Ultra-endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont has only 1000 miles left to go on his 13,000 Cycling the Americasexpedition.

Despite being thoroughly exhausted after reaching the summit of Anconcagua on the 15th January, Mark has managed to clock up an impressive 1000 miles in just over two weeks. It’s not been easy though. Cycling through the Atacamas desert, officially the driest desert in the world, has been hard going, with strong head-winds and side-winds making peddling forward more than a little challenging! On top of that, Mark’s had problems with his rear wheel and multiple punctures due to the thorns on the road.

On this expedition, Mark has been riding a custom built Signature bike from Koga Miyata, and despite the problems of the past few days, he has been extremely impressed with the bike’s performance. After a brief stop in Trelew, Patagonia for a bit of bike maintenance earlier this week, Mark is back on the road again and following signs to Ushuaia, the southern most point of the American continent.

After following Mark since he set out on his epic journey last June, we can’t quite believe he only has a few weeks left. He has so far cycled 12,000 miles from Alaska, stopping along the way to climb the two highest peaks on the American continent, Mt McKinley (Denali) in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina.  Whilst he has been on the road, we have been working hard planning Mark’s next journey - a 38 lecture tour around the UK! Mark is very much looking forward to meeting some of the people who have been following him on his trip and kept him going with messages of support during the toughest times.

You can see dates and venues and book tickets here for Mark’s lecture tour here.

We will catch up with Mark again on his last few hundred miles.  But in the meantime don’t forget you can keep up to date with Mark’s progress on the dedicated BBC website here.