Sunday, December 22, 2013

Fixie to the South Pole

S 83°22.564' W080°03.774 total miles for Saturday 24
The weather forecast for today said it would be cloudy, but it is a beautiful sunny day with a little wind. I am going to spend the day sleeping, using the solar panels to recharge stuff, eating, and just taking a nice day of rest. After going so hard every day for so many days I was really looking forward to this day off, and now that it is here it is great to relax for once.
I got within about .25 miles of Juan last night. I really didn't want to pass him so I stopped a little earlier than planned and set up my tent. I think I am far enough from him that he probably won't even know I am here, and of course he will be traveling today so I will be a day behind him when I start tomorrow. I am not really worried about Juan because he isn't biking to the South Pole anyway. He rode another 3.5 miles yesterday, but still has done less than 10 miles by bike so far, and the rest of the distance has all been by ski.
We will see how it goes, but I am hoping that I will be at the 85° and half way south by next Sunday and then I can use that as a rest day to get ready for the last half. My freehub is broken, so I am essentially riding a fixie the rest of the way. It is a bit of a pain, because starting in snow is already a bit of a challenge, then add pulling sleds, and then the fact that I need to roll to the right spot to get the pedals in the right position, and start nice and smooth, it makes the start more challenging. I didn't think I really needed brakes, but they help with getting started. Also it isn't a true fixie because I can still shift gears, which I did a bit yesterday as there was a bit of a down hill.

2 comments:

  1. Great job out there Dan. You've got a lot of people pulling for you. Keep sticking it to Juan. Get a good pass in there on him.

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  2. Juan used to create illusion he is cycling in his FB account. After numerous objections his FB editor at last admitted that Juan is skiing but not without some messing with information and calling protesters "losers".

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