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Bath cyclist undertakes an Everesting in aid of Nepal earthquake relief

Justin Gage to tackle 85 ascents of Tour of Britain climb

In one of the most appropriate fund-raisers we've heard of, a Bath cyclist plans to "Everest" one of the area's more formidable hills, climbing it  85 times this Sunday to raise money for the victims of the Nepalese earthquake.

Justin Gage, a member of Bath's VC Walcot cycling club says: "I've been interested in Everesting a hill for some time now.

"Everesting is the process of repeatedly cycling up the same hill until your cumulative ascent matches the height of Everest (8848m).

"I've chosen Winsley because, whilst a bit (too) steep it is my local hill - I want to be the first to do this. (I am an idiot).

"It seems only right to raise money for DEC's Nepal Earthquake fund given the scale of the disaster and the relationship to my endeavour."

Justin's already exceeded his initial fund-raising target of £1,000, but everyone at road.cc who has ridden Winsley Hill thinks 85 reps deserves more reward that that.

You can donate at Justin's Just Giving page.

The Winsley Hill Strava segment rises 105m between the River Avon and the 'official' summit at Blackberry Lane. Its overall gradient of nine percent masks some tortuously steep sections of around 20 percent making it a tough climb on which to maintain a rhythm.

However, that didn't stop pro rider Michal Kwiatkowski from setting the Strava KOM time of three minutes and one second during last year's Tour of Britain.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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9 comments

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Ting | 8 years ago
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Weather forecast has taken a turn for the worse too!  2

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to Ting | 8 years ago
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Ting wrote:

Weather forecast has taken a turn for the worse too!  2

On a positive note - you're unlikely to suffer from sun-burn. Good luck and well done Sir for raising whatever you can.

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Must be Mad | 8 years ago
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Quote:

However it grates with me a little whenever I hear of someone doing something they want to do for their own sense of achievement or personal gratification (and would probably do it in any event) and, in a way that sounds incidental to that purpose, say they are doing it for charity.

I think the cynicism is a little misplaced in this example. Its going to be a big effort, and why not raise a bit a money on the side if your 'going to do it anyway'. This is a local climb, so the attempt is not going to cost any money.

The charity efforts which grate are the ones 'sponsor me to go on some overseas jolly' where you are left wondering how much of the sponsor money goes to paying for the trip and how much to the charity.....

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NikoD | 8 years ago
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In situations of disaster such as in Nepal at present, any donations to help those in need is a good thing and I applaud Justin for that. However it grates with me a little whenever I hear of someone doing something they want to do for their own sense of achievement or personal gratification (and would probably do it in any event) and, in a way that sounds incidental to that purpose, say they are doing it for charity.
Even this article indicates its more about the ride and rider than the charitable need. I suppose this is understandable for a cycling website.
Having said that, Justin, I hope you manage to raise a huge amount of money to assist those in desperate need of assistance!

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Ting replied to NikoD | 8 years ago
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I was doing this on Sunday anyway and thought 'why not raise some money at the same time?'
So, I am going to do this on Sunday and I have raised some money.
That's about it really, not much to it.
Seems like a positive to me.

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OldRidgeback replied to Ting | 8 years ago
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Ting wrote:

I was doing this on Sunday anyway and thought 'why not raise some money at the same time?'
So, I am going to do this on Sunday and I have raised some money.
That's about it really, not much to it.
Seems like a positive to me.

Chapaeau mate - I have a work contact in Nepal and was very glad to hear he's ok and am sending him some money to get by. The Nepalese people need everything they can get. We've historic alliances between the UK and Nepal and it's time us Brits did something.

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Ting | 8 years ago
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Yes Phil - I think 'Smash it' needs to be taken in context :-). Pressure's on now eh!

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PhilT | 8 years ago
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Get Donating everyone......smash it Justin....or rather don't, nice and steady does it!

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timb27 | 8 years ago
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So as long as he sticks to Michal's speed and descends in less than a minute each rep he'll be finished in a little over 5 and a half hours then. Simples.

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