At 6 a.m. on Friday, cyclist Daniel Connell set out to complete a Triple Everest challenge.
"Two years ago I did it once. Last year twice, and this year thrice. Well, in the process," Connell said.
Everesting is a cycling challenge in which a rider climbs and descends a hill repeatedly until they've reached the elevation of Mount Everest, around 30,000 feet on one continuous ride. Connell is doing that three times in a row.
"My big goal is 65 hours. That's optimistic," he said.
In support of Connell and benefiting the Wilderness Youth Project charity, cyclists like Andrew Foxwell came across Santa Barbara County to ride along.
"Every time I ride, I'm always beaming with him because it just brings my spirit up. He's one of those people in the world, and I think that's evident by like, these people don't have to be here, but he’ll attract 50 to 100 who will come out and do this," Foxwell said.
All donations for this year’s ride will benefit the Wilderness Youth Project, which helps kids of all backgrounds have equal access to the outdoors.
"He's an inspiration, so the fact that he's doing it as well as supporting a really good cause in the process, is just super respectable," said CJ Covarubias.
But climbing 90,000 feet up a mountain, non-stop won’t be easy.
"I think that my first Everest is going to like, my fitness is going to take me through that. The second Everest is going to be kind of like fitness plus community and energy. And then the third Everest, I think is going to be just like pure mental," Connell said.
Completing a Triple Everest ride is extremely challenging and rare with only a handful of cyclists succeeding worldwide.
"Just reminding myself that I'm lucky just to be here at all and when things get hard, just to get a little tougher," Connell said.
If you want to join the ride over the weekend the meet-up point is at North Old San Marcos Rd and Highway 154.
