1475769Former Cummins man Trevor Kloeden dodged landslides, cave-ins, rock falls and more in his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Highest Altitude Cycle.
The former 24-hour mountain bike racing world championship bronze medal winner took on the adventure as it combined his love of climbing and mountain biking.
Mr Kloeden, who grew up in Cummins and now lives in Sydney, said he was invited mid last year to go along on an expedition to climb a mountain called Muztagh Ata in western China.
"Doing the usual Google search of Muztagh Ata I came across a link to three guys who broke the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude cycle on this very mountain at 7008 metres (22,992 feet)," he said.
The current record was set by Siegfried Verheijke from Belgium, Luc Belet from Belgium and Martin Adserballe from Denmark.
"They rode their mountain bikes at an altitude of 7008m (22,992 ft) on the slopes of the Muztagh Ata in the Xinjiang province of China, on August 11, 2000.
"Being a mad keen mountain biker and climber, I organised a new mountain bike, strapped it to my backpack and started walking the streets and parks of Belrose in Northern Sydney.
"I had many people stop me and ask what I was doing carrying a bike - wish I had a dollar for each time I was told, 'you're supposed to ride it not carry it'."
In July 2008 Mr Kloeden packed up his 84 kilograms of gear and headed for Islamabad in Pakistan.
"From there we loaded up our gear in a bus and headed up the Karakoram Highway (KKH, The Old Silk Road) to Karimabad where we did an acclimatisation climb and camp to Ultar Sa Base Camp 3200m (10,498ft).
"A quick climb up to 3900m (12,795ft) got the red blood cells multiplying then back down and on the bus on the KKH.
"From there we hit the Chinese border for the first of many, many military checkpoint checks we had to endure as this was the time of the Olympic games in China."
After a night in Tashkurghan, a Chinese border town, Mr Kloeden headed for Subash, where it is a 12km hike to Muztagh Ata base camp.
"Our gear was carried in by camel train," he said.
"During the next few weeks we load carried and acclimatised ourselves on the mountain at base camp (4400m) and camps one (5400m), two (6180m) and three (6700m).
"I managed to carry the bike and ride it at camp two at 6180m (20,275ft) with great difficulty.
"This was harder than I ever expected.
"The additional 10kg of the bike strapped to my pack felt like it was growing by 10kg for every metre I ascended."
Mr Kloeden also met a Lithuanian man, Bruno, who was attempting the same world record.
"This was his fifth attempt to summit the mountain.
"He did summit with his bike, but was alone and could only ride a short distance so missed out on the Guinness World Record."
Mr Kloeden had to abandon his record attempt at camp two, but still attempted to summit bikeless.
"With a 3am alpine start, seven of the original 13 climbers headed for the summit.
"I made it to 6800m (22,309ft) before returning to camp three with frozen hands in -20C temperatures.
"Unfortunately nobody made it to the summit due to the conditions.
"Once we all safely descended and rested at base camp and my hands defrosted, we made our way to Kashgar (Western China), the end of the KKH and Silk Road.
"Following a rest day and exploring Kashgar, we boarded the bus for the 1260km trip back down the KKH to Islamabad battling the landslides, cave-ins, washaways, rock falls, mud slides, raging rivers and crazy truck drivers."
Mr Kloeden said while most disasters were avoided, the travellers got stuck on the way up the KKH by a landslide.
"It happened a few hours before we arrived at the point and we were held up for several hours while they cleared a way over the slide.
"We did have to cross many sections of road where it was only one vehicle width wide due to the conditions.
"With a sheer drop into a raging river below and huge rocks hanging above you, it was, shall we say, interesting."
Mr Kloeden said it was a great adventure combining the Muztagh Ata record attempt with a trip along the Old Silk Road.
"The people we met in Pakistan and China were just like you and I - friendly and keen to know about your life.
"This is a beautiful world we live in."
See the internet site, www.trevor.kloeden.com for the photos and video of Mr Kloeden's adventure.