Cyclist Bikes Williamsburg Bridge 267 Times In Mt. Everest Challenge

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — The Williamsburg Bridge has become Mount Everest for a New York cyclist who is trying cross the span 267 times in a row.

Austin Horse, 34, a cycling advocate, will bike 370 miles — an approximation of a ride up Mount Everest — between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon to advocate for his cause – that 14th Street in Manhattan become a cyclist-friendly street during the L train shutdown.

“We might have the number of bikes on here quadruple,” Horse said of the imminent shutdown. “The infrastructure is insufficient — if you ride a bike in New York City, you know that.”

Fueled by Pies ‘N’ Thighs donuts and gallons of water, Horse has been biking back and forth since 8 a.m. Sunday morning, averaging about 5 minutes per crossing.

The monumental task is called Everesting and the challenge is to ride up 8,848 meters by repeating an elevated track over and over again.

“If you sleep during your ride it voids it,” said Horse, who had ridden 299 miles and not slept in the past 27 hours by 11:30 a.m. Monday. “So this part stinks.”

But, as Horse noted on Instagram, the task he’s hoping to complete by 6 p.m. tonight is one many Brooklyn commuters will face when the L train stops running between Brooklyn and Manhattan next spring for the following 15 months.

“One year's worth of regular commuting is more than equivalent to one Everest's worth of pedaling,” he wrote.

Which is why Horse and the cyclist activism group TransAlt are calling for 14th Street in Manhattan to become a “People Way” with bus lanes, protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

“It’s a mess and we can do better,” said Horse. “You look at every other notable city in America, and in the world, and they’ve taken major streets of commerce and they’ve turned them into pedestrian malls, and it’s just been great.”

"People Way" supporters can find more information on the TransAlt website and can also sponsor Horse’s trip — all donations will go toward supporting Trans Alt causes.

Supporters can also dash down to the Williamsburg Bridge to see Horse in action until late Monday afternoon. Horse said being cheered on kept him going when he was riding across the bridge in the dead of night.

“If I was doing this in secret, I probably would have gone home 12 hours ago,” he admitted.

Header photos by Kathleen Culliton