BY This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Staff Reporter This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

When you trudge up and down North Avenue beach, dragging five SUV tires behind you, you tend to attract gawkers.

"They say, 'It's easier to roll the tires, you know,' " said the tire-dragger, John Huston, 32.

"They say, 'Where'd you get those? Off my car?' Or, 'What did you do to your wife? Are you being punished?' "

The truth, if the wise guys would stop and listen, is more amazing than the sight of Huston dragging tires.

He and his friend in Minnesota are training to become the first Americans to trek to the North Pole from land -- unsupported. That means no food waiting along the way. No helicopter to take them halfway. No dogs.

It's just two guys on cross-country skis dragging sleds for 475 miles over 55 days in temperatures that could drop to 60 below.

That's why Huston is dragging the 45-pound tires -- to simulate the two sleds he'll pull. On days when he trains for endurance, he drags five tires for up to four hours. On sprint-training days, it's two tires for short bursts.

....The full article is no longer posted by the Chicago Sun-Times.....