“FIENDISHLY SIMPLE, YET BRUTALLY HARD. EVERESTING IS THE MOST DIFFICULT CLIMBING CHALLENGE IN THE WORLD.”
The concept of Everesting is fiendishly simple: Pick any hill, anywhere in the world and ride repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8,848m – the equivalent height of Mt Everest.Having completed an Everesting on Road in September 2018, the goal was to reach High Rouler’s Society on Dirt.
The concept of entry to High Rouleur’s Society is simple. Pick any route, loop, or combination of roads and ride until you reach 10,000 vertical metres (32,809 feet). There are two ways you can rack up your 10,000m vert for your entry into the High Rouleur’s Society, and two slightly different guidelines.
My chosen path of pain:
THE LIMIT: One single unbroken ride of more than 10,000m vertical. No time restriction, no distance requirement, no sleep allowed. This approach is all about finding the boundaries of what is possible in a single ride. If you happen to complete an everesting as part of your Limit ride then this will count in both halls of fame.
From an Everesting Calculator, the numbers to break 10000m would resemble:
Distance 290km, Repeats 111, Calories ~9000, Time expected 24 hours
My challenge started on Friday 22 March at 14:00 and finished just after 19:00 on Saturday evening.
Elapsed time of 29hr 12min 27sec
Moving time of 23hr 3min 46sec
It was truly an enlightening experience to see how far I could push myself. Knowing there was going to be some very dark moments during the challenge is an understatement but they seemed more manageable this time, experience does count for something. Although having experienced it once, you’d think logic would prevent you from doing this a 2nd time.
It’s really weird being part of the COWS, there’s something that always rings in my head when things get tough during any challenge or event. The origins to me is via the Legen-Dairy Richard Laskey and it’s quite simple “Kids don’t get soft needles”. It’s taught me to never give up fighting, you think you’re at the limit but there’s still so much more you can endure!