These Ladies are Conquering Australia!

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Did you know that the women’s supported record for riding a bicycle around Australia is held by Lesa Ashford, who completed the feat in 2023 in 92 days, 6 hours, 23 minutes. I didn’t, until I read this article from Bicycling Australia. Three women are, at present, attempting to break Ashford’s record: Stacey Duffy, Shonel Daniel, and Anna Cicognani. The three aren’t working together, all left from different towns on different days. Daniel and Cicognani are attempting the supported record. The article focuses on Duffy, simply because she is doing this unsupported. There is no unsupported record, so if she can finish she will be the first. (By the way, according to the article, after nine weeks, Duffy has a 1000km advantage over Ashford’s record.) Both ways are admirable and worthy of attention. But it’s the unsupported factor that makes Duffy’s try so interesting. Supported basically means you ride while a crew sets up your campsite, fixes your meals, fixes your bike, makes sure you have water and food while you ride, etc, etc, etc. Unsupported, well, you do all of that yourself. You have to be able to make it to the next store if you need something to eat, there’s nobody along to drive and get it for you. This is what Duffy is trying. According to the article, there are specific, demanding roads that must be traversed in order for the record to be considered legit. Duffy has already done seven of those. Daniel and Cicognani are competing against each other, so best of luck to both of them. Duffy is competing against herself, basically, but it would be cool if she broke the supported record while riding unsupported. Good luck to her! Link is to the Bicycling Australia article about Duffy’s attempt: