Waiting to fly out of Antarctica, January 2

It took two days of travel this time in the relative comfort of a truck for Maria to return to Union Glacier from the South Pole where she is waiting for a flight out of Antartica to Chile.
She has been plastering her swollen knee with ice and not to be daunted by injury she is hoping to do some skiing before she leaves!
She has enjoyed her first shower for a month - no more wet wipes - and she is no longer lugging a spade around in order to go to the toilet!
On the drive back from the South Pole she passed the two other cyclists who are attempting to cycle to the South Pole. The Spaniard Juan Menendez Granados was happy to give her a hug! Good sportsman!

Maria claims two world titles

I've done it I've done it, I've done it! Maria claimed two world records this morning as the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent in 10 days beating all other speed records.

“Her success was down to meticulous planning, super fitness both physically and mentally and pure determination,” said her mother Adrianne Leijerstam.

“From the time she was 12 years old and announced she wanted to be an astronaut, Maria has always been an adventurer. We are thrilled she has made it in such good time.”

Maria, a former management consultant, who now runs Multisport Wales describes Antartica as vicious. Her journey has not been without its problems. At one point the sweat on the inside of her boots froze making keeping her feet warm incredibly difficult.

Snow drifts, complete white outs and high winds marred her passage but even so she was able to cycle the whole distance on her three wheeled recumbent PolarCycle^TM 

A two year planning and development programme by the White Ice Cycle team produced the concept for this unique PolarCycle^TM   that was then manufactured by Inspired Cycle Engineering of Cornwall.

^.

Roald Amundsen, was the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911 using 2 metre long skis which made crevasse crossing easier for him and he also had assistance from dogs. He was five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, and later learned that Scott and his four companions had died on their return journey.

13 km to go! 7pm Boxing Day, 2013

Wow! Just heard that Maria is only 13 kilometres away from claiming her world first title as the first person to cycle to the South Pole in just ten days!

Christmas Day in Antartica

Christmas Day for Maria means another day of hard cycling. Antartica is vicious but beautiful says Maria's as she spends Christmas Day in the coldest place on earth.
Her cycling record has been an amazing 81km per day and on a continent where it never gets dark she has spent as little time as possible sleeping and the maximum time she can cycling.
Sudden changes in weather patterns bring total white outs and fierce winds constantly blast her progress.
Undaunted, Maria is determined to reach the South Pole within the next three days.

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.