This one deserves its own post.

Lastly and crucially, you need to decide what time of day you will start your attempt.

We began our 1st Everesting at 1.25am, our 2nd at 10.30pm and our 3rd at 4am.

The reason for these start times is that we both work full-time day jobs and neither of us was prepared to take a day off or do it at the weekend when the roads on our chosen hills would be busier.

My preference would be for a 7pm start, riding through the night so that you’re mostly done by dawn – the pyschological uplift of whose arrival cannot be underestimated (Google “circadian rhythm” and you’ll understand why) – and crucially, this means you should be finishing in daylight – but Kingy preferred to head home from work, have a nap and start later so I compromised on the start time.