To The South Pole By Bike

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Posted by timothy on Thursday January 16, 2003 @08:57AM from the are-those-bugle-boy-jeans dept.

buzzdecafe writes "Doug Stroup is attempting to ride his bike to the South Pole. Follow his progress here: Iceaxe.tv or read the article about him on Wired, including a pic of the bike. He's pulling over 100 pounds of supplies on a sled behind the bike--as well as carrying his own waste. Why bike to the South Pole? Hell, why not? Riding a bike in subzero temperatures in constant danger of losing your life sure beats my job."

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Re:Man crawls to south pole... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-16 19:44 · Score: 1, Informative

Because some people enjoy 'ice biking', as we call it.

I live in a climate where winter is very long and temperatures are typically below 0F. I love biking in the cold. I even own a set of studded tires for biking on ice and snow. I live near a smallish lake and often ride across it. Great fun.

I think what this guy is doing is pretty cool, but to be honest if any decent cyclist had the money they could do this. It's really a matter of funding and getting the proper equiptment.
Re:bike sounds good by step · 2003-01-16 23:22 · Score: 2, Informative

i think that the chain is the major weakness. i've had the pleasure of riding with Dan Bull (organizer of the iditasport multisport races in alaska), and when temperatures reach -20F it doesn't take much to kill a chain link. you need to be very careful with changing gears. by the way, i don't think he's using a belt drive as suggested by another posting; the front chainrings look pretty standard on the picture.
other parts, such as tubes and tires, actually hold up fairly well. i doubt he'll have to deal with a snakebite anyway...
what totally surprised me was that the bottom bracket shells broke on my bike. it's a carbon fiber frame, and the bottom bracket is mounted through steel shells that are glued to the frame.. either the glue went brittle, or there was too much stress due to different expansion coefficients. bottom line: if you're rinding in extreme temperatures, composite materials may not be the best idea.
when it comes to boots, bunny boots are the way to go. you don't really need any SPD or other pedaling system, and those boots are awesome in really cold conditions. in fact, the metal parts of the SPD pedals would make a perfect thermal conductor from the outside (pedal) all the way to the shoe's insole (where the adapter is mounted), no matter how much insulation you wrap around the shoes. cold feet are guaranteed!
Re:Small tires by hcdejong · 2003-01-17 00:14 · Score: 2, Informative

The small diameter can be compensated for with appropriate gearing. Bigger tires that are this wide, are very heavy. Too heavy, I'd expect.
The tires need to be wide so the bike will ride on top of the snow, rather than plough through it.