Millie Gibbons isn’t your usual world record breaker. No one knew she’d smashed the women’s Double Everesting record until two months after she’d finished. And yet, the 30-year-old Brit had spent a gruelling 38 hours and 39 minutes in the saddle to gain the title, after climbing 493 kilometres – 30 times.
“I just messaged [the Everesting group] to be like, ‘Oh I think this is the fastest’, and only then did they realise and make a whole big deal about it.” she laughs. “I didn’t do it to say I got a record or anything. I just did it because I wanted to do it myself.”
The idea to tackle the Double Everesting challenge came to Gibbons almost accidentally. This, I learn, is typical for the her; she’s open to life and all its offerings. When asked why she decided to do a 24 hour ride up Saint Miquel by Rouleur last year, she replied: “it was a full moon, sometimes these ideas just come to you, don’t they?” The decision to ride all three Traka routes back to back, covering 710km in three days, came out of a conversation with friends in Girona.
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It’s no surprise, then, that the latest inspiration came from close to home, inspired by her friend and current Double Everesting Men’s record holder, Alex McCormac.
McCormac was someone to trust. He’d met Gibbons back during their university days, the two spending time away from studies sailing – and cycling to and from the boat year. But it was when McCormac was visiting Girona (Gibbons’ home) for a training camp, that the idea for the latest challenge became real.
The decision was made: she’d aim to take on the challenge sometime in February, be supported by her partner, Aleix, and Alex – and she wouldn’t tell anyone.
The climb they decided on was one of Catalunya’s most well known: the Sant Martí Sacalm. Climbing at a 7.2% average gradient over 8.3 kilometres, “it’s where most of the pros do their efforts,” Gibbons tells me.
(Image credit: Aleix Ferrer @aleixferrerr)
“It was just such a consistent gradient that you kind of forget you’re climbing. It just becomes normal.”
But climbing, for Gibbons, isn’t simply a task to be endured on the way to a world record; it’s something she loves.
“I just really enjoy climbing, and it was just fun. There was never any doubt that I wouldn’t be able to do that. Unless I was injured, or something happened to my bike. But I know mentally that if I want to do something, I will.”
Gibbons trains with a mathematician’s brain, able to happily segment her effort into sizeable chunks: one climb done, then the descent, then “right as you’re cruising down, just looking at the views, thinking, Oh, this is nice. Go do another one.” A tally is mentally marked in her head as she sets off on another lap, or stops briefly for a jam sandwich with Aleix.
“I guess that is what keeps your mind busy when you do these really long rides is calculating maths,” she says. “And I’m fortunate. I just stick at the same consistent speed and pace. So then obviously I knew by the start roughly how long it was going to take. And then obviously by the end, you are tired, so you add on a bit of extra time spent eating and all these things. But then I was able to know that each lap was just over an hour, each climb maybe 50 minutes.”
By the time Gibbons finished her Double Everesting ride, the sun had risen – and set – twice. She rolled off the hill flanked by her support crew, and life resumed as normal. Monday came around and Gibbons continued work as a web developer for ultra endurance tracking website, Dot Watchers, her newest accolade kept close, and secret.
It’s maybe even more surprising that Gibbons kept her record on the down low knowing just how social she is – and how dedicated she is to sharing her love of cycling. Last year, she led three other women on their first Everesting challenge, cycling through the dark, chivvying each other along up the climbs, all the while Gibbons’ frame emblazoned with a sticker reading: ‘Girl, you already have what it takes.’
“I think it’s so easy to make things hard, things feel, especially for women, like, quite daunting and overwhelming,” she says. “And it’s like, if you just turn up with, like, good vibes, your friends, good atmosphere, then women are unstoppable and can do anything.”
Gibbons is now focussing on racing the Trans Pyrenees, and on getting an even bigger turnout to the next women’s Everesting event she leads in Girona. She knows how the world can open up on two wheels.
“It’s not that far, but you’re doing something really epic,” Gibbons says of the women’s Everesting group, “and I feel like it is a really good step to becoming and enjoying more, bigger adventures.”
