“To me these kinds of records are fascinating. A pure test. To see how far and how fast we can go on a bike in one day.”

The first chapter in our year-long story about the world’s greatest sport takes us to New Zealand. 40 years ago endurance club rider, Brian Fleck, set the record for the fastest known time between Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. In 2025 professional ultra racer, Lachlan Morton, attempted to surpass Brian’s record. Pushing ourselves to a place of discomfort is fundamental to cycling, but it takes people like Brian and Lachlan to define what’s possible.

“It’s a battle against myself. My own self doubt, the screams from my body to relent. In the same breath, I want to hold this moment forever.”

Lachlan Morton rode the 648km wearing Rapha’s next generation Pro Team Bib Shorts III.

Visit http://content.rapha.cc/story/in-one-day to discover more about this Herculean ride.

44 Comments

  1. The record falsely claimed by Fleck in Lachlans film was actually set by Brian Lambert in 1984. Fleck even claims my father’s 1984 time of 19hrs 59minutes as his own. Absolutely disgusting. Fleck never broke the 20 hour mark and held the record for less than a year before Lambert became the first man to beat 20 hours. Do your research. Shame on you.

  2. I'm a Kiwi and a massive fan of Lachies, I've followed him from his efforts riding with Garmin-Sharp.
    I feel so proud watching him repsectfuly approach this effort but do it so humbly.
    The Auckland- Wellington is not to be scoffed at, there is some big country and major elevation in there, in context it's incredible to see. Brian's effort is little known but so bloody impressive with the technology he used.

  3. When I first heard about it I thought "ouh noo, I don't like that this record has been beaten by a pro", but after this video I only feel like Lachlans Ride simply serves to honour Brian and how absolutely insane his performance was!

  4. I know Lachy was deferential to Brian but let's face it, he needed to smash by a lot more than an hour to outdo Brian's achievement. Put 1983 Brian on Lachy's bike with Lachy's kit and backing and I think we know who wins this one. But good on ya for giving Brian a spotlight, more people need to know about this ride. It's inspired me to ride sunrise to sunset on the longest day of the year and see how far I can go. It's not about beating records, it's about pushing your limits and see how much more you can do beyond what you think.

  5. funny thing about the 'pro' ultra-cyclists from ef. They can't make it on the world tour so they try to beat records set by people with full time jobs. Also they like to ride against people with full time jobs in gravel events.

  6. Lachlan’s humbleness is what makes him so relatable. Like I’m just riding my bike here bruh, and I go far. Unreal endurance efforts from him. My goal this year is to do a 200 km ride and that seems laughable in comparison.

  7. Another fantastic ride by Lachie Morton. What a wonderful way to pay homage to that amazing achievement by Brian Fleck all those years ago on a steel bike with downtube shifters and 20 mm tyres! Thank you Rafa for producing this great video, and for EF Easypost for making it all possible by sponsoring Morton to pursue his dreams.

  8. Lachlan Morton gets cycling better than anyone else. Me on my BMX racing up a hill is the pure thing. Not all the "pro cycling" nonsense that we accept these days. Just get on your bloody bike and ride it. He might save what is good about cycling for the rest of us.

  9. Well done Lachlan. Amazing effort. What hasn’t been well done is the lack of acknowledgement of our one and only Brian Lambert (RIP) who held the original record you broke, Very disappointing from the Flecks also for not stating this in all of their dialogue. A redo of this video is needed!!

  10. Lachlan's tribute to Brian's record is fitting. Both records are insane. And given the different eras? Brian WTF how did you do that 40 years ago. Beast

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