Serk Cycling Beijing
Cycling has always been associated with conquering - conquering the mountain which you live by, conquering your opponents and conquering yourself. So you'd imagine that riding to Everest is about conquering it, right?
At 5000m above sea level - its difficult enough for plants and people to survive, let alone thinking about conquering. Rather, the journey is really about taking in what Mother Nature has in store for us - be it rain, snow, elevation, lack of oxygen or the sunshine, amazing landscape and breathtaking scenery. Rather than a challenge to overcome, Everest is a spiritual place for pilgrimage on two wheels.
One of the highlights of the journey was seeing the Everest for the first time. It was a tough day in the saddle, especially the never ending climb of the day - the Jiacuola pass. The wind threw punches at us from every direction no matter which way we turned.
On any other day we would have considered the biblical conditions something to fight against. On this day it was the opposite, we went with her, leaned into her and just somehow, managed to enjoy her company until the top. As we dropped into the valley the crosswind grew stronger. We ground teeth and inched forward. Left turn, right turn, and then left again -- where are you, Everest? Minor hills hindered our vision, yet around every corner we wished you were there.
Suddenly, Everest emerged - long snowy tail flowing. Unclip. Looking around, tears filled up under reflective shades - we are finally here. Everest, you did not make this journey easy. Had it been easy, would we have cherished seeing you? Would we have called ourself true pilgrims?
The journey to Everest is filled with moments like this which transcend normal cycling and take you to a completely different place - we invite you to join us on this journey: serkcycling.com/everest
