Dubai: Diabetic, double cancer survivor cycles up UAE's tallest peak 21 times to raise awareness

A Dubai-based British expat achieved an extraordinary feat by cycling up and down the Jebel Jais mountain a whopping 21 times, equivalent to ascending Mount Everest three times, all within 78 hours. Despite being a type 1 diabetic and a double cancer survivor, Nick Glover embarked on achieving this mammoth task to raise awareness about a sustainable cooking school in Gambia.

"If we can inspire change in any way, that is what I want to do," he said, speaking to Khaleej Times. "I wanted to raise awareness about the cooking school in Gambia, which has the potential to change the lives of many youngsters in the country. This seemed like the best way to do it."

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For Nick, the most gruelling part of his endeavour was that he was only allowed four hours of sleep during the 78 hours he rode. "At one point, I fell off my bike," he recalled. "I nodded off while ascending, and the next thing I remembered was falling. The sleep deprivation also caused hallucinations. At one point, I saw a cat running under one of my fellow rider's cycle. At another point, the mountains turned into canopies. At the end I only slept for around three hours and 40 minutes."

Community support

The most memorable part of the drive for Nick was the community support he received. "A total of 52 cyclists rode alongside me at various points during the ride," he said. "Of these, 14 of them completed one Everest. Eleven of them did it for the first time. Five of them had come to ride one or two laps with me. This was a great opportunity for me to show them that the only limitations they had were the ones they built in their heads."

During the ride, Nick climbed 27,544 metres. "That is twice the height at which commercial planes fly," he said. "It is where the ozone layers sit. Also, according to my watch, I burnt 260,000 calories, equivalent to 52 large-sized pizzas. I covered a total distance of 970 kilometres- roughly the distance between Dubai and Riyadh."

Nick set up a base camp halfway between the top and bottom of his summit, which was his rest area. "It was a very convenient location," he said. "During one of my stops, I wanted to sleep for three hours. However, I could not. My whole body was trying to shut down, and I was in pain. So I slept for 90 minutes, had breakfast and continued again."

Everesting

Nick was inspired by the concept of Everesting- an online community of athletes- who pick any hill, anywhere in the world and complete repeats of it in a single activity until they climb 8,848m – the equivalent height of Mt Everest (the world's highest peak).

"I have done single Everest several times before," he said. "But while discussing with a friend, I floated the idea of a triple Everest. I had the idea for over a year before finally deciding to act on it."

Working for a UK-registered charity called Waste to Wonder, Nick and his team help offices around the world get rid of their old furniture and ship it to needy recipients worldwide. Their 'School in a Box' programme has equipped 1,400 schools in over 40 countries. As part of the programme, the charity launched a sustainability cookery school in Gambia that teaches youngsters how to cook in a sustainable way to deal with climate change and its impact on agriculture.

"Many of these people are living in poverty, and the skills they learn could throw open the doors of kitchens around the world, including Dubai, London and Paris," said Nick. "So our focus is to raise awareness about it so that the school can find sponsors as well as hotel partners who are willing to recruit the graduates."

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