Is the Toughest Athlete in the World a Female Cyclist?

Sports Illustrated is convinced  the toughest is Tiger Woods.

I like Tiger, but I think the brave gal I read about this morning deserves consideration.

No, not Jill Homer... she only did the short route of The Iditarod Trail invitational, last month. ;-D

The long route is billed as “The World’s Longest Human Powered Winter Race,” and covers an area of over 1,100 miles in length.

Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant became the first woman to complete the longer race last month.

Hardly anyone in the Mainstream Media noticed. ;-D

As Craig Medred, of the Anchorage Daily News writes:

Iditarod and Yukon Quest champ Lance Mackey -- SI's No. 2 pick -- can certainly make a better claim to true, physical, tough-athlete status than Tiger, though there's no doubt that in any kind of human aerobic competition, Hirzinger-Merchant would hand Mackey his lunch.

Lance had his dogs to help him. Hirzinger-Merchant had only hubby, Bill, who, though he biked north with her, wasn't necessarily all that much help.

According to Craig the Event Website had this to say:

On their approach to Nome, Bill and Kathi faced "immense winds and cold temperatures. At one point, when they were protected from the constant wind, Kathi looked at the temperature and saw minus 30 degrees ... Bill described pushing the bikes at a 45 degree angle to prevent the wind from blowing the bikes away.

A 25 1/2 day journey... amazing!

The full article: Think mushing to Nome is tough? Try pedaling it.

A Tip of the Hat to Alaska Cyclist, and Journalist, Charles Bingham, who also sends word that the effort by the Sitka Bicycle Friendly Community Coalition to be recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Cyclists, has moved to the next step in March.

First came a proclamation by the City and Borough of Sitka that says that "Sitka is Bicycle Friendly", and committed the city to "an ongoing process of improvement upon the existing standards of cycling transportation infrastructure, education, encouragement, and enforcement."

According to the website the application has been turned in and they should learn its fate sometime this month. ;-D

PDF's of both the proclamation and the application, can be read here.