Brutal, but determined.
What can we do? That's how we are: a handful of people with more heart than reason, who know how to wake up very early on Sundays and who hang medals on the wall like stories in their memory. Insatiable people, who one day roll quietly through life climbing the Alto de Las Palmas one time at a time and, almost without knowing how, another day are climbing that same mountain up to 12 times. Some will say, how stupid, idle, lazy, senseless, crazy. I would say, how brave.
Everesting 2020 was an act of rebellion against the damned pandemic and against common places. Because Las Palmas is never the same when you climb it, it always has a different face. It was the event where we launched pedal strokes stuck in virtuality like screams and we felt again, as if we had forgotten, the voices of encouragement, the rain painting the feat in epic colors, the photographers immortalizing the moment and the family of friends and blood accompanying each stretch traveled on the bicycle.
It was a meeting of 60 cyclists, all crazy. 22 who completed the entire Mount Everest slope, adding 12 “slaps”, 18 completed six climbs and 20 joined together in teams to complete three mountain passes per group. Each one was a story, a hug that chased away the cold that came from the storm that raged at the beginning of the afternoon and the photo to tell everyone that, in an unforgettable year, they put the cherry on the cake of anecdotes that we have, those of us who love to get on that two-wheeled machine that moves the heart.
2021 will have a new edition, once again Las Palmas will be the stage for the brutes to do their thing and break the limits of the imaginable. If 8 thousand meters of gradient already seemed like a lot, get ready to see those who raised the bar this year and will do 10 thousand. The number of cyclists will increase and heart rates will be higher. September 11 will be a day to talk about sweats, kisses, pain, colds, cramps and smiles after the finish line.
Still, there is until August 20th for anyone who wants and feels ready to make a place for themselves in this story. Look for information on Terret's Instagram and Everesting Palmas's. Long live the brutes, but determined!
Cristian Marín - Alternating Current