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Back on the bike today for the first time post-operation; got to help a buddy do his first SDW single this weekend, then I'll have a bash at this in a fortnights time if the weather plays ball.
I'll do it on the XC Tallboy and am going to stick a Lauf on the front.
Some from up north may say the SDW does not count as mountain biking, and if you can get away with a Lauf, its even less like mountain biking..... I'm just going to do it to see how long it takes.
Well all the best with it. Do post how you got on. I'm so for from anything kike this its not true. maybe Ben Nevising for me
The only thing I'm confused about is why start by posting the Everesting rules then say your not going to follow them?
The only thing I’m confused about is why start by posting the Everesting rules then say your not going to follow them?
Because it was the simplest way of getting engagement with people without having to explain Everesting from scratch in detail.
OK, I realise I linked to the Everest rules page, when I should just have linked to the Everest general info page. my bad
I think it’s about the pureness of tackling one ‘mountain’. Climbing Everest is about going up (and down), it’s not about doing a tour of the Himalayas.
But if climbing the actual Everest then you don't repeatedly go up and down the same bit multiple times, the climb would be novel the whole way up, and novel the whole way down. Therefore doing something like South Downs Way Double with a bit extra on the end would be a purer replacement for doing the actual Everest rather than just sessioning one hill.
(I get that 'The Rules' say differently, and to join their special club you need to follow their rules. If I did a SDW Double then I wouldn't appear on the list, but I'd be happy that I had done an Everest)
I've looked at this before. I've done 7100m climbing/descending in one mtb ride before, done over 8000m on the road, although both were events not repeats of the same per the rules.
I also think for a pure everesting off road you would look for something that is okay to use a road bike up, but not down. The one road I am thinking of I would ride my roadie up if I had to, but coming down would be very slow picking your way through the rougher sections.
There is a segment near me called "The Exponential" which is 0.45km long and has 48m of ascent. The main route up is actually tarmac however it has 3 off-road routes up or down - one on smooth gravel and the other two (at either side of the road) on singletrack. Something like that would be a good option as you could even alter the routes up and down to make it (somewhat) less tedious. It's also very fast to get down if you use the tarmac option.
Of course you would have to ride it a lot of times!
(I get that ‘The Rules’ say differently, therefore if i did a SDW Double then I wouldn’t appear on the list, but I’d be happy that I had done it.)
You're starting to mix challenges. The SDW Double is a challenge in its own right, the climbing is sort of irrelevant because the achievement is the Double. People who do it say they've done the SDW Double, not that they've done 8848+ m climbing in one ride and by the way that ride was the SDW Double.
I mean, it's kind of splitting hairs a bit and largely a pedantic point but this is STW, home of pedantic points!
You could do this one - in Wales on the leg burner at Nant-yr-arian, apparently Gethin went up it 50 odd times on Saturday
[url] https://www.strava.com/activities/3681450010#comments [/url]
K2ing The act of completing 8611m of ascent & descent on a mountain bike in a single ride. The descent should be mainly off road and should be something that isn’t possible to ride (repeatedly) on a road bike. Ascent can be via a different route, or the same route if you are a riding god.
A thumbs up from me. The letter of your law might be challenged by the road bike party videos though (Someone will always find a way to ride inappropriate stuff on a road bike)!
This guy has already done a K2: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/121646639/kiwi-rider-conquers-everest-by-climbing-more-than-9000m-on-his-mountain-bike
The word 'epic' is overused but that's pretty epic! This would be way harder than a road Everest.
@simondbarnes, I've done 10 on the San Marino, https://strava.app.link/N0B8gdfrJ7
But there is no way I could do another 40+ laps.
That just seems crazy to someone like me.. I looked up Streatley hill, which is road, but 79 times up it !!!! i'm not convinced i could do 3 !!! Let alone the next 76 !!! Wow is all i have to say.
A local to me guy did this segment last year. There's a couple of sections of tarmac (still lose traction going up them if it's slightly wet) but it's mainly gravel.
https://www.strava.com/segments/18185816
Righto, update.....
A colleague from work is keen on this, and as so often happens it's headed off at a tangent. He's keen on the full E tick so we've binned the Cannock option and are heading to Minton Batch for an attempt tomorrow. Feeling somewhat ambivalent, Cannock Lower Cliff loop looked almost doable, with its "free" 20m ascent on the descent, but it wasn't the big E.
But this Minton Batch thing looks way beyond me. In my head I'm thinking 5km is a reasonable effort and 6.6km would be a result. I can't see myself managing the full 9 [thousand] yards!
I'm supposed to be doing it as a sponsored event,but haven't managed to do all the paperwork yet. !
Place your bets on how many [few?] metres I'll manage!
Good luck!
Oof. Rethink needed. I did about 4,400m or 20 laps of Minton Batch. It was seriously hard work. Very little opportunity to sit down on the descent so very draining. The track is lovely though, can see why people love it.
Had to go get a new tyre midway through, which wasted about 90 minutes, then my BB went, but kept going. By midnight it was clearly going to take over thirty hours, and neither of us had that in the tank, not even close. I did a few more laps just to get to 20 whilst he recovered in the car.
With better logistics, ie not having to drive 2.5 hours in the morning, and a much easier route it might be possible, but not on that route. Just too hard ( though I think it's fair to say it is quite an easy route as MTB sections go)
The accomplice did some iron man thing last year for which the run was Scafell Pike Marathon and the cycle was the Fred Whitton, and he was nowhere near this one either... So I'm not feeling despondent. It was just way too hard
Hmmmmmm
Over to you Rob... Good luck.