Précis

Busy busy busy. Last week: a trip to Cornwall (v. exciting meeting about involving as many schools as possible with the next expedition, followed by a calf-burning, lung-bursting training ride from Newquay to Padstow and back (hi Rhys!)), a speech to IBM, 17 hours of training, a rather exciting operation involving a Russian icebreaker and a helicopter (all will be revealed soon) and a semi-naked photo shoot for Nike ACG (nearly all will be revealed soon).

This week: emergency dental treatment for a gum abscess (ouch), a trip to Monterey, California where I'm speaking at TED, a party hosted by the founders of Google on Tuesday night, a flight back to London on Saturday, a flight to Oslo on Sunday and ten hours of training to fit in (it's a 'recovery' week).

Next week: A flight to Spitsbergen on Monday, three days' dogsledding and skidooing with a handful of Serco employees in Svalbard, a flight back to Oslo (then London) on Wednesday, a flight out to Geneva to give a talk for the Discovery Channel at the awesome looking Whitepod in the Swiss Alps on Thursday, a flight back to London on Friday, a talk at the Destinations Travel Show in Birmingham on Sunday and 16 hours of training.

Meanwhile, scientists have discovered sea ice on Mars.

"This mission has changed many of my long-held opinions about Mars – we now have to go there and check it out."

— Filed under Miscellany, Rumination, Speaking