If you’re finding yourself missing the particular type of insanity that rides like the Massochistah have to offer, fear not! Word of “Everesting” has reached our shores, and we are rolling with it!
Officially, Everesting began in 2014 when an Australian riding club, Hells 500, organized a group Everesting event then created a website dedicated to the endeavor making it an official challenge. The concept of Everesting, as the promotors describe it, “is fiendishly simple: Pick any hill, anywhere in the world and complete repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8,848m (29,029ft) – the equivalent height of Mt Everest.”
To our knowledge, NCC member Carson Poe was the first in the Club to complete the challenge. He rode up a section of Route 143 all day long to complete it on May 30th (after an unsuccessfully attempt on King’s Highway, two weeks before). Then on June 7th, Jonathon O’Keeffe rode up and down Clark Hill Road in Amherst 263 ridiculous times.
So, if you’re interested in giving it a shot, check out their website. In the absence of races, cycling events, and club rides the words of George Mallory the mountaineer ring with relevance – when asked why he was climbing Mt. Everest he is famously reported to have said, “Because it’s there.” And right now not much is.