Everesting & VEveresting - Discussion, Planning, Training, Tips, Etc

I’d be curious to know what % of ftp Jonathan averaged during his everesting. Although, I know he didn’t do it all on one hill, his was a long ride that climbed several different climbs.

Apologies for dragging non-TR content in here but this year both the GCN and [edit: cycling weekly]* guys did Everesting videos – one successful, one unsuccessful, you can learn from both. Search their respective youtube channels if you want to check them out.

*thanks for the correction, @howlintj :ok_hand:

No need to apologise for non- TR into this both of these are good resources.

The other one was cycling weekly was a 3 part series. The guy made quite a few mistakes in his can learn from them.

Found it for you.

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From memory, around 50-55% of FTP.

I have failed 2 attempts and succeeded one.
–The first fail was due to carrying too much fatigue into the attempt and a shortcoming of mental focus and toughness. This cannot be an afterthought and it would be better to “peak” for it.
–The second fail was because of a food faux pas; I though I could slam a couple of vanilla Starbucks energy drinks because they sound good.
–The successful attempt - Kept the food going down consistently (lots of liquid calories, not too much caffeine, and some real food, you will want something salty too), was highly motivated and able to ride the wave of emotions for 18 hours (your mind will go to very dark places, but amazing high ones too), PACING was perfect and kept it around 50%-60% FTP (during the highs it is so hard not to slip in a couple hard reps). I got some great advice from an amazing endurance athlete who has Everested multiple times George Vargas (REV Cycling) glad I can pass some of this along.

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I’m going to listen to that one just to find out “How do you stop without brakes?” :scream::dizzy_face:

I’m not entirely sure @Jonathan did an official Everest attempt according to the rules. Not detracting from what was an epic ride but did he go up and down the same hill multiple times or was it just a massive day out on the bike?

RIDE RULES - EVERESTING

He openly admits it doesn’t fit the Hells 500 rules. Either way, he climbed 29029 ft in 24 hours, which counts in my eyes.

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Not detracting from that one little bit. It’s a serious day out which deserves all the kudos it draws. Just need to be clear which bucket it falls into.

Thanks very much :+1:

Did you use the same climb for each attempt or a different one?

55% to 60% is basically what I was thinking. The hill I’ve picked is about 1:30-1:45 to climb up and :30min down. 8 laps. I was hoping to use the down hill sections to eat some real food and recover a little so I won’t be just bombing down. Which computer did you use? Battery life is another concern I have. I’ll have to purchase a computer because right now I use my garmin 310xt watch.

I used the Garmin 520 with an external battery pack.

*32,112’ climbed :wink:

https://www.strava.com/activities/761161297/

The crazy weather had our Garmins all reading very low. Couple that with the delirium of riding your bike up mountains for that long and we second guessed our plan and added in a bunch of repeats on Art Center Hill just outside of Pasadena.

We didn’t do an official Everesting attempt, but none of us fancied the idea of riding up the same climb the whole time. We were after a heck of an experience we would never forget, on a route we were afraid to build. We got a memorable experience in spades!

Some tips on everesting:

  1. Your IF needs to be shockingly low. I think ours was around .5, and while it felt easy in the beginning, I was grateful for it later on.

  2. Little things matter: I switched to tubeless 28s, disc brakes and Di2 just before the ride, and it those three points seriously added up. Every single imperfection in the surface started to hurt around mile 175, and the 28s helped a lot. The disc brakes allowed me to get a ton of braking power with very little physical effort, and the Di2 made shifting (especially the front derailleur) a breeze. Those little movements and contractions add up on such a long ride.

  3. Bring a grocery store: We didn’t bring a large enough variety of food, and it was an absolute chore to choke down the same stuff toward the latter parts of the ride.

  4. Take frequent, short breaks: We had two people in our group that acted as the reminders to keep breaks short, but we scheduled them frequently. It helped keep morale high and encouraged us to put that new pair of gloves or extra layer on when we otherwise would have favored not stopping.

  5. Gearing: Go way lower than you think. Your ego will be sad upon ordering, your body will be happy upon pedaling.

  6. Refresh your bike: Replace tires, cables and other products that can wear out and easily cause mechanicals. You don’t need any extra opposition out there.

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Awesome tips. I have toyed with the idea of this task and I think you nailed some good ideas here. Thanks for the info.

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Any ginormous fitness gains after that monster day?

I guess it’s no different than actually climbing Mt. Everest – you go slow, with lots of breaks, food, and equipment. It’s not a race, it’s an accomplishment.

Speaking of which…there was a dude in the 90’s who rode his bike from Sweden (I think) to the actual Mt. Everest, climbed the mountain – solo, then got back on his bike and rode back to Sweden. Anyone know his name?

Anyone considered doing a virtual Everesting before their actual Everesting to see how they fare?

Or would that risk demotivating you for the big day. Say you did it a month apart, that could be enough time for the memory of it to fade.

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I’m contemplating doing it virtually… thinking about doing basecamp to basecamp 1 first :wink: That will be doing 25% first. Then at a later date doing 50% and eventually making it to 100%. Looking at doing Alpe Du Zwift, know the “difficulty setting” (badly named Zwift realism gear setting) has to be set at 100%. That way gearing will be like doing it outdoors.

You feel every change in the virtual road on 100% and have to use more gears and switch more often. Done half ADZ on 100% realism, and its so much harder, changes in cadence, gear switching etc all takes it toil

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When ADZ was released I tried it at 70% on the Neo and it was brutal. I’ve done it a whole bunch of times since, it’s my favourite thing to do on Zwift, but always at 40% now.

100% will be absolute torture. Over 8 laps of that! There was a mass vEveresting on ADZ I think. Not sure how that went. Would have been amazing motivational boost to do as a group. Just that touch of competitiveness and camaraderie to keep you going.

Unless you’re last :smiley:

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