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Lael Wilcox (source Trans Am Bike Race).jpgLate drama sees Lael Wilcox win Trans Am Bike Race
Lael Wilcox has become the first woman to win the Trans Am Bike Race, taking the lead in dramatic circumstances on the very last day.
The 29-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, had been trailing Greek national Steffan Streich and slept for just half an hour on Tuesday night as she tried to catch him up, reports Alaska Dispatch News.
Her rival had a nap too – and waking up in darkness, started pedalling in the wrong direction, only discovering his error when he encountered Wilcox, who still had 130 miles to go, coming the other way.
"A woman's never won a big endurance bike race like this, so it's definitely a big deal for me," Wilcox told the newspaper.
"I was never in the lead. I was just kind of holding on for dear life. I said, 'I'm going to do the best I can and see what happens, and if I get a window of opportunity I'll take advantage.' "
When she encountered Streich yesterday morning, he suggested that the pair ride the remainder of the route together and share the win, but Wilcox was having none of it.
"Oh, c'mon, that's the fun part about it," she said. "We'd been riding for days and days and days, and a race to the end is exciting. I'm not gonna give up that chance.
“You get a one in 1,000 chance to get a race to the finish in something like this."
A total of 62 men and women started the third edition of the unsupported 4,400 kilometre race in Astoria, Oregon on 4 June with the route passing through eight other states on their way to Yorktown, Virginia.
Wilcox won’t be taking a break from pedalling, though – she and her boyfriend Nicholas Carman are now set to cycle 700 miles to visit his family in New York.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- S.E. 13 min 53 sec ago
Is the front wheel also locked, to make it so difficult to move them a few meters away?...
- IanGlasgow 18 min 35 sec ago
I used to cycle to school in the suburbs with those. They were useless....
- slc 1 hour 26 min ago
Joking aside, governments could require new cars to be fitted with smart ignition systems that operate only for a licensed driver. No doubt there...
- wtjs 9 hours 23 min ago
There is an increasing 'disconnect' between comments in this topic and reality. Cords are either all cotton or mostly cotton and are going to last...
- ktache 9 hours 54 min ago
There are people out there who will make you the belt out of your old tyre.
- chrisonabike 9 hours 55 min ago
Furry dice and an air freshener for your helmet.
- Simon E 10 hours 43 min ago
Ah yes, those are hopefully not the 'master craftsmen' that has constructed a wide range of shoddy Italian cars and motorbikes over the years with...
- Simon E 11 hours 5 min ago
A SuperSix is definitely not an all-rounder....
- chrisonabike 11 hours 57 min ago
Just get them to walk a treadmill - or better, ride exercise bikes to power path lighting.
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14 comments
A slightly fuller version was in her video interview in Yorktown:
When he suggested they ride together to the finish, she said no it's a race. He then replied yes, but you're losing. She said no, I don't think so. Anyway it was very exciting to watch the event on Trackleaders. She must have finished about 2 hours ahead of him.
So she dropped him properly on the final stretch. Love that. Wonder what their paces were. Couldn't have been too high after going through hell. Some woman, that's for sure. Chapeau!
Lael's partner Nick blogged during the event here:
https://gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/
Fantastic performance, only a few hours slower than Mike Hall.
She always wears a cotton Tee when she rides . My pockets are so full of stuff I am surprised she does not need the space.
Cool! Thanks!
So she caught up to him after he backtracked by mistake, then later she made a wrong turn herself and Steffen stopped her and waited and then suggested they ride together.
Interesting. Steffen did save her skin, so he sounds like a good guy. Fair play though, she wanted a race, it was a race and her incredible pace meant that when Steffen made his backtrack, she was close enough behind to save him time wasted going the wrong way.
That was the trade then. So fair play to race until the end.
Reading the details, about the distances per day and sleep.. just blows my mind. Seriously I'm like what the f**k. Terminators or what. Need to step up my game and stop being such a pansy.
Interesting going through the photos and seeing how aero her position is. Steffen too. They must have great flexibility and that helps them over the long distances.
Wow, top chick!
Fantastic achievement! Puts me in mind of Beryl Burton, who beat all the men on the way to setting a women’s world record for 12 hour time trial in 1967 which has not yet been beaten at 277.25 miles. Mike McNamara had wanted to set the men's record which he did, at 276.52 miles.
As she passed Mike McNamara she casually offered him a liquorice allsort - which he is reported to have acceptde and eaten!
The only reason that she holds that record is because nobody serious has tried to break it. Somebody like Dowsett would destroy that time.
Yes, of course he would. But he's a man, which kind of makes it irrelevant.
"Chiiiiiccckkkeeedd!"
congratulations to her. A modern version of the tortoise and the hare. Snooze you lose and keep going till the end!
Looking at the live tracker replay she would have won even without him going into the wrong direction: http://transambikerace.com/2016-live-tracker/
But surely she wasn't in the lead at that point?
Either way, great result.
Glad she won it. Talk about sore loser. I bet he wasn't going to share anything when in the lead.
Yeah, I thought that was a bit rich!
Love her attitude. What a warrior. Kudos to both of them though
So at the end, she and Streich must have raced to the finish? On the same route. Hope either of them blog about it, cos I'd love the exact details of how that went down!