In his attempt last year to undertake the first coast-to-coast crossing of Antarctica by bicycle, Italy’s Omar Di Felice thought he had prepared for everything. The experienced ultra-endurance cyclist had a customised, wide-tyred steel bicycle, known as a “fatbike”, enough supplies for an unsupported, 60-day crossing and clothing to keep him warm through temperatures as low as minus 38C.
Only he had not reckoned with the mental challenges of undertaking such a journey – especially as his family went through personal problems back in Italy. Last December, eight days and almost 100km into the expedition, Di Felice decided to pull the pin.
“When you spend a long time in a really remote place, you must be really focused on what you are doing,” he says. “I didn’t feel good to go on the adventure, and I had to come back home.” (A close family member was facing health problems at the time.)
It was a tough decision. Di Felice had prepared for the Antarctica expedition for three years – securing funding from his sponsors and training for the physical exertion. “But when you have to cross such a complicated place, with strong winds, with a lot of danger for your life, you must be really focused,” he says. “With every distraction, every problem that can keep your mind away from the adventure, that is dangerous. It was a hard decision but I had to take it – I couldn’t imagine staying for two months in Antarctica with big problems back home.”
As soon as he left, evacuated by Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions, Di Felice knew he would be back. “This is a really big dream for me,” he says. “I’ve worked all my life, all my career, to realise the dream to cross Antarctica – so I can’t imagine to stop my dream just because of a problem. It’s like when an alpinist decided to climb Everest – maybe you can do it on the first attempt, maybe the second, or maybe never. But you must try.”
A year later, Di Felice is preparing for his second attempt – he will fly from Chile to Hercules Inlet, in western Antarctica, in the coming weeks, depending on weather conditions. “I’m ready to try again,” he says. “I’m better – now I know how to manage not just the physical challenges, but also the mental test. I need to put a filter between me and news from the rest of the world – I can’t get distracted.”
To make history, Di Felice will need to cover 2,000km of treacherous terrain, heading from westAntarctica to the south pole and then onwards to Leverett glacier. Cycling through snowy terrain has been made possible by the development of fatbikes, with the first Antarctic cycling expedition taking place two decades ago.
In 2013, Maria Leijerstam became the first person to cycle from Antarctic coast to the south pole, a distance of more than 600km. The following year, Juan Menéndez Granados and Daniel Burton each separately rode the 1,250km from the coast to the pole. But no one has yet managed the coast-to-coast crossing.
Di Felice, in his 40s, has a strong pedigree in ultra-endurance cycling. In 2014 he became the first cyclist to ride in winter to North Cape, Norway, near Europe’s northernmost point; he has also ridden through Alaska, Canada and Mongolia. Earlier this year, he won the Trans Am bike race, an almost 7,000km journey across the US.
But Antarctica, Di Felice says, is different. “The biggest challenge is in the mind,” he says. “Physically, you have to face the ice and the strong winds. You must carry everything you need – equipment, food, clothes. But that’s something I’ve trained for all my life. But mentally it is something different to any other place in the world, because you are really, really, really alone. You cannot talk to anyone – it’s just you and the thoughts in your mind.”
His first attempt, he says, was his toughest journey yet. Just days in, Di Felice found himself tent-bound for 72 hours as 110km/h winds battered the continent. It was the loneliness that hit hardest.
“In the Arctic, or in Canada, or in Alaska, or in Iceland, north of Russia, I experienced strong winds and cold conditions and ice and snow, and so on,” he says. “But in Antarctica, you will never find any people, any places to stop, any villages. There are no spots – it’s just you, your tent and your bike. You will live like that for 65, 67 days. You have to manage everything completely alone – mentally that is very challenging.”
Di Felice believes he is in peak condition – he took time off after winning the Trans Am race, and feels he is recharged and ready to go. His first goal is to reach the south pole. “Every kilometre I can do after the south pole is a lucky one,” he says.
Part of the challenge is timing; there is only a limited window where land-based crossings of the icy continent are possible. But the extent of Di Felice’s ambitions, the 60-plus days required to go coast to coast, means that the opening weeks, when summer is only beginning, will be extremely challenging. “I need to be strong for the first couple of weeks,” he adds.
In addition to his expeditions, Di Felice is a climate activist through a project called Bike to 1.5C project. In 2021 he rode his bicycle from Milan to Scotland to attend Cop26 in Glasgow. “The bicycle is the best vehicle to tell the story of climate change and raise awareness about reducing our carbon footprint,” he told the Guardian last year.
This time around, Di Felice has been liaising with Italian researchers who will be based in Antarctica while he is cycling through it. He says that he is experiencing climate change first-hand in Antarctica.
“My route this year will be slightly different from last year, because the second part from the south pole, there are more crevice areas due to the melting ice,” he explains. “The ice is changing – and we know that from the data. From my eyes when I’m in Antarctica, sure I will see ice, winds, snow – everything looks the same year by year. But if we look at the scientific data, the climate in Antarctica is changing – and changing quickly.”
Despite the challenging end to his first attempt crossing Antarctica by bike, Di Felice begins his second attempt feeling optimistic. 60-plus days, 2,000km of ice, dangerous winds and the biggest challenge of all – mental fortitude – stand between him and history.
“If we think about my first experience, I came back home with one piece of data: it’s possible to cross Antarctica by cycling,” Di Felice says. “Last year I had a lot of doubt – about the bike, whether it would work in Antarctica. But now, even having spent just 10 days in Antarctica, I can tell you that it’s possible to do it.
“It will be hard, it will be very tough, but I think it’s possible,” he adds. “So I go back to Antarctica with the will to proceed by bike alone.”
