Three Great Explorers

There are a lot of amazing explorers in this world. I met a bunch of them in Antarctica. I felt like a midget amongst giants when I would sit down with seven submitters and amazing mountaineer and polar adventurers.

However there are three great adventurers that were the inspiration for my expedition. 

Eric Larsen
In December 2012, just as I was getting into snow biking Eric started his expedition to bike to the South Pole. I followed his expedition. In 8 days he traveled 1/4 of the way to the South Pole.  It took me 16 days to cover the same distance. 

I would never have even thought about biking to the South Pole if I hadn't heard of Eric's expedition. I studied his blog to learn as much as I could about biking to the South Pole. While I was on my expedition I would often remember things I had read in his blog, and think that now I understood what he was talking about. Eric is a true inspiration and his expedition convinced me that biking to the South Pole was possible. 

Hannah McKeand 

Hannah use to hold the record for the fastest solo expedition to the South Pole. I read her blog and learned a lot about polar expeditions from it. I was very honored to have her bring me food when I ran out one day before I reached the pole. 

Aaron Linsdau

Aaron set the record for the most days to get to the South Pole. He took 81 days to get to the pole. When most people would have given up he continued on. I felt I needed to train myself mentally to be prepared to continue on no matter what. This was as important, or maybe more important than any physical training I could do. I wanted to have the perseverance of Aaron. I had to draw on that mental preparation in order to finish

There are many great explorers but those three are the ones that inspired me the most as I biked to the South Pole. Thanks Eric, Hannah, and Aaron!

I Miss My Bike

My bike is still in Punta Arenas. In order to get it shipped home I have to provide a list of everything in the box it is being shipped in. I sent the packing list to Mark at ALE twice but somehow he never got it. I'm betting it is a spam filter issue. 

Borealis was very generous and sent me a demo bike to use while I wait for my bike to get back from Chile. I still had my  old Moonlander at home so I rode it to the store this morning, and rode the Borealis home tonight. The Borealis is so much nicer in every way. However, the handling/steering of the Borealis vs the Moonlander is probably the biggest thing I notice. The Borealis just feels like it should and the Moonlander just has a funky feeling to the way it steers. 

Anyway the demo Borealis is great, but I miss my bike. I spent a lot of time with that bike and I like my custom build. I will be so glad to get my bike back. 

Welcome Home Party

On Saturday, February 8, 2104 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm we will be having a Welcome Home reception with light refreshments. At 7 pm we will have a video presentation after which Daniel will answer some questions about the expedition. All are invited to come and welcome Daniel back.


Schedule:
Reception and visiting 6 - 7 pm
Presentation and Q&A 7 - 8 pm

Location:
LDS meeting house located at
9475 Mustang Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84005
http://binged.it/1cLkNiy
(note Google maps does not map this address correctly)

Cold tiles

Cold floor tiles in the morning are no problem when your feet are mostly numb.

I stayed up all night talking to my daughter's boyfriend. I really should get more rest. Today I need to get all my stuff into a box a shipped back home, and then catch a flight home myself. Oh yeah, and see if I can get someone to ask the firgadorific company, in Spanish, if they can help me find my gps. I'm pretty sure the security guards picked it up but don't know enough Spanish to ask if they found it and to offer them a reward for its return. 

The Body Strikes Back

I think my body is still in rebellion. My pants fit like I'm Harry Potter and my pants are Dudley hand-me-downs. My few hour bike ride today has made my legs very weak and tired, and this morning I about passed out on the way to breakfast. A little orange juice fixed this morning's problem.

Before I left Chile for Antarctica one day I had ice cream for lunch and ice cream soup for dinner. I went and had pizza with Vesa just a little bit ago, and was very full. But now I am already hungry again, so I am doing the ice cream/ice cream soup thing again tonight. I also got a few other high sugar items to keep me going until morning. It is just too long between meals right now to go all night without eating. 

Penguin hunting

My penguin hunt turned out to be a disaster. 

I got some food and supplies, loaded up my panniers and headed out to see if I could find Seno Otway where there is a penguin colony. I rode down to the Strait of Magellan and then headed north. The wind was at my back and I was cursing along knowing that eventually I would have to bike back into the wind, but hey I had biked to the pole and I was on a penguin hunt. 

The instructions I had found were that you turn left on a dirt rode after the police police check point. So I'm not sure how far this is and I stop at the security booth for Frigorifico Simunovic S.A.

I talk to a couple of young men and figure out I am still heard the right direction. A little after I leave them I look down and my gps is gone. It must have fallen out when I was layer the bike down to talk to them. So I go back, they are gone and some older gentleman is there. I can't figure out how to get him to realize that I had dropped the gps and the other two must have picked it up. So I lost the gps with all my South Pole trip data on it! I want that back so much! If I could figure out how to offer the security guards a reward for the return of the gps I would. 

I eventually give up and in a bit of a sad mood continue on. It is windy. It is always windy here. The tailwind turns into a crosswind with a bit of headwind. I remember why I got rid of the panniers at Thiels. They are so hard to move into a headwind. I am biking with a 30° lean to the left and keep,getting bown off the street. I realize I am not enjoying this. I biked for two months with bad winds and no penguin is going to be cute enough to make this worthwhile. So, at about half way to the penguin colony I turn back, lean 30° to the right and pedal along. When I get to the airport I grab a taxi and go back to the hotel. 

No penguin pictures, no fun, and now no gps data. :-(

In Chile for Another Day

Looks like I have to book a new flight. Orbitz quoted us a price then when we tried to book it the price they charged was higher than what was quoted. Then we got an email saying that the booking failed and now the price has gone up again. Not too happy with orbitz right now.