Have a watch at this “just released” 45 minute film about Maria Leijerstam. A woman whom I consider to be one of the great adventurers of our time. On the 27th December 2013, Maria became the first person to ever cycle from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole in ten days. The 35-year-old went head to head against two other riders – American Daniel Burton and Spaniard Juan Menendez Granados, and she left them in her awesome wake. As Leijerstam pedaled to the bottom of the world, she battled zero visibility blizzards, snow drifts and crevasses. However, this brave role model dug deep and pedaled her way into the record books while on a customized 3 wheeled recumbent bike Ms Leijerstam’s mother Adrianne said her daughter’s success was due to “meticulous planning, super fitness and pure determination.” Her mother continued, “From the time she was 12 years old and announced she wanted to be an astronaut, Maria has always been an adventurer,” she said. “We are thrilled she has made it in such good time.” Maria, who previously took part in the Marathon des Sables seven-day run across the Sahara, also had to entirely retrain her metabolism for the Antarctic challenge. Before setting out on her journey the extreme cyclist said: “I’ve had to get my body prepared for burning fat and not carbohydrates, so I’ve been training for two to three hours on an empty stomach which teaches my body to become more efficient.” Bravo Maria, Bravo!
