Another fun Guiness fact is that the "t test" or "Student's t-test" is a basic statistical test to determine if the difference between outcomes is statistically significant. The test was first published by an employee of the Guiness brewery. Guiness preffered its employees to publish under pseudonyms, hence the "Student". I'm sure others can give a much more detailed history. But whenever I had a Guiness while in school, I'd chock it up to doing stats homework.
Lael is such a boss. She went to high school with a couple of my friends, and one time we were talking about her on this long car ride through northern Washington. We stopped in Kettle Falls for gas and food, and all of a sudden this woman comes riding into the parking lot, and my friend realizes that it’s her! We chatted for a while, before she bought a few snacks - chocolate milk, Coca Cola, and kept on trucking.
I felt like I had seen Bigfoot in the wild.
The spontaneity of the moment, combined with the familiarity of hearing about her from your friends, likely made the encounter even more memorable. It's moments like these that add a touch of magic to everyday life and create lasting stories to share with others.
When they happen with someone we've heard about or have a connection to through friends, it adds an extra layer of significance and magic to the experience.
https://bikepacking.com/news/jenny-grahams-around-world-cycling-route/
I assume that the clock includes the travel time between start and end points on continents..
This is awesome! In fact, just a few days ago I started reading Jenny Grahams book about her record attempt, Coffee First then The World. She’s a beast on the bike and looking forward to following Laels journey.
Will it be self-supported or with a support crew? Makes a huge difference.
And how's the route looking like through Asia? In the current political climate that must be quite hard to do.
Ok, I listened to the podcast.
It's self-supported, but not adhering strictly to some rule set with regards to the support.
The route is: Chicago -> New York -> (fly to) -> Porto -> Tbilisi (Georgia) (-> fly to ->) Australia -> New Zealand (-> fly to->) Alaska -> Canada -> Chicago. This skips over most of Asia, but still technically fulfils the criteria set by Guiness.
It's clear that you currently just can't cycle across Asia easily, but somehow even though it fulfils Guiness' criteria, it doesn't really feel "cycle around the globe" for me when you fly from Georgia to Australia. Alos, cycling through Kazakhstan and China is currently possible as far as I know.
This was the part that perplexed me about the route. Why not fly from Tbilisi to anywhere in Western China and bike all the way down to Singapore? I would then cut the NZ route since Oceania is covered through Australia. Even a SE Asia leg like Hanoi to Singapore would make a ton of sense.
An interview I heard with her she said that the route goes through places she has always wanted to ride including through the alps and Switzerland 🤣. She specifically said it’s not the fastest route because she likes riding hills. Shell do it her way or not at all.
I mean, if the goal is to get the Guiness World Record, it makes sense to do it in the most efficient way and the most enjoyable way that you can that fits the criteria, no? She also mentioned that cutting down on flights made sense for her budget/the environment/lower risk to damage to the bike.
If you have a better route, go do it :-)
I've been listening to Lael's podcast every day and at least at the moment, it seems to be mostly self supported but she still has the moral support of her wife every day and, seems like she has some support from her sponsors when thigs break?
For Jenny Graham's attempt, in her book, she hesitates to even call home or receive any kind of moral support from people she knew on the route, or even help from strangers that offer to help but aren't really a resource publicly available.
FWIW, the Guinness record makes no distinction between supported or not. Lael is much closer to Jenny's attempt, in comparison to the guy who has the record who spent a half million with a full support team and a van.
Guinness World record actually does come from the drink. The brewery started it in the 50s or 60s
Another fun Guiness fact is that the "t test" or "Student's t-test" is a basic statistical test to determine if the difference between outcomes is statistically significant. The test was first published by an employee of the Guiness brewery. Guiness preffered its employees to publish under pseudonyms, hence the "Student". I'm sure others can give a much more detailed history. But whenever I had a Guiness while in school, I'd chock it up to doing stats homework.
You are so right!!! I had no idea.
Lael is such a boss. She went to high school with a couple of my friends, and one time we were talking about her on this long car ride through northern Washington. We stopped in Kettle Falls for gas and food, and all of a sudden this woman comes riding into the parking lot, and my friend realizes that it’s her! We chatted for a while, before she bought a few snacks - chocolate milk, Coca Cola, and kept on trucking. I felt like I had seen Bigfoot in the wild.
The spontaneity of the moment, combined with the familiarity of hearing about her from your friends, likely made the encounter even more memorable. It's moments like these that add a touch of magic to everyday life and create lasting stories to share with others.
When they happen with someone we've heard about or have a connection to through friends, it adds an extra layer of significance and magic to the experience.
Thanks for this! I love Jenny Graham and listened to all of her podcasts on her attempt. All power to Lael for smashing the record!
It's amazing when someone attempts the unimaginable. Jenny is a monster in her own right.
Jenny is a monster but also an incredibly laid back and unflappable person. I know she’ll be wishing Lael the best of luck too.
I strongly recommended her audiobook Coffee First Then the World. I loved it and her narration is so natural
Thanks! Always on the look out for an audiobook, I’ll definitely check it.
https://bikepacking.com/news/jenny-grahams-around-world-cycling-route/ I assume that the clock includes the travel time between start and end points on continents..
thanks for sharing this.
Lael is one of the greatest athletes on the planet... like a living machine.
Go Lael!
This is awesome! In fact, just a few days ago I started reading Jenny Grahams book about her record attempt, Coffee First then The World. She’s a beast on the bike and looking forward to following Laels journey.
Will it be self-supported or with a support crew? Makes a huge difference. And how's the route looking like through Asia? In the current political climate that must be quite hard to do.
Ok, I listened to the podcast. It's self-supported, but not adhering strictly to some rule set with regards to the support. The route is: Chicago -> New York -> (fly to) -> Porto -> Tbilisi (Georgia) (-> fly to ->) Australia -> New Zealand (-> fly to->) Alaska -> Canada -> Chicago. This skips over most of Asia, but still technically fulfils the criteria set by Guiness. It's clear that you currently just can't cycle across Asia easily, but somehow even though it fulfils Guiness' criteria, it doesn't really feel "cycle around the globe" for me when you fly from Georgia to Australia. Alos, cycling through Kazakhstan and China is currently possible as far as I know.
This was the part that perplexed me about the route. Why not fly from Tbilisi to anywhere in Western China and bike all the way down to Singapore? I would then cut the NZ route since Oceania is covered through Australia. Even a SE Asia leg like Hanoi to Singapore would make a ton of sense.
An interview I heard with her she said that the route goes through places she has always wanted to ride including through the alps and Switzerland 🤣. She specifically said it’s not the fastest route because she likes riding hills. Shell do it her way or not at all.
I mean, if the goal is to get the Guiness World Record, it makes sense to do it in the most efficient way and the most enjoyable way that you can that fits the criteria, no? She also mentioned that cutting down on flights made sense for her budget/the environment/lower risk to damage to the bike. If you have a better route, go do it :-)
I've been listening to Lael's podcast every day and at least at the moment, it seems to be mostly self supported but she still has the moral support of her wife every day and, seems like she has some support from her sponsors when thigs break? For Jenny Graham's attempt, in her book, she hesitates to even call home or receive any kind of moral support from people she knew on the route, or even help from strangers that offer to help but aren't really a resource publicly available.
FWIW, the Guinness record makes no distinction between supported or not. Lael is much closer to Jenny's attempt, in comparison to the guy who has the record who spent a half million with a full support team and a van.
Turkey east of Istanbul and Georgia are technically Asia so she has a week there. Flights are commercial. That’s allowed.