Scott Nursten and I were having a chat one Sunday evening. Apparently a guy by the name of Neil Laughton (more on Neil in a future update) wanted to get satellite equipment and computers to a school in a very remote part of the Himalayas. Things escalated quickly since then and this is the result.

We're going to be an epic adventure doing things completely out of our comfort zones (for most of us going anyway). Follow along as things unfold. I'll create regular video updates and blogs as we prepare for a crack at setting a new Guinness World record for the highest bicycle ride. Ever.

Here's the video transcript:

Transcript:

This is Nepal. What it lacks in Gross Domestic Produce (It has the 165th smallest GDP globally) it makes up for by being home to very frikking big Mountains, most famously Mount Everest and 7 more of the world's peaks above 8000m.

Now, imagine you wanted to visit Nepal, and do some good. You lived in the UK, so you'd have to get on a plane at Heathrow Airport, outside London, and fly to somewhere like Doha in Qatar for about 6 or 7 hours. From there, you'd fly another 4 or 5 hours to Nepal's capital of Kathmandu.

Imagine from there, the next day, you took an internal flight to Nepalgunj Airport (over here), and the day after that, another flight to Jufal, where your plane lands at Dolpa Airport on a sand strip. You've landed at about 2910m or 9550 odd feet in old money and immediately feel like you're not in Kansas anymore.

All flown out yet?

Yeah, right, so you start walking. You trek from there to the village of Dunai, where you spend the night thanking your lucky stars that your feet are on solid ground before trekking to Tarakot the next day. The following day, you make your way from Tarakot to Musi Kola and the day after on to Kagot at an altitude of 3400m or 11,150 ft, where you find a school of 80 kids.

You deliver computers and satellite equipment to the kids and spend 2 weeks with them, setting up the equipment and setting the kids and their teachers up for success, teaching them how to use the internet to access knowledge and engage with people outside of the remote valley where they live. 

You provide them with so much we take for granted. You provide access to knowledge that could change their lives for the better forever. You provide access to opportunities they never had and are desperate to get.

Well, If we're successful with this project, that's exactly what we'll do.

I'm joining the ITHQ Techspedition to Nepal in September 2024, where we're hoping to take potentially life-changing technology and internet access to the Tenzing Norgay School in Kagot, one of the remotest high-altitude schools in Nepal.

But, there's a catch, of course. It is a logistically complex operation, which makes it an expensive undertaking, not only because of the cost of the equipment but number of folks required to make this happen whilst taking a month out of our businesses, ITHQ and Struto, to make it happen.

So, question:

How do you raise money for a good cause like this?

Answer:

Well, you do something crazy to draw attention to it. Hopefully, if it's crazy enough, people will get behind you to help you achieve your goals by donating money or sponsoring the trip!

That's where Adventureholic Neil Laughton comes in. This project is originally Neil's brainchild, and he will lead the expedition to Kagot to deliver computers and satellite equipment to the Tensing Norgay School, and then we'll do one more thing...

Neil will also lead a group of us on to try set a new Guinness World record. The record for the world's highest bicycle ride stands at 7,211m or 23,658 ft. 

We want to break that record.

There are 1,187,049 mountains on the planet. Fortunately, the biggest are in Nepal and the 95th highest mountain in the world is a short trek from Kagot. 

Meet Putha Hiunchuli, it squeaks into the worldfs 100 highest mountains at number 95 and stands at 7,246m or 23,773 ft.

We'll load up yaks with our gear and mountain bikes and, and with the help of a local Sherpa team, trek to Panzi base camp at the foot of Putha Hiunchuli at about 4,500m and then make our way up to the main Putha Hiunchuli base camp at 4,900m or 16,076 ft.

From there, we'll carry the 15kg bikes up the mountains on our backs. 

Each of us is required to carry our own bike, but luckily we'll each have the support of a dedicated Sherpa who will carry our life-supporting gear.

We'll do another 5 or 6 days of rotation climbs, and acclimatisation, essentially where you climb high and sleep lower to build up red blood cells in your body to better cope with the extreme altitude and lack of oxygen. These rotations are expected to be bloody hard.

On or around the 20th of September 2024, weather permitting, we'll push for the summit of Putha Hiunchuli with the bikes on our backs. Again, this is expected to be bloody hard. We'll each burn 12,000 to 15,000 calories on this push alone. 

If we're successful, we'll get on our bikes at the summit and begin to ride stroke plummet our way down the mountain, a trip that's estimated to take at least another 5 hours of descent.

This will be the hardest thing I've ever done physically. 

Just to put this into perspective, I rode 275 km or 170 miles on a road bike over some Welsh mountains and through some lovely valleys in a single day in June this year and managed to burn 9,000 calories.

This is much harder.

I climbed Kilimanjaro at a height of 5985 m 12 years ago and lost 5 kg in 11 days.

This is much, much harder.

Its:

• 5 flights 
• At least 4 days of trekking at altitude to get to the school
• Another 2 days of trekking at an even higher altitude to get to base camp
• 5 days rotation climbing and lugging a mountain bike on our backs up the 95th highest mountain in the world
• 1 mad day trying to summit with a bike on your back and get down the mountain on the same said bloody bike.

And then you have to get home...

All in all, it adds up to a one-month-long crazy adventure where we hopefully get to positively impact peoples lives forever.

So, I hope you find what we're trying to achieve to be a worthy cause. Please help us to get the computer equipment, satellite equipment, and tuition to the 80 kids and their teachers at the Tensing Norgay School by donating to the ITHQ Techspedition here:

If you're a business and would like to sponsor us, please get in touch with me directly.

Otherwise, please just come along for the ride. I'm going to release regular training diaries on YouTube and all the usual social channels as I take on a series of challenges, starting with the Goodwood Half Marathon in December and moving on to mountaineering training in January, the Cape Cycle tour in March 2024, the Manchester Marathon in April 2024 and an epic 100km run around July/August 2024 before heading off to the Himalayas at the beginning of September 2024.