nLog

In which I get to ride a Pugsley!

There is still something of a vestigal bike culture here on campus. The odd recumbent, plenty of european commuters and tourers, but walking through the quad on Tuesday I stopped dead in my tracks when i encountered a Surly Pugsley. Designed in Minnesota for winter biking the Pugsley is built around a colossal set of 4" tyres (2.2" is average for a mountain bike). Yes you have to fight the considerable inertia every time that you want to turn, but the wheel diameter is effectively 31" which means that it rolls 'better' than the 28" of a standard tourer.

Its owner, Jakub Postrzygacz has put it to good use. Despite the snow bike origin of the Pugsley, Jakub put two and two together and became the first person to ride the Canning Stock Route, a 2000km ride largely across loose sand in the Western Australian desert. Carrying all the food (apart from the odd iguana) he would need over a month, as well as the large amounts of water neccesary to hop from well to well along the route. All up an acheivement in the same class as a solo ascent of Everest, or expedition to one of the poles.

His website is a must read. Not just for the gee whiz nature of the adventure, but also a lesson in expedition preperation. Without much strain I can think of about fifty ways to die while on the Canning Stock Route. The willingness of outdoor equipment suppliers to sponsor Jakub by providing top notch equipment is testament to the magnatude of such a unique expidition.

Just so you have some idea of the size of the tyres on the Pugsley, here is a close up of one with a rack of kangaroo ribs to provide scale.

!

Posted by nic at 24.11.05 10:20