The durability of our Lode exercise bikes

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Sunday was spent organising the final loads to be helicopter-lifted up the mountain and putting them into neat piles that Kit Spencer would be able to easily identify. One of the Lode exercise bikes had been delivered to us upside down from Kathmadu airport. The box it was carried in had taken a bashing and there was the risk that the bike itself was damaged.

I stripped down the wooden frame that encased the bike and peered inside. ?So far, so good?, I thought to myself, when realising that there was no noticeable damage. This was quite amazing, since the huge coach bolts that were screwed into the pallet, holding the tie-down brackets on, had been completely ripped out and bent in half. All 90 kilograms of bike must have slammed onto the seat and handlebar electronic display unit.

We brought a generator over, connected all the cables and fired her up. Evereything worked perfectly.Inside the bikes are electro-magnetic brakes, which can be adjusted to alter the resistance that the rider experiences.

I asked our Sirdar, Pema, to write ?This Way Up? in Nepali, all over the bike boxes, so hopefully it wouldn?t happen again. With the help of Pema?s younger brother Passang, a 3-time summiteer of Everest (and he?s only 23!), I rebuilt the bike box using locally sourced metal brackets and my huge array of tools that were flown out from the UK.

We were all quite happily working away in the equipment compound, when all of a sudden the sound of instruments wafted into the camp from between the trees. We wandered over to the hotel reception area and there was a small band; trumpets playing, drums beating and a whole assortment of bells being jangled. It was a most almighty din, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Then, through the hotel gates, emerged 2 large coaches. Inside were the beaming faces of the main team, about 40 of them.

Kit Spencer welcomed the team to the Summit Hotel and then asked his reception staff to perform, as he described it, ?The handing of the keys ceremony?. The Logistics Team mingled amongst the others, saying hello to everyone and in particular those that had worked so hard to help us pack all the equipment back at Archway ? Jules, Nikki and Vijay.

While all this was going on, Kit called me over for a quiet chat. At last we were heading for the mountains and the chance to get cracking on building Laboratory No2. We were going to fly in by helicopter. Paul, our Logistics Team doctor, handed out the Diamox tablets that would help us cope with the sudden rise in altitude. We were going from 1350 meters to 3800 meters in the space of one hour. For the rest of the teams that take part in this expedition, they will be taking 2 ? days to climb to the same height.

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Blog by Mac Mackenney