Well over half way

Maria completed her greatest mileage on December 22 83kms in 11 hours.

The weather was not so good the next day, as strong wind and snow drifts were slowing things down.  Her knee has being giving her some problems particularly when she stops and starts again but she is managing it as well as she can with plenty of pain killers and hopefully it will hold out until she gets to the South Pole.

Maria is well over half way to the Pole which is a fantastic achievement and she has completed the most difficult sections, lets hope that heavy snow does not drift in as this would be her biggest challenge going forward.

Top of the glacier

Amazing! Maria has just conquered the most feared part of her expedition - the Leverett Glacier!
It's only day three but this mammoth climb was the steepest part of her journey.
She set off this morning in white out conditions so bad that she could not see anything in front of her and had to navigate with her GPS.
Visibility improved later in the day and she then focused on the steepest part of the climb from 2200 metres to 2900 at the top. She has managed to cycle all of the way so far on her amazing cycle.
She now has to cycle 500k on the polar plateau to her destination.

Just landed in Antartica

Maria has landed at the Novo Russian Airbase in Antartica. She reports that conditions are good and it was amazing landing on a sheet of ice.
The Russian airbase is basic but the people are very friendly and she is enjoying the Russian food. She is trialing her polar cycle over the next few days while she waits for her next flight that will take her to her starting point.

Flying tomorrow

Just heard that Maria is due to fly tomorrow December 11 on a Russian cargo plane from Cape Town to the Alci airbase in Antartica. She had to assemble her bike before flying. Here she is pictured at the expedition base with her bike all packed up ready to go. Don't forget to put on those ten layers of clothing before you leave Maria!

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En route to Cape Town

Last minute packing day was hectic. Spent hours wrapping batteries, camera, GPS and all such sensitive essentials in a good layer of thinsulate. The leads had to be specially well wrapped as they can snap in extreme cold temperatures. Apart from the bike box that was packed by Friday I went through my clothes, again and again, trying to discard anything I did not really need. I will only be washing with wet wipes for 20 days!
The last mammoth effort before leaving home was loading the massive bike box on the roof of my car
for the journey to Heathrow. We made it in good time but spent two hours persuading Virgin to accept my oversized bike box. Finally with the help of Meghan, Wayne's daughter, we were off and up in the sky on the way to Cape Town. This is just the first lap of a ten day journey to the start line.
A couple more days in Cape Town for kit checking and weigh in before taking the ex-military Hercules cargo plane to Novo on the edge of Antartica.
East Antartica has just been recorded as setting the record lowest temperature on earth at minus 95C by newly analysed satellite data. What a contrast to 30 degrees plus in Cape Town.

Arriving at Heathrow with my massive check in luggage