Nathan Evans (New South Wales, Australia) - Everesting for a Cause
Words by Nathan Evans (@_nate_jimmy) | Using The BIB Stealth since : April 2021
Most cyclists would have heard about Everesting at some point on their cycling journey. Hells 500, the creators of Everesting, describe it as “Fiendishly simple, yet brutally hard. Everesting is the most difficult climbing challenger in the world”. It’s a simple concept. Find a hill and ride it repeatedly until you reach the vertical height of Everest of 8848 meters.
2021 in Australia was running smoothly with Covid suppressed. However, in the middle of the year, an outbreak in New South Wales plunged us back into lockdown. This put all my cycling events on hold. I watched them get postponed or cancelled one by one.
One of these events was the NSW Police Legacy Remembrance ride. This ride raises money for families of fallen Police Officers. I made a decision that Covid wouldn’t stop me and decided to continue with my fundraising efforts - solo. I wanted to plan a ride that would be Covid-proof. No lockdown rules could jeopardise the ride and, on a whim, I committed to an Everesting attempt.
I had long dreamt of the idea but never seriously considered it. I’m not much of a climber but am gifted with a “diesel” cycling engine and can chug along for hours on end. As I began my research it dawned on me the mammoth task that was at stake, I tracked down some cyclists who successfully completed an Everesting attempt. All had similar advice “Don’t!”. This speaks volumes about the task ahead of me.
About 12:15 am on Friday the 3rd of September 2021 I packed my car, slipped on my Navy RedWhite bib shorts (to match my blue Police Legacy kit) and set off for Mt Keira, Wollongong - my chosen mountain.
I started the ride at 12:51 am and successfully completed 24 ascents for a total elevation gain of 8923 meters. The effort took a total moving time of 13 hours and 43 minutes.
During this ordeal I never once regretted my bibshort choice. Not a single saddle sore or chaffing. I can not recommend RedWhite Bibshorts enough!
For those contemplating an Everesting attempt I will leave you with this quote about resilience :
“When your head in exploding under the pressure bearing down on you,
When your guts are being torn apart by chaos and crisis, when you
want to quit, when everyone wants you to quit, resilience is the dark drug that whispers to you:
Keep going.
Because you know you can. You must.
When you have nothing to lose, you’re free to do anything"
-Tim Grover-
Note : If you'd like to support the NSW Policy Legacy, make a donation at Nathan Evans' fundraising page here.