Winter is coming; some of that seasonal weather has already arrived.
It starts on Sunday, Dec 21, and ends Friday, Mar 20, 2026.
You don’t often get to meet someone who has stood at the South Pole. It remains the southernmost point on the Earth, an extreme environment. Amundsen made it there on December 14, 1911. Scott and Shackleton did not.
There’s snow there, not much as you think, but lots of ice, and it’s cold enough.
Maria Leijerstam (a Swedish surname -pronounced roughly as "LY-yer-stam) is a British polar adventurer. A dozen years ago, on December 27, 2013, she became the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent. The expedition started on the Ross Ice Shelf at the edge of Antarctica, and then cycling commenced for 10 to 17 hours each day with no rest days. The total distance was 638 km (396 mi).
Her cycle was a three-wheeled design, a trike, and she reached the pole faster than any previous skiing expedition. It is in the Guinness World Book of Records. Here is a snippet of the trek. Maria established the human-powered speed record of 10 days, 14 hours, and 56 minutes.
But it was not easy, as were the four years of planning to get her there.
Why tell you this story? It is not just about winter’s approach.
She was the inspiration for Back Roads Bill to get back in the saddle after recovering from a life-threatening challenge.
She gave me a new direction when my internal compass would not.
Her journey
Maria explained that she fought against every obstacle leading up to completing this monumental event.
During her time at Plymouth University, where she earned a degree in mathematics, Leijerstam used the sports facilities of the University Officers Training Corps, a youth organization of the British Army, and became an enthusiastic outdoor athlete. Over the years, she learned outdoor, water, and winter sports, including long-distance running (single and double marathons, ultramarathons), mountaineering, hiking and trekking, skiing, cycling, multisport, canoeing, and sailing. She could not seem to be fulfilled. Leijerstam became a business consultant for Siemens, BAE Systems, and Ford.
Maria knows the world of ultramarathons and extreme races. In 2007, Leijerstam became the first Welsh woman to complete in the Marathon des Sables where she ran six marathons in seven days, battling extreme high temperatures. In 2012, she became the first woman to complete the Siberian Black Ice Race, cycling across Lake Baikal, the longest and deepest frozen freshwater lake in the world.
She had it all, including a lucrative job, a beautiful London apartment overlooking the River Thames, and a serious boyfriend. But she wasn’t happy. At age 31, she quit her job in business consulting, returned her company car, broke up with her partner, and moved back into her parents’ house.
“I was sitting at their home wondering what to do next,” said Leijerstam. “Sometimes you need to experience these moments to know that you have to make a big change.”
She established the Burn Series of Adventure Races, including multi-sport races that consisted of running, mountain biking, and kayaking stages. Mini Burn is the UK's first Adventure Racing Festival aimed at families.
Then the question is, how does someone get the idea to cycle to the South Pole?
“I’d been looking at Antarctica for years, thinking I’d love to ski to the South Pole. I found out that no one had ever cycled there, and I wondered if it was possible. I researched the idea, and in March 2012, I cycled across Siberia’s frozen Lake Baikal as a test.
“I then trained in Norway and Iceland, and the momentum started to build. I think that pedal power is one of the most efficient means of human power, and so I wanted to see if this was true even on snow and ice, where historically skis have always been favoured. About six months before I set off, in June 2013, I found out that there were two other cyclists, a guy from Spain and an American man, attempting to do the same thing as me, so I kept my plans very quiet.” They were using two-wheel fat tire bikes.
She had a lot of questions before this trek. How was she going to fund this mission? Would this ordinary woman be fit and strong enough to fulfill her dream, especially with strong male competition from around the world? But she knocked down all the obstacles.
Maria took a different route than her competitors.
“I don’t like following others. I’ve always been fascinated by polar explorers like Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, and I looked at the side of Antarctica they came in on – the Ross Ice Shelf. On that route, you have to cross the Trans-Antarctica Mountain Range. I climbed from sea level all the way up to 3,000m. My route was much steeper but also shorter. Their route was around 1,000km, and mine was 638km.”
During the trip, she followed the South Pole Traverse, which led her on a steep climb through the Transantarctic Mountains, over the 2,941 m (9,649 ft) high Leverett Glacier, and 500 km (310 mi) above the Antarctic plateau. Whilst riding, she fought against extreme cold, strong winds, and snow drifts on the track.
Was there concern that one of them was going to beat her to the South Pole?
“I was, but I knew my preparation was spot on. In fact, they left three or four weeks before me and finished a couple of weeks after me. I was reading their blogs before I left, and I could see that they were not having a good time. They went on normal fat bikes, which are like an adapted mountain bike with thicker tires.”
En Route
We can only imagine the conditions Maris encountered. “When I was triking, I wore a soft-shell top with three layers underneath, and I didn’t have an inch of exposed skin. When I stopped, I’d put on a -50C down jacket. I did get a bit of frostbite one day when there was a gap between my balaclava and my goggles.”
She had a solo tent that was just about big enough for her plus two saddle bags or panniers. “I did all my cooking in there. I’d sleep for five hours or so at night and cycle for up to 17 hours a day – it's 24-hour daylight in Antarctica at that time of year.”
As always, she tries to live by Oscar Wilde’s words: “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
She said every night she would take a photo of herself and look at it to make sure everything was basically still there. “My feet suffered the most. When I did the Patagonian Expedition Race in 2012, I got frostbite on my toes, so I knew my feet would be a problem on the South Pole expedition. I had to stop and jump up and down to keep them going, and I burned an awful lot of energy just getting on and off the bike. It didn’t matter how many layers of socks I put on; my feet were cold all the time. I also had severe knee pain; that was the biggest killer.” She faced temperatures of -29 °C without wind chill.
And the sights.
“The first few days I was on the Ross Ice Shelf with mountain ranges on my right, and that was spectacular and dramatic. Once I got up on the polar plateau, though, it was just a blanket of white. The endless monotony was mesmerizing. I loved just looking at nothing. It’s so rare in life that you get to think about nothing and look at nothing all day. It was 10 days of therapy, almost.”
The finish line is in sight. “I could see the research station from about 20km away. That last stretch felt like an eternity. First, I stopped at the ceremonial South Pole, which is a big ball on a post with flags around it where everyone gets their photo taken. The actual South Pole is about 150m away. I cycled over to that as well, just to make sure I’d done it properly.
Exuberance. “I was delighted to have become the first person in the world to cycle to the South Pole, as well as set the new speed record for any human-powered journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. My prediction that cycling could be more efficient than skiing was right!”
Then she slept for a day and a half in her tent.
“I went ski-touring for two days as well because I had a couple of days to kill before my flight out. The scenery is stunning. The mountains are gorgeous with a massive glacier pouring out of them on both sides. Then we drove to the coast to fly out from Union Glacier. We got there on New Year’s Eve and celebrated in an ice cave with some Argentine and Brazilian scientists.”
The trike
She rode a custom-built recumbent trike made by Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE), called the Polar Cycle, with 4.5 in (110 mm) wide balloon tires and a modified gear shift that allowed Maria to pass through snowdrifts and climb steep inclines. She helped design the recumbent bike she utilized.
“I fell off my bike at least fifty times while cycling Lake Baikal because of the extreme wind, so a lot of the bike design came from experience. Stability, weight-carrying capability, and aerodynamics were all super important to the success of the expedition, hence a trike was the perfect cycle for the job!”
Thoughts of accomplishment. “When I look back, I still can’t quite believe what I achieved—not just the journey itself, but also the four years of planning, training, and preparation that went into tackling such a monumental challenge.”
And it is more than paying for a vacation. “It’s a massively expensive proposition to do this, so I needed major sponsors. I had to use a lot of savings and borrow from family members, so it was a very stressful time.”
It has taken quite some time to pay off her personal debt for this expedition. “I had to do a hell of a lot of talks at business functions to recoup some of those costs. There is no profit in these kinds of expeditions.”
So, twelve years ago, she would have been en route. On Dec. 27, 2013, Maria became the first person to cycle from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.
Now
These days, her life looks a little different.
She has returned to the family farm in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. This is a county borough in the south-east, situated just west of the capital, Cardiff, bordering the Bristol Channel to the south. The farm is a deer-venison farm called Llantrithyd Park. (Google it, it is one of those countryside estates like in the movie Pride and Prejudice.) It is a historic deer park, established in 1645, offering venison from carefully managed herds of Red, Fallow, and Sika deer.
“I’m busy running our park and being a full-time mum to my two amazing girls. I still make time for a few speaking engagements, sharing my adventures with companies, universities, and schools—and, of course, the odd challenge!
“Last year, I competed in the Adventure Racing World Championships in South Africa and cycled across Ireland to the iconic South Pole Inn. This year, I raced in another World Series Adventure Race in North Wales. Adventures like these keep my passion for exploration alive—and who knows what’s next?”
Does she still have the South Pole trike?
“Occasionally, I dust it off and have a ride when nostalgia takes over. As it was designed for the Antarctic, it’s not best placed in the UK. I always laugh at my turning circle, but in Antarctica, where my course was a steady 90 degrees south, there was little need to turn!”
She takes the polar cycle to talks as a point of conversation. She went to the South Pole again, sort of. She celebrated the tenth anniversary of her polar world record by cycling from the east to west of Ireland to the South Pole Inn, a historic pub.
Maria has pursued public speaking opportunities and runs a multi-sport company called Burn Series. “The adventure racing events held across South Wales are both a challenge and for fun, with the Mini Burn, a shorter and more diverse ‘triathlon’, aimed towards families. The events consist of running, mountain biking, kayaking, and orienteering. The Mini Burn is the only adventure race in the UK where both parents and children can compete together.”
Her book – Cycling to the South Pole – A World First - is here. She writes from her heart and reveals a world of adventure is accessible to anyone who has a dream. From the book, “An extraordinary polar journey,” says Sir Ranulph Fiennes (related to actor Ralph). He should know. He was the first person to visit both the North Pole and South Pole by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he reached the summit of Mount Everest.
For more about her trek, check out Maria on the Back Roads Bill podcast, Episode 36.
If you’re interested in a full-fat tire trike, as I was, you can find it here. It was ten years later, after her accomplishment Inspired Cycle Engineering (ICE trikes) named a special edition of its Full Fat recumbent trike after Maria.
These trikes have two wheels in front, with the driving wheel behind. The closest dealer is Hamilton Trikes near Dundas. Maria will tell you all about triking in this short video. Basically, I have the same orange trike as Maria's road, apart from the modifications, which you will see in the video.
You can buy your way to the top of Everest and the South Pole. But only about 350 people have made the complete, arduous overland journey from the coast to the South Pole (638 km - 396 mi) during the past 100 years.
I use my trike all year round. Thanks, Maria.
Winter is coming, and we’re not going to the South Pole. But there is someone coming to visit us on December 24/25 from the North Pole.
Instead, we’re going to take care of our driveways and walkways and take out our needed recreation equipment from the garage or shed for this season’s pursuits.
