Are you familiar with Everesting? It's a practice that involves cycling the equivalent height of Mount Everest, 8,848 meters, in one go, on any steep road. It's a huge challenge that's gaining more and more followers in America and Europe.

Mountaineers have Everest. Runners have the New York Marathon. But what do cyclists have? "Everesters" seem to have found the answer. To date, some 120 people have attempted Everesting, which means climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest (8,848 meters) in a single day, on a mountain of their choice.

Simple athletic pride? A lack of new challenges? It doesn't matter. The feat is attracting more and more cycling enthusiasts, especially from England, who now boast of having their own "Everest" to conquer.

Round trips against the clock

Of course, Everesting does not cause altitude sickness as mountaineers experience when climbing the highest mountain on the planet. There is no question here of lack of oxygen, untimely vomiting, unbearable headaches, and sleep apnea. The summer conditions in which cyclists ride are nothing like the climate on Everest. Nevertheless, Everesting is no walk in the park either.

There are certain principles to respect. First rule, the cyclist must climb and descend the same road several times. Second rule, there is no question of stopping to sleep, everything must be accomplished on the same day.

The shortest Everesting route recorded was 95.6 kilometers on the odometer, with an 18.6% climb. The longest was 461.7 km in total, with a 4.11% climb. As cyclist Max Leonard, who details his own adventure on his blog, points out: "Choose a gentle incline, and the adventure will take two days and a night. Choose a steep incline, and your kneecaps will pop out of their tendons."

In the beginning, there was Everest

George Mallory, the father of Everesting, is actually... the grandson of the eponymous mountaineer who unsuccessfully attempted to climb Everest in 1924.

In the early 1990s, George Mallory Jr. was training for the ascent of Everest's north ridge. As ideas sometimes come by chance, he had the brilliant idea of training on his bike. Mount Donna Buang, near Melbourne, Australia, seemed ideal to him.

Not only would he climb the 1,084 meters of Donna Buang by bike, but he would go up and down until he accumulated as many kilometers of elevation as Everest itself. However, Everesting was not born immediately: George Mallory's legs did not tolerate the treatment. Once was enough for his calves. But with perseverance (and, let's face it, with the stubborn character of any athlete), he got what he wanted. The 8,848 meters of elevation, accomplished by riding 287 "horizontal" kilometers.

Everesting for everyone

It was only eleven years after Mallory's first "Everest" that another cyclist repeated the feat in 2006. Then, in 2012, the idea began to germinate in the minds of many other cyclists, thanks in particular to the Strava application.

An excellent tool for sharing performances, Strava allows you to stay connected with your fellow riders. This social network is also specially designed for cyclists who want to compare their records by mapping their rides. There is even an "Everesting Hall of Fame" on Strava!

Now that Strava is disseminating the information, Everesting seems accessible to everyone... or almost. Because you have to be a little crazy to attempt the feat!

To learn more

http://blog.strava.com/on-top-of-the-world-everesting-8332/

http://www.everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Recipient of the AJIQ-Le Devoir and Fernand-Seguin scholarships in 2013, Anabel Cossette Civitella is a passionate freelance journalist whose work can be read in magazines such as Les Débrouillards , Curium , Châtelaine , Québec Science and in Le Devoir . Summer or winter, she never goes out without her bike...