenever I want and you know that might help you get some sponsor stuff across the line as well cool thanks so much and lovely talking with you and I love that you did that trip to be reads that's awesome that's like oh so much fun I'm still suffering yeah such a such a cool idea turning something that didn't go right into like even a better Adventure so super cool we'll have to do a bike packing trip where we podcast live from the road and creates yeah that sounds like fun Cool Leo thanks for chatting yeah

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does Lael Wilcox train for ultra distance cycling races?+

Lael Wilcox uses racing itself as her primary training stimulus rather than following a structured, periodised programme. Recovery between events is her main form of preparation, and she has found that consistent participation across 37 ultra-distance races builds the fitness and experience needed to compete at the highest level.

How do you deal with sleep deprivation in ultra cycling races?+

Lael Wilcox identifies sleep deprivation as the least healthy aspect of ultra cycling and deliberately avoids practising it outside of competition. During races she manages it as a necessary part of the event, but she does not replicate sleep-deprived training sessions as part of her preparation.

What should you eat during an ultra distance cycling race?+

Ultra cycling nutrition needs to sustain effort across multiple days, which means prioritising foods that are easy to digest, calorie-dense, and available at convenience stops along the route. Lael Wilcox's approach across events like the Trans Am and Badlands focuses on consistent calorie intake rather than rigid fuelling protocols, adapting to what is available on the road.

What bike setup does Lael Wilcox use for bikepacking races?+

Lael Wilcox optimises her bike setup for multi-day self-supported racing, balancing weight, comfort, and cargo capacity across events including the Trans Am Bike Race and the Rhino Run through South Africa and Namibia. Her setup evolves depending on the specific demands of each race, with terrain, distance, and resupply options all influencing the configuration she chooses.

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Key Takeaways

Sleep strategically: 4 hours per night is sustainable for multi-day races; even 10-15 minute naps can restore focus enough to descend safely, but sleeping every third night leads to diminishing returns and a poor experience

You don't need a perfect training block—tour the route beforehand if possible, and let consecutive racing serve as your training with rest days in between

Gravel bikes with suspension forks and dynamo hub lights are the practical setup for 2-3 day desert races; simplicity and reliability matter more than weight optimization

Nutrition in extreme heat is more about calories you can stomach (Leo ate mostly ice cream in Spain) than hitting macros; hydration with electrolyte mixes at every water source is critical

Media coverage of bikepacking races inspires new participants and breaks down barriers to entry—especially for women—without materially affecting competitive performance, making the criticism of it largely projection of others' fears

Expert Quotes

"I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of never ends."

"I think it's the dedication day after day of just keeping that focus and working hard to actually make it happen—nobody wins these races by accident."

"When you're passing through these areas most crime is premeditated; if I'm just riding through a random place people aren't sitting there ready to attack me. The risk of getting hit by a car is much higher and more common."

KEY QUOTES

“I keep thinking things will slow down and then they just never do so but I'm I'm doing what I love so it's you know it's my job but it's also my passion so it kind of Never Ends”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

“I don't practice not sleeping if I'm not racing then I sleep or I or I try to because I feel like the lack of sleep is probably the least healthy aspect of this whole sport”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

“for endurance you need it because you'd never have enough time to charge your lights so I mean it's hard to carry enough batteries to to get through two nights you know I mean it's possible but it's heavy and it's complicated and you're wearing like will this last”
Leia Wilcox — Ultra distance cyclist, multiple race finisher

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does Lael Wilcox train for ultra distance cycling races?+

How do you deal with sleep deprivation in ultra cycling races?+

What should you eat during an ultra distance cycling race?+

What bike setup does Lael Wilcox use for bikepacking races?+

#1 THING I LEARNED RIDING 37 ULTRA DISTANCE RACES | ROADMAN PODCAST

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Welcome and touring Lithuania with Rue

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Welcome and touring Lithuania with Rue

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