The Day of Two Halves

11th April - 4705m to 4540- distance 27km - desscent 165m - av speed 12km/hr

After yesterday's epic, we were ready for an easier day (well as easy as it can get at over 4700m in the wilderness of Tibet). So to wake up to sunshine, clear skies and low wind was great, but most importantly no more snow had fallen through the night ..hooray!

We kitted up ready for the uphill ahead, actually ready for anything as we never quite know what kind of weather is going to hit us here. The first half of the day was back to uphill, head wind and heavy breathing but the scenery never ceases to be breath taking (no pun intended). We had to cross several streams where you really didn't want to get it wrong and put your feet in as you know that it will be cold for the day despite the sunshine. So Nic McSlick lead the way on the first with a clean run and set the standard. I am not sure if it was technique or genuine desire not to fall in that meant none of us had a bad run but we suitably impressed our Tibetan and Sherpa support team. I am sure they still don't quite get why we are insisting on cycling the whole way, come to that does anybody?

Getting bicycles across ice and semi-frozen streams is relatively easy compared to getting a 4 tonne truck and van across. So, yes the truck got stuck in water and soft mud with a bit of ice for good measure, but with the Everestmax Super Hero Task Force, they were free in no time. It all feels a lot more dramatic when you are literally in the middle of nowhere with no AA services and a dodgy tow-rope, but all's well that ends well.

Jamie is claiming the highest puncture at 5050m… another record for Everestmax ?

The joy of altitude is that it keeps Jamie and Nic at Sarah and my pace and gives Dom an excuse not to have to go too fast. This respite was only to last for the first half of the day as to our immeasurable delight we were about to have two stretches of stunning, long, challenging (in a good way) downhill for approximately 15km……..Yes! It is amazing that at lunchtime (5050m) we were struggling to be bothered to eat, never mind be energetic, and as we descended our energy, adrenalin and yee-ha came back to full flow. To add to this joy, the strong wind was behind us - what more could we want. Sarah had never really done any off-road downhill and took to it like a duck to water, Jamie and Nic said they loved it and were awesome, but they were so far ahead I am in no position to give an objective opinion. Their bikes are still intact so they must have done something right. Anyway, Nic mended my back disc-break, which meant I could enjoy today and I am prepared to put him on any downhill pedestal he wants. Dom said it was the best ride of the trip, probably because on the second stretch I let him go ahead of me!!

Dickie (Communications Guru even in Tibetan plains) has gone off to Base camp with our Chinese support Tashi to let them know we will be a day late and to get more gas for cooking. They were expecting us today but were warned we may be a day late due to unforseeables, and yesterday was a big unforeseeable. Wait till you see the film footage Ro has been getting - you can if you come to the Film Premiere (part of the perk of becoming an Official Supporter!).

One more day to go of cycling and I can't deny I have mixed feelings of excitement about getting onto the mountain and sadness to end such an awesome journey with a right bunch of weirdoes whom have become part of my everyday life. Always good to finish wanting more!

Posted by Pauline

Gale Force Winds and Stronger

10th April - 4344m to 4705m - distance 29km - ascent 361m - av speed 5km/hr

A wonderful sunrise over the Himalayas masked the day that we were about to experience. This was meant to be the penultimate day of cycling and we had been told that it would be about 40km max, traversing the mountains and then a slight ascent before the big climb the next day. Technically I suppose this was quite accurate, but didn't take into account the weather.

Leaving our tents at 10am we cycled off in glorious sunshine, but after just 2miles the wind picked up and in doing so whipped up any loose sand and soil that it could. We naively thought that this would pass – how wrong could we have been. It is no understatement to say the wind was the worst we have experienced all expedition and even had the Sherpa saying he had never seen wind like this over such a duration.

After taking around an hour and a quarter to do the first 8km, we came to the first sign for Everest Base Camp. Whilst Pauline, Sarah, Jamie and myself posed for the necessary photo, Dom was in deep discussions with the liaison officer about the route and how we wanted to take a shorter more direct route. Luckily his persuasion skills worked. From this point on the wind became even stronger and resulted in speeds of 4km/hr with maximum effort. No we are not all suffering from the altitude, it was the strength of the wind. At one point the wind blew both Pauline and myself off our bikes - there was little we could do.

To escape from the devastating wind we found a tea house and quickly forgot the wind which was blowing outside. Unfortunately this moment of silence couldn't last and we headed back out into the elements which had become even stronger. With the lorry containing our kit miles ahead we had no option but to carry on. To add to the wind and the airborne sand, we also had to battle with the road becoming 100% thick sand. These conditions are definetly the worst any of us have cycled in before and eventually the wind was too ferocious for us to cycle in safely, so we had to resort to walking the bikes the final 5km along a mountain pass. With Ro and Dickie providing moral support we finally reached our camp for the night and to our amazement the tents were up – how they were erected in these conditions we do not know.

It is hard to do todays weather justice but to cycle only 29km in around 8hours will hopefully give you an idea of how bad conditions were. If people think this is easy then please think again. None of us have ever experienced such conditions and it would be safe to say that if at home, it would be highly unlikely that any of us would have stepped out the front door. It is hard to give the team enough credit but we all did brilliantly to maintain our sense of humour throughout this epic day when all the elements were against us.

To add to this, as I type snow is now falling and is settling rapidly. The tents have all been tied down very securely and rocks used as extra weight. The wind is still blowing as strong as it has all day, and even the cook, the Sherpa and the driver have all deserted their tent to sleep in the back of the lorry. Are they trying to tell us something? No one knows what tomorrow will bring – in theory Everest Base Camp, but in reality…?!

Posted by Nic

First sight.

9th April - 4467m to 4344m - distance 52km - descent 123m - av speed 15km/hr

This morning was freezing. The river that bubbled next to our campsite had new ice along the edges and slush flowing down stream. It was beautiful. During breakfast the cold shadow that was covering our tents slowly moved up the valley and the sunshine crept towards us. When it reached us the warmth was instant. Toes unfroze and toothpaste began to melt. The local mountain dogs, who didn't seem to notice the cold through their thick coats, peered into our mess tent hoping for scraps of pancake, omlette and cornflakes.

With the sun fully out and the sky a perfect blue the cyclists set off on what promised to be a much easier day.

The route was along the valley floor (a valley 4400m high!!). The dirt road rose and fell gently through a barren but beautiful landscape interspersed with streams and small villages. Every now and then the cyclists stopped for a rest and a drink (or in Nicks case, to play with puppies!) Whenever we stop local children rush up with their hands outstretched saying “hello, hello, hello” hoping for food or money. They can be very persistent but are easily distracted if you bring out a camera - some crowd round and others run away. Today was the first day that we were offered fossils for sale. Beautiful ammonites from the surrounding hills. The local married women wear coral braided into their hair.. proof if ever we needed it that the Himalaya were once under the sea.

Just before lunch, we turned right into a new river valley and stopped… There in front of us was the most fantastic range of snow capped mountains… dominated by Mount Everest . After three and a half months cycling more than 7800km, with less than 100km to go we finally have our destination in sight. The biggest mountain in the world was there in front of us.

For most of us it isn't the first time.. Dom attempted to climb Everest in 2000, Jamie saw her from the South side a couple of weeks ago, Nick saw her eighteen months ago when he was climbing Pumori, Pauline saw her about eleven years ago when she climbed Island Peak and Sarah saw her when she took a flight from Kathmandu with her parents. For Dickie and me it was our first sighting. But it still managed to stop us all in our tracks. I think the fact we have travelled so far to get here made it a very special moment.

After many photos we left on a road that went in a straight line towards the mountain. Excellent cycling. By the time we arrived at our campsite she was no longer visible but the knowledge that we will be at Base Camp in two days is very exciting.

The stream that runs past our tents is small and full of glacier melt water but as the cycling had been shorter and the sun was still warm we took the chance to have a proper wash. The water, though cold, was just beautiful and the wind chill meant that it actually felt quite warm. To get the dust out of our hair was a wonderful end to a fantastic day.

Posted by Ro

One Pass Closer to Base Camp

8th April - 4260m to 4467m - distance 58km - ascent 207m - av speed 10km/hr

The first relief this morning was that all pee and water bottles were in tact after our first day camping since Pakistan. It might sound drastic but at 4200m it is getting cold and the last thing you need is to unzip the tent, freeze, perform, and climb back into your sleeping bag. It also provides good training for Everest where it will be even more important to get things right. Girl or boy we must get used to using pee bottles and comfortable being able to perform in confined spaces with your good friend hopefully sleeping beside you. Not for the feint hearted.

Our second relief was that despite camping higher than intended last night everyone was feeling fine this morning. With a good breakfast behind them the cyclists set off for possibly one of the hardest days of the trip so far. Ro and I stayed behind until camp was struck before chasing after them.

Thangla Pass is at an impressive 5050m, which is approximately 280m higher than Mont Blanc the highest mountain in the Alps. To cycle at altitude is hard enough but to add a climb of 800m before lunch, and 400m after is just rude. To their credit the cyclists were fantastic today and steadily ate up the climb. Each one of them desperately trying to reduce their pace to avoid over exertion. Following every 150m of climb they stopped for a break, took on water, picked up their bikes and carried on. As Ro and I have officially given up cycling, it meant that we had lots of opportunity to film and take pictures.

The scenery today has been some of the most dramatic of the trip so far. As we climbed, more and more mountains could be seen in the distance and our helpful liaison officer was happy to tell us their names. Eagles floated on thermals and wild horses roamed the barren hillsides. We were surprised to see butterflies this high and wonder what they feed on as we have seen no plants for 2 days. The mountains here are all mud and dust on the South sides and snow covered to the North. The roads are dirt tracks and kick up dust every time a vehicle passes or when any gust of wind gets too big. On the bright side though, many of the vehicles passing today were other Everest expeditions who wished the cyclists well as they passed. Some of them even stopped for photographs, much to Sarah and Jamie's amusement.

Apart from the views when rounding every bend the highlight of the day was lunch in a small Tibetan tea house. Hot milky tea was on tap and a small dung fire kept us warm. Our chef Pemba had prepared a simple packed lunch of cheese and home made bread which was very welcome after the previous lunch prepared by our hotel in Nylam which was plain awful and not enough to keep our hungry team going. Dom and Nic made themselves particularly comfortable and put a bid in to stay for the night but the draw of a another climb eventually won.

Rounding the corner to Gutsao this evening was a pleasure. In the distance we could see the yellow tents glistening in the sunlight and camp was fully prepared. To be welcomed by tea and biscuits brought a superb ending to a special day.

Posted by Dickie

Heading up

7th April - Nyalam to 4260m - distance 34km - ascent 630m - av speed 6.2km/hr

A breakfast of chapatti, plastic jam, jasmine tea and dodgy green eggs saw us on our way as the team all headed further up towards the Tibetan plateau. After a couple of days together the ‘overland team' and ‘climbers' split up again. Three smart jeeps whisked the climbers away at 9.30ish. They will drive up to Tingri today over a pass of 5050m and stay there for two nights, before then heading up to Base Camp. The overland team will take a week to complete this journey, not least because it means that we should arrive just as the climbers have sorted out all the kit!

Conscious of being at altitude we all took the cycling very slowly, with Nic McSlick not breaking 9km/hr on the uphill – previously unheard of! Taking 3 ½ hours over a distance that we'd usually do in 1 ½ hrs needs quite a different headset. Dom, having most experience of cycling at altitude, set a steady pace at the front and we followed on behind. It gave lots of time to photograph the wonderful local faces and take in the scenery which, you will be unsurprised to hear, is awesome. The road wound up the valley in between rocky hillsides smattered with snow and ice in the gullies, and snowy peaks were always in sight. The river was never far below us and was amazingly clear. Put all of this beneath a beautiful blue sky with banks of white clouds building over the higher peaks in the afternoon. Wonderful.

It would seem that none of us have experienced a loss of appetite due to altitude, and we arrived at lunch feeling hank (Hank Marvin starvin', get it?!). Ro surpassed herself once again by producing snickers, digestive biscuits and Toblerone to spice up a packed lunch of chapatti, egg and soggy glucose biscuits. As after dinner entertainment, Pauline and Jamie got caught up in a game with the locals. It involved rolling dice and moving white shells and metal coins, a bit like backgammon but it didn't make much sense without knowing the rules! It must be a man's game though as Jamie had the offer of rolling the dice (which he did with much gusto and suitable sound effects) while Pauline was expected to simply observe.

It was another 6km after lunch to our campsite for the night. What a spot – in the middle of a vast open valley junction surrounded by rocky rounded hills. It's the first time that we've experienced a Thamaserku camp and so far so good; there was hot tea and biscuits waiting, all the tents were pitched, and we've spied cheese and pasta being prepared for dinner. Yum. Life has returned to the simplicity of camping; Dickie is playing with the generator, Nic is fixing my broken spoke (thank you!), Pauline is steaming her head over a bowl of hot water and vicks to try and shove a small cold, Jamie is writing his diary. Dom is making the most of an admin.-free moment curled up in his sleeping bag. Ro is fixing the zip on my bike bag which broke this morning, what a star, Pemba (our chef) is cooking up a storm and Karma (our chief sherpa for the cycling phase) is keeping everything ticking over.

I was expecting these days cycling at altitude to be really gruelling but so far they've been OK. Tomorrow takes us over our first 5000m pass which might not be quite so comfortable. We'll let you know.

Posted by Sarah

On our way

6th April - Nyalam - rest day

At last Tibet! Yaks, men and women clothed in their ethnic costume, street children with inquisitive looks and smiles greet our progress everywhere. A clear morning revealed fabulous, jagged snow clad peaks to the South. This is a magical place with new sights being revealed at each turn. The weather pattern of clear mornings followed by snow confined most of us to quarters but a few hardy souls climbed a nearby ridge to 4200 metres. Seb had noticed a school nearby so a group followed some loud singing and arrived at a classroom where the teacher kindly invited us in – the children greeted us with a hearty and well-pronounced hello and an impromptu English lesson followed. The 40 plus children were cheerful and well mannered despite the evident lack of books or teaching aids.

We are berthed in our lodgings, which we share with other international expeditions who head our way – Spanish, Canadian and the Korean team who have brought a golf club for use at base camp - a high handicap might be required but all potentially useful contacts for later.

Much talk of altitude and for some of us this kicks in fairly immediately with mild headaches and some dizziness. The sherpa's advise drinking copious amounts of garlic soup – I can confirm it tasted great and it did the trick. We now have a stock of raw garlic to nibble on the hill - the team may have a view on this but Tarka and myself are convinced.

As we are not staying in the Nyalam Hilton (no running water, serenaded by a choir of howling dogs and rats were heard scuttling about the partitions at night) finding hot showers was a real boon. Although the comments made about my use of a hairdryer which I have struggled to justify!

Anyway today is our Doctor's birthday and with no little ingenuity Ro produces local sweets and a candle. Shortly we will celebrate modestly at our restaurant where the excellent chef has turned out good food. Andre has leaned the Tibetan word for “more food please,” which has been useful. We see Everest tomorrow for the first time – it will all start to become very real.

Posted by Patrick

Into the snow again

5th April - Zhangmu to Nyalam - distance 34km - ascent 1500m - av speed 8.1km/hr

Following a night interrupted by the sounds of mad dogs and other human nocturnal noises, the now complete Everestmax team were chomping at the bit to move on from the Chinese border town of Zhangmu this morning. The cyclists had 1500m of ascent over 30km to cover, with the non-cyclists travelling in Toyota Landcruisers.

The route was through the dramatic gorge of Chusang where the road has been cut out from the side of the mountain, with a precipitous drop down to the river below. The cyclists were certainly better off than those in the vehicles with respect to staying on the road, although Dom and his bike narrowly avoided being crushed by a lorry on one of the hairpin bends. During the course of the day, the landscape changed to a more open snowscape, with 7000m peaks becoming visible: this certainly feels like the transition from an Alpine scale and feel to the surroundings, to an awe inspiring Himalayan one.

The relatively short distance covered today and the plan to spend two nights in Nyalam is to allow the process of acclimatisation to take place: the rate of ascent needs to be limited to a few hundred metres a day to allow this to happen. The team are all now being monitored on a daily basis to see how our bodies are adjusting to this alien environment – so far so good!

The integration of the 7 cyclists and 8 new team members has been very smooth, with much banter already occurring. Despite this, I was unfamiliar with my role as support crew today and left the cyclists without their vital supply of chocolate and warm tops for slightly too long this afternoon. However, they were quickly satisfied once we were reunited and I saw first hand how the team morale is never allowed to falter, with Pauline chief morale booster. Also, Ro was not planning to cycle the whole day, but soon forgave me and Rab Black (from the British Army West Ridge Team) rode her bike for the second half of the day. I also admired the effortless movement of Jamie and Nic through the switchbacks, complemented by Sarah's grace and agility despite a snapped chain.

For the first time this evening, the team and all its kit is in the same place, so tomorrow's rest day promises to be a mammoth admin. day.

Posted by Seb

An introduction to the sherpa team

4th April – Kodari (Nepal) to Zhangmu (China) – distance 10km – ascent 700m - av speed 9.9km/hr

Apologies for the late posting of this, which is entirely down to the hassle of crossing the border into China! We were ready to depart by 10am as the border opened and as a team of 15 we made our way across the ‘Friendship Bridge' which spans a spectacular gorge, sadly filling rapidly with litter. The day was always going to be very short as the ascent to Zhangmu in China is a sharp one and acclimatisation prevents us going too high too soon. The ride up to the town was spectacular and we stopped frequently to take photos of the gorge below. The climbers followed us soon after and we tucked into a Chinese lunch. The afternoon was spent having a full medical brief from Andrew (Expedition Doctor). He and Chris then briefed us on their research plans for the mountain. We're very fortunate to have their professional experience and enthusiasm for all matters medical.

We have now met our Sherpa team who are all enthusiastic, incredibly friendly and very keen to get started. As they are now full members of the team we would like to take the opportunity to introduce them briefly below.

	Name: Sonam Sherpa – age 43 – married with one son (Thering) Sonam (means from heaven) is our Sirdar and has been to Everest no less than twenty three times He has summited from the south side four times and from the north once. He has also climbed Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Pumori, Makalu among many others. His dream is to retire at 50!
	Name: Thering – age 21 – single and son of Sonam. Thering (meaning long life) has been on three Everest expeditions and has summited once form the south side. His dream is to carry on climbing so he is already living it!
	Name: Karma – age 31 – married with two children (a son of 8 and a daughter of 3) Karma (meaning star) has been on the south side of Everest once but is yet to summit. He has also climbed Ama Dablam. His dream appropriately enough is to summit Everest.
	Name: Dorjee – age 37 – single Dorjee (meaning holy script) has summited Everest from the north side and Ama Dablam. His dream is to continue climbing mountains.
	Name: Njatemba – 32 – married with two daughters of 4 and 20 months Njatemba or Nat – meaning the fifth son – is our base camp chef and arguably the most important man on the expedition. He has cooked for teams six times on Everest and in total has been a cook for 7 years. He also is living his dream and is happy to carry on cooking on large expeditons.
	Name: Pemba – 36 – married with a daughter of 12 and a son of 9 Pemba (meaning Saturday) has spent eight years as a cook including expeditions to 8000m peaks. He has been on a French cooking course so we have high hopes. His dream is to become a climber.

Posted by Dom