Stats:
- 11H 22M
- 8.5 “climbs” up Alpe du Zwift
- 64 “miles” of “climbing” up average 8.5% “gradient”
- Fastest “assent” 62 minutes, 70 minutes average
- 6,778 kj(kCal)
- 186 NP (2.78W/kg), 632 TSS
Nutrition:
- 2,800 calories/725 g carbs
- 7 bottles homemade 2:1 maltodextrin/fructose drink mix
- 2 Maurteen gels
- 2 SiS gels
- 9 Nuun tablets
- 6 Precision Hydration electrolyte capsules
- 5L water
- 7 bottles w/ drink mix + Nuun
- 2 bottles w/ Nuun
- 1 bottle fresh water
- 600mg caffine
- 2 slices pizza
Links:
- TrainerRoad activity: Log In to TrainerRoad
- Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/4594958329
- Everesting site: Hall of fame | Everesting
Commentary:
Wednesday this week I received an official Everesting jersey in the mail. A friend of mine surprised me with the gift, purchasing it after I completed a Half-Everest/Basecamp back in October 2020 (Log In to TrainerRoad). He didn’t know the jersey is exclusively reserved for successful full Everests. Now I had a “stolen valor” situation to remediate. I decided on Friday to attempt on Saturday.
From a timing perspective this was pretty stupid. I had a couple weeks of vacation during the holidays and did 1,600+ TSS over ~30 hours between December 21 - January 2. But, I had a couple days of rest and mostly recovery ride the following week. I was feeling surprisingly fresh so decided to roll with it.
The ride started around 5:45 AM. It’s incredibly boring doing this on the trainer. Podcasts, YouTube, Netfilx, Music weren’t really helping so the majority of the time I rode in silence. I had some friends join me on Zoom for a couple hours which was the only thing that mitigated the boredom.
For pacing I tried to keep it in Z2, but that was also really boring and it was hard not to inadvertently drift up. Most assents I was able to kept around 72 minutes, which was responsible pacing for me. Around 1:00 PM I started getting ANT+ dropouts and trainer disconnects which caused some panic and frustration. I lost time resolving the technical issues, but was able to make it up with a 62 minute assent on climb 7. I was happy I still had that kind of effort in the legs so late into the day, but paid for it during the last 2 hours.
The last 30 minutes I listened to Rachel Platten’s Fight Song on repeat. Last year, I started doing this ironically during long sweet-spot intervals as an inside joke. It’s since become a real secret weapon on reducing RPE when things get dark.
As an aside, I think virtual Everesting is significantly easier than outdoors, both physically and mentally. The logistical simplicity is incomparable. It’s easy to hop off the bike on the “descents” to stretch, use the bathroom, refill your bottles and you don’t lose any time. You don’t have to focus on staying on the road and not crashing. The boredom that comes with 12 hours on the trainer can get tough, but I still think it carries less cognitive load than making sure you don’t die.
Post-ride:
It was hard to eat after the ride. The last thing I wanted at that time was anything sweet, but a friend coerced me into choking down a recovery shake, which I was thankful for. I had a sandwich but that made me even more nauseous. Getting to sleep was also hard because everything hurt, but somehow felt ok this morning.
Other thoughts / Thank you:
I started TrainerRoad on January 1, 2019 with a Ramp Test and a 189W FTP. I was 41 years old then and had spent the preceding 15-20 years living a mostly sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle. I’m completely incredulous with how far I’ve come. I can’t overstate my thanks to TrainerRoad and the surrounding community for getting me here.
(Also thanks to Pete and John for keeping me company on Zoom. And Dave, Lauren, and Garrett for keeping me motivated. And Young for being supportive of my long hours on the bike.)
Thanks.