Mark Bruce has accomplished a yr of “Everesting” by biking the peak of the world’s tallest mountain in a single session each month of 2024.
Mark, a former guitarist, can also be barely recognisable after shedding 40kg in weight and reckons he’s “the fittest and strongest” he’s even been in his life, having fought off suicidal ideas and a reliance on alcohol.
The 34-year-old Scot, who performed for internationally acclaimed indie band Elephant Periods, advised Biking Weekly: “I got here actually near shedding my life. I’d determined to depart [the band] after 10 largely nice years enjoying all around the world with good associates and fellow musicians.
“However I’d turn into very drained with all of the touring and when the Covid pandemic got here it hit our band – and lots of performers like us – very exhausting.
“In 2022, I ended up again at dwelling residing with my dad and mom within the small city of Tain within the Scottish Highlands with no plan of what to do subsequent. That’s once I actually fell to items.”
Mark discovered himself falling again on “alcohol and the mistaken meals selections”, which had “turn into dangerous habits whereas touring.”
“I discovered myself sinking deeper and deeper right into a darkish place with the drink. I couldn’t see a future and I grew to become suicidal,” he advised Biking Weekly.
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Mark picked up unhealthy habits while on tour
(Picture credit score: Mark Bruce)
Scared for his life, Mark, who at this level tipped the scales at 105kgs, knew he wanted assist – and he was lucky to realize speedy entry to a psychological well being help service. However he was nonetheless ingesting and he failed a number of instances to stop.
Then, within the September of that yr, one thing modified – and he acquired sober. He says: “I don’t know why it was totally different this time and I’ve determined not to consider it. I’ve not had an alcoholic drink since however the one manner I might cope was to take at some point at a time.
“I additionally began biking a bit. I’d by no means been a lot of a bike owner however I’d been given an outdated bike throughout lockdown and I made a promise to myself to journey it a day every week whereas I used to be sober.”
Because the months glided by, Mark might see the distinction the train was making. He says: “I used to be nonetheless combating the necessity for a drink however the extra I rode my bike, the extra I wished to journey. I felt higher about myself and I began consuming extra healthily.
Mark was given an outdated bike throughout lockdown
(Picture credit score: Mark Bruce)
“I made a decision to focus extra on coaching and I loved using extra miles, additional distances and doing hillier routes.”
Mark additionally discovered the motivation to make a profession change and, after a yr of examine, he certified as a music trainer. He now works in secondary colleges in Glasgow.
He says: “I moved to a brand new metropolis, began a brand new profession and continued to journey my bike. By this level I had purchased myself a greater bike and it was then that I noticed a video on-line of a bike owner ‘Everesting’.”
How biking can assist within the struggle towards melancholy
Well being specialists reveal the highly effective impression of train on psychological well being, from fast boosts in temper to lowering the dangers of long-term melancholy.
There are numerous research that make a constructive connection between train, particularly reasonable depth, and the discharge of “really feel good” chemical compounds endorphins and serotonin.
Common train can also be identified to scale back anxiousness, which may be linked to melancholy.
A evaluate of 200 educational research revealed within the British Medical Journal earlier this yr, concluded: “Train is an efficient therapy for melancholy.”
Biking particularly seems to have psychological well being advantages. A examine revealed within the Journal of Transport & Well being in 2023 exhibits that biking as a leisure exercise improved perceptions of psychological well being and “vitality”.
One other survey by Cycleplan in 2018 discovered that 75% of bike owner respondents reported a lift to their psychological well being.
Melancholy will also be linked to larger ranges of stress. Biking was proven to be an amazing stress-buster in a examine revealed by BMJ Journals in 2017 – and, partially, this may be defined by extra time spent in inexperienced house.
Loads of analysis, together with a 2023 article, Inexperienced Areas for Psychological Issues, in Present Opinion in Psychiatry, exhibits how nature advantages wellbeing.
Biking takes you open air and a examine revealed in Environmental Science and Expertise in 2011 discovered that “in contrast with exercising indoors, exercising in pure environments is related to better emotions of revitalisation, elevated power and constructive engagement, along with decreases in stress, confusion, anger and melancholy”.
In winter, too, it’s advisable that spending extra time in daylight, comparable to biking, can assist to fight seasonal affective dysfunction (SAD), or “the blues”.
Everesting challenges cyclists to climb the equal top of Everest – 8848 metres – by using reps of the identical hill on a single climb and in a single single journey. Everesting makes an attempt should be recorded on Strava, whereas digital Everestings are accomplished on Zwift.
Mark, who’s a member of Glasgow Ivy Biking Membership, provides: “At first I believed it appeared a completely unachievable problem however the thought acquired into my head and I puzzled if I might do an Everest myself. That thought spiralled and inside weeks I used to be questioning if I might do a yr of Everesting.
“It was such a ridiculous thought, so I additionally pledged to boost cash for charity.”
Mark selected Tiny Adjustments, a Scottish youth psychological well being charity that was arrange in reminiscence of Scott Hutchison, a singer and founding father of the band Frightened Rabbit, who took his personal life aged 36 after battling melancholy.
He says: “I keep in mind the surprising dying of Scott and so the charity resonated with me. I nearly misplaced my life to melancholy and I see, by means of my work as a trainer, the necessity for younger folks to have good psychological well being help.”
Mark confesses that the Everesting problem has been “extraordinarily powerful”. Each month this yr, he has Everested on totally different hills, most of them in Scotland, and twice on a turbo coach at dwelling. His closing Everest passed off on December 16, once more on a turbo coach, however this time on the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in his dwelling metropolis.
Balancing the coaching load together with his work as a trainer hasn’t been simple
(Picture credit score: Seth Tinsley)
Mark’s Everest instances have been between 11 hours 25 minutes and 17 hours 31 minutes and from the shortest distance of 139km to the longest of 272km. The variety of reps on the highway have been between 42 and 69 and the gradients have averaged 8.8%, with the “best” at 6.8% and the steepest of 13.4%.
The hardest journey has been on The Lecht in Aberdeenshire, the place the common of 1.4% included sections of 20% gradient. In the meantime, Coulport hill on the Rosneath Peninsula, Argyll and Bute, with a mean 7.8% gradient, has been Mark’s favorite Everest as a result of “the climb was fairly excellent”.
He says: “I’m now very drained bodily as a result of month after month of Everesting. Making an attempt to suit them in round my educating work and getting sufficient time for restoration has been actually difficult, too.
“However, I’m so pleased with what I’ve achieved and I’m fitter and stronger than I’ve ever been.
“I’m scared to assume again and to think about how various things might have been, so as an alternative I simply really feel very lucky and maintain wanting forwards and using my bike.”
Mark’s Everest rides are recorded on Eversting.com. You possibly can see his journey on his Instagram web page @adozeneverests and help his fundraiser right here.
