How high could you ride in one day, in one ride? It’s a question few cyclists will ask themselves seriously; but tackling the Everesting challenge in one ride has long been on Marcel’s bike bucket list and when the opportunity arose to have a go at an Everesting 10K there was no way she could turn it down. Just 1 day, 320km, and 10,000 vertical metres to conquer. Earning your dreams isn’t easy – but you can do it while having one the best days of your life.
Before I’d even bought my first road bike; I’d discovered this amazing concept of Everesting from my now coach (then favourite spin class instructor in the Eastern Suburbs) who had smashed out 2 of them in as many months. I wasn’t even a “cyclist” yet – just a 6 months pregnant daydreamer; but I said to myself one day I’m going to do that. It didn’t take long to discover I loved the challenge of climbing hills, of training and riding bikes – in getting stronger and faster, going longer and climbing higher. I’d been looking for a suitable climb to use for an Everesting for a while as I wanted a first ascent (one not done by anyone before) and something near home but I was yet to find the perfect climb that I’d want to spend all day and night on.
Then as all good adventures tend to start – in late November 2022 I shared a STRAVA picture of someone else’s MTB brevet of 300km 9445vm around Christchurch and the Banks Peninsular with my adventure and training buddy (when I want to die a painful threshold death in race preparation training that is), Kyle. Of course he already had a similar route planned that I was welcome to join him on – but I said we’d have to round it up to 10, 000 climbing metres and it would need to be on the road. Kyle then added he would want to do the whole thing within 24hrs…. Okay then. This would be bigger than a traditional Everesting; it was sounding like the next level Everesting 10K. I was 100% keen. We picked a day that worked for both our schedules and began planning this adventure.
The Everesting 10K rules are clear – one ride, any hills or combinations of hills, any route or loop, no minimum distance required, bike changes allowed, no sleep and minimum 10K vertical metres climbed. Of course using one climb and doing repeats would be most efficient – but an adventure would be truly epic and memorable. We settled on an out and back loop from Christchurch to Akaroa that on paper looked achievable at 320kms and 10,000vm.
I messaged my coach and he was instantly onboard. We got to work doing more in the gym and on the bike than ever before. I trained A LOT; I gave 110% to every single session, every single day because I knew I could bring nothing but my best to this day. I’ll never be as strong or as fast as Kyle (except downhill or with a strong tailwind), but I did not want to be the one holding us back any more than would be necessary on the day. It had been a rough end to 2022 – no road bike while I waited 6 weeks for a new one, a broken trainer meant I needed a new one while I waited for parts, and using my new fun MTB for training sucked the joy from what was meant to be a fun time for learning new skills. But I got through it. Only my family and closest Crew legends knew this was even on the cards; and without their daily support and encouragement I don’t think I would have even made it through the training. Failure was just not an option on this one; the sacrifices I’d made to my family & myself to get to this point meant I couldn’t settle for anything less than success.
The weather was predicted to be perfect for our scheduled day; Rowan (my better half, LUPA & life CFO) had “agreed” to be our Crew Support and logistics for the day; and Perrin my 7 year old would be along for the ride to eat all the snacks. All I had to do was cover 320km, 36 climbs, and 10,000 vertical metres in under 24 hours. I’d dialled in my nutrition – aiming for 80g-100g of carbs an hour, predominately in liquid carb mix & gel form; then supplement with food that I’d previously enjoyed and digested easily when we stopped (caramel dutch waffles, mini pancakes with jam/maple syrup, blueberry muffins, oat bars, salted chips, snickers bars, lolly dinosaurs, rice crackers, bananas, orange juice, sprite). I might only eat one thing but you just never know what you are going to want, let alone stomach, the further you get into the day – so I’ve found its always best to have a wide range available.
I didn’t even need my 12:30am alarm; because I hardly slept anyway. Nervous and also excited because the day I had long dreamed about conquering; was here. I forced myself to eat my normal pre long ride breakfast of beet juice & protein oats with berries – which took ages because I was really not hungry at all; but today would require a lot of forced eating when I didn’t feel like it anyway. I scrolled some socials to pass the digesting time (nothing was new – everyone was asleep!). Did a quick final weather check, gear check, got dressed, packed my snacks and got ready to roll out the door on time at 1:45am to ride the 3km to our start on Hackthorne Rd. At this moment my Garmin decided it was time to not load normally. Great… Worked fine yesterday… After a lot of resets and realising I was now late, I just switched it off and rode down the 3kms to our start point hoping to deal with it then after it had a little snooze to wake up to itself and get into the game.
After quite a few apologies to Kyle (and still not being ready to go); I kept resetting my Garmin until finally it loaded the right course in the right mode and everything was paired. We could finally start!
2:15am and we were on our way up the first climb on Hackthorne Road. Having not done any night riding I was curious how this would go. It was so peaceful; so calm and I just loved it – didn’t feel spooky or weird at all. It was a beautiful clear and starry night – amazing looking down over all of a sleepy Christchurch. There were wild owls swooping at my head and hedgehogs scurrying to get under my wheel; but thankfully the sheep were resting off the road for a change. I did feel a bit like a creep when passing all the steamy love wagons or smoked out stoners across the Summit though in those early hours – but it was also hard to not laugh that somethings don’t change no matter the years that pass. Everything was going pretty well for the first couple of hours; Kyle’s chat was great and mine was average like usual and we were making good time considering it was my first night ride.
Then it was Kyle’s turn for some tech issues as his light went out and refused to come back on despite the battery reading as charged. Both our spare lights were in the car waiting for the first scheduled stop (what noobs…lesson #1 always carry your spare lights). It would still be a few hours until first light but I made my light brighter to illuminate more of the road and it was pretty easy going if we stayed close. We came back across the top of Summit Road and this huge crescent moon had risen directly in front of us. It was 100% one of those wow moments – so beautiful to witness the natural world at it’s finest when you are in the right place and the right time. You can’t get that if you don’t say yes to adventures!
The sun was soon up and vibes were high. We’d done just over 2500vm in 5 hours as we rolled (aka bombed) into Port Levy for our first refuelling stop (YAY PANCAKES!) and my bike change. I was using my MTB for this climb over to Little River since I am not confident riding on gravel/dirt. I’d not done this part of the route before; but I trusted Kyle’s assessment that it was within my ability. And it was beautiful though parts of the dense forest. I love riding through lush forests the most, it is always my favourite on a bike. However; my knees were a raging inferno with gnawing pain from a saddle that was too low as soon as we hit the steeper sections of the main climb. I could have stopped and adjusted it; but I also should have checked my set up beforehand and I didn’t want to waste 5 minutes now when I could leave it with Rowan on the other side to fix. So I just retreated into myself to focus on keeping a good line and just breathing through the pain to get it done. I was definitely not the best company at that moment! Ate some happiness waffles, got back on my roadie and everything was perfect again. I was stoked to be riding my favourite bike and got my vibes back to head over into the Eastern Bays of the Peninsular.
As we were heading up the Christchurch-Akaroa climb a car pulled alongside us, window down to greet us with a familiar voice. Kev, NZBRO founder and good friend, was making his way over to meet us in Akaroa. Neither Kyle or I are good at asking for help or inconveniencing others ever – but I was glad I’d reached out to Kev and asked him come along for a morale boost. The look of surprise and happiness on Kyle’s face was definitely worth it and I was pretty relieved it was a hit cause I didn’t want to be glared at for the rest of the long day ahead. There really is nothing like an injection of chat and enthusiasm from someone who isn’t 10 hours deep on the bike to boost morale as I’d learned before when virtual Everesting and Kev brings a lot of chat and good vibes in general. The route from Akaroa was quite a difficult one with some big vertical to gain; but it’s also a very scenic part of the loop that takes in Little Akaloa and Okains Bay which neither Kyle or Kev had been through (I’d previously recce’d this portion of our route and adore riding this section).
It was getting hot at this point in the day, there was limited shade and not much of a breeze to catch to keep us cool. My feet had started to swell and my pinky toes were rubbing irritatingly, then painfully; against my shoe. A quick stop to loosen the BOAs & take on some paracetamol didn’t do much to relieve it but I’d just have to ride it out until it was cooler. Kev had some great chat but my ted talk contributions were getting shorter the closer we got to the 30% pinch I knew we had coming – which Kev did not know about. I think that made it far less miserable than the first time I rode it solo (also the 34 rear cassette might have helped!). Something about sharing the pain also makes it more enjoyable. We rolled back down to the Team Car meeting point (avoiding some more road sheep…); said a massive thanks & farewell to a still smiling Kev even after that climb out of Okains Bay.
My feet were good now we were out of the sun and the heat was dissipating but I was starting to feel like I did not want to see or eat any more food. I opted for a bunch of liquid calories at this next stop and some dinosaur lollies which really seemed to do the trick. Said see ya in about 90 minutes to our amazing support crew and rolled out to tackle our last Akaroa section up Long Bay Rd.
This was when the hardest part mentally happened for the whole ride; and it was the only time I had to really battle to not give up. 15 hours in, with 220km in the legs and I was struggling up a long 10%+ climb while the winds were increasing. I hated this climb from the minute we turned onto it. I couldn’t push anything more than 3.0w/kg; everything felt hard and the climb seemed endless with the persistent head wind making me feel like I was moving through quicksand… I was falling behind and watching Kyle easily inch away and I thought this was the moment I’d be left behind because I was so slow… That I really wasn’t good enough… My focus was starting to unravel and some mental cracks started to show… How would I make the 19%+ climbs ahead if I clearly suck right now on a 10% gradient… How would I even have anything left to get over the gravel climb and even make it down the other side on the gravel because I have no skills to manage it…It would be dark and we’ll never make it because I am awful at descending off-road and we wont make it in reasonable respectable time… I am just not good enough to do this… My biggest fears were taking hold and I just had endless doubts going round and round in my mind. I sobbed quietly to myself for 3km of that 4.5km climb, made it to the top but just felt so deflated and defeated. Everything seemed too much and I was feeling overwhelmed and in a deep panic.
When I pulled up next to the Team Car for our refuel; I awkwardly sobbed on Rowans shoulder, “How will I make it through the gravel climb?“. I was so scared. He just hugged me a little tighter and said “You will just keep turning the pedals. You’ve got this. You can do it. You keep turning the pedals.” Some times a problem shared just makes it a little easier to carry on your shoulders. Then he tried to offer me all the food and help me get some more layers on. Kyle was snacking up a salty storm and offering me even more food I couldn’t stand to see. I just wanted to vomit at the sight of all food right then. You know you need to eat but it was an awful battle to do anything more than sip on Sprite. Until Rowan remembered the bananas; and it was like a magic word because these never make me feel sick. I ate and tried to refocus (lots of deep breaths) – only 5 climbs to go. I didn’t want to leave but I had to; you can’t get anywhere if you don’t keep turning the pedals. No one can move you forward; except yourself and of course Kyle was ready to go – so off we went down the hill to make our way out of the Banks Peninsular and back over to Christchurch.
It was around this time that messages started coming in thick and fast on my Garmin from my legendary group of friends – with the right blend of humour, wild assumptions and positivity. Clearly they had forgotten I was seeing the chat but it was the best distraction and reassurance I needed that I was going to get this done. It lightened the load on my mind and I could feel my mood lifting because when you know people believe in you; you find it easier to believe in yourself too.
We post-manned it up the steep AF sections, me not looking at watts anymore and just working to keep the momentum on moving forward. We were even only a few minutes off our expected pace which was a great surprise so the vibes were pretty good rolling up to the Team Car. Made a quick bike change where the road seal ends back to the MTB; had some more bananas and tucked into a pack of rice crackers, then we were off again. The sun was setting. The gravel was smooth. The wind was awful the higher we climbed. But you drop down the other side into the sheltered calm valley and we were down to 3 climbs left. Night had arrived under forest canopy for this descent. I had my spare front light on this bike for ease of attachment, rather than brightness (not my smartest moment but again, we’ll chalk that up as another learning moment). Kyle had all the lights (much fast learner) but of course it wasn’t long into the descent until his main light failed again. Whoop – we were back to two tiny lights until we got to the Team Car.
This was probably the best descent I’ve ever had on my MTB. Mostly because I couldn’t see anything except what was right in front of me (like the baby possum that wanted to flirt with its death under my wheel – not a fun part). I couldn’t overly complicate the thought process on what I needed to focus on, just had to stay relaxed and flow with it. I found myself actually enjoying it; finding good lines and feeling really balanced. It wasn’t particularly cold; though as I neared the bottom of this descent I was finding I couldn’t keep myself warm anymore even in a vest and sleeves anymore. The whole body shivers were biting pretty hard. I really needed to get to the car for my thermal jacket; get warm and eat a bit more to help my body make it.
I rolled in to make my last bike change, Rowan had my road bike and lights set up and snacks all ready. This was our final refuel stop for the day. Once we finished snacking and I was all warmed up it was time to get going again. We said our last farewell to the Team Car, I kissed my son goodnight and said see you soon – it was time for them to head back to base and warm beds. We would be on our own now until we finished. It was dark and I couldn’t clip in to my pedals. Took a few tries before I realised I was still in my MTB shoes… which are not compatible with road cleats… So yeah it was becoming very noticeable my brain was operating on low battery mode. Ooops. I changed shoes over, said goodbye again, still struggled to clip in and had to circle around a few times but this was it – 3 more climbs plus a little bit to finish the metres and it would be done. I knew I could get there – even slowly – it was the home stretch. In the dark you can’t really see that far ahead so it seems a little easier mentally because you have to just be in the moment and I really liked riding under a starry and peaceful sky. I could smell success now and I knew nothing would stop me getting there.
That didn’t mean the finish would come easy. We were about two thirds up the Bastard, our final climb, when my main light went out. We were down to our two meagre reserve lights again; both of which were on Kyles bike. He was quick to come to a stop but I couldn’t stop at this point to rearrange our lighting situation; physically my foot wouldn’t rotate with enough force to unclip from pedals while I was on the climb and I also didn’t think I’d ever get going again. I could see enough off the lights from Kyles bike so long as we kept close so we agreed we could just sort it out at the top when it flattened out.
We crested the summit near Gibraltar Rock straight into a windy and complete white-out of the Summit Road. This was very far from ideal. I managed to get one foot shakily unclipped (HOORAY) but I had no leg strength left to hold my own weight and couldn’t unclip from the otherside and crashed down onto the road still attached to my bike. There was no hiding how physically exhausted I was. I’m pretty sure I said something stupid like “I’m fine” but I was very very far from fine and very stuck under my bike in the middle of the road. Like a legend, Kyle got me and my bike upright, slapped a light on my bars and we were ready to roll on across the top and get this done. The conditions made for some very slow going. We couldn’t really see the edges of the road and could only see at most 3 meters ahead and there are a few spots on this road that had the potential for a good strong cross wind to sweep us off. But safety comes first because it doesn’t count if you don’t make it down off the climb. My light was getting dimmer and emitting a burst every few minutes as it was also getting close to winking out. I had no mental capacity to process anything except focusing on following the white centre line dashes and praying my light would hold out until we could get below the cloud fog and off Summit Road.
Just when you think you the worst is done and we would be on an easy descent down Dyers Pass into town; the last minute drama continued. The boy racers were out recklessly racing their cars up Dyers Pass in the middle of the night – coming towards us at ridiculous speed. My front light was almost out; and with every corner I thought I was going to be collected by an out of control car and die. Terrified doesn’t sum up the vibe well enough. After the first bunch of cars came past I could see more headlights coming up just as fast. Which is when it dawned on me it would only be a matter of time before they came racing back down to collect me from behind and my brain shifted to just getting down as fast as possible… I did not hug the left gutter and tried to not be too reckless but I was getting off Dyers Road as soon as possible. I swear I’ve never been happier to reach street lights and turn off onto Hackthorne Road; just as the sounds of engines drifted down behind us. There was one u-turn to make at the bottom and it was 96vm left until it was done.
1:27am the next day; a total elapsed time of 23:12:42 hours, 319.01km and 10002vm. We’d done it. I had been riding my bike for 20:30:24 hours and I managed to unclip and get my feet down so there was plenty left to smile about. I’d just entered a very exclusive club of High Rouleurs. I was now 1 of 57 women in the world to climb 10kVM in a single ride; I’d just set the new NZ women’s fastest 10kVM time; and I’d respectfully finished with a time that was 27th amongst those women in the world while doing it all on an adventure. The stoke was unbelievably high despite the complete mental and physical exhaustion (and you can bet I rode that high for so many days following!). I’d earned my dreams and that achievement alone will always be mine to cherish.
I’m not sure what will be next just yet – but you can probably bet I’ll come back to give another 10kVM day a go at some point on a more traditional Everesting (probably try to do it faster too!). I don’t think Rowan will be keen on signing up again for 19hr+ adventure Crew duties; so we may have a vacancy to fill first before we start planning the next idea… Although with a bit of time passed now, I can honestly say that this adventure was well enjoyed and worth doing. I am fortunate to have had the best people to help me achieve it.
So find the people who challenge you, who motivate you to raise yourself higher; don’t be afraid to find your limits – to chase your dreams and make them happen. You can earn anything you put your mind to and most importantly; you deserve to do it.