Background.

To say I was late to this road cycling “stuff” would be an understatement. I loved BMX’s as a kid and once Mountain Bikes came out in the early 90s, I was lucky enough to buy probably the 1st ever 2nd hand Muddy Fox Courier for sale in the UK in the white and purple fade and just fell in love with that. Lots and lots of MTBs over the years, and although some of my Friends were roadies, it just wasn’t for me. But when they all went roadies, I had to do something and was lucky again to get my hands on a rare flat handled Planet X Pro carbon road bike. Joined the guys on a 75 mile epic to the coast and back and that’s what got me! these things open up your range! My next few purchases were “proper” road bikes, but I still can’t bring myself to go full road bike pedals… sticking to mountain bike SPD style as a little nod to my MTB past, even if it means I can walk properly at the coffee stop rather than clipity-clop-slip like the real roadies do! I can live with that, especially with my dodgy ankles 😂

To say I was late to the Virtual cycling world would also be an understatement! Had a spin bike over Covid, then when we knew we were getting back to normal, I took the plunge and got a Wattbike Atom V2. Why? sorry to sound so shallow, but the main reason was I thought it looked amazing!! Built it up, got permission off the current 😏 Mrs Mucker to set it up in the spare room and I started to get into the whole on-line thing, doing various non-video routes on the Wattbike Hub. My Very good friend Kyle asked which “platform” I was using and I was only thinking I could use the hub??. He explained this whole fantasy world out there where you can ride against other people, ride on real roads, and visit real climbs and routes! I’d heard of one of them, but he was using this thing called ROUVY (a game changer I think he said) and first explained how to get on for a free trail, and we arranged to have a ride together! I had to get on a solo ride first just to see how the bike and HR connected etc etc and did the Tokyo City route first and it really did my head in ( not impressed at all) how it kept slowing down at lights and then speeding up again and I was ready after that to give the whole thing a wide berth and go looking somewhere else. But, he peppered my head (wouldn’t leave me alone till I gave in) to join him on a 4000ft 40 miler the following Sunday so I did and straight away was blown away by it. I wasn’t blown away that he had to leave me 3/4 of the way along as I was going so slow, but that was it, I was hooked, even if I wasn’t very good!

This is when Muckers Worldwide started to take shape, but that’s a different story for a different blog, so, back to the Virtual Everesting:

Over the last 3 years I’ve known about the Le Col 8848 challenge that allows you to either get a special edition jersey for a reduced price if you complete the 8848 meters of climbing in the month, or you can get the Jersey for free if you do it in one ride. The first 2 years I completed it in the month, the first year all outside as I hadn’t even started virtual riding then, the 2nd year was a mix of the 2 (all with the help of My friend and Muckers-Worldwide co-creator Kyle “Kylofski” Goodram) then last year we didn’t do it! For some reason there was no properly discounted Jersey, just the chance to unlock it so we didn’t bother. (I could be a little wrong here, but there was definitely something that stopped me and few others taking part as I remember the chats and messages about how it wasn’t worth doing)

Onto this year and I saw the articles and reminders popping up here and there and it looks like its back on! discounted or free! Now, whether its because I turned 50 this year, or that a fellow Mucker “DonJulio” is now (as I type this) in the process of an epic outdoor “offroad” bike packing ride from Lands End to John O’Groats, but something has ignited the flame to do something I’ve never done before! Maybe because I’m not the best climber, do a ride that climbs the height of Mt. Everest!🙄. I actually got to meet Julian when he was riding through near my hometown and had the pleasure to ride and chat with him for an hour or so and I was just in awe of what he was doing. Was it for me? Not at all! was I impressed? abso-f-ing-lutely 😁

So I start delving into Le_Cols rules: Its 8848meters (29028.87ft) over the month or in one ride in JUNE. You’ve got to be signed up to Le_Col, which is easy to do and free, and also be a Strava Premium Subscriber, which I am. I then notice, although Le_Col are asking you to do the same height as the “everesting” concept, they never actually print or mention the word “everesting” anywhere.🤷‍♂️ Didn’t pay it much more thought than that, and carried on…. I start to look at routes on ROUVY and they all look terrifying, especially for a 90kg rider like myself, (profiles of massive triangles of various number with scary max gradients!!) so I start to look at looped routes and I find a nice 1.88 mile loop that takes in nearly 300ft per lap, but more importantly, only has a max of 10%. This totally appeals to me as I’d rather be struggling up a 10% at the end rather than a 20%!! I work out 106 laps of this and I will do it. I load 1 lap up on ROUVY and do a lap at a steady 2.0 pace (thinking this will replicate my average) and it takes just under 10 minutes. Quick math’s now lol: 10 mins a lap equals 6 laps an hour, works out to just over 17 and a half hours! 😂😂😮😮😮😮. Weirdly, this still doesn’t put me off as I don’t mind riding for long periods, and I share my findings with the Muckers chat group. After being told to sort my head out, one Mucker: Tomas Hlousek “RaTim” agrees to join in, but 1 rider brings to my attention that looped routes aren’t “everesting” ! hmmmm maybe its time to look into the everesting side of this rather than just the Le Col side…..

“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 COMPLETE REPEATS OF IT IN A SINGLE ACTIVITY UNTIL YOU CLIMB 8848 METERS, THE EQUIVALENT HEIGHT OF MT.EVEREST”

The quotes above are from the everesting.cc website.

Looped routes are out then! I am back to looking at those terrifying triangles it seems…..

Here’s where fate pops in to say hello and it seems I am just meant to this… while all the above was going on, I was involved in a chat about the 8848 challenge on ROUVYS superb Facebook group and I’d mentioned I was going to arrange my route as a race at very end of June ( 2 reasons: 1st to give as much time to train for it as its still May as i type this, and 2nd: if anyone just needed a few thousand feet to complete it for the monthly goal, they could jump on and get to where they needed to get to and then jump off, knowing they’ve done it.) Lauren (who is the Facebook group moderator and the one with all the knowledge!) jumped into the chat and advised me ROUVY were in the process of doing an AR route just for this very thing. This is massive news as one of the reasons I wasn’t feeling the current “triangle profile” routes I’d seen so far on ROUVY was that none of them were AR routes. AR, for those who are not familiar, is the designation for a route that allows augmented reality, so you have your avatar on screen, mimicking what you are doing rather than just a video playing. It sounds like a little thing, but it’s massive when you’re using ROUVY. It helps to keep you engages and in some ways you feel more there, rather than just watching some random video play while you ride your smart bike! Also allows all the other riders to be on screen which is amazing for motivation, racing and group rides. Lauren informs me ROUVY might also be setting this up as some kind of challenge so to hang on and see what it is before I decide what I am doing, so I will wait till next week to see.

But here’s what I know so far:

1: Its going to be on the last Saturday of June (decided on a Saturday just in case if I’m still on it going into the Sunday morning which is still in June…. just!!!)

2: I’ve got a month to get ready for it. which is why I am going to keep this blog going as a type of diary to hopefully keep me committed and motivated.🤞🤞

3: I really need to drop weight as your weight is critical on ROUVY so the lower I can set it before the ride the better!

4: All of this months Muckers Races will be training rather than racing.

5: Watch the diet, get back into the week day fasting again, and the hardest of all, resist that early morning coffee when I get to work!!! the milk and sugar mess up the fasting and I just can’t stand coffee without 1 of each 😂😟

6: It has to be a repeat route (up and down the same piece of road) to qualify for the eversting hall of fame and get the V-Everesting badge.

7: The route needs to be recorded on Strava for the Le-Col Jersey. This does however mean rests can be included like on a normal ride out. So those of you who have to end a ride at the coffee stop and start a new ride once you set off just because it “messes” with your averages, then this isn’t for you 😉😉😉

I really need to just get into the best condition I can. bearing in mind I’ve only ever done 2 riders over 100 miles, one outside and one on-line last year (112 miles) and my highest climb total was 11,703ft last year. So this 29,029 ft and 150 mile route going to be extremely hard, almost impossible but I am excited about giving it a go.

01/06/24

90.1kgs this morning. Strava fitness score of 72.

Here we go! Saturday the 1st, so a great day to start, especially as the wife has had to go out for the afternoon! I’ve even got some brownie points in the bag for putting a new TV up in our room so lets give the new AR everesting Route on ROUVY a little go. Its 7 climbs, 6 downhills, so it starts and ends with climbs. Just wanted to do one up and down today to get a feel for it and its a long climb, but not too bad with the climbing gear set up on the WattBike though which allows a decent cadence to be kept going even at 4mph! . Also selected the Feska bike as its the lightest. Got up the 4171ft first climb in 1 hour 55mins. Got down it in 20 mins. The climb has a horrible steep section ending which will be so hard to get up on the last few attempts. Also the downhill has some slight inclines as well so its not all rolling and relax/recover/get changed etc etc like some routes so I may need to re think my breaks. I will need the breaks to save my arse lol and maybe get changed a few times. the last thing I want is to start to hurt too soon due to bad/no planning!! But that will do for the first go. My plan is to do 2 attempts next weekend so for now, it’s back to the normal ROUVY races.

03/06/24

88.8kgs this morning. Strava fitness score of 75

did really well over the weekend with my food consumption, and somehow avoided anything after 9:30pm, Just water!! Did my first fast today, so since 9:30pm yesterday to 12:30 lunch time today, i only had water. 15 hour fast! Had Lunch then my first coffee at around 3pm. I only report this as by 3pm, I’ve usually had a good 4 or 5 coffees so this was a decent result.

Just been for a small jog tonight and did really well time wise, then jumped on the bike for a short 7 mile route. My company are doing this experiment called YU LIFE and you get coins for completing daily steps, riding miles and mindfulness minutes. so when I’m not properly riding on ROUVY, I will jump on and do the las Vegas at night route just to spin the legs and get the coins. This is a real bonus to having an indoor smart bike!!

No one has done the ROUVY route yet but Nelson Snyder is on it tonight and as I type is half way along! Also got my first piece of negativity about my aim. but its only made me more determined to do it now!

06/06/24

87.9kgs this evening Strava fitness score of 75

Just finished tonight’s Muckers Championship race and thought I’d update the diary. Was really happy to see “87” on the scales tonight as its been a while since I’ve seen that! All down to the fasting and training. I’m doing 15/9 instead of the usual 14/10 version. It’s the morning coffee I am really craving but I’ve managed all week to resist so one more day left and I can have my well deserved coffee and bagel Saturday morning breakfast! (I won’t fast at weekend, gotta’ treat myself and it helps with the weekly fasting to know that weekends are treat days, but try not to over consume!!)

Nelson finished the route the other day and as of now, he’s the only one. considering this guy is a monster on the bike, his time of 11 hours 54 minutes and 35 seconds is just superb! He also averaged 2.78w/kg which is way more than I will achieve, especially as I plan to roll a lot on the downhills so my guesstimate of around 17 hours seems about right, but really need to see how this weekends 2 reps and the weekend after’s 3 reps go.

Kyles done some superb work in the advertising space, especially on ROUVY’S Strava group and I’ve been bugging the crap out of people about it on Facebook. We are getting a lot of interest in guys wanting to do it on the 29th, they just keep asking us for the race link which when you do a “just ride” , you don’t have as you can jump on any time. Hey, its a new format/idea from us so i totally understand people think it will need a “race” link, so we just send them the ROUVY route link and say just jump on as soon as you can on the 29th!

Rest day tomorrow before the 2 rep training on Saturday. I’ll report back after that.

08/06/24

86.5kg this evening. Strava Fitness score 77

2 reps was the plan today. first though, off to the chemist to inspect the supplement/tablets as although I do take a multivitamin every day, I feel now I need to at least get the joints as protected as possible for the 29th. No point starting them on the 28th is there. So quite a long look and I’ve gone with the Wellman 50+ health and vitality vitabiotic plus the seven seas Joint Care max. How expensive are these!! But they both run for 30 days so I will be well into them by the 29th so lets see if they help at all.

So, onto the ride. I was able to load up Nelsons effort as a VP and off we went, he pulled away as soon as we started climbing but I was really comfortable at around 2.5, then 2.8/3.0 on the steeper parts and eventually got the top a good 5 mins faster than last weeks effort. Ate some fruit and a flapjack, plus a gel on the way down and got another liter of water made up by the support crew (ok, the wife) and got to the bottom and started back up the other side. I’m now happy at around 2.0 but nearer the top, I’m out of water, thirsty and I can now see I sweat a lot of salt! Interesting lessons learned. I’m also focusing on this target of 1000ft per 30 mins I’ve suddenly decided should be aimed at! Weird what the mind starts doing as you ride!

It was great to see Nelson back on the route again, this time supporting Stephanie Briggs in her attempt at this route, plus the odd rider popping up to support them. Hope I get this kind of support on the 29th! 🤞🤞🤞🤞

So 2 reps done, and this is what I’ve learned. THIS IS GONNA BE HORRENDOUS!!!!

My original plan to do 3 reps next week then drop to a 2 rep the week before now needs a re think! I now feel I need to do a 4 rep next weekend, but at the pace and plan that I will do the main attempt at on the 29th. So, 2.0 max, eat at the very top on the way down, actually get off the bike and toilet break/get changed etc etc on the 2nd part of the downhill, then when ready get back onto the bike (which will now be stationary at the bottom of the climb) and do the climb again. I really feel if I can get a 4 rep effort done and under my belt, I will feel more confident on the 29th to do 7 reps, so I have to try this next week.

The weight is dropping much better than anticipated! I actually weighed myself straight after the ride and I was 85.5kgs but after the shower and an hour in the hot tub drinking water, the weight went to the 86.5kgs so I must have de hydrated myself just doing 2 reps so I need to DRINK more on the ride!!. Its probably a bit of an issue with my scales but I’m also really glad to see the weight dropping as it is. I’ll keep fasting and lets see where its at for next Saturday. It’d be amazing if it was nicely below 86kgs but I am realistic about how it’ll get harder and harder now as I get lighter…… Adios for now.

13/06/24

87kgs this evening. Strava Fitness score of 77

Very surprised the weight has not continued to drop like last week. Still fasting for 15 hours so maybe I’ve hit that plateau and it’d be harder to loose it now?? But, I feel better for it all, sleeping better (and longer) feel more alert at work and although I’m craving a coffee all morning, when I finally have one at 2pm(ish) it tastes great but I don’t need another one?

Just finished the Muckers Thursday Race and it was a cracker! felt so strong and alert tonight. the first group I was with was just a tad too fast so rather than hang on for dear life like I did on Tuesday and then drop like the proverbial stone, I decided tonight whilst racing at the next climb I was just going to stay around 3.5w/kg and if I got dropped so be it. I did what i planned, but luckily, so did a few others so we formed a really nice group and raced to the end. So its been 2 really good races (figures wise), I did a lovely zone 4 hill climb on Monday at nearly 200 watts average but its rest day tomorrow (Friday) before my 4 reps effort on the Everesting route on Saturday! I’ll report back after that! Fingers crossed!!

16/06/24

86.9kgs this morning. Strava Fitness score of 82

Lets talk about yesterdays 4 rep effort shall we. Stuck to my plan of 2.0 max and off I went, 1st rep was easy with the main problem being the need to force the drink down! Its roughly 4000ft climb so my aim is one bottle by the time I’m half way up then the other before the turn around point. Both bottles with different flavor carbohydrates and electrolyte drinks to keep it “interesting”. I ate as soon as the avatar turns around, as you hit max speed straight away due to how steep the top is so no need to really pedal for a about a min. So I eat cab heavy small snack size things, a bit of fruit and a nice cake of some type. Then at the bottom, I get off, quick toilet break, change my socks and my shoes (to limit the overheating feeling I get at bottom of my feet on long rides) and towel. Shorts are fine after 1 rep so these can be changed every 2nd rep. luckily I have 2 sets of cycling shoes so I can put the ones I’m not using on the window ledge to cool down so I can swap them over at the next pit stop!

The 2nd rep goes just as well (just added a bib shorts change after this one), the 3rd a little harder but not as hard as expected then we hit the 4th one. My neck is now getting stiff and I am actually struggling to stay in power zone 2. I’ve dropped into zone 1 (around 1.3w/kgs) and needing the toilet a lot. My guess is the lower effort means my body isn’t needing the fluid I’m taking in?? after my 3rd toilet break on the climb, I start to feel a bit more normal, zone 2 is back and I’m back to 1.9w/kgs?? this goes all the way to the top and I reach the turning point feeling ok apart from an increasingly stiffer/sore neck. (I’ve always suffered with neck issues ever since a crash a long time ago and usually get around it by just doing some neck stretches whilst riding) How weird. I think if I am to keep hydrated and my body working properly, I HAVE to stay in zone 2. dropping into 1 might be how I felt, but I obviously don’t “need” to. So not only do I have to focus not to go over 2.0 at the start, I also need to focus on not going too low later on… unless I want to go to the toilet every 10 mins whilst climbing!

Jumped in the Hot-Tub last night expecting the usual stiffness and cramping but they never came. And i can report not 1 cramp happened at all. Last week I cramped up about 4 times after the 2 rep effort so I must have dehydrated myself way too much last week. This now means I have worked out my ideal hydration and that’s 750ml every hour and don’t get Iced-fingers as a carb heavy treat as those started to taste too sweet and stodgy after a while!

2 weeks to go, I will now focus on the weight loss and an “easy” 2 rep effort next week or I might just do the Muckers Sunday ride. Now I have the 4 rep under my belt, I feel more confident to get it done, I would just be happier if I could enter a lighter weight into ROUVY before the 29th!

22/06/24

86.5kgs. Strava fitness score of 83.

A week of fasting and a bit of extra jogging between rides and I drop 0.4kgs 😅. But I’m feeling stronger and fitter. The Tuesday race was very good but I couldn’t make the very short Thursday one and had to do the LATER-ON version and was on it all alone. averaged 305watts over the 3 miler race and felt I’d actually held off a little bit too much as I was still quite strong and full of energy over the line… but that’s me, I can’t just go flat out from the start and hope I’ll be ok, I’m always keeping something in reserve!

I didn’t train on the Everesting route today. a few reasons for this, I want to keep it a bit fresher for the effort next week as the sight of it now just fills me with a doom feeling 😂, I was a bit behind on some challenge routes that I could use instead and I wanted to do the Muckers Sunday hill climb as well on Sunday morning.

I still did 43 miles and 5603ft of climbing over the 3 routes in just over 3 hours and at a higher tempo/intensity than my normal training. I know its not exactly 2 reps like i wanted to do, but it was all I had the time for today. once I get tomorrows hill climb done as well, it’ll be nearly 9000ft all in so not a bad weekend and i also am a bit wary of not wanting to just knacker myself out before next weekends effort.

28/06/24

85.9kgs, Strava fitness score of 82

Its the evening before the Everesting! Took it easy on yesterdays race, and I’m doing nothing today apart from carb load. I’ve been at a nice 85kgs for most of the week so all in all to loose 6kgs over the month, and feel fitter in the process has been great. Wife is just off to the chippy’ to get some chips and curry in with a few barm cakes and I think I’ll be as “carbbed” up as I can be!!

I’m hoping that each climb takes about 2 hours and the downhill takes 30mins. so the 6 full ones will be 15 hours then the last climb, which is 3/4 of the climb I’m still giving myself 2 hours to do that due to fatigue. so 17 hours is the plan and if I get going at 6am, i should hopefully be done for 11pm!

I really want to get up at 5am tomorrow so an earlier than normal tea is the order of the day, then hopefully in bed for 9/10pm. I’m all meal prepped ready, I know my hydration routine, my routine when I get off the bike, my routine for saving my arse and neck while on the bike and my power aims!

Fingers crossed it goes well and I’m done for 11pm tomorrow night!! 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

30/06/24

85.4kgs, Strava fitness score of 93.

The morning after……. I COMPLETED IT! wasn’t the 11pm finish I was hoping for but it was just before midnight! 17 hours and 51 minutes all in.

Here’s a rep by rep rundown!

I was up and out of bed for 5am, porridge and a latte straight away while I made my first 2 750ml bottles and 2 ham and cheese croissants that I plan to have on the first downhill. Got what I thought was everything set up (loaded up the 6 Virtual Partners that had done the ride so far as pace setters) and about ten to six, I set off.

1st climb done in a nice 2:05:11

As you can see, I’ve paced the first one quite nicely. Ra-Tim set off after me, overtook me on the climb and is already at the bottom of the climb and starting the 2nd rep. The VPs I am most interested in are just in front of me and behind so all is fine at the moment. First climb feels like nothing, I’m struggling to stay under 2.0w/kgs to be honest but I try my best and its only half way up I realize I didn’t grab a towel!! not really needing one, I carry on up the climb and once I turn around at the top I’m straight into 1 croissant and finish the last of my drink. I’m ahead of the slowest so far VP and not too far off the next so I’m right where I thought/hoped I’d be as well. Near the bottom of the climb I jump off the bike and get into my practiced routine! Straight downstairs and fill my 2 bottles up, grab a gel, grab a snack, straight back upstairs, put all this in the spare room with the bike, take my shoes off and place on the windowsill and go to the toilet! re apply chamois cream, change my socks while “talcing” up my feet, wash my hands and face, get back in the spare room, grab a towel, then get back on the climb! Phew!

2nd climb done and I’m now in front of my target time of 4 hours 30mins

I’ve climbed this one quite nicely, pegging kingcons gap slightly and nicely in front of Francy64 who I need to beat by quite a gap to be on target for my set time.

I will be changing the shorts at the bottom of this one and maybe not go as hard as this effort and see if I stay on target.

3rd climb done and still in front of the target time of 7 hours to here.

Just over 5 mins in front of my target time now and was meant to be reigning it in!! Even more riders popping on to show support and ride with me and RaTim! Still somehow keeping kingcoms VP in the 3 miles ahead bracket and according to the nearby list, Francy64 is well over 2 miles behind! Going well!!

4th climb done and we are now fatiguing! Target time to here: 9 hours 30.

This one has taken me 16 minutes the wrong way! Still getting loads of support from lots of different riders but I should have been turning round here at 9 hours 30 mins. Totally blown away how far RaTim is up the road now, kingcon is well down the hill and Francy64 has pulled some back. Not good!! I stared the 4th and weirdly it hits again like the training ride! struggling to maintain even 1.5w/kgs at the start. I am putting this down to my body needing to maybe recover or something as nothing is hurting, just feels really hard to hit 2.0w/kgs?? but near the top the average is getting close to 2.0 again and I’m kinda gutted we are hitting the downhill just as I’ve got some kind of form back.

5th climb completed. Target time to here 12 hours. 41 mins behind!

5th climb, new territory!! (low brightness image due to panic mode which is explained below!!)

I’m ok though but we are now around 1.5-1.8w/kgs but heart rate still nice and steady in zone 3 so lets just stick to this and see, as I am starting to feel it in the neck and the knee so we are now struggling, but just with neck, knees and power!😂 Wife’s made pasta for tea so I eat this on the way down although it’s gone a bit cold due to how long this climb just took me…… I Also get a “low battery” warning pop up on my IPad screen causing a panic in the middle of the climb! I totally forgot that although I had the iPad plugged in, I had the brightness set to my usual race night 100% brightness and this just depletes the battery power on the longer rides.🤦‍♂️ As it’d been ages since I’d done a long ride, I had totally forgot this happens so I went into full power saving mode, but I have to stop pedaling for 30 seconds while I sort it as I really don’t want to mess around with the IPad’s touch screen while pedaling and accidentally hit something that ruins the whole ride! I turn the brightness right down, switch to Map mode so less is happening on screen, check the battery and its at 7%!! I start riding again and I’m just waiting for the screen to go blank… pleeeeeease don’t!!!! Luckily It doesn’t and as I stop again a little later, the battery is now at 15% so its going the right way but can you imagine if it had just gone off!!??? I dread to think!

6th climb complete. target time to here 14 hours 30. well behind!

6th climb, I am now uncomfortable on the saddle! I’d tried everything to limit this to the end, I was standing up a lot more often than usual, re applying cream, changing shorts, but it was always gonna come, so I have to do this climb in just a world of hurt. This is now just head down, looking at my legs coming up and down for 3 hours whilst looking up now and again in the hope I’m at the top and I’m still at least keeping Francy64 behind!! Weirdly, “legs” are fine, just knees are hurting as my pace/cadence is dropping and putting the strain on the knees. BUT! it was at the top of this climb that I now knew this was in the bag as the last climb wasn’t as long as all the others as it ends 3/4 the way up! YES!

7th climb completed! too tired to take a picture over the line! target 17 hours!

56 mins away from my target! I will take that!

7th and final climb. I work out the bottom what I needed to do to get this ride done in under 18 hours and set off at a nice pace. How is it now that 2.0w/kgs are achievable yet the last 3 climbs I’ve not got anywhere near this figure??? the mind and body are a strange thing aren’t they!!! once I hit half way and was a good 5 minutes in-front of my set pace, I was just happy to let off slightly and get myself to the end. crossed the line and just sat back for a minute to take it in. Already I’m getting congratulations messages and I’m just taking it in. I get off the bike (just about managing to get my leg over) and its like the body just shuts down. I can hardly walk to the bathroom, I just get straight in the shower and I’m just stood there for 10 mins! The plan was to get in the hot tub, but I’m warm but also shaking with feelings of being cold!! I get under the covers and after regaining some composure, I respond to a few messages then boom! I’m fast asleep! Woke up feeling fine, just really hungry, slightly stiff, but that was a weird end to the night!

Soooo many more messages coming through and I’m now starting to realize what I’ve done/did! I was on the bike for nearly 18 hours!! Twenty Nine thousand feet of climbing, nearly 150 miles. One climb at just over 4000ft felt like nothing and made me go too fast on the 2nd and 3rd which was my only mistake. I know I can do it better…. faster….more efficiently…. SHUT UP HEAD!! we don’t need to be thinking of this already!!

I’ve just sent off my results to Le-col and Everesting.cc so will wait for those responses before Publishing this Blog as I really don’t want to leave this with no real closure (like most Netflix documentary’s I’ve watched recently!!)

03/07/24

Late tonight I got the email saying my effort is now in the Everesting Hall of Fame! I’ve been awarded the virtual Everesting badge and it’s now official. Really pleased with this. Now I just need to wait for Le-Col to replay as I’ve not heard anything off them and sent them a follow up e:mail today to see if they can give me any information on the progress for my free Jersey.

05/07/24

Finally got the code from le-col so I access the link and I purchase my £165 8848 jersey for £4.95 postage only!

Stick a fork in me! We are done!

Conclusions:

That is a tough challenge but feels amazing knowing I’ve achieved this!

Those guys and Gals who do this in an outdoor environment are just at another level completely! This is not lost on me. There’s no way I could have done this outside. The way I felt on those last 3 climbs, and the last 2 downhills, means there’s no way I would have been able to keep a real bike upright and safe in the real world without some kind of crash or just have been defeated.

What set out as just a way to try and get a free Jersey, ended up in a month of focus and training which if anything is to be learned from this, is you really need to train and work out so much about your body before even attempting this. Especially if you’ve never done anything like this and are more like me rather than, for example, a 34 year old 62kg rider in peak form!

I’m a 50 year old, slightly over weight, not as fit as I could be cyclist! I needed the training, especially the 4 rep effort I did 2 weekends ago as that taught me my sweat amount and also what foods can be easily digested when you start to get a bit of fatigue. Meal prep and the off bike routine was all learned through the training as well. But we are all different so learn your body is all I am saying.

I’m blown away by the support I received! The messages of encouragement and those guys and gals who popped on to ride a few climbs with me during the day, wow! Just wow.

BUT mostly I really want to inspire YOU dear reader to do it! You can do it if you plan it properly. I’ve loved the whole experience and already pledged to do it again next year, but only if my weight it a lot lower than it is today! Hey, I’ve already done this at 85.9kgs so I’ve no reason to do that again at that weight or even heavier, but 79kgs…. well, that’s a whole other story isn’t it.

Thank you to everyone who helped me get this done. You all know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Thank you to everyone whos had to put up with my comment and posts since I’ve done this 😉

And thank you to you readers for reading to the end. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with me.

Neil (Mucker1974)