Two leading New Zealand mountain bikers will next month ride over the Andes in one of the most dramatic biking journeys ever conceived.
Nathan Fa'avee and Tony Moore will ride from La Paz, the highest city in the world at 3650 metres, across the icy peaks of the Andes at over 5800 metres, and down some of the longest downhill runs in the world towards the steamy Amazon jungle.
Dunedin television company Natural History New Zealand will shoot the whole bike journey as part of six hour-long programmes a series.
The series called The Force: The Science and Psychology of Extreme Adventure will be shown at a later date on National Geographic cable channels.
Natural History, owned by Fox Television, has already shot the first episode, of Queenstown man Brian Moore's paragliding trip along the Southern Alps from Wanaka to Mt Cook village.
The second in the series is currently focusing on a New Zealand mountaineering expedition up Mt Makalu, in the Himalayas, the fifth-highest mountain in the world at 8463 metres.
Wanaka's Guy Cotter is leading an the expedition, which hopes to scale Mt Makalu in the second week of May.
About 50 percent of those who try to climb Mt Makalu succeed but the mountain has a 12 percent death rate.
The mountain is regarded as challenging as Everest but more remote. Only one New Zealander, the late Rob Hall, has ever reached its summit.
Other events in the series are surfing, sailing and ocean-diving.
It's an unusual series involving a number of high-achieving New Zealanders.
Natural History spokeswoman Rebecca Tansley said the mountain-bikers leave for Bolivia on May 13.
"Where even walking takes a huge amount of effort because of lack of oxygen, the power required to ride bicycles in this environment is a supreme test of human endurance," she said.
The Natural History documentary crew including director Rachael Wilson, cameraman Alex Hubert and sound recordist John Patrick will also face an extreme feat of endurance attempting to cover the action and drama of the journey.
The series also looks at the science of human endurance and the team will be carrying out experiments to show the effects on human physiology and thinking powers where the brain becomes starved of oxygen.
"Less oxygen in the air also means less resistance. The team will be attempting to prove that downhills at 5000 plus metres mean mountain bikes travel faster," Ms Tansley said.
Fa'avee has been a member of the New Zealand mountain biking team for five years, and is ranked in the top five adventure athletes in the world.
He was a member of the winning team for the Discovery channel Southern Traverse multi-sport adventure race in 2000.
Moore has been a long time member of the New Zealand downhill mountain bike team, and has competed at many international events.
