Everesting end of February...

[toontra]

I' always thought Tenerife would be an ideal place for this, routing up the southern approach to Teide. More or less 2000m continual climb on minor but well-surfaced roads with a steady gradient of around 6% and never above 9. It takes me just over 3 hours going up and about 40 minutes down, so 4 1/2 ascents means 18 hours with occasional rests. Some of it would have to be done in darkness.

Not going to happen this February though

[colin54]

We- or rather somebody - could try extreme Everesting ie climbing underwater mountains on a bike in a diving suit. Before long, somebody would be trying to do it without oxygen.

However I feel a diving suit may be overkill for Mauna Kea's admittedly somewhat damper approach slopes, a double Ventile anorak would suffice surely, just cinch up the hood & waist good and tight. Good enough for Everest...Pomoika'i !

[thirdcrank]

Black's anoraks have been evolved over the years..............

A bit of evidence of how far down the market Black's has sunk over the years.

[geocycle]

Highest pub in UK?
Tan Hill Inn I think.

Ride up there, drink a pint, back down, back up there, another pint etc etc etc

Great idea. Tan Hill famously starred in the 1970s double glazing advert with Ted Moult, Buy the best, fit Everest!

[thirdcrank]

Here's Ted Moult with "You only fit double glazing once"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBPWJfq4dDA

And here's Craig Doyle when they replaced it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNnAPZCZSY

[Ride-sleep-repeat]

You'd drink more doing The Struggle-Kikstone Pass Inn than you would Reeth to Tan Hill Inn

The Struggle-Kirkstone Pass Inn:
2.86miles
1322ft of ascent so 21.9 times up= 22 pints

Reeth to Tan Hill Inn:
11.1 miles
1732ft of ascent so 16,75 times up=17 pints

Although you get a Pint every 3 miles in the Kirkstone Pass Inn I'd much rather do Tan Hill as I've never had a good Pint in the Kirkstone Pass Inn but have rarely had a bad one in the Tan Hill Inn

(Camped at the Tan Hill Inn a few times(free!) and always had a cracking if rather interesting night!)

[geocycle]

You'd drink more doing The Struggle-Kikstone Pass Inn than you would Reeth to Tan Hill Inn

The Struggle-Kirkstone Pass Inn:
2.86miles
1322ft of ascent so 21.9 times up= 22 pints

Reeth to Tan Hill Inn:
11.1 miles
1732ft of ascent so 16,75 times up=17 pints

Although you get a Pint every 3 miles in the Kirkstone Pass Inn I'd much rather do Tan Hill as I've never had a good Pint in the Kirkstone Pass Inn but have rarely had a bad one in the Tan Hill Inn

(Camped at the Tan Hill Inn a few times(free!) and always had a cracking if rather interesting night!)

When you put it like that I can see the scale of the challenge. I’m a wuss with beer so I’ll leave that one to MickF.

Thanks for posting the ads TC. The famous feather was still there last time I passed through Tan Hill.

[Mick F]

Normal strength beer is drinkable by the half pint once an hour without intoxication as a liver will process at that rate.
Note, "normal strength" and by that I suppose means less than 4%alc.
3.8% of decent real ale is quite nice.

So ........... 34 halves would be fine in 34hrs.

Do you have to do this "everesting" within 24hrs?
If so, you might get a bit tipsy, but not much if you pace yourself.

[rareposter]

Do you have to do this "everesting" within 24hrs?
If so, you might get a bit tipsy, but not much if you pace yourself.

I thought that was in the original rules but apparently not - the only related rule is no breaks for sleeping, it has to be done in one ride. A friend of mine Everested The Kemmelberg in Belgium - a cobbled climb - and it took them about 30hrs. I think the idea of drinking anything other than Coke, energy drinks, water and coffee were a long way away. Although they did pick up a lot of Belgian beer on the way home!

Edit - actually the reason it took them 30 hrs was because they miscalculated and did more reps than they actually needed to reach 8848m. They were working off a segment that was 9m less climbing then the full segment of the climb they actually rode so they ended up riding 10,034m. >10,000m in a single ride is called High Rouleurs.

[Pebble]

Highest pub in UK?
Tan Hill Inn I think.

Ride up there, drink a pint, back down, back up there, another pint etc etc etc

Reeth to Tan Hill Inn:
11.1 miles
1732ft of ascent so 16,75 times up=17 pints

You would need 4 pints every time you got to the Inn just to keep up with calories burnt. It would be some day out
(wild calculations done on back of fag packet)

[NATURAL ANKLING]

HI,
I have drunk at tan hill, 7 pints / shorts in one eve, then slept in the rear garden with the generator going all night
I think it was watered down.
Walked into one pub on the pennines and ordered a pint of lager, got half way through and had to leave it, exercising and drinking on an empty stomach not recommended, that was 1980 I have never repeated mixing alcohol with exercise.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
"Everest conquering the death zone "
You can watch this on Channel 5 catch up.

[thirdcrank]

The end of February has been and gone .................

[pq]

I had a mate get in touch recently trying to set up an Everesting record attempt for a pro living in Girona. Wanted to know if my corner of SW France had anything suitable (it doesn't).

Hi criteria were:

More than 10% too keep the distance down
Straight for fast descents
Good road surface for obvious reasons
Rural
Not much traffic

The only place I've been which would have best satisfied those requirements, at least in Europe was the Asturias Mountains in northern Spain. There are several roads I've ridden there which were newly constructed so had great surfaces but didn't mess around with bends, I guess on the basis that all modern vehicles can get up a 20% gradient.

The other obvious thing to look for but further afield is anywhere the Chinese have recently built a road in the mountains. They build the best roads I have ever seen and aren't bothered sending them over 5000m passes, although they do make a big effort to keep the gradients moderate.

[thirdcrank]

I think that if this were to become a recognised sport, with purpose-built roads, then the ideal would be a parabola, whose ideal co-ordinates would need a bit of experiment. I have in mind a good road surface forming a straight line down one side, levelling off at the bottom before starting a similar climb. That way the rider would lose no kinetic energy at the bottom of the descent but could carry it all into the climb of the other side. The experimenting would cover the ideal slopes and the height of the tops of each side: things like oxygen level would play a part and the trade-off between the boredom of long stretches and time lost turning at the top of each climb.

Spectators would play a big part, mainly when the section they were alongside had a rider climbing and they would be expected to chant encouragement: Up! Up! Up! seems as good as anything. There would have to be barriers to prevent any jonny-foreigners giving their riders a push.

A further development might be having the track in dual carriageway form, with two riders starting at the same time on opposite summits. That should give all the spectators to shout about. To ensure maximum track use, there could be relay events and even tandems.

In short up and down tracks - or rather down and up - would be a change from track riders going round and round.