Well, finally, my hand has been forced and my Everesting will happen Monday/Tuesday next week. I got a job offer back home in Brisbane earlier in the week, which I've accepted, meaning I have no choice really but to do it - a case of now or never.
The Hill
It's been a long 6 months since my first failed attempt, and I've seen many friends do multiple Everests in that time. I don't want to fail this time around. I know I need far more miles in my legs, better endurance, better "lots of things", but that will have to wait. I've just got to put my head down and just keep going and going. The lure of "Up" is just to strong to wait any longer.
I bought a new 12-30T cassette for the bike on Wednesday and I'll trial this tomorrow when I return home to Brissie. I need some lower gearing for the climb ahead. It's bloody steep and pretty unforgiving. There are thankfully plenty of places to stop and get my breath back on the way up.
Since I'm now in "get everything done before I leave" mode I'll only have Monday and Tuesday to make this happen. My Everesting will start about 5pm on Monday afternoon, and (hopefully) be completed sometime in the following afternoon. Riding through the night will be an experience, but the road should at least be quiet during that period allowing me to use all the road and avoid the steep camber coming up the climb. I just hope that rabid mongrel dog (that tried to eat me a few weeks back) is chained up. That's one dog that needs to be put down (and I'm a dog lover...).
A few weeks back I did an all day ride on a local climb (Clear Mtn) to test myself a little (and maybe Everest) and see how it'd go. It turned out pretty disastrous as that climb involved two very steep (+20%) climbs that after the 8th repeat proved just too tiring to ride up without putting a foot down. My endurance, despite not putting in many miles these days was pretty good, I felt fine - I just didn't have the horsepower to get over the climbs. So after 3150m I decided this wasn't the ideal place and my original "hill" was to be "the one". Besides that, it was well over 30 degrees Celsius on the day and stupidly humid. Yep, so I "caved" and decided to lick my wounds and gear up for the final push on November 2nd. A "make or break" scenario really.
I've even decided not to book any accommodation Monday night to ensure I have nowhere to go other than that "hill". This way I can't back down and wimp out. There will be no contingency plan.
Beginning in November will also allow me to get the Strava Challenge done for the month, something that hasn't occurred for awhile.
I'm looking forward to being back in Brisbane though. It means I can go back to commuting by bike everyday, and also get my old morning mountain bike rides in too. Win-win all round really.
Bring on Monday afternoon.
