Climb

As one of the Forties for 40 challenges, I went on not one but two road trips that were over 440 kilometres!

Road Trip #1 Escape from Riyadh Road Trip: Camp, Climb, Freedive, Hike & Ride!

With three days free to explore my multi-talented friend and I set off on a unique road trip of Saudi Arabia that would cover almost 2,400 kilometres. Starting in Riyadh, the trip included a hike of the Wahbah Crater, horse riding at King Abdullah Economic City, freediving in the Red Sea, hiking and camping in the Moon Valley and climbing Moon Mountain to see the sunset – what an absolute blast, in the best of company.

This full-length video can be broken down into some component parts, as follows:

Hiking the Wahbah Crater:

Freediving in the Red Sea:

Sunset from the Summit of Moon Mountain:

Road Trip #2 to Al Ula, Hegra, Madain Saleh, Jabal Ikmah & Alfil, Dadan & Lihyan Kingdoms, Saudi Arabia

Whilst I had booked the necessary time off work, I did agree to dial into an important meeting. This was supposed to be easy with my mobile internet and having the huge rear bench to myself. However, there was a technical glitch and try as I might (as you see above) I simply could not connect and resorted to indirect supporting communication via telephone and WhatsApp.

During my struggle, we drove from Tabuk to Al Ula alongside what was the route of the Hijaz railway and the pilgrimage and incense route from Damascus to Makkah. The route took us past old Ottoman forts, the Hijaz railway lines and stations, magnificent rocks, geology and environments that are unique to this area of the Arabian desert.

We visited the Old Town in Al Ula and the ruins of the Dadan kingdom plus Hegra / Mada’in Salih / Madain Saleh – an archaeological site located in Al-Ula within Al Madinah Region in the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia and could well be the most iconic historical site in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Madain Saleh was listed as a UNESCO Word Heritage site, back in 2008. The majority of the remains date from the Nabatean era and it is the southernmost and second largest city of the Nabatean Kingdom after Petra in Jordan. Madain Saleh means the “cities of Saleh” after the name of the Prophet Saleh who attempted to convert the ancient people of Thamud to Islam. The name Madain Saleh started to be used during the Ottoman occupation of the Hejaz but the Nabateans called it Hijra and the Romans used to call it Hegra. The historical site is known in Arabic as Al-Hijr, after which a Surat of the Holy Quran is named. The site incorporates Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Arabic styles in its architecture and excavations have shown that the south of the city probably hosted a military garrison. The Romans participated to its development by taking control of the frankincense trade and by maintaining and even renovating parts of the city such as its compound walls. In the early 19th century the Ottomans built a railway station at Madain Saleh that was along the Hijaz Railway linking Damascus to the holy city of Makkah. This ground to a halt as a result of the second world war. The city was populated until the 6th century until the people moved to the city of Al-Ula.

Nothing I can say or write can do this place justice.

Specific video on Madain Saleh:

Massive thanks and respect to my friends Jack and Tom for their efforts and to Anwar for sharing her knowledge.

More information:

Dadan: https://www.experiencealula.com/en/di…

Hegra: https://www.experiencealula.com/en/di…

Jabal Ikmah: https://www.experiencealula.com/en/di…

Al Ula Old Town: https://www.experiencealula.com/en/di…

Jabal Alfil / Elephant Rock: https://www.experiencealula.com/en/di…

I previously referred to the 40s 4 40 challenges as ‘stretch targets’ and to appreciate why, I have attempted to record my current performance in this post. This will help me to understand how big a task I’ve got ahead of me. I’ve listed some of the challenges below with various reference points; my plan to completion will be the subject of a future post…

40 Press ups / push ups in a minute: the easiest thing to do is watch the video; I reckon I’ve already nailed it and with a bit of work I’ll have this one sorted by the end of 2020…

In early 2022 Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh from Manipur broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute. Niranjoy, who is a two-time Guinness World Record holder, broke the old record of 105 push-ups by achieving 109 push-ups in one minute during a Guinness Book of World Records attempt organised by Aztecs Sports Manipur at Aztecs fight studio in Imphal.

The previous record holder in most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute is Graham Maly from the United Kingdom who set the record in 2009. These incredible records really put my achievement into perspective!

Run 10k in 40 minutes: My Personal Best (PB) for 10 kilometres is 45 minutes 11 seconds and currently I feel comfortable running at 5 minutes per kilometre so really I’m probably running 50 minute 10ks. I therefore need to improve by between 12% and 20%. Not insignificant.

Ironman 70.3 in 4 hours and 40 minutes: My PB is 5 hours 7 minutes, split as follows:

To achieve a 4:40 means I need to take just under half an hour off my best ever time and I’ll be looking to the run to achieve most of that…

Marathon in under 4 hours and 40 minutes: No baseline as despite all the running I have done in my life, I have not yet run a marathon – hence the challenge! My PB for a half is 1:43.

Free dive to 40 meters: I am AIDA Level 2 qualified (20m depth in constant weight class) but I once touched 22.4 meters, according to my dive watch. 40m is practically double my current depth and so quite a challenge. As a sub-category of this, I will attempt a 3 minutes 40 seconds breath-hold (my current personal best is 3 minutes 20 seconds). This is a mere 10% improvement and ideally I’d like to get over 4 minutes.

@zak_dive / #zak_dive / https://www.facebook.com/zakaria.dive

40,000 feet of climbing: The highest I’ve ever climbed is the summit of Aconcagua at 22,837 feet (6,962 meters) in January 2020 and until now, I’ve only ever climbed one high-altitude mountain per calendar year.

The most I’ve ever climbed in a calendar year before now is 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) when I did Kilimanjaro in 2018. In a rolling year I’ve climbed a total of 56,370 feet (EBC & Kala Patthar in 2017 plus Kilimanjaro and Elbrus in 2018).

I need to climb more than twice as high in one calendar year than I’ve ever done before but actually less than I have done before in a rolling year to reach a cumulative 40,000 feet (or more).

Climb my 4th of the World’s 7 highest summits: I have climbed 3 of the World’s highest summits (Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua) so the next will be my 4th. This goes hand-in-hand with climbing 40,000+ feet.

Cycle 40km in an hour: I completed a 25 mile time trial in October 2019 and was I’m 8 minutes over 1 hour so I need to improve by 12%.

Drink a ’40’: I’ve seen them on American films but I’m yet to see one in the flesh and of course, drink it!

Giving £40 to 40 charities: I think is better described as a privilege than a challenge….

Road Trip over 440 kilometres!

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40 Press-Ups in 1 Minute & My Current Baseline

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