Yes Chef: A Bikepacking Film That Isn't About Suffering

Lachlan Morton's new 43-minute film Yes Chef isn't about an FKT or some transcontinental sufferfest. It's a 500-mile loop through New South Wales with friends, starting and ending in his hometown of Port Macquarie. Ben Chadourne, the Paris-based videographer who first filmed Morton finishing the Alt Tour in 2021, captures something rarer than record attempts: Morton ducking into hole-in-the-wall restaurants, chatting with line cooks, riding varied terrain without a clock dictating the pace. The route is now public for anyone wanting to trace the same roads.

For those of us squeezing rides into the margins of work and family, the film's premise hits differently than another "watch a pro destroy himself" documentary. Morton's closing thought—that the places we explored as kids shrink into backdrops we barely notice—lands hard when your weekends default to logistics instead of adventure. The tradeoff with a trip like this is obvious: you need friends with matching schedules and the flexibility to disappear for days, which most of us don't have. But maybe the actual point is smaller. Grab one friend, pick a direction you've never ridden, and go far enough that it feels like something. The playground's still there.