Winter Solstice Everest

27 laps of the same climb, to reach the elevation gain of the height of Everest, on one of the longest nights of the year.

As with most of my ideas, they’re far from the norm. I decided to celebrate this winter solstice, by ticking off a classic ultra rider achievement and completing an Everest.  An Everest is where you ride up and down the same climb gaining enough vertical meters you reach the height of Everest. That’s 8848m in one ride.

When you think of the longest night and shortest day you probably think of staying inside, being cosy and definitely not doing a crazy big ride. But I like riding under the stars, there’s something peaceful about it and not to mention you can’t really tell if you’re going up hill or how fast you are going. The first thing everyone said was “not the best time to do that, why don’t you wait until summer”. But with everything one should never “wait for the best time” as that will never come. The best time is now. 

My climb of choice was the back side of Els Angles, the closest climb to Girona. I’ve done this climb many a time and so had an idea of how long each climb would take. I factored in some pause time and added on a few minutes for fatigue. To reach the magic 8848 I had to climb Els 27 times. Which only on the ride over there did it dawn on me quite how much that is. Being the far side meant yes, before the elevation clock started I had to ride the 500m up and over the climb first.

I left home around midnight, with an aim to finish within 20 hours. Rogue time to start for some, but a few friends said they would support and that would be between 3-5 in the afternoon. So aimed to be the most tired then. When the end is in sight I knew I’d get the beans but laps 20-24 I concluded would be the best for some support. And going into the night tired is exhausting but riding through the night, when the sun rises it’s like that was all a dream and the day just starts.

It is quite disorientating riding in the dark, you loose perception of where you are, but by the third lap I already knew what km every sign, tree and rock was at. And had the descent dialled in I could do it blindfolded.

Lap 7 came and the quarter way point. I think it was about 5am. The sun rising still a while away. And the temperature still dropping. The descent was cold, but luckily being only 5kms just as I was getting really cold I was back up climbing. It was very much taking layers off up the climb to put them all back on at the top for the descent. 

I had stored two big 8L bottles of water and loads of snacks at the bottom the day before. But throughout the night it was really too cold to stop for too long so I tended to just turn straight back up. Not the best fuelling strategy… 

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky so the stars were so bright. For the 7 hours of darkness it was just me, the stars and Taylor Swift from 2014 on repeat. 

The sun started to rise around lap 10 and it was insane. This climb has an open view towards to sea, so the colours in the sky started turning orange. Truly amazing. And then when the sun popped up at the top of lap 11 I had a new lease of life. The temperature rising and all those kms clocked feeling like a dream. I think it is one of the best sun rises I’ve ever seen, the slow change in the crazy colours or maybe the situation has something to play into that.

Lawrence met me at the top with one of my favourite donuts and gave me a chance to finally stop and eat and drink.

As the day started other riders started appearing on the climb, a few people I saw a couple of times. And here started the fun game of watching riders trying to work out what on earth I was up to. I was going far too slowly to be doing intervals but why was I going up and down? This was a theme throughout the day. Part of me thought I should have written a sign saying I’m doing an Everest.

Midday and 5000m hit, over half way. I’ll be honest here my legs started to feel it. I think from my poor fuelling so far. So I made sure to keep eating lots. Luckily I had a Styrkr bar for each lap, so needed to keep this up. Perfect day weather-wise, although still a bit cold there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining.

Top of lap 16 I was greeted by the overland running boys, they’d ran a 20-odd k trail run which I think is crazy but then I remembered what I was doing. Seeing some friendly faces was the morale boost I needed.

Looking at the numbers I was like “oh I’ve not got far to go now”, but I still had 3000m elevation to go. That’s a big day by normal standards, as always it’s all about perspective. 

6500m I was in a bit of a low but that soon went as I was greeted by Max, with Aquarius and sweets, it just what I needed. The top of the next lap I was joined by Lawrence, Sammy, Mads and Klara. Again another great morale boost. And Lawrence bringing the Aquarius goods too. The elixir of life I call it. All having had a big ride day too but very aware they couldn’t say anything about being tired given the feat I was undertaking.

It was golden hour now and Lawrence joined for a full lap whilst taking some amazing photos and videos. Lap 21 and the moped with Jacob and Anna with a coffee arrived. First hot thing I’d had all day. And it was truly needed. The sun was setting and 6 laps left. The end was in sight.

As the night came in, so did tiredness but the coffee got me through. I’d been eating the rocket espresso chocolates throughout the day too. And I was back under the stars into the peace of darkness.

Lap 26 I’d reached 8830… did I really have to do a whole other lap. The answer was yes. One last cold descent, turn at the bottom, press the lap button, it beeps 27 and just after the first steep section, the numbers switched. 8848. I’d done it.

Now just to get to the top and descend down the other side and into town. I had a moment at the top. A crazy feeling. I felt like I’d lived a whole lifetime but at the same time, I’d not been anywhere but on that 5k climb all day.  It was just one day but it felt like an eternity.

9,157 meters climbed over 285km with 16 hour ride time totalling an 18 hour day. 1 hour and 40 minutes faster than I thought! Looking at the stats every climb (except two) were between 26-28 minutes. Consistency really is king and I sure know the one pace I can sustain. 

It was a great challenge and one I’m mega glad I’ve ticked off the list, and one I’ll surely do again. It’s a different sense of achievement than an ultra race or riding far from a to b. It’s much more controlled, the snacks you bring are the ones you have so you can be very prepared. I’m used to carrying everything I need, so it’s a luxury to be able to store things at the bottom. And the fact that people can come and support, I love riding alone, but being able to share these crazy things with people makes it special. 

It’s hard to visually quantify exactly how far I have been, as I would normally look at a map. But I have this cartoon image of me cycling up Everest and thinking of that blows my mind. The sunrise was one of the greatest I think I’ve ever witnessed but there weren’t so many woah moments, as you know exactly what to expect. Exactly. What. To. Expect. Im not sure when I’ll be riding up that side of Els again…

Massive thanks to Lawrence for the photos and check out the vlog on his YouTube so you can see that sunrise for yourself.

Winter solstice successfully celebrated proving that we really can ride all year. Those big challenges don’t have to wait until the summer.

Until next time :)