A new book about the iconic Tour d’Afrique bicycle race, ($40), documents the annual 4-month, 7,500-mile ride from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa. Edited by David Houghton and published by Tour dā€™Afrique Ltd., 10 tells the ride’s story through the words and photographs of the riders themselves.Ģż

Houghton, who completed the the tour in 2005, chose from a decade’s worth of pictures and quotes as he assembled the volume, organizing the selections based on themesā€”Discovery, Humanity, Challengeā€”rather than chronology or geography. Both the pictures and the text offer a vivid description of traveling by bicycle in places where recreational cycling is rare and novel. Several anecdotes are painful to readā€”children throwing rocks at the riders, for oneā€”but 10 captures the event’s struggles and triumphs in a way that seems very real.

I bicycled nearly the same route in 2009, in reverse, and in many ways flipping through 10 was like traveling back in time. If I have one gripe, it is that many of the photos are taken from the perspective of a tourist, and aside from the riders, the book’s human subjects are often shown with an anonymous quality. I found this element odd: bicycling is an immersive mode of travel, and Africa is renowned for its hospitality. Still, the range of pictures, from portraits of the riders to panoramics of the landscape, give the reader the feeling of the tour. All that said, to really appreciate the continent’s splendor, your only real bet is .

View the photo gallery from 10: Celebrating Ten Years of the Tour dā€™Afrique Bicycle Race and Expedition

The post The Long, Slow Way Down appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

On September 26, at 11 a.m., an environmental expert hired by Duke Energy to survey its North Allegheny Windpower Project in western Pennsylvania more than 300 feet beneath the spinning blades of a wind turbine. Duke didnā€™t wait for a directive from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The company immediately suspended night operations of the wind farm and sent the carcass to the USFWS for evaluation.

Though wind turbines frequently kill batsā€”hundreds of thousands each yearā€”this was an endangered , only the third ever found dead at a wind farm. Scientists estimate that there are 387,000 Indiana bats in existence, a roughly 50 percent decrease in the population since 1967, when the bat was listed as an endangered species. Duke had to balance suspending energy production that could power up to 21,000 homes against a potential lawsuit. In 2009, an environmental group filed suit over the mere presence of an Indiana bat in West Virginia, of a proposed wind farm. ā€œThere certainly is an economic hit for suspending nighttime operations,ā€ says Greg Efthimiou, a spokesman for Duke Energy Renewables. ā€œBut we felt that was the price of doing the right thing while we analyzed the potential cause and potential hazards to additional bats.ā€

The decision highlights a conflict between two federal environmental initiatives that are increasingly at odds with one another: the protection of endangered species and the development of alternative energy. In the past four years, wind-energy production has nearly quadrupled, according to the . During that time, there have been a number of high-profile animal fatalites, including large-scale , but bat fatalities may be an even greater concern. ā€œSomething really strange is going on, and it seems like it has the potential to seriously influence a population,ā€ says Paul Cryan, a bat researcher for the USGS.

The scientific literature shows a few trends. The majority of bats killed by turbines are migratory tree dwellersā€”as opposed to cave-dwelling hibernators. Bats are killed most often on nights with low wind in the late summer or fall. And, at least some of the time, theyā€™re not killed by the blades themselves, but by a drop in pressure near the quickly spinning rotor that causes blood vessels in the lungs to explodeā€”a phenomenon called barotrauma. Barotrauma is like the bends for bats.

The 35 turbines at the tower more than 300 feet above the rolling woodlands of Cambria and Blair counties and spin 143-foot-long blades at up to 193 mph. But why are the bats close enough to a blade that a vortex rips their lungs apart in the first place? They could be there by random chance, flying higher and without echolocation as they pass through on migration. Or they could be attracted to the turbines. Maybe they mistake the noise of the blades for prey. Maybe theyā€™re looking for the tallest place around to roost for the night. Maybe they collect there to mate.

The Indiana bat found on Duke Energyā€™s farm was a juvenile female, according to Clint Riley, supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Serviceā€™s Pennsylvania field office. Scientists arenā€™t sure whether the death was the result of barotrauma or a strike. Its death has further confused scientists because it is a cave dweller and not the more commonly killed tree dweller, and it hasnā€™t really helped officials understand how to decrease the risk to bats. So though an ultrasonic sound blaster that could scare bats away from turbines is in development, the only practical option at this point, says Cryan, is curtailment.

Duke has resumed some night operations at the farm, but will turn them off on nights that bats are likely to be around. Winter, when bats are inactive, will offer a reprieve, but Duke is still negotiating with USFWS as to how it will proceed come spring. The negotiations could lead to an incidental take permit that would offer Duke some protection if another Indiana bat should be killed. Duke can continue to operate the plant at its discretion, but if the turbines kill another Indiana bat it would be a violation of the Endangered Species Act. The company could face a criminal or civil lawsuit, and possibly a fine or an injunction. Duke's decision to stop the blades minimizes risk, both to the company and to the bats. It's the company's most sensible option until the technology advances or humanity's understanding of bats improves.

ā€œIā€™m pretty confident that if we can figure out what it is that makes them so susceptible, there'll be some solutions,ā€ says Cryan.

The post Battened Down appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

More than a decade ago, ultrarunner Ray Zahab started his transformation from a 170-lb, pack-a-day smoker into one of the world’s most famous ultrarunners. After discovering the 100-mile in the pages of Explore magazine, he decided to enter the 2004 race and won. Since then he has run across the Sahara Desert in temperatures as high as 130 degrees and trekked across Russiaā€™s Lake Baikal in temps as low as negative 40 degrees. As he finished the Sahara and saw the Red Sea, an idea entered his head and took hold. In 2007, he started and began leading high-school youth ambassadors on ultrarunning expeditions to places like the Bolivia Salt Flats and the Brazilian Amazon. ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų caught up with before his next trip with four youth ambassadors to Rajasthan, India.

ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų: What is your training schedule like when youā€™re not globetrotting?
Zahab: It depends on what Iā€™m doing during the year. I do three projects a year. Two of those projects are youth based, so itā€™s expeditions where young people go on the expeditions, they do the project themselves. Right now Iā€™m looking toward my next expedition, which will take place in January of 2012. Iā€™m starting the building phase during the summer, and Iā€™m running probably 100 km (62 miles) per week.

Do you do any sort of cross training?
The only cross training that I would doā€”if you would consider it suchā€”is core strength training and some plyometrics and a little bit of functional strength training. In the fall, as Iā€™m building for my expedition, then I really start to hit the weights more. Iā€™m not a very big guy and the expeditions that I do, like the January expedition once a year, is generally very grueling. This past year I ran across the Atacama Desert (800 miles), averaging about 60 km (37 miles) a day. The terrain was horrible, a lot of it was very difficult, so I lost a tremendous amount of weight. It just falls off of my body. So in order to maintain my strength over the course of the 20 days, I build muscle mass before I go.

So what kind of fluctuations do you see in your weight?
My normal weight is between 150 and 155 pounds. For running the Sahara in 2006 and 2007, I gained up to 162. By the end of that 111-day expedition I weighed 119 pounds. So itā€™s a pretty big fluctuation.

Are you worried about long-term effects on your body?
If you take into perspective that I started running when I was 35 years old, Iā€™ve had a very short running careerā€”Iā€™m 42 right now. In that span of time, Iā€™ve really been able to learn a tremendous amount about my body, and I think that the underlying theme of this crazy running journey is that weā€™re all capable of doing extraordinary things in our lives.

During the Atacama I ended up with a blister that became totally septic. I mean it was infected and I had to make a choice on whether I was going to continue running on this blister. I end up going and cutting my shoe in half ā€˜cause it was so swollen. I really thought it was going to be the end of the expedition. I willed myself that if I can get through this day and see that I havenā€™t done any permanent damage, and itā€™s not torn up any worse, then I know I can finish, and I can run on the pain. The pain I can deal with, but making it (the injury) worse I would not have been able to deal with. Iā€™ve said this before, itā€™s 90 percent mental, the other 10 percent is all in your head.

Thatā€™s an awful lot of pain and suffering to go through. Why do you do this?
The whole reason I do this, my passion, are the two youth projects. I wake up every day and truly I feel fulfilled. Working with Impossible2Possible, working with youth, delivering these experiential learning programs to schools, and the feedback that we get from the students, the lives changed of the youth ambassadors that come on these expeditions, the feedback that we get from teachers, it totally makes it all worth it.

At the end of each dayā€”or in the middle of each day, depending on what time zone weā€™re inā€”we set up video conferencing software so our four youth ambassadors are able to share with thousands of students in classrooms all over the world an opportunity to conference in and ask our students questions live, like ā€œwhatā€™s it like running a marathon a day?ā€ We partnered with the United Nations and we used this expedition to Bolivia, where the worldā€™s largest salt flats are, to share the story of chemistry. So you see, the tie in is salt, and the story of changing biochemistry. The students, the five youth ambassadors in this case, started their run at 11,000 feet and make their way up to 15,000 feet. They ran an average of 35 a day, at that higher altitude, and every day they would share their stories, they would tell the students in classrooms the things they were learning about their bodies on a biochemical level every day.

What are the next expeditions you have planned?
Weā€™re going to Rajasthan, in India, the Thar Desert (in November). Itā€™ll be an 8-day expedition, average of somewhere close to 40 K (25 miles) a day by the youth ambassadors, and we will visit anything associated to the quality of health care in a community, thatā€™s what weā€™re going to tie the whole curriculum around. So again youā€™ll have a live website thatā€™ll track the expedition. Every day, videos, photographs, video journals shot by the students will be put up, on site, so people will be able to really get a handle on what itā€™s like.

What are you feeling when you finish a trek?
I finish a trek and I canā€™t wait to get back to see my family and be with my family, but also thereā€™s a sense of showing again that regular people can do neat things. Letā€™s not forget, Iā€™m not a life-long runner. Itā€™s like, once again, a regular person goes out and does something that in their life is extraordinary. Well, we can all go out and do the extraordinary.

The post Ultra Ambassador appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Over three days in late July, 110 professional lumberjacks rolled through Hayward, Wisconsin for the 52nd-annual . Competing in 18 events, from a standing block chop to a 90-foot scramble up a cedar pole, 59 men and 51 women hacked, sawed, and climbed their way to a prize purse worth $50,000. Among the masses, Stirling Hart, of Vancouver, British Columbia, stood out as one of the best all-around athletes. He didnā€™t win any events, but he placed in three. We caught up with 5-foot, 8-inch, 170-pound, 22-year-old professional lumberjack to find out how he ekes out a living.

Stirling Hart

Stirling Hart in the pole climb.

19.64: Seconds it took Stirling Hart to scale (and descend) a 90-foot pole, using spurred climbing shoes and a steel-reinforced rope, in 2010ā€”a world record.

26: Seconds it takes Hart to chop through a 12-inch diameter cedar log.

30: Axes in Hartā€™s quiver, each for a different type of chopping. ā€œItā€™s like a golf bag,ā€ he says.

$500: Cost of Hartā€™s most expensive axe, from Tuhati, New Zealand.

$20,000: Amount Hart estimates he has invested in equipment.

$5,000: Cost of Hartā€™s yearly travel to events and competitions.

0: Number of corporate sponsorships that help Hart cover his costs.

8: Age at which Hart joined his first professional lumberjack competitionā€”against grown men. ā€œI got my butt kicked for the first 10 years,ā€ he says.

3: Shows Hart performs per day, seven days a week, six months a year, for an entertainment gig at Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, where the lumberjacks are micā€™d up and tell jokes.

20: Other exhibitionsā€”of up to 14 days eachā€”along with 10 competitions, that Hart enters each year.

5: Times Hart has gone to the hospital for a lumberjack-related injury.

$0: Cost of his most frightening injury, when a 6-pound axe with an 8-inch blade fell on his face after a springboard competition, leaving a 5-inch gash from just below his right eye to his mouth. ā€œLuckily, I had insurance,ā€ he says.

$100: Yearly cost of Hartā€™s insurance. ā€œIā€™ve broken my feet a few times, just coming down the tree and landing funny, but never had to pay anything out-of-pocket,ā€ he says. ā€œThatā€™s when itā€™s good to be a Canadian.ā€

The post Axe Man appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.

Each July for the past 38 years, hordes of bike lovers have descended on western Iowa to spend a week riding an average of 68 miles a day from the Missouri River east to the Mississippi River. They camp, and well, party the whole way. The Registerā€™s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, the worldā€™s biggest cycling event, kicks off on Sunday in the town of Glenwood, when some 20,000 riders on everything from tall bikes to unicycles start pedaling, camping, and drinking their way eastward. Here are last yearā€™s stats.
Ģż
1,500: Estimated number of support vehiclesā€”food vendors, team buses, medicsā€”that follow the ride.

700: Cases of Anheuser-Busch products sold nightly by vendors and in beer gardens.
Ģż
800: Inch-and-half thick pork chops riders buy ā€œon a good dayā€ from Mr. Pork Chop, one of hundreds of food vendors that follow the peloton or set up along the way.

248,000,000: Total estimated calories riders burnt during the week-long rideā€”the caloric equivalent of 391,000 pork chops or 70,766 cases of Budweiser.

17,811: Total mileage of RAGBRAIs pedaled by 85-year-old Carter LeBeau, who has ridden every year since it started in 1973. That’s the same as riding from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina.

1: County that banned RAGBRAI in 2004 after being sued by a manā€™s family for $350,000 after he crashed and died during the ride.

4: Ambulances now required by race organizers to be on scene for the event.

200: Injuries reported in 2010, mostly heat-related.

1: Death last year. It was a head injury after a crash.

The post 40,000 Wheels appeared first on ŗŚĮĻ³Ō¹ĻĶų Online.