Road warrior: cyclist Rob Lilwall is on a cross-continental tour to help suffering children.

"Our tent sits in an icicle-shrouded forest, halfway across a vast glacial valley which stretches and winds its way westward to the plains of Yakutia. Every breath exhaled instantly crystallizes--beard, sleeping bag, tent roof--all is covered in ice. We stumble from the tent, gasping our way drunkenly through the bitter dawn to check the thermometer strapped to my handlebars. We are elated and awed to discover the temperature has now dropped down to minus 40 degrees (Centigrade and Fahrenheit converge at this point)."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sounds like something from the movie Never Cry Wolf, doesn't it? More enjoyable to watch on the big screen than suffer through yourself. But British schoolteacher Rob Lilwall isn't opting for the armchair. He's in the midst of an ambitious cycling tour from Russia to China to Australia and all the way home to England--a journey that will …