Reader Story: Attempting to Everest Canberra Australia's Trebuchet Trail

My best or worst ideas (depending on how you look at them) often gestate from the idea that they would be too hard to complete. These are the things that keep me up until the early hours of the morning, thinking them over in my head about the challenges it brings, how it can be done or has it been done before and if so, how?

2020 wasn't a great year for me or my goals. The idea of getting fitter, smarter and more committed to hitting targets was slipping away and I had spent months off the bike, badly injured and stuck in a lockdown that never seemed to end. I spent this time watching the Everesting challenge go viral, as more and more pro's aimed to knock minutes or seconds off to get the world record. It left me thinking, could I do an Everest?

Weeks later and I had relocated to the capital of Australia, Canberra. Canberra is home to Mt Stromlo and it was there that I found my opportunity. I settled on attempting to complete it sometime during April as any earlier and it would have been 30°C days and any later, -5°C nights. I committed to this plan by telling friends and family. In my own weird way, this is how I commit myself to a idea, knowing full well they are going to hold me to it - and they did. I kept an eye on the weather and one week out, it was all finalised.

The plan

The weekend of April 24th, there were clear skies predicted throughout the day, with a high of 18°C and a low of -2°C overnight. I told myself I could deal with that. I had the route planned, my food sorted and I had convinced friends, family and colleagues to join me throughout the ride. The aim was to start at 9:30am on Saturday and finish at roughly the same time on Sunday morning. I knew full well that this ride would likely take around the 24h mark and I did not want to finish in the dark.

My riding structure was intended to be something like this:
3 laps at 24 minutes each, followed by a 5 min break to refill water and grab some snacks. I would repeat this three times and then stop for a proper food break. The first 14 hours went smoothly, the following 18 not so much.


The Ride

Overall, the loop was pretty simple - a 2km fireroad followed by a short, 500m single-track traverse to the top of Trebuchet, averaging 6.6% and a total of 169m of climbing. The descent was down the relatively new Trebuchet trail, a 2km twisty, flow-style track.

I started at the top of my loop at 9:30am on Saturday, rolling down the first descent at a relaxed pace to scope out how the track was looking. Apart from some blown out corners (due to dusty conditions over the past few weeks) and a smattering of deep braking bumps, the track was running quite well. The top section consisted of some tighter berms, followed by more open sections and rolling into the main junction around the container bridge. The second section of the trail consists of more open corners, a few jumps and a drop or two. This was when I could pick up some easy speed to get to the bottom of the run and start my climb again.

I got through the first 3000m without a hitch. Friends had come and gone throughout the day, my pacing was consistent, my body felt great and the descent was clear each lap. I completed this by the time the sun had fully gone down, was perfectly on schedule and my spirits were high. I had 12 hours of night ahead of me and had good company for the next few.

Things were going smoothly until shortly after midnight, when I had a feeling that can only be described as "hitting the wall". I was tired, alone, cold and quite fatigued. My slower descending speed meant I was hitting every braking bump I had previously avoided. Riding at my earlier speeds wasn’t safe, so quickly and smoothly skimming over the top of these bumps was no longer a viable option.

Each new lap took what felt like an eternity, however, I told myself to just get one pedal in front of the other. I was falling significantly behind the target pace, with lap times pushing into the 40-50min range. At times I was ready to quit, asking myself ‘what is the worst that will happen?’ or ‘who will blame you?’. But each time, I shook my head, cleared my thoughts and got back to putting one pedal in front of the other, one lap at a time.

I have to say a huge thanks to Roger for joining me at 3am for four hours of riding and bringing a roll of toilet paper for the stop I would likely soon need to make. Thank you for quite literally ‘keeping me on track’ when I rode off into some bushes in the dazed and confused state I was in, aided by the fatigue and cold temperatures.



Then, the moment I had been waiting for all night. A glimmer on the horizon as the sun slowly crept up, lighting up the sky and trail a fraction at a time. Pedalling just got a whole lot easier and I’d say it felt like I just swapped from waterlogged FiveTen’s to a pair of carbon soled XC shoes.

I started to pick up my average speed and the laps started to get quicker - I was enjoying myself again! I increased to two laps per 50 minutes, followed by a short break. I was hoping to get further through the ride before my knees started to ache from the cold and previous injuries.

The last 1600m were the toughest - my knees were either painful from pedalling, or painful from impacts. While writing this (a week later) my knees have only just started to improve! Whilst the last few hours of the ride were the toughest physically, mentally I didn’t have any negative thoughts. I could now see the light at the end of the tunnel knowing that in just a few short hours I would be finished and celebrating with my mates. The vert kept ticking and before I knew it, there were only a few laps left.

I completed the last few laps with more friends around me, laughing and enjoying ourselves so much that is seemed like this was the first lap of the ride, which made it difficult to remember the struggles of just a few hours prior. Soon enough, the last lap came and went, only 32 hours after I started. We set off up the climb for the last time and at about a third of the way up, I hit the magic number I’d waited so long to see. 8848m.

It’s difficult to put this feeling into words, but as we concluded the final lap an amazing sunset was awaiting us as well as a well earned celebration on the descent of Trebuchet. I hit every jump I wanted, hit the drop I had avoided all day, and perhaps even schralped some turns. It was the perfect way to end an incredible ride.








• Elsie - My partner and greatest supporter.
• Roger - for coming out at 3am and getting me through the graveyard shift.
• BREAD - for completing 3500m over the two days with me.
• Seb & Geoff - for completing the early night laps with me.
• Matt & Jen for bringing me baked goods in the morning.
• Izi & Roger for bringing me hot food at 9pm, even though I couldn't stomach much.
• Ollie - Who rode up the entire climb on his road bike with tubulars!
• Stefan, Liam, Jack, Rae, Nick & Tyler for joining me on a few laps each.
• The random guy who I saw on the climb up, who asked for a tow up the hill 28 hours into the ride, giving me a good laugh.
• Plus everyone else who sent me a message of support or donated to the Top Blokes Foundation.

Unfortunately we ended up taking so many photos of the amazing sunset we missed out on burgers at Handlebar, the local bar and burger joint at Stromlo. They stop serving at 5:30, we got there at 5:34.