live tracking Late tonight, I'm taking a redeye to Miami before the even longer flight down to São Paulo. There will be plenty of time to sit and think, which is exactly what I need to prepare for 135 miles in the mountains of Brazil (that and sleep) I don't feel ready, although I don't know how you feel ready for this, unless you've got Shackletononian experience (amazing new word - you read it here first ;)
We've got 48hours to complete the course that winds throughout the hills and mountains along part of the Caminho da Fé, a pilgrimage route in the Mantiqueiras. There's over 30,000ft of climbing and that is scary. I have no clue (!) what that looks like. Over the past few months I've been seeking out hilly, off-road training rides and I have yet to come close to a ride that averages anything like this Ultra Marathon's terrain.
However, it is scary in a good way. This is a challenge and for all the grandiosity associated with such epic events, it is for sport. I'm going for the experience, to see what I've got, to see Brazil, to meet Mario Lacerda (the race director who's agreed to have me =), and to live a little!
You can track the race on this live map - I will be some sort of blip with bib # 1009 Race start is on the 18th-20th of January and starts at 7am (South American East Coast Standard Time, is what they call it - maybe)