Solo Explorer Begins Bicycle Journey To South Pole 144
Hugh Pickens writes "Helen Skelton, the first person to solo kayak the length of the Amazon, has set for herself another difficult task — to travel up to 14 hours a day battling 80mph winds and -50C temperatures 800km across Antarctica in an attempt to reach the South Pole by bicycle. It's no average ride, and Skelton, 28, is not using your average bike. Her specially-built Hanebrink 'ice bike' took designers in Los Angeles three months to finish. It features a seamless frame made of aluminium aircraft tubing, heat-treated to withstand harsh environments, and fat, tubeless, rubber tires designed to bulge over the rim to provide maximum stability and traction. The bike is designed to be as minimalist as possible, to make it aerodynamic and very low maintenance. 'The bike is designed specifically to cycle in soft snow or sand,' says polar guide Doug Stoup. 'We trained together in the desert this past summer. It helps because the temperatures are so cold the snow has little moisture and has a sand-like consistency.' Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes commends Skelton for taking on 'incredibly tough and grueling challenge.' 'Like Captain Scott, Helen is attempting something that has never been tried before and I applaud her pioneering efforts.'"
Re:solo? (Score:4, Interesting)
One thing I've learned from cyclists is that they know so much more than we do. That's why, for instance, in Oregon there was a large effort to pass a law making it so that cyclists don't have to obey traffic stops -- their judgment about if they need to stop at intersections render stop lights and signs superfluous for them, and waste their time. I am quite sure she'll not only succeed, but have many great lessons to teach the people at stations near the south pole before they strap her to an iceberg and push her out to sea.
Really? I hadn't heard about that, that sounds like an excellent law.
You trust car drivers, who are in a closed, partially sound proof box with large vertical obstructions in their field of view to be able to make that judgement when their car hood keeps them 4 - 5 feet behind the intersection, but you don't trust a cyclist who has a clear field of view and sense of hearing who is 18" from the intersection when he approaches to make the same decision?
Often when I'm biking to an intersection, a car will pass me in the last 5 or 10 feet to the intersection, slow down, and proceed through the intersection before I even reach the stopping point. Did that driver really look carefully to decide if it was safe to go? If he did, then why do you think that I couldn't make that same decision in the same amount of time,even if I don't come to a complete stop? Plus, by not coming to a complete stop and unclipping from my pedals, I get through the intersection faster, so the approaching car from the side doesn't need to wait as long for me to clear it.
A bike loses significant momentum when he comes to a full stop, and loses further time when he has to clip in again to proceed, *and* he has much more to lose if he makes the wrong judgement - if a car pulls out in front of a cyclist, the worst he'll face is some scratched paint. If a cyclist misjudges and pulls out in front of a car, he risks serious injury or death.
Re:Design (Score:5, Interesting)
The coldest I ever had to work it was around 18 years ago, it was -48C on the thermometer outside our control room. The cold had affected a couple of our systems and our techs were dealing with them. Then we found out a feed mechanism on the roof our plant froze up due to a failure of a compressed air dryer. It wouldn't have been an issue on warmish days, but it was so cold it caused the moisture in the compressed air that normally would have been removed to condense in a control valve stopping an important operation. I actually ran the smelter from the control room. But, since all the techs were busy and I was essentially a SME on literally half the systems in the plant, I turned the place over to tech, and suited up like a spaceman, and climbed up the catwalks around 140 or 150 feet in the air... outside. Like I said, it was -48C without the wind. And there was wind too. It took me around a half hour to switch out a six way solenoid activated valve.
Now here is the crux: what does a Canadian really do at -40C. He freezes his fucking bag off. Yeah we don't freak out, and dress for it, and essentially deal with it (usually without too much complaint.. it doesn't help and no one would listen to you if you did anyway), but really, it's fucking cold. Of course people brag about being tough, but really I have found that people who visit the tropics in the winter don't complain about it either. :) There are some things that do resonate with what you say though. IF there is no wind at 40 below... IF and only IF there is no wind what-so-fucking-ever, AND if you are working hard, you can actually make do with a light jacket. In fact IF you are working hard, it might be advised to wear a light jacket only. You will get overheated otherwise (overheating in sub zero cold is bad because once you stop what you are doing, any sweat that has soaked your clothes will freeze.. then you get hypothermia and die). I know, I've done that too. Chopping wood at a cabin at night at 40 below C on the thermometer with no wind. That goes for anyone. BUT, if there is even a 1km/hr wind, you would be frozen freakin solid if you dressed like that. This is why the 'feels like x degrees' windchill is such a load of shit designed by people in warmer climates so they can brag about how much cold they have experienced. Anyway in general, Canadians in really cold areas don't bitch about it because it is pointless. Better just to find things you can do and dress for it. Otherwise you WILL experience cabin fever after a while. Regardless of any mythbusters episodes, cabin fever is real.
About that wind chill. In Winnipeg/Manitoba they used to broadcast the wind chill in terms of watt/m2 of extra heat lost from a body due to wind. It was on a logarithmic scale. 1200 was minimal don't worry about it. 1800 means a little nip on the nose or ears if you were out for a half hour to an hour with no hat. 2100 was hazardous, stay in. 2200 is insane. I remember a day when it was 30 below and with the wind, on the bullshit wind chill scale they said it felt like -40. The wind was around 8 km/hr. Remember I said you can work with a light jacket at -40 if there is no wind? You've probably figured with a wind even at 'only' 30 below C that it wouldn't be a good idea to wear a light jacket. Well on the other wind chill scale the value was 2450 W/m2. I had never seen it that high before. I remember the incident because weather Canada had just announced they were getting rid of the useful wind chill scale. The 'feels like' scale is actually dangerous if you ask me. So when they were broadcasting both, the comparison as to useful information delivered was mind boggling. Just remember the 'feels like' scale is horse shit. And dangerous when it really matters. The only saving grace is that normally the colder it gets, the less wind there is. But not always.
Cold is cold. The colder the dryer the air. The dryer the air the more efficient the insulation in good winter clothing works. If you have to live in the cold you deal with it and find ways to enjoy things.