The concept of Everesting is fiendishly simple: Pick any hill, anywhere in the world and ride repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8,848m [29,029ft] – the equivalent height of Mt Everest.
The increased interest and discussion about Everesting on a bike warrants a dedicated base thread to house the main discussion.
Had a look at the leaderboards on Everesting.cc and what @julianoliver and @Dick_Dylan were saying in the previous thread holds out, the magic numbers generally are just either side of 10%.
My first guess was that the fastest times would have been lower, around 5 or 6% but with strong tailwinds, but that doesn’t look to work so well. Too much horizontal travel and then you might even need to waste recovery time on the descent battling the headwind back. Had a look at a road like this and checked out some Top 10’s on it, guys were doing 200watts on the descent just to get back down at 20mph.
Most suitable climb near me is around 8.7%, but short. Pacing would be the next issue - tempo or sweetspot. Originally thought it would have to be tempo, but if intervals are really short, sub 5, then surely you could do these at sweetspot considering all the recovery you get? . Makes quite a big difference time wise. Other thing is being able to turn top and bottom, that’s a time sink for sure and I know the turn points on a lot of climbs can be tight - this climb is for sure. I’m thinking +20secs per lap.
@Dick_Dylan was doing 60 to 70% FTP on his Everest, which is making me think maybe neither of these two examples are possible and some sort of higher end endurance zone might be more like it… really not sure.
I don’t think that anything above Endurance at 75% is possible when you are looking at 10 hours to 20 hours on the bike. Even with the interval nature of it, that is massive.
I played with those numbers as well and thought it would be fantastic to hold a low sweetspot pace. However, that’s a huge toll on your muscles and you’ll be burning way more carbs. So fuelling the effort becomes way more complicated
I’m taking things a bit easier next year after a coyote of hard seasons. My one goal next year is to complete an everesting. I remember Jonathan mentioning he completed one in the past.
I was thinking SSB l & ll, sustained power build and then 40 km TT plan. Specifically to be able to hold power for a long length of time, build muscular endurance and pacing.
Does anyone have any experience of training for an everesting and does my approach look valid.
Also any other tips that could be useful?
Any specific workouts that would be good training?
Not that I’ve ever attempted it, but I’d like to in the future. I agree with your base and build, but I’d be more inclined to do the century specialty plan due to the length of the endeavor and the sustained power needs.
DItto. It’s just one of those things I want to do.
I think both GCN and BikeRadar(?) did Everesting vids this year, the BR one had more in-depth gear, training, and nutrition info. I’d think gear and nutrition and logistic planning would be far more impactful and important than training.
I think in both attempts the riders were pacing in Z2/Endurance.
This is my goal for May 2019. I’ve done ssb1 already, and I’m in the middle of ssb2 now. My plan is to repeat ssb2 then do sustained build plan. That puts me into May. How are you planning to pace your eversting? I have no idea what % of ftp to plan on. I’ve been playing with the sliders on the everesting website. Is it better to stay conservative, say 55% for a longer time ( in my case 17 hours) or push a little harder say 60 or even 65% and end up knocking 2 or 3 hours off my total time??
It depends on the climb you’re planning to ride. If there are some really steep sections where you’ll be >Z2/Z3 then the 40k TT speciality plan might be a good bet as there is a bit more high end work. If not then the century plan makes sense IMO. Might also be worth swapping out a weekend ride for a time-in-the-saddle ride.
I’m planning on doing an Everesting in June 2019. I asked a similar question on the FB group page about which plans to follow, and TR replied with this: starting in January - Traditional Base or Sweet Spot Base, Sustained Power Build, Century speciality. That’s what I’ve decided to follow (I’m currently close to finishing SPB, which I’d already started before deciding to do an Everesting).
If you haven’t already seen it, you might find this informative blog useful:
There’s also a Facebook eversting group page, which is very useful.
Do plenty of training rides on your chosen hill. This will enable you to dial in your pacing, nutrition, gearing, etc. as well as figuring out your stops (how many, how long, when to take them). I’ve been doing reps on my chosen hill (4-6 hours at a time) to get a feel for what’s involved, etc. I take a small rucksack with me full of food, drinks, etc. and leave it at my base camp. I’m aiming to stick to high zone 2 (endurance)/low zone 3 (tempo) on the climbs, though I’m trying to stick to zone 2. Initially I fitted an 11-30 cassette to replace my 11-28 (50-34 compact up front), thinking that should be enough. However, I’ve just switched to an 11-32. Don’t be afraid of of fitting smaller gears, if that’s what you need. Better to spin up than grind up.
Use your training rides to find out what works and what doesn’t, so come the day itself you’ve got everything figured out. Don’t leave anything to chance, and I mean anything. Good luck.
Unfortunately my hill is across the country! I live in Ontario Canada, there are no long hills here. I’m planning to visit family in Victoria B.C. and found a hill there. My father has cased it out and I’ve google earthed the entire 20km climb. Unfortunately that’s the best I can do until I show up on game day. Therefore, I’m going in blind. It also means I have one shot at it.
Jonathan Lee has done an everest attempt. If you look back through the back catalogue of podcasts you’ll find info on his everest training and conclusion from the event.
He goes on about it too… Well at least that’s the running joke.
Think the most important thing is gears go low as you can stick a 40 cog on there, fuelling strategy and grad try for consistent 6-7%
https://www.deuxnorth.com/hunt-6
