Cardiff Explorers organiser Maria Leijerstam will head to Irkutsk in Russia this Thursday to participate in the Siberian Black Ice Race, a 379 mile race across Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake in the world.
This will be no ordinary race. Maria intends to travel across the frozen lake by bike. She will need to carry all her equipment with her, including her tent, stove and food. In order to prepare for the event she has been testing her specially modified Quoroz Titanium Mountain Bike complete with ice tyres, at Planet Ice in Cardiff Bay.
Temperatures on the race may drop to as low as -40C with the wind chill so Maria has been choosing her kit and equipment carefully, making sure her hands and feet are protected from the danger of frostbite. To ensure that she can maintain the energy levels required for this kind of endurance challenge she will be eating a high calorie diet of up to 6000 calories a day.
You can follow her progress on her blog www.marialeijerstam.blogspot.com/Maria will fundraise for Alzheimers UK and you can donate at www.justgiving.com/leijerstam
Good Luck Maria!