Finding joy in the ride | Far Beyond with Lachlan Morton | Traka and Bergslagsleden

After Catalonia’s legendary Traka gravel race ended in disappointment for Lachlan, he wanted an experience on Sweden’s Bergslagsleden that went far beyond an FKT.

The 15 hours and 21 minutes that it took him to complete the 300-kilometer route through the heart of the Swedish bush is the fastest time that he could find on the internet, but if anyone has ever ridden it faster before him, let us know. Lachy wants to buy you a beer, because he knows how tough the Bergslagsleden is.

Join Lachlan at The Traka, a Girona MTB super loop, Bergslagleden, and a day out in Sweden in this episode of Far Beyond.

Watch more from EF Pro Cycling and Lachlan Morton: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSpqFb_mCwQGpLK08EwurNSCI5C_gJwKl

Subscribe to Far Beyond to catch every new episode: https://www.youtube.com/@FarBeyond-EFPC

#efprocycling #cycling #gravelbike #spain #sweden #traka
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Subscribe now to get every episode from Lachlan’s season ahead.

FAR BEYOND 2025:

January 24 RADL GRVL (Australia)
February 23-March 3 Transcordilleras (Colombia)
March 29 Hills Gravel (Italy)
May 1-5 Traka 360 (Spain)
May 16 Bergslagsleden (Sweden)
May 29-30 Unbound (USA)
June 17-20 Migration Gravel Race (Kenya)
August 9 Leadville (USA)
August 16 Core (USA)
August 20-23 Vermont Overland (USA)
September 1-9 Tour of the Dragon TBD (Bhutan)
September 28 Three Peaks (UK)
October 12 Little Sugar (USA)
October 19 Big Sugar (USA)
October 26-November 1 Gravel Burn (South Africa)

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Sometimes I wish I was a farmer. He was at work. Yeah, he’s in the office. He was busy. He was on a call. No point crying over spilled milk. No point crying over mechanical issues. Good day. Uh it’s Monday post tracker weekend. My race didn’t pan out how I wanted and uh that was a bummer for sure. Things sort of really came together and uh I know I know those days are um going to be less and less frequent. So yeah, to lose the chance on one was for sure a bummer. But um nothing to be done about it. Out for my last ride in Jerona. Oh, hang on. Big old mountain bike loop. I’ve been having to tick off since I’ve been here. It’s one of my favorites. Probably doing in the wall. Uh it involves some hiking, leaving town and stringing together a bunch of different trails and uh kind of mountain roads, I guess you call them. Uh, I used to ride in this zone quite a lot and just slowly piece together different trails uh until I could kind of make this big loop. But it was a long time ago. I’m piecing together as best I can. That’s beautiful. Who was the last person? They didn’t make it. Oh, yeah. Different. That’s it. But it was nice to go over there. But uh yeah, man. We have Sweden coming up pretty quick. Who’s going to get me there? Gregory. Pretty nifty. evacuation. You must leave all her baggage behind. Please take a moment to review the safety card and the trains are now closed. Thank you. Uh we just got to Stockholm. flew from Barcelona this morning and we got here in time to have pika with pop this afternoon. So, we’re going to go inside, drink some coffee, eat some pastries, and look at some cool a little bit lighter. Come on in. Delicious. Uh, but basically just hit it with one one bit. Yeah. And it was just back and forth. Yeah. And then you build the rest of it and basically we reconstructed the entire Imagine you coming in. I wouldn’t think it would like my sun’s out. It’s a beautiful day in Sweden. I mean, hell, pretty cool. It’s where the magic happens. Saving brains, actually. You know what? I lied. I’ve already been inside and I got this cool commuter helmet. We’re in Sweden and we’re here to do a big bike ride on the mountain bike. I’ve been to Sweden a couple times before and never really had the chance to do much riding and I wanted to come back and do something here. I figured I was in Europe already and there was a little bit of like time. So I just jumped on bikepacking.com and found a route that I could do may hopefully in within a day and [ __ ] the eggnog. It’s good for like finding inspiration, you know. It’s cool that there’s so many popping up like all over the world. So, you can kind of jump on there and look at a route and read like what the writing’s like there. And they’re all very well put together. So, you can really get an idea of what the experience can be like. So, yeah, I’m trying to do more just like roots for the sake of doing roots. It’s been primarily just like events this year or even like the New Zealand ride was like chasing a record and um it’s nice to just do one for no real purpose other than just to do it. Like there’s no obligation for me to be here. I just uh feel like coming. Big bumblebee. Get out of here. B slide flag. I’m trying to work out how to say that. I just keep every time I look at it, it just throws me. slugs for the the mining trail. Cool. Get the right tubes on. Awesome. Lord knows that these gloves are going to be stuck whatever up behind. Yeah. See boys on the other side. and uh it’s really wet so it’s just like zero traction. heaps of roots and rocks. So, a lot of it’s just like impossible to ride. There’s no in between. You’re either on like a full hiking trail. You slid about getting beat up or you’re on like a fast kind of gravel road, but it’s been a lot of trail. So, tough going up. Yeah. It’s definitely to experience something different. The riding can be so unique to a place. I mean, I love the racing because of the intensity, but there’s just not that. You know, you’re not trying to like get in front of the person who’s next to you all the time or calculate. It’s it’s kind of all in your um control. I went through this like this mud and then like it was it looked exactly like diarrhea. Ah to the point where I was like wait is that just like somehow couch like a huge pile of couch. He’s the man. He is a man. You’re a hero. Sorry. You’re a hero. Chocolate chips. Sweeten. You need a good surprise surprise. Having a little hike. Uh, I’ve got about 120k or so left. It’s kind of a Groundhog Day feeling. It’s really weird because the the light has been the same all day since like we woke up at whatever 4:30. I actually don’t know how long I’ve been out here, but um it’s kind of strange cuz the the trail looks the same. I can’t shake this sort of strange uneasy feeling. I don’t know where I am cuz it all looks the same and the light hasn’t changed. And uh yeah, it’s just a little bit bizarre. Feels like it just works against you all the time. Zero flow. Trying to avoid all the rocks and roots, but that’s what the trail is primarily made up of. Anyway, a dog. No. A dog. A puppy. Did you get me a puppy? Really cool. How you doing? Good. Did your phone died? Yeah. Sorry. No, no, no. It’s fine. I just My time was just like Actually, I was actually pretty good. What time did you say? 8:15. Yeah. What? I said 8:16. I thought you were going to go faster. There’s snake in here. But you did. And after the first, I’d say 20ks or so, I got to the second spot where I was resupplying. From then on, the trail dried out a bit. There was a bit more flow. Then I I started to enjoy it a lot more, but then you also have the fact that you’ve been out there for 10 hours or whatever. So, um, then it becomes challenging in that way. I definitely enjoyed the second half once it dried out. It felt It felt like in the first half it felt like I was just against the trail, like it was trying to kill me and I was trying not to die. And then the second half I felt like I kind of made peace with it and worked it out. But it it was a very um physical day out because you’re just like constantly trying to work the bike for momentum in the trail sections. Lots of steep ups and downs and on the gravel sections it was more about like trying to hold some sort of speed. So then you sort of on the gas a bit more. It’s a pretty pretty relentless but uh a beautiful route, you know, alive. It’s the day after the day before. We’re back in Stockholm. Uh Damian at Pock has been kind enough to lend us some bikes so we can go and see the city sites before we get out of here. So, uh yeah, we’re going to um jump on the bikes and cruise around the city and soak up the Stockholm uh splendor. That’s the idea. I made us a little roof. Uh be Rachel, Tom, John, and I. And yeah, we’re gonna go uh get some fresh air and enjoy the city. Maybe hit a Fica. Yeah. Yeah. Sweet. Awesome. Ideally. Ideally. There’s a chance of rain. Well, hello deaden spirits, you know. It’s Sweden in May. That’s what they said to me in the pock yesterday. Like, oh yeah, this Sweden in May. And in my head, I was like, it’s almost summer. Awesome. Yeah, I’ve never seen that. Oh yeah. Something you’re grateful for. Grateful for um this puffy jacket. No, the ability to do this. Sweet. You know what I mean? It’s nice to have something else to like get stoked for. I don’t have to like go lick my wounds after tracker and focus on the next race right away. Like something else out here. It’s nice. And that’s all she got. Good [ __ ] Thank you so much. You’re worried. Appreciate it. Heat. Heat.