31 March 2005
I'm wary of lowering the tone after such a serious, heartfelt post, but a quick scan of this site's 'search term' statistics (ie the words that people have typed into search engines before finding the site) revealed something rather curious.
— Filed under Aside
31 March 2005
The simmering impasse between expedition logistics specialists Cerpolex and the Powers That Be in deepest Siberia seems to have finally imploded, and the three expeditions heading from Russia to the North Pole this spring were all airlifted off the ice today – Ann Daniels, Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft and the Poletrack team of Marc Cornelissen, Doug Stoup and Petter Nyquist.
I can't begin to imagine how disappointed and frustrated these guys must be, and my heart goes out to them.
Tony reminded me of the launch of last year's expedition, when we found our progress northwards delayed (for more than a week) by the same shady and intimidatory brand of Russian 'bureaucracy'. We were sat in our hotel room in Khatanga, going through my kitlist for the umpteenth time when I said to him 'maybe we should put it all off until next year'. I'm pretty glad we didn't.
— Filed under Other expeditions
30 March 2005
Yet more inspiration – Ironman triathlete Andreas Niedrig (one of the top-five fastest in the world last year at 8:03:54) used to be a chain-smoking heroin addict. Blimey.
— Filed under Aside
30 March 2005
Inspiration to go training on a rainy day: Lance Armstrong beats some of the best triathletes in the world at their own game (aged 18, back in 1989).
— Filed under Aside
28 March 2005
28 March 2005
Woe is me! I'm eBaying my Cervelo P2K (it's not all bad – I still have two bikes left and I've promised myself a P3 Carbon after the next expedition). Unless, that is, Cervelo fancy sponsoring me. Hmm…
— Filed under Aside
27 March 2005
I'm spending Easter weekend with my mum – catching up on some sleep, getting in some long training runs and enjoying some top-notch home cooking…
The last couple of weeks have been as mad as ever, but there are some really exciting things in the pipeline (more on this soon, but I'm taking a day off from thinking about expedition stuff). After being knocked out with flu for a bit, I'm getting back into full-bore training and bashed out a decent two-and-a-half-hour run through the cold, damp Lincolnshire mist this afternoon. And now, I'm sat here on my mum's PC with a steaming mug of tea and the mouth-watering aroma of roast lamb drifting in from the kitchen. Happy days.
— Filed under Rumination
17 March 2005
On March 16 last spring, when I was skiing toward the North Pole, the temperature was -40°C. On the 17th, it was -31°C. For the same two days this year, it was -24 and -17 respectively.
The snow on Kilimanjaro has melted for the first time in 11,000 years and at lunchtime today I sat on the grass in Green Park, rolled up my sleeves and simultaneoulsy drank an iced latte and cursed the fact that I'd left my sunglasses at home.
The times they are a changin'.
— Filed under Rumination
17 March 2005
Record temperatures in Greenland force the cancellation of Nuuk's Snow Sculpture Festival.
— Filed under Aside
16 March 2005
One day, I'll live somewhere cold enough (and have a garden big enough) to build one of these.
— Filed under Aside
16 March 2005
9 March 2005
Good news: I'm currently featuring in a two-page Nike ACG ad that's running in a number of magazines (Men's Health, FHM, Men's Fitness, etc, etc).
Bad news: I'm sorry to disappoint, but it's not actually Nike gear that I'm wearing in the photo. In fact, I'm not wearing anything at all. I'm really sorry, mum!
— Filed under Miscellany
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