If you follow Louise Davidson and Caroline Soubayroux on their respective social media pages, you will be aware of their recent attempt at Everesting.
For those who do not know what an “Everest” is in cycling, it means to ride up a climb as many times as it is needed to reach the height of Everest, so roughly 8,845 meters. True to her love of extreme events, Caroline came up with this idea as soon as the lockdown started: once there is a rainy day, why not do a “virtual” Everest on Zwift (“vEverest”)? Knowing that, much like her, Maddie Heywood and Louise Davidson were probably utterly depressed by the cancellation of all their races and events, Caroline reached out to them and proposed to do the event together and raise funds for Refuge, a charity that helps women and children victim of domestic abuses, which sadly increased during the lockdown. Both Maddie and Louise absolutely jumped on the occasion and began choosing the climb, confirming the rules, sharing articles, and talking about the communication plan on social media.
The decision was made to cycle the required 8.5 times up the Alpe du Zwift five days later, on Saturday 17th of April, a rainy day perfect for indoor challenges. Maddie however soon realised the turbo at her parent’s home was not a smart trainer and had to sadly drop out of the challenge, still helping to raise funds and promising to come back with a vengeance!
On the Saturday at 5am, Louise and Caroline weighed themselves (part of the rules!), made sure their trainer difficulty was set to 100% (another rule), turned on Zoom and Zwift and started their ride. After some initial technical issues for Caroline, all finally went smoothly. During the day, many other LVCC members joined the both of them on Zoom, riding alongside or just chatting and cheering. Caroline had set up her whole living room for the ride, and being alone at home, enjoyed some Instagram Lives and YouTube Tour De France highlights while feeding herself with Haribo and crisps. Louise had her own pit crew thanks to Russ who stayed a constant support throughout the day and ensuring her energy levels were kept topped up with all the carbs and Redbull. In the end, Louise everested, reaching 215km and 8,950m in 13h03min. Caroline decided to continue to do a 10k vEveresting and rode over 10’500 meters, for a distance of over 258km in 14h26min.
This challenge was a good way to bring the club together during lockdown and ended up being a great experience for all. Thanks to their fundraising page, Caroline, Louise and Maddie raised £2,111, £611 above their initial £1,500 target! Well done and thank you to all who donated – Link to fundraising: https://bit.ly/2ygDfTg