The “Ultracyclist” is tougher than you are.
Nope, I don’t care — you can’t convince me otherwise. You could be Tom Boonen, and I still wouldn’t buy your claim — at least not if you went wheel to wheel with Jack Thompson.
Simply put: Thompson climbed the equivalent of Mt. Everest on his bike every week in 2022. That still wasn’t enough, so he churned out an average of 6,785 feet on his “off days” throughout the year.
Enough for what? That’d be Thompson’s uber-ambitious project, which saw him climb 1 million meters in 1 year.
For context, top pro cyclists climb about 420,000 m in a calendar year, Thompson’s website points out.
But wait, there’s more. Thompson actually completed 52 “Everests” in 2022 — a specific cycling effort in which the rider climbs 29,032 feet in a single effort, with no sleep, on the same hill. Usually, it takes 12-14 hours for a cyclist in prime shape. Thompson’s tally earned him a world record for Everests in a year.
On top of that, he raised money for multiple mental health charities through the effort. “Cycling saved Jack’s life,” his website says, and now he’s paying it forward.
Psyched yet? Then watch “Rising Up,” the film about the Ultracyclist’s bonkers year. And train up — except for one among us, we’re all soft.
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