*Everesting: The concept of Everesting is fiendishly simple: Pick any hill, anywhere in the world and ride repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8848m.
Essentially, I was born on two wheels. My earliest memories on a bike involve me rolling around at my grandparent’s bungalow when I was around three years old. My dad got me into it and I fell more and more in love, joining the Les Gets bike club when I was seven. I’d spend my next 10 years training with my friends. I did a lot of racing too, focusing on downhill as the terrain in Morzine is most suited to that. The area in which we live and play has grown and changed so much since I started! I was always attracted to the more natural and rooty bike trails, where you really have to be dialled in to be rewarded by the trail and carry speed. Nowadays there are so many more wide machine-built trails with big corners and safe jumps, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I just didn’t have that when I was a kid, at least nowhere near what it’s like now.
I saved up for ages to buy my first GoPro when I was 12. I’d wear it all the time and make little edits to post on Pinkbike and show to my friends; Instagram was just getting started and for years videos couldn’t be longer than 15 seconds. I slowly stepped away from racing as I didn’t enjoy it as much so in the winter of 2018/19 I flew to New Zealand to do a summer season riding bikes with my friend. We bought a camera together and ended up making a film out of it. From there my life as a mountain bike videographer snowballed. I saved all my money from the little jobs I was doing and invested in camera gear. I was quite insecure and so never asked friends to go film with me. I made self-shot MTB videos, which were always very well received and this gave me the confidence to commit to making a living out of filmmaking. Fast forward four years and I’m now filming for the biggest mountain bike teams in the world, travelling with them on the World Cup circuit and working for brands and athletes all over the world. It all happened very gradually and I’m super grateful for everything I learned along the way.
I did a single Everest on Nyon two years ago in some of the worst conditions I could have asked for; a heatwave all day and a huge rainstorm for the final seven hours.
But we’re here to talk about the time I double Everested Nyon on my bike over 48 non-stop hours, covering 289km in distance to achieve a double- Everest cumulative altitude of 17,848m. I did a single Everest on Nyon two years ago in some of the worst conditions I could have asked for; a heatwave all day and a huge rainstorm for the final seven hours. I also had heavy downhill tyres and flat pedals, which meant I was wasting a lot of energy. As soon as I completed this challenge I knew a double was possible with more optimisation. At the time I thought no one had done a double everest on a mountain bike, but since then two other riders have managed to do it elsewhere in the world, which motivated me even more. And especially since one of them was Ben Hildred, a legend in the world of ultra-MTB missions. He was wearing casual gear and making no fuss about it on the internet. So the original idea came from within me, but these two riders inspired me to really make it happen.
The idea has consumed me since the end of last year. And since the start of 2024, every single decision I’ve made has had this challenge in the back of my mind. I was always thinking about whether or not I’d find time to train if I accepted a particular job, or if I went for dinner with my friends, etc… I really did sacrifice a lot to try and train as much as possible, which is hard considering how packed my work schedule is. The travelling doesn’t help, so I often find myself jet-lagged, without my bike, or when I do have a bike and a bit of time on my hands, I’ve just been living off airport and petrol station food for too long, so I don’t feel energised. So I’d argue the physical preparation wasn’t as good as it should have been, but what I lacked in my physical game I made up for in my mental game. I had a rule of always putting myself in uncomfortable situations, mostly on the bike but sometimes off it too. I’d go out training in the middle of the night, in the snow or after a 16 hour editing day for example. Whenever there was an easy way out and a good excuse not to do some training, I’d force myself to do it, knowing I was getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, which is what this challenge is all about. I have to say the logistics for the ride were made up last minute though. I knew what I needed, but actually coordinating it with family and friends happened about five days before the attempt.
People kept asking me if I was Everesting Nyon twice for a cause, or a charity. When I did my single Everest two years ago, I reached out to some charities but never got a reply. And considering how much work I already have on a daily basis, I just couldn’t be bothered to reach out again this year. I also wanted to keep this as small as possible. I didn’t tell many people I’d been training for this, didn’t tease anything on social media, I just wanted to go out and get it done without any external pressures.
When I set out on 3rd August, I felt amazing at the beginning; my target was a 42min climb for each lap and I was doing 36-37min laps without forcing anything. At this point I knew I’d done everything in my power to be ready for this challenge and all I had to do now was ride my bike and prove myself right. I knew things would get very repetitive and monotonous so I simply surrendered myself to the mountain, got in the zone listening to what my body needed and cut out all distractions.
Despite the fact that I’d tried to keep things quiet, I had an overwhelming amount of people show up on this challenge. I created a small group chat with my closest friends in town, telling them what I was up to and asking them to join me for a lap if they had time, knowing very well not everyone would be able to. In the end pretty much everyone in that group chat came at least once! Out of 44 laps, I don’t think I did more than 17-18 by myself, which is crazy. I even had a friend drive from Chatel to ride with me between 2am and 5am on the second night. I’d told them the first night was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. Even though I didn’t talk as much as I’d have liked as I was so focused on my body, just having people around me lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders. But ultimately, I only managed to pull this off because of my family. They would come regularly to bring food and whatever I craved and it motivated me so much to complete this ride and hopefully make them proud. I don’t see myself accomplishing this challenge without all the people that showed up for me and I am forever thankful for what they did!
The high point each day was seeing the first light appear after riding through the night. I just felt so much more stimulated, my body temperature slowly warmed up and without trying I would pedal to the top faster, without any explanation. Seeing people waiting for me at the end of each lap, to either go back up with me or just show support was a huge help too. Looking back now, a big positive of this ride is everything I learned about myself. I’ve never been in such a flow state in my life, nothing comes even close to this. It’s like I had no peripheral vision, I had my head down, focusing on the road in front of me, I rarely used music (usually, I always pedal with music), I had no external thoughts, I was just in the moment, taking it one pedal stroke at the time. I guess that ties in with what I mentioned earlier about surrendering to the mountain and the challenge, knowing that the only way out of this was to keep going up.
The night shifts were by far the hardest parts of this mission. It felt like a whole different world riding in the dark. I’ve obviously done plenty of night rides before, but never from sunset to sunrise. It turns the volume up in your head, riding with no stimulation, no views, no friends, no music, just you and your thoughts, focusing on getting feedback on how the body is feeling and what it needs. Fighting sleep deprivation got very hard and it took a lot of discipline to get going again whenever I’d finish a lap, sit down at the car while I was fuelling up before moving on again. I slept a total of three hours and 20 minutes out of the 50 hours this challenge took me. That was one 10 minute nap followed by a second 17 minute nap on the first night, then three hours on the second night after I slept through an alarm i’d set for an hour nap. Nutrition and digestion were the other big low points in this challenge. I knew exactly what I needed to eat and at what frequency, mixing chemical gels and cereal bars with plain food like pasta, bread and rice. After 24 hours however, it became impossible to eat more of those gels and I could feel my intestines all clogged up and my gut couldn’t handle the taste of those chemical bars. Considering my legs still felt fine, I decided to only eat those plain foods, which ended up sorting out all my problems within a few hours. I still took a few gels and electrolytes every now and then but still reduced my food intake a lot, which is something I never expected to do!
It’s funny, I’d been visualising this ride for months and months. I could picture every scenario in my head and how I’d handle it. I’d also visualised the end of the ride, where I’d collapse on the floor, just like I did after my single Everest. So when I did complete the challenge I didn’t show anywhere near as much emotion as I should have, because I’d pictured myself succeeding for so long; it simply felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could pat myself on the back. I was obviously drained out of all my energy so I couldn’t have those celebrations where I run and scream, but I do wish I would have shown more emotion and gratitude for all the people who were there to see me at the end. It did take a few days to sink in, but now the more I look back on this the more I realise this is a big achievement and I should be proud of myself.
I don’t want to do this challenge again, however. I already knew that when I started this ride. I did this challenge to test my limits and to learn about myself, and now I want to apply those lessons to my next big thing(s). I’d like to do other riding challenges, but instead of doing loops, I would like to do A to B type rides, so I can see new places instead of feeling like I’m in a hamster wheel. I did have a lot of fun in this ride though, it wasn’t just pain and am very glad I pushed through. I learned things about myself that I would never have learned and that’s what makes me the happiest. When people ask me ‘what’s next?’ I like to consider a broader perspective, rather than just cycling challenges. I know I keep repeating myself, but the lessons I learned doing this have made me want to keep thinking big and following my gut. I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic and want to keep growing in my professional career as a cinematographer. I have plans and ideas of what I want to do with my camera in the next few years, but I’ll keep them a secret for now. I know that if I put my mind to something, surround myself with the right people and avoid distractions, I can reach heights I’d have never thought were possible for me, because when I first found out someone had done a single Everest challenge back in 2018 I thought they were the craziest people ever and couldn’t even fathom the idea of attempting this in the first place. And then I did it. Twice.
Follow Louis’ adventures on Instagram @louiscitadelle
