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Interactive Route Plan For The Global Triathlon

In May 2012, Dan will embark on his biggest journey to date, as he attempts a Global Triathlon – swimming, cycling and running around the world. This will include a grueling 5700km swim, as Dan attempts to become the first man in history to swim the Atlantic.

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Hello I'm Dan Martin. This is my world:

Caption Competition: Number One!

May 11, 2012

I put this up on twitter and the facebook page last night:

Caption competition: Photo: Me with a huge for England/normal for the US sized truck! 100DM points to the best caption! twitter.com/DanielMartinAdā€¦

— Daniel Martin (@DanielMartinAdv) May 10, 2012

Best on Facebook so far:

Morgan Smith “That thing shouldn’t be allowed on the road. Neither should the truck.”

Simon Allen-Le Bas “Dan is sure he asked for ‘ compact economical ‘ at the Hertz desk ….”

Clare Woodhead “Big hands, big feet, big truck….”

Best on Twitter so far:

@DanielMartinAdv squizzle my pickup pizzle bizzle!

— Jenny Bust (@Jennybust) May 10, 2012

@DanielMartinAdv Massive Bloke Dwarfs Monster Truck

— John Bullard (@Bullardjohn) May 10, 2012

@DanielMartinAdv “My other truck is a prius”

— LeDomestiqueTours (@LeDomTours) May 10, 2012

And my favourtie so far:

@DanielMartinAdv sorry, you misheard me, I said I needed HUGE TRUNKS for my SWIM!

— Paul Wyatt (@peefer62) May 10, 2012

Add your suggestions in the comments below!

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Joining the Dots by Dave Cornthwaite

May 8, 2012

This is a guest blog post by Dave Cornthwaite as part of the Adventure Blogging Chain:

Joining the Dots

I write from a concrete bench outside Honolulu airport, a building I’ve become quite familiar with over the past couple of days, without choice. Three extra days in Hawaii might seem like a blessing, but I should actually be one and a half days into another journey, a short one this time, 105 miles along the Wolf River which trickles through swamps and undergrowth before flowering and meandering towards Memphis, Tennessee.

Thankfully, my relationship with HNL airport only began as I attempted to leave the State. As with most new dots on a map I’m lucky enough to translate into real-life experiences, my first glimpse of Hawaii was from the surface. The fifth dimension of my Expedition1000 project fell into place little more than ten weeks ago, but in that time a crew of 11 was assembled to ensure safe passage of the scientific yacht Sea Dragon from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, to the Pacific island of Oahu.

I had multiple motives for wanting to sail out into the middle of the ocean. Another 1000 miler was a nice bonus but this wasn’t about ticking off an item from a list, my base objective was to size up the middle of the ocean. How do I feel out there? Do I get seasick? Am I still the same ‘me’ 1000′s of miles from land and all the demands it brings. Can I climb to the top of the mast? And most importantly, can I row across this much water?

Dan is soon to experience the sheer inadequacy of being in the middle of the ocean. I felt it and I was in a perfectly safe capsule – like a sailing Truman Show. To swim across open seas for months on end is something I had no desire to do before this sailing voyage and nothing has changed. I love the feeling of human insignificance in a precise moment when stood up against nature. To be a dot floating on our planet takes every ounce of man-made pressure off. I know Dan feels this, after tens of thousands of kilometres on a bicycle he has what it takes to put his head down and keep going, but the decision to take the first step (or in this case, stroke) always comes from a gut instinct that there’s something more out there.

We are all habitual creatures, whether we think about it or not. To someone who lives the same life day in day out Dan’s idea to swim the Atlantic seems foolhardy, crazy, even worthless. To someone else who is accustomed to the challenges of adventure, Dan’s Global Triathlon is nothing more than a fine mixture of a continuing need for solid character-building and common sense.

What? Common sense?! Well, yes! Look around you. Unless you’re in the middle of a desert (or, indeed, the ocean) the things you’re looking at are man made. We’ve entirely fabricated the world in which we live: our lives, our systems, the way we spend our precious time here. Once upon a time the construction of a building from a non natural material would have seemed groundbreaking. Metal tubes with wings that fly people around the globe? Laughable. Light bulbs. Flares. Women doing the hunting. Reaching the peak of Everest. All concepts that once seemed ridiculous, impossible, nonsense. Now they’re commonplace.

Swimming the Atlantic is unlikely to become a popular pastime or even an annual race, but if Dan can make it across imagine the people it will affect. ‘A man swum across the Atlantic, therefore I can see myself doing that marathon. ‘We’re all dots floating around trying to make sense of the world around us and how we fit into it, but sometimes an enormous feat throws a whole bunch of dots together and completes a chunk of the puzzle. It’s human evolution, it’s what we’re here for. A small but resolute band of men and women have decided to make their life work from adventure, each journey and project and endeavour spreading the seed a little further.

I believe adventure – and by definition I mean the pushing of personal boundaries and the open acceptance of attempting new things – is a critical tool in our fight against the lazy world in which we live. Technology and comfy sofas have dulled the natural perception of our surroundings and therefore we have far less engagement with the environment and nature than our predecessors. We may be developing slates that we can interact with and spectacles that tell us where we should be going, but will we ever be able to artificially reproduce the pure peace that comes with sitting carefree beside a river, or the soul satisfaction of swimming underwater and staring up in amazement at the way a surface looks from below?

I’ve spread my limits around. At the same time that Dan is swimming the Atlantic I’ll also be swimming, but down a river with the current. Size up my 50 day expedition with Dan’s multi-month epic and there’s no comparison in endeavour at all, but the key is to find the challenge and the passion that makes us purr as individuals. Dan’s after the longest swim in history, I want to know how it feels to be in the water for a month and a half. Either way, we’ll both look like prunes when we’re done.

As long as I don’t get bumped off my twenty-third flight in a row, I should be flying out of Hawaii in a couple of hours. From there I’ll join up with the crew who have already begun to paddle the Wolf River and once we reach Memphis I’ll ready myself for another journey, 1001miles to Miami by Bikecar. Had you asked me eight years ago whether I’d be prepared to accept a 4-wheeled bicycle from a smiling Northern stranger and then ride off into the sunrise with the goal of picking up random Southerners along the way I would have laughed in your face and reclined into my sofa-sized beanbags. These days, it’s the type of opportunity I have for breakfast. I much prefer these habits, one minute a dot in the ocean, the next a dot on a long, straight road. Even though Dan is twice the size of me, I wish his dot’s journey well. Adventure on and be safe, my friend.

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Five Random Festivals I’d Like To Cycle To…

November 1, 2011

1) Fishing the Sacred Waters of Lake Antogo

What? A once a year fight to catch a fish in Lake Antogo

Where? Dogon Country, Mali

Why? On one day of the year the Dogon people of Mali can fish in the sacred water of Lake Antogo. It’s every fisherman for himself as the lake is emptied in minutes.

2) Holi Festival of Colour

What? An annual Hindu festival

Where? India, Pakistan, Nepal and others.

Why? People hurl coloured powder at each other. It looks like the most fun you can have with coloured powder…

3) Tomatina

What? A Tomato Festival

Where? Spain

Why? Because it’s safer than running with bulls and where else do you get to legitimately have a food fight with 20,000people and 5tonnes of tomatoes?

4) Tapati

What? A festival of traditional sports and music (made up to drum up tourism in 1975)

Where? Easter Island

Why? One of the contests for Tapati is Haka Pei and it involves sliding down big hills on banana tree trunks. That is all. No more reason needed!

5) Monkey Buffet Festival

What? It’s a feast/food fight for Monkeys (yep, you read that right…)

Where? Thailand

Why? It’s a feast/food fight for Monkeys. Monkeys people, monkeys. No more reason to cycle there is needed.

What do you think? Any more suggestions? Put a suggestion in the comments or send me a message on Twitter here. They have to be epic, random and relatively far away-I quite like indigeousy stuff too!

Previously:
Seven Music Festivals I’d Like To Cycle To….
Seven Sporting Events I’d Like To Cycle To…

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Thursday Thriller: Climb, Jump, Fly

October 27, 2011

Climb

This guy is mental. The rock faces are vertical and he has no protection in. Legend. Love the 80′s soundtrack too!

Jump

Jumping off buildings in Oslo? Yes please!

Fly

This guy can actually fly. Kind of.

If you’ve got any suggestions for a Thursday Thriller theme or video then please get in touch!

If you liked this then you’ll like these:

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Seven Sporting Events I’d Like To Cycle To

October 25, 2011

1) Buzkashi

What? It’s essentially rugby on horseback with a headless calf/goat carcass.

Where? Afghanistan

Why? I saw one of these games when I was in Mazir Al Sharif and it is proper mental! The locals love it and it is a great contest to watch!

A buzkashi game held at the Pamiri Festival in the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan:

2) Iditarod

What? A 1089miles dogsled race.

Where? Alaska, USA

Why? This is the toughest race on earth. It’s over a 1000miles through Alaska in winter. It follows the route of a trip done to get vaccines and medicine out to Nome during a cholera outbreak.

3) Marathon Des Sables

What? A week or marathons in the Sahara Desert

Where? 240kms across the Morocco Sahara

Why? 151miles through a desert with temperatures up to 50Celcius, that’s why. (I hear the nurses on stand by are pretty hot too).

4) IPL Final

What? The final of the Indian Premier 20/20 League. It’s a cricket match.

Where? India

Why? Cricket is a religion in India and India has a billion people. This is the showpiece of cricket. It’s fast and amazing. I’d love to be in the cauldron when they actually play!

5) El Classico: River Plate vs Boca Juniors

What? Local football derby in Buenes Aires

Where? Argentina

Why? Football is the worlds favourite sport. South America is where the worlds most talented players come from. Buenes Aires is home to two of the best teams in the world and they live in the same city and hate each other-what’s not to love?

6) Artic Rugby

What? A rugby tournament in the Artic in the snow.

Where? 250kms north of the Arctic Cirlce in Finland.

Why? Rugby is my favourite thing in the world and this is rugby being played on snow in a ski resort in Finland-sounds AMAZING!

7) Europe to Asia swim

What? A swim across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia

Where? Turkey

Why? They stop the massive tankers for two hours and allow a few people to swim across. It’s an amazing swim and an amazing thing to have done!

What do you think? Any more suggestions? Put a suggestion in the comments or send me a message on Twitter here. They have to be epic, relatively random and relatively far away-I quite like indigeousy stuff too!

Last week-Seven Music Festivals I’d Like To Cycle To….
Next week-Seven Truly Random Festivals I’d Like To Cycle To….

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