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An Antartic bike ride unassisted to the South Pole

52K views 338 replies 65 participants last post by  mtbeagle 
#1 ·
Recently published on BBC News

BBC News - An Antarctic bike ride to the South Pole

Lets wish Juan Menendez Granados the best of luck! :thumbsup:

There has been as posted on here in previous posts some attempts to cycle to the South Pole with only some success,
A lot of US riders have put down those attempts, and even said the South Pole is less of a challange to reaching the North Pole by bicycle!,

Yet the South Pole is still regaurded the most remote and hostile place on earth for man to survive.

Here is a chance for someone to claim a first for 2 wheels yet there has been to date no attempt by US riders?, the home of the fatbike?.
Any takers? :)
Make an awesome film/book of the undertaking! :thumbsup:
 
#77 ·
It's a tough enough ride without having to sort out your gear and winter riding techniques on the fly.

I'm glad he has satellite comms so he can call on help as needed.

I wouldn't compare anything Mike C did to Dan's trip. Mike C prepared thoroughly both physically and mentally.

That last part is the key. People break mentally long before they are done physically. Preparing well and being in a zone where you feel confident in your skills/gear is totally different than trying to learn winter expedition biking skills on the job.

Dan got that advice right here from a bunch of experienced folks and ignored it.

Regardless - like Pete says - good for him he is down there turning pedals. No doubt whatever happens it will be an amazing trip. :)
 
#79 ·
I will preface what I'm about to say with, I sincerely hope he does make it. I am pulling for him big time.

However, the reality of the situation so far would indicate it to be a long shot. So far he has averaged between 1 and 1.3 mph, less than 10 miles a day in riding. I can only assume he'll hit some easier riding that will allow him to get higher mileage in. If not, he's on pace for this thing to go for 70 days. If I recall from his earlier blogs, he had hoped to ride close to 40 miles a day?

Keep on keeping on Dan!!
 
#80 ·
I will preface what I'm about to say with, I sincerely hope he does make it. I am pulling for him big time...

Keep on keeping on Dan!!
+1

It could be said that I've "missed my window" on this sort of thing, all I can do is live vicariously through others as inspiration. That being said, and not meaning to be a dick, 10 mpd is snowshoe pace. Has that just been done to death, and that's why we're on to fatbiking to the South Pole? Or is it a speed thing, i.e. getting there faster than has been done before? I'm being sincere, after reading up on malamutes on South Pole expeditions. What's driving these guys, in this day and age?
 
#82 ·
If you're interested in Antarctic travel, I recommend following the "Scott Expedition" blog, about two guys who are attempting to ski Robert Scott's original 1913 route to the South Pole and back -*1,800 miles unsupported. When they started out, their sleds weighed 440 pounds each. It has yet to be determined whether a human-powered Antarctic expedition of this length can be accomplished unsupported - Scott and his men died trying. But the blog is very well-written, and I think it paints an excellent picture of what conditions might be like out there. Ben Saunders live in Antarctica | The Scott Expedition.

Daniel Burton seems to be holding his own so far, all things considered. Eric Larsen wasn't making big miles at the beginning of his bike attempt last year, either, which is why he pulled the plug after 10 or 11 days. As long as Burton banked some time and planned for supplies, sheer stubbornness may allow him to pull it off. Will he end up pushing his bike most of that distance? Hard to say. Maybe.

Juan is also updated a blog, in Spanish. Juan Menéndez Granados - BBC Mundo - Temas Sounds like he's having a tough go as well, and hasn't yet been able to ride his bike.
 
#84 ·
If you're interested in Antarctic travel, I recommend following the "Scott Expedition" blog, about two guys who are attempting to ski Robert Scott's original 1913 route to the South Pole and back -*1,800 miles unsupported. When they started out, their sleds weighed 440 pounds each. It has yet to be determined whether a human-powered Antarctic expedition of this length can be accomplished unsupported - Scott and his men died trying.
Killed his dogs, too. Siberian Huskies, IIRC. "Great God! This is an awful place." -- Robert F. Scott, 1913. But thanks for the perspective on human-powered, unsupported Antarctic expedition, didn't realize nobody had done it in the 100 years since Scott failed to do it, even with dogs. That's what I was asking! Me, who *****es about going out in -40... only about 100*F warmer than what's possible down there, thanks for the perspective Murph.
 
#89 ·
No one rides in those conditions. Those are winter temperatures on your link. The summer temperatures are typically no colder than what we've been seeing in Wyoming this past week. My ride yesterday evening was below zero and about 30 mph winds. Antarctica would be no worse than that.
 
#85 ·
They're indeed having a tough time, with record low temps - hope they stay safe...

As to human-powered expeditions to the south pole, what's the definition: does somebody on snowshoes or with skis and huskies or ponies count ? Does a skier with a kite count as human powered ?
For that matter, does a skier who pulls a bike along on a pulka count as somebody who's biking to the pole ;-) ?

Imho, the only way to truly "pedal" to the south pole is with a support team so you can (try to) bike without weight.
As far as non-motorised attempts on wheels go, a tricycle with a mast and sail and huge balloon tires might be the way to approach it. Or a quadricycle and a kite. On good days you can do massive miles like the guys on skis and kites do, on bad days only a few with the help of pedals and a lot of grinta.

Strandzeilen | La Grande Pature

https://users.telenet.be/a.j.beirens/StrandZeilenKnH.jpg

In the meantime: all the luck to the guys down south !
 
#86 ·
Imho, the only way to truly "pedal" to the south pole is with a support team so you can (try to) bike without weight.
As far as non-motorised attempts on wheels go, a tricycle with a mast and sail and huge balloon tires might be the way to approach it. Or a quadricycle and a kite. On good days you can do massive miles like the guys on skis and kites do, on bad days only a few with the help of pedals and a lot of grinta.
Everything I've read on this says that the winds consistently blow from the pole north, so I don't think a sail would be very beneficial try to get to the pole. On the trip back it would be great. I could be wrong, and that's at least one of the reasons that I'm not down there attempting this.
 
#88 ·
It's been done by Belgian and Norwegian (and I'm probably forgetting a few) adventurers, unassisted, with skis and kites while towing big pulka's both one-way to the pole and complete traverses across the continent.
Those guys average around 50k a day on traverses that are 4800km/3000 miles long !

http://www.antarcticice.be/media/20910/20120130 world record_pr aaice expeditie_en.pdf

To go one-way with a kite equipped trike, you'd have to be more of a sailor than a biker though. And change the wheels for skis when there's no/bad wind nor pedalling possible.
 
#90 ·
Caminoloco, Human powered does not include kites or dogs. These records are designated as dog-assisted or kite-assisted. Also record keepers are very clear on whether expeditions are supported or un-supported. As others have said the wind blows from the pole to the coast it is a Katabatic wind.

One ski team that is on the Messner route is encountering massive sastrugi. It is hard to believe how big some of this hardened drift sculptures can get. Think knee to wheel high hardened snow that might as well be concrete. I suspect Dan and Juan will be running into sastrugi in the next few days/weeks.

As far as predicting success In my experience polar travel comes down to calculation of food and fuel vs. forward motion. Believe it or not the living is quite pleasant on the ice as the sun warms the tent all night long etc. Not to say it is easy!

I think a successful ride to the pole needs a bunch of luck with snow and wind conditions. I hope they get both!

+ 1 for the Scott Expedition. Very entertaining updates and by observation a totally dialed exp.
 
#97 ·
#107 ·
Maria is in Antarctica. She is taking a different route from Juan and Daniel. She has some catching up to do. Even if all goes well for the men, she could still lay claim to being the first woman on a bike to the south pole. Well, technically trike to the south pole.

View attachment 854580
All that weight on the single rear wheel, very little on the dual front wheels…

I wish her the best of luck.
 
#110 ·
In the paved riding world trikes are always slower than the same rider on a comparable 2 wheeled recumbent or 2 wheeled upright bike. They have other benefits like being able to crank uphill at 1mph without having to balance and being able to relax while riding without needing to think about balancing.

I have no idea how the pros and cons will stack up for Maria's ride. It will be interesting to see how she does.

Anyone understand the broad stroke differences between the route she is on and the one Juan and Dan are on?
 
#113 ·
Anyone understand the broad stroke differences between the route she is on and the one Juan and Dan are on?
Just comparing Google Earth maps from where she's starting versus where the guys started, it looks like a full mountaineering-style glacier traverse. Who can really know, but that area looks mountainous and likely crevasse-riddled. And if that's the case, why choose that route for a tricycle of all things? Is she going to rope that thing up to some kind of pulley system if she has to scale an ice fall? Anyway, this stuff is fun to follow. Such an intriguing puzzle.
 
#111 ·
As far as routes, it is curiously difficult to describe locations and directions near the poles. In Antarctica south is trivial, everything is north, and even east and west are confusing sometimes.

Maria's tracking page (I posted a link below) shows her starting point. Juan and Daniel's tracks show their locations, you can compare best based on that.

Attempts to reach the south pole have been made from both starting points and along both routes, based on what I have read.

You can probably tell by how much I post to this thread, but I love following this stuff now that the riders can send out tracks, blogs and pics as they go. It is way better than reading about it a few months later in a magazine with just a couple of paragraphs and a pic or two.
 
#115 ·
Reading between the lines on her site and her blog, one gets the idea (if one is as curmudgeonly about this sorta thing as I am) that she hasn't yet considered that she won't be riding all the time.

She is an optimist (20 days to get to Pole) and I like that. If only optimism were enough.
 
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