Everesting is the New Stupid - EB's Basecamp Plan (outdoors)
This feels so weird posting about my plan for Everesting... but then I remember its 2020. I will be attempting this feat on June 20, 2020 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Maggie Valley, NC.
Based on the Everesting calculator with the Strava segment added, you'll see my half everesting estimate in the link below. My plan is to complete a 1/2 attempt and *hopefully* keep going. I will do what I can with how I'm feeling.
EVERESTING
Thursday: I'll drive to Cashiers, NC with Jay and the boys to get everything ready. I'm planning to take both of my road bikes with me.
Friday: Begin my set up as if I'm getting ready for an Ironman. The hill is about a 45 min drive from our place. I'll pack my cooler, bottles, change of clothes, SAG bucket and then legs up.
Saturday: Leave the house by 3:45 am for the hill. The climbs will begin at 5:00am.
I race really well when I know what IF (intensity factor) goal I'm looking at. I'm thinking somewhere around .71 for the half which would give me a range of 127-140 watts while climbing. I'll have to do 6.5 laps to reach my 1/2 goal. Here is my attempt to break down the day
Laps 1&2: Two water bottles with Skratch. 2.5 homemade rice cakes. (shoot to eat every 45 min)
Rest Stop 1: (4,450 ft) Set timer for 10 minutes. Switch out bottles and food. Change kit/socks if needed. Bathroom Break.
Laps 2&3: Two more water bottles with Skratch. Two more rice cakes but have Untapped maple syrup and tums if stomach isn't happy.
Rest Stop 2: (8,900 ft) Set timer for 10 minutes. Change clothes if needed. Lunch menu for rest stop food (thinking banana oat bars, small salted potatoes, rice and scrambled eggs)
Laps 4&5: I'm guessing this is when things are going to get hard and if I didn't pace myself properly in the first four laps, I'll be hurting badly. I'll have something with caffeine and start with untapped/blocks/gels. Goal will still be to stay on top of my drinking if I can.
Rest Stop 3: (13,350 ft) Set timer for 10 minutes, change if needed but eat what I can and try not to sit down (bc I probably won't get back up.) COLD COKE and SNICKERS!
Laps 6/7: grind. eat and drink as needed.
DONE: 17,800 ft Somewhere in between 9 and 10 hours
Packing list:
Clothing: 2 helmets, 2 glasses, 3 pairs of gloves (two fingerless, one full), rain jacket, wind jacket, heavier jacket, buff, 3 sets of kits, 3 pairs of socks. 2 pairs of shoes, knee covers, sunsleeves, towel, toe covers, rain shoe covers, clothes for drive home.
Food:
(On bike): Apple Cinnamon Rice Cakes, PB&J Rice Cakes, Untapped Maple Syrup packs, Clif Blocks, Gu, Orange and Strawberry Skratch, tums, Excedrin.
(Rest Stop): Snickers, PayDay, Coke, rice & scrambled eggs, salted potatoes, protein drink, banana oat bars, bourbon.
Equipment: 2 road bikes, wahoo roam, HR monitor, two rear lights, two front lights, bento box, extra battery pack and cord (for wahoo charge just incase), bike pump, bike stand, chain lube, rag, 6 water bottles.
Admin items: kitchen timer, trashbag, wagon, table, camping chair, rumpl blanket, cooler, 3 gallons of water, ice, EPIC wipes, tambourine.
Anyone care to chime in on their thoughts with this craziness?
Comments
This is awesome and so exciting @Emily Brinkley !! Thanks for the inspiration and sharing your plan! I can’t say I have a lot to add. One thought: have you tried plugging your wahoo into a charger while it is recording? Supposedly some devices stop recording when you do that. My garmin 520+ will let me keep recording when I plug it in (which is needed, because battery life is limited on that with the screens I have). You may not need to plug in for a 9-10 hour activity, but I’m guessing you’ll have to recharge for the full Everest when that time comes. Are you going to record on two devices in case of tech failure? Phone or wrist unit?
Also, other everesting folks recommend some sort of lap counting recorder? Maybe hit the split each time? Others have used a dry erase board.
Have you joined Hells 500 Everesting FB page? Lots of good discussions and motivation there.
looks good.
around the same date @Al Truscott and some others are doing a half.
if I feel ok, may do a 3/4 . i'll start early enough to do a full if I am surviving.
i will have a camp toilet in my van.
is your segment a bit long ? will you be ok being away from base camp for long periods of time ?
I will be doing a 4 mile segment that is 1000 feet of gain.
Great thread title
How did it go?
Here is my quick report from the day!
5 weeks to a ½ Everest
Spring/Summer of 2020 -- where endurance races go to die after the global pandemic hit with COVID-19. I spent the majority of March and April on the trainer, with very few rides outdoors. I decided to begin with the OutSeason to use what time I had indoors/quarantined to work on high-intensity efforts. It was during this time where a local cycling friend mentioned an Everesting challenge on the summer solstice, June 20, 2020.
With just over 9 weeks to get my bike game ready for the big day, I chose to first work on the high end of my numbers and then add it to the volume. In the first four weeks, we were still deeply in quarantine here in Charlotte. I do not respond well to long rides on the trainer, so I spent the majority of the week with VO2 and threshold intervals. It wasn’t until restrictions began to loosen before I was able to truly begin building my volume and elevation riding.
Thanks to my EN teammate, Dave Campbell, who invited me on his “field trips” with his local cycling club. I met he and his crew up outside of Richmond, VA where we rode Thunder Ridge, 13 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway where it averages around 6%. The following weekend, I met the same crew up near Mt. Airy where we did a nice 60 mile ride out to Fancy Gap an back. These rides helped me begin to see where my fitness was at with time in the saddle and climbing. Yet again, the EN OutSeason efforts confirmed that #workworks. Although I am not yet back at my strongest FTP best, I am constantly getting stronger and can truly maintain throughout harder efforts.
In the five weeks leading up to the event, I planned my weeks by volume with the goal of hitting 150-200 miles a week. It was very important to me to maintain this volume and balance the intensity of the workouts. If I knew I was riding around Charlotte, my intensity factor (IF) would be closer to a .8 -.9 effort. If I knew I had a big volume weekend with hill work, I would ease off on my intensity and make sure to lay some big numbers down in those workouts.
One thing I made sure to focus on was my recovery. If I had a big volume week, I would not allow myself to attempt any HIIT training the week after. If it was my high-hormone week (the week before my cycle) I would focus more on aerobic efforts in my rides and make sure to add in at least 2-3x core and upper body work at the end of these workouts (to help with the upper body fatigue after hours in the saddle)
So the day finally came! We had about 18 riders, mostly from Charlotte, NC, but we also represented France, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Illinois. Riders were to meet at 4:45 am at the bottom of Balsam Knob at the Blue Ridge Parkway Ranger Station entrance. With our headlights stretching across the blacktop and our taillights screaming red, we captured a quick group selfie, and then the challenge began.
Our first lap was social, with everyone grouped together. The sun was just cresting the blue ridge mountains providing the perfect start to a long day. We took videos, pictures, and pictures of riders taking pictures. I cannot say it enough, this group of cyclists is something special. I’ve rarely found a group of riders who are genuinely out there for the love of the sport and the friendships that long hours on the bike will bring. Coming from the Ironman world where riding solo offers another perspective of character building due to the many solo hours of training, this was indeed a breath of fresh mountain air.
The climb our group chose was just over 8 miles, with an average incline of around 6%. It took about an hour to climb, and 15 minutes to descend. In order to complete the Everest challenge, athletes must complete a particular Strava segment with the cumulative elevation gain of that of Mt. Everest (29, 029 ft) or in my case, a Base Camp attempt (½ Everest 14,515 ft). Elevation must be in one ride, on one hill.
The first two laps were incredible. The sun was rising over the Blue Ridge, offering incredible picture opportunities. The descents however were another story. I haven’t been that cold in a very long time on a bike. My feet were numb until lap 3 thanks to that first descent down. While the segment was beyond perfect for descending without touching your breaks, it. was. cold. There was no question about stopping at the bottom of those first few turn-arounds because we couldn’t get the blood in our legs moving fast enough to help defrost.
By our third hill repeat, I could feel the climbing fatigue setting in on my legs. My heart rate sat right in the sweet spot and I never felt gassed or needed to take a break. I chose to take my OPEN gravel bike which has 1 to 1 gearing, giving me a 33/33 to hang out in and save energy for the final 3 climbs. The only real issue I had was with the monotony of the climbing position. I would have to switch it up every 10 minutes or so by throwing my chain in a bigger gear and stand up. It was around this lap where I would forget to hit the "lap" button on my Wahoo. Although I did still hit it every time, it was never in the same place, ha.
By the time we hit the summit of our 5th lap, the winds picked up and the cloud rolled in. Kori and I decided to wait the storm out while shoving our faces with cherry gummy, tortilla chips, paydays, Mexi-Cokes, and yes, Snickers. Our 6th and final lap ended up being our strongest. While at the top, we had one of our group who still have one more lap to reach her goal with a ½ Everest. Kori offered to ride it with her, and I wasn’t far behind. I was so happy we ended up riding that last one. It ended up being one of my favorite parts of the day.
Kori changed quickly at the top and took off to go after her 20k feet of elevation. I hit stop and took my 17k to heart, looking forward to another attempt here soon. I learned that the shorter the climb, the better your chances are to complete your Everest goal. Eating and drinking wasn't ever an issue. Yes, I was tired, but I’ve been way more fatigued after races before. Our group is already looking at the next segment to attempt later this summer.
Thanks everyone for following along! Let me know if you have any questions. I am definitely hooked with this challenge.
wow, that is so cool! Thanks for posting!
Super awesome work @Emily Brinkley !! Congratulations on that big accomplishment!!
You had an 8 mile descent where you didn’t need to touch the brakes?!?! That is awesome! I am jealous!!
How much traffic did you have?
Did you end up hitting your 0.7 IF climbing goal? After looking back at my everest & prep rides, I think that is a good number for a half Everest.
I look forward to hearing about your preparations for your full 8848 m!! #KeeperOfTheCloud
cool and fun.
glad you had a success.
i guess my preparation for my recent similar thing had a similar gist.
sounds like you had a neat route.
as you note though, for going for the Everest, a much shorter segment would suite better. though would not be as fun as what you just did.
can also say you just did a ::
Mount Rainier.
Mauna Loa.
Mauna Kea.
@robin sarner and @Emily Brinkley @emily617 , when you say a shorter segment would be better is that because you think it is easier when you get more frequent rests even if rest is shorter? Both of my half everests were on really short hills (174 repeats for 21,000 ft & 139 repeats for 15,400). I thought that you probably lose some time from turning around so often.
Also, @Emily Brinkley some members of my everest crew from last weekend are interested in doing it again (crazy, I know!). So if you are looking for more to join, keep me in the loop on time of year (August, right?) and location (Near you, I"m guessing). Thanks!
easier logistically.
Carry less.
don't lose time I think.
less to worry about.
etc.