Minnesota man prepares to cycle across Antarctica

NPR | By Rob Schmitz,

Henry Larson, Tinbete Ermyas

Published August 1, 2026 at 4:54 PM EDT

NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with Ian Andersen, who plans to bike across Antarctica, about his preparations for the expedition.

Rob Schmitz

Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.

See stories by Rob Schmitz

Henry Larson

Tinbete Ermyas

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