And that, perhaps, is what keeps the 28-year-old on her bike day after day. Accompanied by her boyfriend — Roes is an ultra-marathon runner who logs several thousand miles each year running — Homer recorded more than 6,500 miles during 2007.

During winter months, she rides a Surly Pugsley bike with mammoth-looking 4-inch wide tires. She keeps them inflated at a low air pressure to ensure they have the best traction and stability she can get. With wet and frozen roads the norm in her neck of the woods, Homer puts safety at a priority.

Still, even in Alaska, where virtually everything is extreme in one manner or another, she stands out on her bike.

"Suddenly, I've become this crazy bike lady that people recognize and feel compelled to question," she writes in her blog. "If I ride out to the lake on a semi-nice day, I almost have to put on an extra base layer so I can stay warm during all the time I'm stopped talking to people about my bike."

To cyclists in the "tropics" of Utah, her ride is a strange-looking creation. To Homer, the Pugsley is the perfect vehicle for the backroads of Alaska.

The bike will weigh nearly 65 pounds when she embarks on her journey. It will be loaded with a sub-zero sleeping bag, extra clothes, food, medicines, and virtually everything you might want — other than a portable heat lamp — while traversing the frozen backcountry of Alaska.

Jill Homer said she hopes to find a friend to pedal through the wilderness with. Company, she said, will help the time pass and create a support system in case of a breakdown or other emergency.

Some five or six days after starting, she hopes to cross the finish line in McGrath, where she will probably collapse — and begin dreaming up her next big adventure.

The Iditarod Trail Invitational

• Feb. 24, 2 p.m. at Knik Lake, Alaska
• 350 or 1,100 Miles
• Jill Homer's blog: arcticglass.blogspot.com

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E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com