The End Of 2009
After over 180 days in the saddle Mark has made the changeover for the climb of Aconcagua.
Archives for December 2009
Radio 1, Christmas Morning
Mark and Greg exchange festive greetings on Radio 1.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
There is very little in the desert of northern Chile to remind me that it's Christmas! It is hot, incredibly dry and always windy. However, I have seen the odd Christmas tree and decorations. I have to say that Santa in his big red outfit fit for the North Pole and toy snowmen look very bizarre in the Atacama desert. You would think that Santa would have found some comfy shorts and they would be making sandcastles instead!
Nick, the BBC cameraman who flew out to film with me for three days last week brought a few cards from friends and family and most importantly, some Christmas cake from home! Unfortunately, this got eaten long before Christmas as it was quite heavy to carry and was also the most nutritional food that I had. Needs must! That's beside the fact that I couldn't resist it, it was the best thing I had tasted for a long time and a welcome change from chicken and rice and chicken and rice and...
I am still in a very arid world but have now left the heart of the Atacama desert. It is a formidable and beautiful place. I will write more about this part of my journey soon but in the mean time you should read Scott Napier's blog about this area, if you missed it.
I am now within a week of finishing my cycle from Denali (Mt McKinley) to Aconcagua, after over half a year on the bike. Christmas Day itself will be spent on the bike but then I plan to have a few days in preparation for climbing the highest mountain in the western hemisphere. If all goes well I will start my ascent on or soon after New Years Day, which will also be my 27th Birthday!
The support from everyone who has been following this blog and on Flickr, Twitter and Facebook has been fantastic and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Mark
Radio 1, Chat with Greg, Mark and Cameraman Nick!
Listen to this week's Radio 1 catch up from the Atacama Desert.
Cycling Through Humberstone
Mark takes a detour to an abandoned mining town.
The Road To Aconcagua
I have been on the go for over 200 days since arriving in Alaska!
Getting to the summit of Mount McKinley and the six months of cycling since have been hugely challenging but ultimately a success in terms of filming the documentary series, blogging and staying on target. At this stage every ounce of energy and focus are on reaching Aconcagua to be able to start climbing at the start of January. There is still a long way to cycle and the recent headwind and an illness have not been making this easier, but I remain optimistic that I can make it. To my knowledge, no-one has ever made it to the top of the two highest mountains in the Americas and cycled between them in a single season.
Aconcagua - Argentina - January 2005 - by Sergio Schmiegelow
Aconcagua is a major expedition in itself. Standing at 6,962 meters (22,841 feet) it is the highest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres with a formidable reputation. I will also not be attempting to cycle up it! It's worth clarifying this as I have been asked. As romantic as it sounds, I will be unable to cycle to base camp, lace up my boots and start climbing. My plan is to try and reach the same latitude as Aconcagua by just after Christmas. I will then stop in the city of Mendoza for 3 or 4 days for intensive rehabilitation and preparation. After nearly seven months on the bike my body will be fit but tired and not used to walking, let alone climbing. If I recover enough and it's safe to do so I hope to start climbing soon after my birthday, New Years Day! The climb should take between 2 and 3 weeks depending on the weather and my acclimatisation. Like all expedition plans, this schedule is subject to many variables, many of which are outwith my control and so things may change - but this is the plan I am focusing on.
I am under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge to get to Aconcagua in time and in good condition to make a successful climb. Every day on the bike starts at 5am and I am rarely off before sunset at about 7pm. I spend my days focusing on the very short term. Cycling, filming, photography, blogging, finding enough food and water, plus a safe place to stay each night is a full time job. It is the job of my team back in the UK to keep an eye on the big picture and figure out the many logistical challenges to keep the expedition on target. Despite being alone out here in the Americas, there is great deal of communication to make sure my world and their plans all work out.
The relentless wind and never ending sands of Peru have been tough pedaling and ahead lies the 600 miles of inhospitable Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. Its going to be a challenging finish to 2009!
Mark
Goodbye Peru, Hello Chile
Watch the latest video update from Mark.
You can also listen to Mark with Greg James on Radio 1.
And there's even more! Listen to Mark on the Outlook programme on BBC World Service.
Scott Napier, Record Breaker
Mark met Scott Napier in Edinburgh before they both headed off to Alaska at the end of May; Mark to climb mountains and cycle south; Scott on his bid to break the cycling Pan-American World Record.
There was an outside chance they might meet on the road, but the nearest they got was within a day of each other at Tok Junction back in eastern Alaska. Ever since then, I have followed the parallel journeys of the two bearded Scots. I'm delighted to say that Scott is safely back home and with a hard-fought World Record. He has kindly been helping me with a few logistics, particularly through the Atacama Desert, and I asked him if he would write a blog to share his experiences through this remote part of Chile.
Hi, I'm Scott Napier and earlier this year I broke the world record for cycling the length of the Americas. I took 125 days to ride the 14000 miles from Deadhorse, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Taking a rest before the long down and up of my first canyon in the Atacama
As a fellow Scot I was in touch with Mark for most of the trip and his support and banter were very welcome on the long lonely road. Although our routes through the Americas were quite different, the stretch that Mark is currently on (along the Peruvian coast and down into Chile) is almost the same as my own. Here are a couple of my experiences from the road south.
When I was asked to write a blog about this part of the trip the first thing that came into my mind was wind. Most of the time in Peru there was a strong headwind coming off the Pacific. On the whole it was manageable, I just stuck the head down and plugged away until I reached 100 miles (anything over 100 miles and I was up on record pace). One day in particular sticks out in my mind. It was the section of road about 50 miles south of the Nazca Lines and boy did the wind blow. The road was going through very open exposed desert and the wind was so strong I spent most of the day getting sand blasted. It was like taking a shower in a stream of smashed glass. Ouchy! The metal on my chainset and cranks started the day with a nice glossy finish but by the time I ducked for cover in the evening they'd become distinctly matt. Now, from a world record point of view this was a frustrating day. My mileage was way down and my effort was way up. But there's something exciting about putting yourself in these extreme conditions. If I looked out of my window at home and saw such weather I'd have had no hesitation about crawling back into my scratcher for some more kip. Going out for a ride in it would be the last thing on my mind! But there I was, churning away at 6 miles per hour facing up to all that Mother Nature could throw at me, and it was kinda fun.
It was so windy in this part of Peru that the sand dunes were covering the road. These guys were out trying to clear the sand, and make a buck from the passing motorists!
Further south the weather once again played a big role. The Atacama Desert in Chile stretches some 600 miles from near the Peruvian border down to Copiapo. I was getting a fairer crack of the whip when it came to wind direction, catching some sweet tail wind and making it count with some good daily mileages. More of a problem was the extreme range of temperatures. The nights were very cold. I'd got into a habit of just throwing my mat down wherever I stopped and jumping in my sleeping bag. This was good from an energy and time saving point of view but man was it Baltic trying to get going in the morning! The first couple of hours riding would be really cold as the sun slowly made its way up from behind the mountains. Having destroyed my gloves by turning them into pads for my handlebars I was left with a combination of socks and poly bags for my hands. Not glamorous, not practical, but surprisingly effective!
Amazing road. Why I am I not on a motorbike..?
The desert is a dry and harsh place to be cycling. A lot of time is spent wondering where the next drink of water is going to come from. But for all the wind, heat and cold for me the desert is a special place. It's so peaceful and quiet; just you, the bike and the open road. And once the days cycling is done could there be anything more special than lying cosy in your sleeping bag under the stars? Enjoy it Mark!
Enjoying the local produce, I drank so much Inca Kola I swear I had withdrawal symptoms when I left Peru. As for the blood on my knee, this is evidence that men really can't multi task. I was riding along, attempting to scoff an ice cream, when I spotted some bananas in a shop. With my eye off the road my wheel went into a rut and before I knew what was going on I was grinding tarmac with my knee as a brake. It should be noted, however, that the ice cream came through this incident unscathed, and was very tasty.
To see some more pictures from my trip check out my Facebook album.
Mark On MacAulay And Co
Listen to Mark's latest interview from the dry, windy desert of Peru on Radio Scotland's MacAulay & Co.
Learning With Mark
Our friends over at BBC Scotland Learning have been busy preparing this great post about the geography of Cycling The Americas. It's a great alternate view of Mark's journey across North and South America.
Keep an eye out for more geoblogging from BBC Scotland Learning soon. Thanks to Val and Ali for making this post possible.
Radio 1
Earthquakes, fried guinea pigs and Jedward all in this week's catch up with Radio 1's Greg James.
A Night To Remember
On August 15th 2007, a massive earthquake hit the central coastal region of Peru. Measuring 8.0 and lasting for three minutes, it destroyed 80% of the town of Pisco, killing hundreds. When I arrived in Pisco at the weekend, now over two years later, the evidence of this natural disaster is hard to see at first glance - it is like any other dusty and shabby Peruvian town.
I was met by volunteers from Pisco Sin Fronteras, an organisation that was set up to help the thousands of people who lost their homes. Later I spent the night in one of the shanty towns, called El Molino, on the outskirts of Pisco.
I was in the area for less than 24 hours, but have been left very saddened by what I experienced. In truth I found it hard to re-motivate myself on the bike to the task ahead, which didn't seem quite so important as it had before, in the context of the struggle for basic human existence and rights that I had seen.
As the volunteers showed me around, it soon became clear how wrong my first impressions had been and how their work here is now almost the only outside help that the town receives.
After the earthquake, millions of dollars were donated to the town for reconstruction. The residents I met in Pisco told me that before the last election, the government erected walls with doorways and window holes to be built throughout the town wherever a building had fallen down. These, so called, 'walls of shame' hide the fact that people are living in whatever they have been able to rebuild themselves.
For thousands this means houses of bamboo, plywood and cardboard in shanty towns with no sanitation or running water. I saw where buckets of faeces were thrown in the field beside the houses and listened to the community leaders telling me how ill the children are becoming. I was invited to spend the night with Maria and her family. She, like others, seemed desperate to tell her story.
On the surface she was cheery and strong for her family and community, but to me she admitted that she was still sad for her friends and the life she had lost, felt angry at the government for not helping despite many promises and how she lived in fear of another earthquake. Her house was one of the nicest in the community, with a painted front, concrete floors and fitted walls, but by almost anyone's standards she still lived with almost nothing, and little hope of any change in the future.
During the evening I was sitting in her tiny house on stumps of wood, when she brought me a plate of chicken. I asked her where hers was but she insisted they would eat soon and to carry on. Without having the Spanish to ask more questions I did as told. An hour later I was devastated to watch Maria and her two daughters eating a dry white roll each for their dinner. Later Maria admitted on camera that chicken was very expensive for them. I felt terrible but at the same time very humbled by their hospitality in spite of their situation. I slept on the floor and was up at 5am to film everyone already up and working.
I have seen and past through areas of absolute poverty in countries including Pakistan, India and Kenya, but I have never stayed with the people and heard their stories. It was very saddening and an experience I won't forget.
It is amazing how many contrasting and extreme situations I have experienced on this expedition - it is too much to remember! However, something I won't forget is the wonderful welcome and spirits of the people of Pisco, despite the challenges they face.
Pisco to Nazca
It's been an eventful week for our intrepid cyclist as he continues to clock up some major miles in Peru. At the tail end of last week Mark spent an evening in Pisco, a small town on the Pacific coastline, which was devastated by a huge earthquake in 2007. Work continues to rebuild the region and Mark discovered the impact of the quake on the local community.
The road south led to a guinea pig farm (Peruvians eat 65 million of them every year) and to the mysterious Nazca Lines. There are many contradicting theories for exact purpose of the enormous drawings in the sand - which stretch 80 kilometres across the desert - however to date they remain an enigma, no one really knows why and how the Nazca Lines were created.
We have picked out a few of the snaps from the last few days, and you can discover the full collection of pictures from Mark's journey on his flickr photostream.
More updates from Mark to come later in the week including his weekly chat with Radio 1's Greg James.
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About this blog
World record breaker Mark Beaumont cycled from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia in Southern Argentina. Following the line of the mountain ranges which form the American Cordillera, he also climbed the two highest peaks Mount McKinley and Aconcagua, on foot. Recording the adventure on this blog and for a BBC One series, The Man Who Cycled the Americas.
Cycling the Americas videos
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Elsewhere on the Web
Mapping the Route
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