Everest Challenge: My Most Epic Riding EVA!!!!
I've been out of the triathlon racing game for a couple years but this year I set myself the goal of doing some of great epic cycling events we have here in Cali. In April I did the Mt Laguna Bicycle Classic, a timed century with 10000ft of gain. But the grandaddy, the one that skinny climber types I ride with tremble at the name, is the Everest Challenge:
• Two Days
• 29000ft of gain
• Hardest two day USAC race in the country.
Rich Sawiris, Wheelbuilder, about 130lb soaking wet, said he was almost crying at the end of Day 1 and one of our friends had to practically staple him to his bike to finish...Day Friggin' 1. Needless to say, this was a serious challenge.
I used the race (I considered it more of a ride/epically cool thing to do) to set some body comp and bike fitness goals for myself. Along the way I learned a system for improving my body comp when I need to and I've entered October, a year out from IMWI, with excellent cycling fitness and a fun plan to build it through next year.
So this weekend was the end goal of all of _that_, but, to be honest, I had kinda sorta lost my super-serious focus a couple months ago: a summer full of IM travel and camps, etc. So I approach the day with:
"My FTP is probably as good as it's ever been. Sure, I could be thinner but I've got as many gears as I can put on my bike (see below) and I know there aren't many Cat 5's out there with my knowledge of how to pace stuff like this. It is what it is."
Thursday?
Joanne moved her schedule around, taking the weekend off to go up with Riley and I in our trailer. Great fun with her and the Boy on the drive up and in the campground. He's a trooper, just curls up in the back of the truck and goes to sleep.
Friday?
I worked in the AM from the trailer with a Verizon wifi card then we drove the first and last climbs of Day 1. One word: stupid, stupid, epic scenery. The race is based out of Bishop and I did a lot of dirtbiking last year in the Sierra Nevadas to the west and the White Mountains to the east. The course took us on roads I had never seen before and the aspens were just breathtaking. We had dinner that night with Chris Malone and Margaret Bishop at a great thai restaraunt. Margaret was doing the ride and Chris was there to SAG/support.
The Route
You can see that the route each day is basically "go up that way, real high. When you get to the top, there will be an aid station, we'll record your number, then you'll bomb downhill. Repeat for total of 3x epic climbs per day."
The Highlights:
- Day 1: 122mi, over 15k of gain at the 100mi mark. First climb finishes above 10k ft elevation. Third climb ends at South Lake, a stunning finish, and it's wicked steep the last 10k.
- Day 2: over 13k gain in just over 65mi. Finishes in the Ancient Bristlecone National Forest in the White Mountains, other side of the Owens Valley from the Sierras that we climb on Day 1.
Day the First
Joanne dropped me off at the start, I got registered and waited for my Cat 5 group to start at 7:40am. Bottle of water and Infinit on my bike with instructions for Joanne to meet me at specific aid stations with another water, Infinit, a Coke and Snickers. I found EN member Tom Nelson and we rolled out together. About 50 of us rolled very, very easy for the first 15 miles...after all, we're climbing 15k today...so what's the hurry? 
. When the road started to pitch up steadily, I saw that I needed to sit on 270w to keep up, decided that 75% of these guys had no clue what they were doing so I just backed it down to about 220w and waited. Before long a lot of guys came back to me but I just continued to do my thing. When things sorted themselves out there were maybe...12-15 x Cat5's in front of me somewhere? Dunno.
Basically, this event is the very definition of an anti-race, where it's just you against the mountain against the heat against dehydration and nutrition and NOTHING anyone else is doing makes any difference...at all. I've never been in an event where the lessons we teach you guys about patience, pacing, riding with power, discipline, ignoring everyone else, are soooo key.
I had the Joule set to show me:
- Current watts: just kept it under 220 when not on steep stuff. I adjusted this downward as I got hotter, got dehydrated, and basically was reminded that not all 220w are created the same given altitude, hydration state, etc.
- Pnorm: should not be going up
- % grade: the 34-11 was AWESOME. I could spin at 95-100rpms on 7-8% stuff...and there is a LOT of it. Miles and miles and miles of 8%. When the road kicked up to 10-15%, I would just tractor over it in the 34-34 , keeping my watts as low as I could and still stay upright, while everyone around and in front of me would muscle the bike, then come WAY off the watts to recover...I just stayed on my 220w and spun on by, offering to sell them the 34-11 for $1000 at the top
- IF: goal was .7-75 but I adjusted this downward pretty quickly...and it adjusted itself, as you'll see.
- Speed
- Distance: key for knowing when the damn climb is gonna end
- Ride time: some very shitty math here -- the summit is 4mi away, I'm on a 10-15% climb at 3-4mph, out of gears, my legs are starting to cramp and I have...an hour left....WTF!!!
First Climb: Mosquito Flat, 10,250ft elevation
I felt friggin' awesome. Rode with a guy named Greg who was riding my pace. ?Up and up and up. I then absolutely BOMBED the descent. New wheels, tires, brake pads, Joule says I hit 51mph and I passed a ton of people. I was pretty sure that not many Cat5's were going down the hill like I was so...there you go.
Second Climb: Pine Creek, 7420ft elevation
I met Joanne near the start of the climb to reload, get a Coke, etc. Still felt pretty good but...the day was starting to wear on me. However, nothing crazy on the climb, just miles and miles of 6-8% with some steep pitches. However, the profile showed a long, flat section of 12-15mi between the end of this climb and the start of the next. Flat out here = wind so, as I was descending I saw a large group about 1-2mi ahead of me. I BOMBED to catch them before the flat so I could sit in and just made it, tucking myself at the back of a group of about 10-12 guys and happy to not do a damn thing, even though they were riding about 18mph. Again...I got another 20mi climb coming so what's the rush to get there? .
I met Joanne at the aid station in the flats. It was getting VERY hot, so anothe Infinit, Coke, water, another water in my jersey, poured water on my...but I could tell that things were starting to not so go so good with my stomach. After leaving Joanne ahead of my little peleton, I turned the corner and Chris was there offering a bottle. Joanne had given me water in a regular screw top bottle so I ditched this to pick up the bottle that Chris was offering and put it in my jersey.
I fell in with two guys and we had a decent rotation again, with me perfectly happen to only do as much, or less work, than they were doing, no more. No free rides today. We were joined by 1-2 more, than two locals in Mammoth Cycling Club kit passed us and I jumped on. These doodes were AWESOME, riding 24mph into the wind, even riding out in the road to create an echelon for me an another guy. We got to a t-intersection, they turn left to our right and told us it was 1:45 to the top. I offered them $20 for the work
Third Climb: South Lake, 9835ft elevation
The road turned up, was black asphalt, with a tailwind = it was getting very, very hot. This one of these roads out here where you can see where you're going, at 7-9% for miles and miles....like a ramp disappearing into the sky. I took out Chris bottle...and it tasted like bubblegum, not water. HEED, not water? I "examined" my stomach and decided that it was starting to shut down, not processing what I was putting in and I start to do some math and thinkin':
- Mammoth doodes said 1:45 but they are pretty strong and likely aren't talking about a 1:45 at the end of a 15k day...so call it 2:15-30, minimum.
- I have four bottles but only one is water and my stomach isn't liking the Infinit, Heed, or coke.
- I have one bar, but see stomach jazz above.
- Jersey is becoming caked with salt.
- It's fookin' hot and I'm climbing a black asphalt road, at altitude that just goes on forever.
Assessment: you're dehydrated and low on sodium. But you can't really fix it because your stomach isn't working properly. You need to ditch the weight, get to water and salt, and stand down to unscrew yourself.
15k Sign
15k to the end of the climb. The next 5k was probably the longest 5k I've ever ridden...until the last 5k of this climb 
. At 15k the road actually went up to a consistent 8-9%...still straight...still no turns...can still see where you're going and how much more is left. I knew there was a left with a short downhill...and then it would start get REALLY steep and narrow for the last 10k...so I had that to look forward to. I started to get cramps/flutters in my quads in here. There was an aid station at the turn but all they had was water and Heed, no salt.
Make the turn, down, then steep and narrow up. Really starting to cramp at anything above about 200w. Somewhere in here, with about 10k to the summit, I think, I found Chris on the side of the road. I stopped, got off the bike, and drank water while he dove through the truck to find some salt. Not sure how "there" I was at this point or how long I stopped. I do know that a handful of guys that I had passed earlier in the day passed me back and I was pissed.
Anyway, got back on the bike and just got to getting it done. I've never cramped like this, ever. It sucked . Thankfully the road had a few very, very short down (free distance) or grade decreases where I could come off the power but anything high torque/low cadence just locked me up.
Finally, I made it to the top where a volunteer said "I going to take your bike and put it over there while you sort out those cramps." Legs completely locked, and it took me about 3' to walk the 15ft to the food table. Wasn't really hungry, stomach shut down, but I made myself eat some chicken soup and pretzels. I hung out until Margaret finished, we took a couple pictures and then descended to Chris' car where I planned to get a ride back to the start where Joanne would meet me.
And this is where the advertised event started to bump up against the real event . At the athletes meeting they said they were no longer allowing private support vehicles...but I saw tons of cars out there all day hooking up their peeps. Then it was appararent that alot of people had hooked up rides from the summit back down to the "finish," about 21 miles straight downhill. I don't need to descend 21 miles to call a 101 mile ride 122, I need to recover, so I descended to Chris and got my bike in the back...just as Joanne, Riley, and the cavalry showed up. Awesome!!. Drive back down to the trailer, shower, and hit a local pizza joint for some pasta with Chris and Margaret.
Day 1 Numbers:
- Ride time: 7:51 (results say 7:38?)
- 102 mi
- 14508ft gain
- 4978kj
- Power: 185w average, 212 normalized
- IF/TSS: .675, 338 TSS. My IF at the start of the last climb was .69something but when DOWN as I fought through cramps, etc. This was also, by far, the hardest "only 338 TSS" ride I've ever done. All the gain, heat, my nutritional issues, etc.
Day 1 Assessment:
I have a lazy, 4-5hr nutrition/hydration plan that just doesn't work at 6-7+hrs, in the heat, at altitude, with 15k of gain . You need to get your shit together, do what you know works, regroup and crush it tomorrow.
Results:
8th in Cat5
Pretty sure I lost 20-30', at least, with my 15k nightmare
Day Two
Joanne and I had to wake up early to drive the trailer down from Bishop to the start in Lone Pine, about 17 miles. We got a sweet parking spot right at the start, and we fired up the generator to make mocha's, etc...but too good to be true as the RD was soon banging on my door telling me I had to move. No worries, roll back into town about 2mi to a campground, hook up, resume coffee preparation . Joanne then drove me back down to the start and homie wasn't screw around today. It's on!!
- 2 x Gatorade on the bike, one in my jersey
- 3 bars, in case I somehow missed Joanne.
- The course today went through the start/finish area twice so I had a plan to have Joanne me at the corner each time with 3x Gatorade, some water, a bar...and a triple espresso
. - Plan was to drink about 1.5-2 bottles on each of the first two climbs then eat a bar, drink the third Gatorade bottle, and piss on the downhill (skipping the aid stations at the top and having my own personal aid station at the bottom, basically)
First Climb: Glacier Lodge, 7800ft elevation
For Day One we had 2x Cat5 starts but, by Day 2, the Cat5 field had shrunk considerably so just one start . We all rolled out through a ~2mi neutralized bit to 395 highway, left, right then start go up. Once again, the field split up right away. Dereck, a roadie friend of Brian Massey, had introduced himself to me on Saturday and he found me again today. We started talking power and he decided to ride with me. I then put on a climbing with power clinic for him and about 4-5 other guys as I did my thing and they just followed. I pointed out that if I'm on 220w right now, _that_ guy is at 300w, ain't know way he's got 300w up this climb...he'll come back. Watch what happens as I hold 220w across this grade decrease and everyone else comes off the watts...the stuff that all of you know how to do but probaby haven't seen it on a 12mi climb at 6-9% surround by peeps who don't know the secrets .
Derek and I passed a bunch of 5's in the short flat area before the aid station and then drilled the descent, passing more people. Max speed: 53.5mph . Drink a bottle, eat a bar, and piss...but not at 53 .
I met Joanne standing at the corner by the trialer to reload Gatorade and slam a triple espresso, then carried on to the next climb.
Second Climb: Waucoba Canyon, 6538ft elevation
Pretty boring, one of those climbs were it's the whole world going up at 6-7%, not so much a hill. Kinda windy so I climbed in the drops and passed more people who started before me. 6-7% isn't steep enough get some crazy speed by yourself so I worked just hard enough to get to and through the aid station (didn't stop) just behind a group of 3 guys, then just sat in the back and stayed out of the way while they worked to keep the speed up
Rolled into the second JnR aid station at the start/finish to reload Gatorade...and more espresso , and asked her to jump in the truck and SAG me up the last climb.
Last Climb: Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, 10,100ft elevation
I started the climb feeling awesome, 1000% better than Saturday. It was starting to get hot and road was very exposed until we turned left with about 15k to go. The next 5k was sorta rolling, up and down a bit but of course mostly up. The 10k sign was near the 8k elevation sign...and I start doing the math: so I have 6.2 miles to climb another 2200ft. I compared it to a local climb that rises 2.5k ft in 9 miles...and I know it's going to get steep...but it doesn't. With about 5k left I still probably have another 1500ft to climb...crap, here it comes.
During the climb I would ride up to Joanne, tell her I wanted a water or Gatorade, she would drive up a bit and have it waiting for me . With about 5-10k left I tossed my spare tube/Co2 into Chris' window. I did the time/distance math and either drank or poured out fluids that I didn't need. Anything to lose the weight
I was able to finish the last 5k pretty strong, sitting on 270-300w a lot but still having to fight off a few flutters in the quads when I stood, etc. Much, much, much better than Saturday, night and day.
The Numbers:
- 5:25 ride time
- 66mi
- 4100kj
- 209w/229w average/normalized
- .72 IF, 283 TSS
- 12073 ft gain...in 66 friggin miles and a good 20+ of that was downhill...just crazy.
Results:
4th on Day 2
5th in Cat5 for the race
Summary:
- The most off the charts hardest two days of cycling I've done. Period, full stop. In '03 a buddy and I rode tri bikes 220mi from Pasadena to San Luis Obispo, then TT'ed 110mi down the coast to Santa Barbara...EC was MUCH harder.
- Crazy, crazy scenic, especially the South Lake climb on Day 1. When I was in my nightmare I had barely enough situational awareness to kick myself in the ass enough to take myself out of it, look around, say "WOW..." the continue suffering
- PERFECT event for the EN athlete. All day long it's everything we teach...just don't be a dick and be a little too casual with your nutrition on day one cuz you can't fake the funk on this stuff.
- Compact + 34-11 is the ONLY gearing for this race. I saw knuckleheads with 23s and 25s out there. See Tom Nelson's comment below.
- I "may" do the race again next year, though it's only two weeks from IMWI. I'll be stupid fit, light, can do a much better execution job than what I did this year...but we'll see .
- Planning to offer a camp in the area in early October, riding the best stuff over 3 days vs 2. Again, incredible to have this level of epic riding within 250mi of my house.
Tom: "Rich - results are up. Out of 363 people who started 127 didn't finish both stages. 44 of those finished Stage 1 and about 5 didn't finish Stage 1 but did finish Stage 2. I ended up 27 out of 32 but 11 in the Cat 5 category didn't finish one or both stages."
Comments
Nicely done Rich!! Sounds beautiful and a bit on the scary side
Prolly x10 HHH 
Hurray for Joanne, sherpa extraordinaire!
Very well done! You worked hard and it showed. Nice!
PS- Sign me up for that camp when you pull it together (and give me lots of notice so I can get me one of those 11-34's!
Wow! Great job and fab report.
Sheesh, just E P I C !!! Congrats on the success. Any pics????
Rich, you were completely out of it (worse than usual) with 10k to go on the last climb, day one. Seriously on the ropes and covered in dried sweat salt, mumbling and stumbling around. You had a quick bottles of GOG (good old gatorade), tried to eat some shot blocks which you spit out (attractive) and turned down the beef jerky I offered. (That's cool, I ate it.) That 5 minute stand down, reload at the car, followed by smart recovery overnight probably caused you to pick up many spots in the overall. Fantastic rebound on day 2, Sir.
Margaret passed 4 women in her category on the last, 21 mile climb on day 2. All of them were cat 3 or better bike racers. She was stomping bunnies.
It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Two smart endurance athletes executing, doing their thing.
Well I would definitely echo that this was a hard race.
I think the hardest race I have done at least mentally - definitely will make the next Ironman I do a lot easier.
The combination of two 7-9 hour days in the saddle, temperatures in the low 100s, elevations up to 10,200 feet, and finishing climbs lasting 2 - 3 hours starting at mile 80 was challenging beyond comprehension - particularly when you knew you could turn around and whiz back down to the start at 30-50 mph for 40 to 50 minutes back to the car. On day one I was drinking 40-60 ounces of HEED and water per 60-75 minutes and didn't pee for 7 hours. Also getting to mile 90 after an hour of climbing and knowing you still had 12 miles of climbing with grades up to 14% took sheer will power to muster the courage to finish - bottom line - I KNEW THAT IF I DIDN"T FINISH I WOULD HAVE TO COME BACK.
Day two's climb up to White Mountain as Rich related was harder than hard - knowing you are less 6 miles from the top and knowing you still have 2,200 feet of climbing left was the ultimate challenge. This race is beyond hard. 34% attrition rate? And these are serious cyclists.
Rich didn't mention that the guy who won CAT 5 rode the race on power cranks - and was totally olde skool. The next closest competitor was 43 minutes behind him.
Things I would change:
Approach everything, especially nutrition and hydration, like it's an Ironman. While I had my pacing totally dialed in on Day 1, I was too nonchallant with fueling and hydrating myself, largely because I know I can get away with it, easily, on shorter, harder rides. Harder as in high IF, not difficulty. Like I said, what I've been doing, how I've been training since my last Ironman in '08 works for me cuz I can get away with it for 4, 5, maybe 6hrs. 7+ with this gain, heat, and altitude. Nope. FAIL. So...
I would have my own roving aid station. Get a group of local guys, pay someone or volunteer a wife (don't think Joanne would be interested in the job...or Riley for that matter) to leapfrog us all day, with handups of fluid and food. Just not stopping, like we are accustomed to doing in an Ironman, can easily buy 15' per day.
Show up lighter. Dunno what I weight right now, maybe 163-165lb. <155lb would have been much better. </p>
No changes at all on pacing, gearing, etc. Any EN member who pays attention to how we tell to ride an Ironman could kick the crap out of this race, from a pacing perspective.
Likewise, and I was talking to a Cat1 guy who works for Sawiris today about this, I don't see how 95% of even your strongest roadies can ever learn the lessons that we know without taking themselves out of that world and focusing _this_ pacing world...and likely screwing up EC a couple times in the process.
The net is that I think I have some talent for stuff like this: power to weight + power pacing knowledge + patience + ability to suffer + know how to fuel/maintain myself (when I get my shit together) = ability to beat MUCH stronger guys on rides like this. Which makes me want to try it again next year, even if it is only two weeks after IMWI.
And like Tom said, all you gotta do is flip it and you're back at your car in about 40'
.
Oh, and the dude who one Cat5: riding a 12-15yo Cannondale, camelback, helmet mirror, ratty kit, hairy legs, no muscle definition, about 5'11, 130lb...and Powercranks. He was coming down the first climb of Day 2 when I still had about 1-2 miles of climbing left. So he had put 10-15' into me on the first climb of the day. Crazy strong.
Supa impressed Rich! Nicely done!
Riley must of had his own tough day seeing Daddy go by and not stopping?
I don't really know about all the USA cycling categories. I was surprised to see you are Cat 5? Isn't that the beginner category?
I have a major girl crush on Margaret!
The dude on the C-dale probably doesn't have a car and probably rides roads like that to go get his groceries.
Congrats on a great finish!
1. you announced your goal when you signed up.
2. you got (more!!) in shape and rode all year
3. so your hydration/nutrition wasn't spot on... hey it was your first time to do this event. Still sounded like you were able to dig yourself out. Props.
4. Joanne is great as ya know!
5. You continue to announce cool epic events and then go do them and analyze what went right and what went wrong.
6. You embrace the team spirit.
7. You are able to incorporate facts and figures into a 3D world.
8. You are highly competitive and know your own strengths going into race day.
Thanks for sharing. it would be the downhills at 52 mphs that would friek me out!!! but I can so see you bombing down them. m
Great race report...way to figure out your hydration status and correct it.
So did that 12-34 cassette require a different rear derailleur?
Sounds cool...except for getting beat by a guy with powercranks...that just does not seem right
I can't image a guy who usually has a nutrition plan that consists of Snickers, Coke, Coffee and Brats as fuel for long workouts running into nutrition problems
Very nice work! If I didn't have a day job and could afford the flights I would be singing up to suffer with you next year.
That just totally RULES! Read it twice.Your "ability to suffer" astounds me every time. Thaks for sharing in such detail.
This event definitely needs to be near the top of your endurance athlete progression pile, up there with Ironman, ToC, and other cool stuff Best part? Entry fee was about $89, I think.
Gotta love cycling events.
Amazing race, report race, and all around cool thing to do with your fitness, Rich!
And, yeah, I think you and mancona and going to be in yoga class two weeks out from IMWI -- unless you sandbag Ironman.