Lachlan Morton opens up about why he walked away from World Tour racing at the peak of his career to chase gravel, bikepacking, and adventure instead. He shares how the relentless pursuit of performance was stealing his joy, and explains how he's found a more sustainable way to train and race—without power meters or heart rate monitors—that actually keeps him stoked on riding.
Key Takeaways
- High-level road performance required unhealthy trade-offs: isolation from friends/family, constant selfishness, and blinders-on focus that wasn't worth the cost for Lachlan personally
- You can train effectively without power data by understanding the physiological feelings of different effort zones—once you recognize what lactate production feels like, numbers become unnecessary
- Gravel racing is repeating road cycling's mistake of optimizing only for performance; the industry pushes gear/gels/aero because it's profitable, but this alienates the majority who just want to ride bikes and have fun with mates
- Working with a coach who understands your values matters more than having structure—Lachlan's coach Dennis Van Wendon learned that 80% unstructured riding + minimal targeted sessions works better for him than rigid modern training programs
- Never adjust your ride for the camera; put all responsibility on the film crew to capture what actually happens—this keeps the experience authentic and prevents the race becoming about creating content instead of doing the thing
Expert Quotes
"The pursuit of like really high performance I think just with my personality is problematic... I was very good on the road and performing at a very high level it was to the detriment of a lot of other things in my life."
"There's an obsession with the performance element... a lot of it is driven by industry because it's something to sell you. You can always go bigger and longer or faster, but ultimately it's like what are we trying to get out of bikes? We want people to get out there, be healthy, but just enjoy it for what it is."
"I get an emotional response to a number being displayed back to me... so I'm like in this weird feedback loop that can become negative very quickly, as opposed to just like okay I know what a 20 minute threshold effort feels like, let's just get on with it."