Doc Lewis has submitted his. Everest report so that we all migh share some of his pain , I was devastated that I was away on holidays when he did it 😉 . The weather was to say the least not conducive to photo graphs . Here we go…..
Everesting
Everesting was a big cycling thing about 4 years ago but it seems to have gone out of fashion. I was immediately attracted to the idea – it seemed ideal for Ireland with our network of short, steep climbs on easily accessible but remote back roads. The fact that the world record is still held by Ronan McLaughlin from Donegal gives it extra interest for me. He’s not related to Henry, despite their obvious similarities as legend of cycling.
I made my first attempt in April 2021 on a climb that I was first introduced to in Da Cooley Thriller. I had great support, with different friends riding with me for the hardest laps. I was 49 at the time; I can’t remember if I was dreading the approaching decrepitude of my 6th decade but perhaps I was. Roll on 3 years and with 50 well behind me I found myself wondering if I was still able to do these slightly daft challenges. Actually, with NTSR / Rossi, I believe that we have been able to achieve a number of cycling goals that we can be quite pleased about – Malin to Mizen, Lap of the Lough, Height for Hospice, Slieve Martin Slaughter as examples. However, I think it’s important that we keep on pushing ourselves a bit harder and look for new goals.
The second attempt was just two days ago in proper Irish weather ie cold, windy and wet at the end of April. Same location and the same fantastic support and help from good friends.
Here’s a few thoughts from my 2 attempts.
- Everesting is a very accessible and easy cycling challenge. There’s no fixed date, no entry fee, no navigation issues, no time limit. You just need a bike, a GPS device to record, a suitable hill and plenty of time. There are some Rules (see everesting.cc) but it’s all pretty straightforward. Ride up and down the same hill until you have clocked 8848m. Simples.
- Weather – you could wait for the perfect day, but the chance of that happening in Ireland is unlikely. I got completely drenched at the start and the middle of my second go –my weather app had warned me about the first wet spell so I came prepared. Unfortunately, it completely failed to predict the second wetting and I really got very cold and miserable.
- Gimme Shelter – most Irish mountain passes don’t have any. I parked my car near the top of the climb; this meant trying to eat and change into dry clothing in a howling gale with sideways rain. In retrospect, parking at the bottom might have worked better this time. A campervan would have been ideal.
- Clothing – bring plenty and be prepared for anything as it’ll be a long day out. You can never have too many dry pairs of gloves as even supposedly waterproof gloves will get soaked through eventually. I should have sorted my dry layers better in the car – it’s hard to rummage through an untidy bag of clothes that you have just stuffed into a bag and you’ll never find those black arm warmers.
- Lights – thankfully Brian Scullion reminded me to bring my headlight the night before. My great plan of finishing before dark was not to be.
- Heart rate monitor – not essential, but I found this useful to gauge my effort and hold back if going too hard. Interestingly, my heart rate dropped, along with my speed as the laps progressed – fatigue just meant crawling on to the finish. I’ve never used a power meter but I suppose it would serve the same purpose.
- Food – you’ll be miles away from any shops so bring more than you think you’ll eat or drink. Don’t forget the full fat Coke. I always struggle with eating and drinking on these long rides, especially with reflux and nausea; soup, custard, jellies, tinned pineapple are my foods of last resort. Yazoo chocolate milk (although my 1 litre bottle leaked in my car boot this time, grim). I can’t stomach gels. It’s nice to clean your teeth halfway through – a bit like washing your face or changing a layer of clothing, you feel much fresher.
- Road choice – I chose one of my favourite climbs in Ireland that I know very well. It’s very quiet and you can see any cars coming up when descending. It’s not perfect – very long (8km up and down for 350m altitude gain will mean over 200km total distance) and the surface is getting very rough. The sheep are good company but they’ve a habit of lying down on the Tarmac for warmth. When you choose a road remember that you’ll be descending as many times as climbing – you don’t want a lot of traffic and blind bends when you’re tired.
- Bike – any will do as long as it’s not an Ebike. You could use an MTB with nice low gears and big tyres but I think 200km would have been too much. I was very glad to have my new super-light carbon road bike but wider tyres would have made the rough descent easier. No need for 2 water bottles, leave one at the top.
- Support – having friends to cheer you on, feed you and ride some laps with you made an enormous difference; in fact, I probably wouldn’t have completed either attempt without you.
- O solo mio – that said, Everesting is a very individualistic challenge. NTSR / Rossi could certainly do this as a group event but you couldn’t possibly ride the whole thing with a group – everyone needs to just plug away and do it at their own pace. We all have different ways of coping with long endurance rides – some people listen to music or podcasts or audiobooks. I’ve never liked earphones when cycling though; I like to think, tell myself stories or pray. However, I often just let my mind go completely blank and ride on auto-pilot – it’s quite therapeutic. I sometimes sing – I serenaded the sheep with Harry Belafonte’s rendition of Hava Nageela this time and they seemed to appreciate it. Experienced endurance riders tell us that these events are mostly mental and that we mostly quit in our heads long before our bodies need to stop – we just need to develop our own different coping strategies.
So there you are; thanks for reading and I’d be delighted to come along and encourage anyone else who feels inspired to take up the challenge.
Tim 02/05/2024