Racing sled dogs 1,000 miles into the teeth of an Alaska winter apparently wasn't challenging enough for Rachael Scdoris.

The legally blind musher from Bend, Ore., who has finished two Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races, is in the middle of a new trek. She left Anchorage on a tandem bike made largely of bamboo with Diego Gonzalez Jovin, 26, last month, bound for Mexico. On Monday afternoon, the couple was 50 miles south of Portland, Ore., about 150 miles from Scdoris' home in Bend.

"It's been good," she said Monday afternoon by phone. "I always say the Iditarod is fun-ish. I'm not having the really fun spikes like you do on the Iditarod, but it's a more sustained fun. And you don't have emotional plunges you tend to have on the Iditarod, either.

"This is a lot easier."

Once the pair reaches Cancun, Mexico, early next year, Jovin plans to swim -- with a support boat at hand -- 180 miles across the Sea of Cortez to Matzatlan. There he'll rejoin Scdoris for the planned final leg to Cancun.

In typical Scdoris fashion, the trek is labeled "What's Your Impossible" and has attracted some big sponsors, including Hilton Hotels and Globalstar, the satellite communications service. The trip will force Scdoris to skip next year's Iditarod, though she said she plans to return for the 2111 race.

"Iditarod started out as my impossible and I've done that, and I can't wait to do it again," Scdoris said. "But in the meantime, I'm trying something else."

Altogether, Scdoris has entered four Iditarods, finishing half of them. Her best race came in March, when she teamed with visual guide Tim Osmar of Kasilof to finish 45th in 14 days, 11 hours, 9 minutes, a time fast enough to have won nine of the early Iditarods.

Particularly tough was a stretch of trail up the frozen Yukon River, where blowing snow drifted over the trail and a fierce headwind drove the wind chill down to minus-40. Scdoris and Osmar took more than a day to cover just 60 river miles; other mushers were even slower.

On a warm summer trip, her equipment is much different, particularly the 37-pound bike made of bamboo and carbon fiber, hinged together with hemp. It's held up well, Scdoris reported, except for 10 flat tires. But the duo's Land Rover support vehicle proved so problematic -- breaking down several times and costing plenty in repair and towing bills -- they were forced to ditch it.

"It's a fantastic bike, it really is," she said. "I have a lot of friends who are bikers and they were skeptical and curious. But so far, it's been great."

Legally blind since birth, Scdoris was born with a rare vision disorder called congenital achromatopsia.

Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

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