Scott triumphs in Everesting challenge

Since March 1, Scott, our construction director, has been aiming to mountain bike the height of Everest in just one month.

He works full-time and has a busy family life so it has not been an easy challenge. In fact, Scott was worried he would not be able to achieve the 29,030ft total elevation but he decided to give it a go.

We have been reporting on his progress each week and on March 31 he did it!

A delighted Scott says: “By my calculations I have climbed 30,644ft this month on my mountain bike. I covered 292 miles to do it and it equated to about 35 hours of riding.

“It’s been quite hard physically but I can now feel the rewards when I am on the bike. I find getting around the trails so much easier.

“It also took a big chunk out of my work and life schedule and I found myself working some late nights to catch up on work and family commitments.

“However, I must admit I have loved doing it and now looking forward to gearing up for a planned race, the Glentress 7s next month. This has been excellent training for me.”

Scott’s final week of Everest riding

On Wednesday, Scott had a meeting at Deans of Huntly (“amazing shortbread and good energy food,” Scott reports) so he took one of the work vans and decided to come home via Glenlivet, which is 45 minutes from Huntly.

He says: “It was a nice dry and cold day and I buzzed around the flowy Red and Blue trails. I climbed 1843ft. “

Glenlivet Trails.

On Friday, he headed to favourite local trails at the Carron Valley after work and did three full laps of the trails. He says: “I climbed 1811ft on anther dry mild day.”

On Saturday, Scott promised his son Thom they would go for a ride together. It was a sunny day and they rode around some blue and red trails at Greenrig in Falkirk.

Thom at Falkirk.

He says: “I only climbed 257ft but Thom’s only just turned six so it was a great achievement for him. We enjoyed a stop at the brilliant Canada Wood Kitchen and Bar and enjoyed a visit to Greenrig Cycles.”

On the following Tuesday Scott headed to Lennox Forest with a friend after work. He says: “It was another nice day and I also got to wear the new ACT sports jerseys. We had a good ride and managed to climb 2290ft.”

Pentlands tracks.

On Thursday night, Scott drove to Penicuik to visit his parents. He says: “The weather had cleared and it was dry so I nipped up the Pentlands for a ride. I headed for a couple of areas I hadn’t tried before and when I got to Bavelaw Castle, I went right and headed over to Nine Mile Burn via the side of the West Kip.

“The Pentlands is one of my favourite places to ride as it has loads of natural singletrack.

“It was also here that I passed my Everest target! I climbed 1,349ft in that ride.”

Scott Everested!

On the final day of the month, despite having already Everested, Scott headed out for more riding.

He says: “I took Friday afternoon off work and went to the Forest of Ae in Dumfries & Galloway with a friend. It had been raining all day but luckily as we were arriving the weather cleared and the sun came out.

“We only had to deal with huge puddles and rivers of rain water coming off the hills! I climbed 1425ft, which has put me more than 1000ft over my target. It has been a fantastic month.”