Cycling to the edge of space........: Telemetry 10, 11, 12 and 13: 417 km down range, altitude 11,317m

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Telemetry 10, 11, 12 and 13: 417 km down range, altitude 11,317m

After a break for 'flu and other distractions I am now back in the saddle - and at an altitude of 37,120 feet well above Everest and shortly to leave the Airbus 320 on route to Mumbai behind.....

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Cycling to the edge of space........

James May managed to blag a trip in a U2 spy plane recently and had lunch on the edge of space as part of the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I thought 'How cool is that?' (Actually, I didn't, but I did think 'Lucky B******d'.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8110001.stm

There's little chance that anyone is going offer me a free ride in a U2 anytime soon so I have decided that, as I have my own bicycle, I don't need one and can get there using peddle power anyway. This will be my contribution to the anniversary celebrations.

Over the next few weeks I shall record the vertical ascent on all my bike rides with the intention of reaching 70,000 feet or 21,342 metres as quickly as possible and over the shortest possible horizontal distance - so the steeper the better. That's lifting my bike over 13 miles into the sky - a vertical half marathon. Provided I'm not interrupted by any technical problems (heavy rain, 'flu etc) I should be able to do this on about 25 trips by mid September 09. I shall be reporting my progress here and on Facebook. Each cycle ride will have its own telemetry number so you wil be able to tell how many trips it has taken to get to a particular altitude.

I shall also be encouraging anyone who is interested in this Herculaean effort to sponsor me by way of making a donation to the Temi Orphange in Georgia - see my Justgiving page on:

http://www.justgiving.com/rossmadgwick/

As you will see on the film of James at the edge of space there will be ample opportunity for me to tap on the cockpit window and give him a message - can anybody think of what I should say to him? Please post your suggestions on the blog - the winning message will earn the author a piece of very rare moon rock. Or something similar.

Cycling to the edge of space........

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Telemetry 10, 11, 12 and 13: 417 km down range, altitude 11,317m

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Watch this video: James May at the edge of space.........

Apollo 11 launch, July 16th 1969.

One small step.........

Cycling to the edge of space........

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