Lachlan Morton’s return to The Traka 360 after coming second in 2022 may not have gone to plan but, while the anticipated long day on the bike at the flagship European gravel race ended prematurely, another even longer effort is just around the corner at the North American race that has long loomed large in the discipline.
"I broke my wheel about 150km in so that was it, day done," the EF Education-EasyPost rider told Cyclingnews in Girona the day after his Traka 360 race plans went awry.
"The wheel, it was unridable, so I got a lift from a local guy out there who was headed back to town and then tracked down the crew."
The race was in familiar territory not only because of his former participation but also because it was also on the gravel roads and trails that surrounded his one-time home base in Europe. There was no surprise that Morton put a target on The Traka 360, saying on social media that "things felt like they’d come together really well this last week" and that was even despite the fact that the Australia EF Education-EasyPost rider had been running a packed schedule in the lead in.
"I mean this year's been totally different, doing a lot of different new events, so haven't really had any time to train, with the exception of maybe the last two weeks leading into this when I finally had a bit of like time where I'm not travelling," said Morton.
There will, however, be another patch of concentrated preparation before Unbound XL, the 350-mile (563-kilometre) distance event which will start on Friday, May 30 at 3pm in the afternoon, running through the night and into the next day.
"After I get home, I should have just under 2 weeks before the event," said the US-based rider. "And then I'll get a bit more specific for that, so try and do a few longer rides and play with the lights and just hone in a bit more."
It will be a different beast to train for than Unbound 200, which Morton won last year, given that there will be more hours and less intensity but that changed dynamic and experience is a big part of the appeal.
"I sort of felt like I’d gotten everything I wanted out of the 200. I don't think I could have a better experience, so why not try something different, and XL has always looked like a cool variation of the 200," said the 33-year-old who has made a career out of turning his back on the expected pathway.
Still, he is far from a stranger to long-haul efforts, with the most recent in his long list of extreme distance efforts being a record-setting 14,200km lap around Australia. Does that mean he’ll be coming into the race which was last year won by Sebastian Breuer as a favourite?
"I don't know mate, I'm just going to do it. I'm not sure who's racing but, yeah, I'll give it a good nudge and see where it gets me," said Morton. “I'm sure there's people who have more experience on that course and are maybe more honed in on that event than me, but I'll be there to race and race hard."
