“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are…” – Ernest Hemingway
Lael Wilcox states via her website : “I think about things when I’m moving” and this certainly seems to be an appropriate claim. Wilcox is an impressive longer-than-long distance athlete logging more than 100k miles in more than 25 countries. Her palmares is stunningly impressive: she’s completed the Holy Land Challenge (a self-supported bikepacking ride traversing 870mi of Israel while climbing a staggering 65,117ft), she set a new women’s record in the 2015 Tour Divide (a 2,745mi mostly off-road route North to South/South to North following the Continental Divide containing 200,000ft of elevation gain/loss), and lastly she beat everyone this year at the 2016 Trans-Am Race (4,300mi!) while still smashing the women’s record in 18 days. To say that Lael knows long days in the saddle would be a vast understatement.
Recently, she and Nicholas Carman researched and established another backcountry touring route through Mexico called the Baja Divide, a 1,700mi route beginning in San Diego, CA following the Baja peninsula nearly to it’s terminus. Carman had this to say about the route “The Baja Divide is a free resource and riders are welcome to travel the route at any time. Riders should be prepared for long sections without food and water, and up to 8-10 liters of water are necessary for some sections. Considering the many sandy tracks and rough roads along the Baja Divide, we strongly recommend 3.0’ tires, and tubeless wheel systems are effectively required. Prior backcountry riding experience is strongly recommended.” A route by bikepackers for bikepackers. 
Lael approached us because sometimes the right tool for the job doesn’t yet exist, and we know all about that. She chose a Lauf Boost fork for it’s simplicity, durability and weight. A note-worthy design concept, this fork is made of carbon fiber with a beefed-up leaf suspension system requiring no maintenance. In other words, a near-perfect tool for being way way out there and having less gear worries. Unfortunately, this fork does not have cage mounts which Wilcox desperately needed for such a long route through the desert. That’s where we came in. 
We CNC machined thick carbon slats and installed brass m5 threaded fittings for the cages. We then bonded it to the stripped-to-bare-carbon fork legs, wrapping it with prepreg carbon fiber (the resin is coming from inside the carbon). After, we vacuum formed everything together, wet sanded off anything excess and finally sent the fork through the rest of bodywork and paint. The result is a completely custom, one-off bombproof tool built for a deserving rider and a specific outcome. *NOTE* This service is NOT publicly available unless you’re as badass as Lael. TEST YOUR MIGHT!
Wilcox embodies the spirit and passion we feel for cycling and the greater community, and we’re damn proud to sponsor her. Her rides are less about her personally more about the substantive whole experience of how one ride can influence a community. As an example of this mentality, she set up a scholarship this year in order to get one worthy female a brand-new bicycle outfitted with the latest bikepacking gear and a travel stipend to ride some of or the entire Baja route. When Wilcox speaks, people listen. When she rides, people pay attention…and that’s not just because she just dropped you. She’s a thinker, a big dreamer, a doer and a pedaler. We couldn’t be more excited to sponsor her for the Baja Divide! We truly hope you love your fork. Tailwinds, Lael and ¡Buen Viaje!
Special thank you to Nicholas Carman for the photos of the Divide route!