“FIENDISHLY SIMPLE, YET BRUTALLY HARD.
EVERESTING IS THE MOST DIFFICULT
CLIMBING CHALLENGE IN THE WORLD.”
Those are the words that greet you when you first visit the Everesting web site. The concept is very basic: climb the height of Everest (8848m) on one hill during one activity with no sleep and no time limit, You ride up and down and up and down for as many times and as many hours as it takes to reach 8848m of ascent. Pretty simple, right? Like the site says, don't forget about the brutally hard part.
Everesting has been getting a lot of press recently thanks to all the pro cyclists giving it a try. With racing canceled this spring and summer due to covid, more than a few of them took up the challenge as a way to try something new while keeping busy during lockdown. Mark Cavendish, known more for his sprinting than his climbing ability, took 10 hours to do it back in May, Alberto Contador knocked it out in under 7.5 hours a few weeks ago, and three days ago, a former elite cyclist in Ireland set a world record of 7:04.
We didn't set out to Everest because the pros were doing it, but just like them, we needed something to train for after our 70.3 in Oman in September was canceled. We'd been riding together on Zwift and Zoom almost every day since the quarantine began in March, and when we heard our race was off the calendar, our motivation went with it. Sitting around at breakfast one day after a sea swim in early June, Matt and I started talking about what else we could do to keep busy during the summer and the idea of Everesting came up. I thought it sounded fun and tough and something I honestly didn't have any intention of participating in. I don't see myself as a particularly strong cyclist and I'm a terrible climber. Plus, could I really get physically prepared for something of the magnitude in just six weeks? I had my doubts. Still, I asked Trace and Barb to switch my training plan and told everyone I'd try a few climbs and see how it went.
Our first task was to acquaint ourselves with the rules for a virtual Everesting. They're basically the same as for Everesting outside with one key restriction: the difficulty on the trainer must be set at 100%. This is done to ensure you feel the pain of the gradients on the climb with exactly the same gearing that you'd be using outdoors. Next step required us to choose our hill. There are any number of hills and mountains in Zwift which can be used for virtual Everesting, with the two most popular being the Alpe du Zwift (8.5 laps) and the Epic KOM Reverse (~20 laps). The Alpe is longer, steeper, and more challenging, but it has one big advantage: you can get off your bike for about 10 minutes to stretch, eat, and refuel while your avatar makes the descent, no pedaling required. The Epic Reverse has two short and steep uphill segments on the way down which require you to get back on your bike and pedal. Your avatar can't freewheel all the way down, but the tradeoff is a shorter and less steep climb on the way up.
Everyone else jumped straight to the Alpe as their chosen route. I opted to try both of them during training to see which one I thought I could handle better. Friday June 12th was the first test ride, consisting of 2 x Alpe du Zwift climbs. I was pretty terrified starting out. The Alpe du Zwift is a spot-on GPS recreation of the L'Alpe d'Huez in southeastern France. I've watched enough of the Tour de France to see the pros struggle up it time and again, and if they're having difficulty, how in the world was I going to get up it once, let alone multiple times back-to-back? Much to my surprise, I completed both climbs, the first in 94 minutes and the second in just under 91. My aim going in was to be cautious and keep my HR at or around 140bpm for the first climb because I had no idea how it would feel. In a word, it felt tough! 12-14% inclines at 100% trainer difficulty are no joke. I was in my granny gear nearly the entire time and still struggled to align my HR, cadence, and power in a reasonable fashion. During the second lap, I knew it was my last for the day and let my HR and power both drift up from my comfort zone. HR averaged 156 vs 139 during the first climb, power was 156 vs 146. I knew I couldn't sustain the kind of effort over 8.5 climbs, but it was a nice confidence boost to know I could get up the mountain twice in a row.
I also learned I'd need more gears if I was going to attempt to Everest on the Alpe. The 28t in the back is not enough for me for that kind of climbing. Before making any changes, though, I gave the Epic Reverse a go the following week. As expected, this route was much easier effort-wise than the Alpe. Each of the six laps took about 45-47 minutes to get up and back down, and I could use more than one or two gears during the climbing. As nice as the Epic Reverse felt physically, I decided it was not the best choice for me for Everesting.
Not being able to get off the bike for 10 minutes to refuel meant I'd have to add an extra break after each 2-3 laps which would only serve to add more time to what I knew would be a very long day. The free time was worth the extra suffering during each climb of the Alpe, and if i could find a way to minimize the suffering, so much the better. The next day, I brought my bike and trainer to the Cycle Hub, where I'd found a guy who Everested on a local mountain in 2019. He knew exactly why I wanted to change my gearing and hooked me up with a 32t cassette and the long cage OSPW needed to make it work with my existing derailleur.
Over the next few weeks, our big Friday rides became progressively longer with an additional 1000m of climbing added to each one. June 26th was 3.5 climbs and 3531m, and on July 3, three weeks before the big day, I made it to virtual Basecamp with 4424m ascent. Had only planned on completing four, but my friends convinced me on Zoom that an extra few hundred meters of climbing was no big thing. This was a big deal for me. Even if I tried and failed during the Everesting attempt, at least I'd made it halfway and gotten my first badge in the Hall of Fame. 
My peak training ride was on July 10th - 5 ascents of the Alpe which took almost 10 hours. During this last big ride, I focused on my strategies for fueling and making the most of the 10 minutes of the bike after each climb. My primary fuel source was Tailwind. I settled on drinking 1-2 bottles during each climb with each bottle containing 200-300 calories. During the descent, I supplemented the Tailwind with salted potatoes (a favorite from my ultra marathons), sliced smoked turkey wrapped around string cheese (a trick I discovered when reading about other Everesting rides), potato chips, Clif bars, and chocolate cookies. Basically, I tried to take in a mixture of carbs and protein in various forms because I knew that during the attempt, my desire to eat any one particular food will not always be guaranteed.
With July 24 as the date for our attempt, the next two weeks were spent tapering and resting up for the big day,
