Racing roadkill
Guru
'Everesting' I don't get it, but fair play to those who do it, nutters the lot of 'em.
On the (Steel) Ridgeback with about 17kg of camping gear (last time I crossed the 'Cat and Fiddle' ) you bet your bippy I do.You brake on descents ...?
I reckon for this challenge, steepish climbs would be the best bet. Very steep climbs would probably kill your legs, but maybe something like a steady 10%. My thinking is that you would be going so slowly that nearly all of your power would be used in lifting you and the bike through so many metres, and hardly any lost to air resistance. Also, you would be able to freewheel all the way back down to recover between efforts ...
The kind of thing I am thinking of is the Otley Chevin climb which is almost exactly 10% all the way up for ~1.6 km, gaining 160 m. You would have to do it 56 times, but you would 'only' have to pedal for about 90 kms and would cover 180 kms in total.
I confess that I found Otley Chevin hard enough doing it just once!I've read a number of post-ride Eversting reports by those who failed the first/second time. They all come to the conclusion that 6-8% chosen for their successful attempt was the better gradient. Steeper gradients are quicker (10-12 hours) but you'd need to be a strong/light rider. You also need to consider descending a steep gradient after 12 hours in the saddle and completely exhausted