Everest Challenge

This past weekend Ben Deverman and I (as well as a couple other PAA riders) had the great privledge to “enjoy” the beautiful scenery offered by the Eastern Sierra Mountains near Bishop, CA while suffering through roughly 12 hours of riding, drastically varying temperatures, and nearly 30,000ft of climbing. Yes, you guessed it, the Everest Challenge Stage Race. While I spent much of the race oxygen deprived from either the climbing or the elevation, here is my recollection of how the Cat. 3 race went down. The 3’s rolled out with the Pro/1/2’s on Saturday morning at 7:35am, which meant I didn’t get a good chance to see who was in my field. I had heard from multiple sources that most riders go too hard on the first climb and crack, so my plan was to keep my heart rate under control and see what happened. After roughly 8 miles of neutralized start, we hit the lower slopes of the first climb where I let most of the field ride away from me, as I was pretty content to gauge my early efforts. For a nice course description, read Dan Vinson’s report at www.socalcycling.com. The first stretch was actually quite enjoyable with an average grade of ~5%, and I ended up passing quite a few people over the duration of the climb. I don’t remember how long it took, but it was damn long, an omen of what was still to come. I really wasn’t sure how many riders were in front of me when I hit the top, as a good number were on the descent before I hit the summit, but the 20 miles coming down the first climb were frigidly cold! I had thrown my vest and knee warmers earlier, and was now paying the price. Fortunately, the temperatures warmed up quickly after leaving the high point of the race at 10,250ft. I descended a little faster than I really wanted to and then worked together with another 3 through the flats enroute to the second climb, which allowed us to make up quite a bit of time on what turned out to be the lead chase group of Cat 3s, although they definitely weren’t chasing in the traditional road race sense. (There was one other rider off the front, but he smoked us all both days, and I never actually saw who he was until awards.) I felt great going into the second climb and quickly dropped my companion from the flats. I still wasn’t pushing too hard as I knew the third climb was going to be tough, so I settled into a good rhythm and ended up catching the aforementioned group of 3s. As I caught them, I held the pace I was going and they let me ride through and off the front, which surprised the crap out of me. When I got ~20 yards in from of them, I could hear them wondering to each other where the hell I had come from. I hit the summit a couple hundred yards in front of them and hammered the descent. (I later found out that all but one of them had stopped at the top to relieve themselves. The one guy who chased me was supposed to stop, too, but was apparently not so willing to let me get away.) I came into the flat section between the second and third climbs alone but kept what I thought was a reasonable pace, as I was still feeling good. I quickly stopped to use a tree and then kept cranking, at which point I had my first cramp of the day. I slowed a little and looked back to see a group of riders, so I slowed a little more and let them catch me. This group contained the one Cat 3 (Webcor) who didn’t stop at the top like he was supposed to. I actually would have stopped, too, but they didn’t seem too interested in conversing with me when I caught them. We soon hit the final climb, a grueling 5400ft of climbing in 17 miles, after 80 miles of riding and ~10,000ft of climbing. Webcor and I dropped the other riders we were with and he subsequently dropped me rather effortlessly, or so it seemed. I caught a few people during the first 8 miles and then got caught by the three remaining cat 3’s that I had caught on the second climb with about 10 miles to go. I chugged a bottle of coke and was able to up my pace enough to chase back to within a hundred feet of them, but I never caught them. The last 10k was quite steep and I felt like I was going to die. I had some mild cramps and oxygen depravation was setting in as I was doing all I could do to limit my losses. With 5K to go, one of the riders in front of me attacked the other two and rode away. The last 1K was the worst part of the entire race, and I really wanted to quite riding. I finished 6th for the day in 6:46.59, 36 seconds behind 4th and 5th, 2 minutes behind 3rd, 10 minutes behind second(Webcor) and a whopping 20 minutes behind first place. Like I said, he killed us all. Once I got to the top, I ate a couple burritos, had another coke, some candy, and started to feel better, albeit, cold and tired.

The second day, we again rolled out with the pro/1/2s. After 3miles of neutralized start, the racing began, and a lead group quickly developed and pulled away. Fortunately, a 3s group also developed, which included GC positions 2-7 and a few others. The first placed rider was, again, up the road with the true lead group. Someone accelerated near the beginning and I was content to let them go up the road. This time, however, they never got more than 200 yards in front of me and I rejoined the group far before the end of the climb. The pace was much more reasonable than the lower slopes of Saturday’s first climb and I took that as a good indication that everyone was as tired as I was. The first descent was fast but warmer than day one. We stayed together through the flats between the first and second climb, took a quick break at the base of the second climb to relieve ourselves, and then hit the second climb of the day. At approximately 8 miles, this climb wasn’t too bad either. The 4th placed GC rider accelerated at the base of the climb and the 5th and 7th placed GC riders went with him. The rest of us were content to let them tire themselves out, and I was pretty sure we would catch them either on the descent or in the flats on the way to the third climb. They built a lead of about 2 minutes on the climb, but we kept the speed up on the descent to make sure we would make the catch, which we did enroute to the third and final climb. The last climb of the race was 22 miles long with the last 3 miles averaging over 10%!. It actually was a beautiful climb and we again stayed together for most of it. Through the middle section no one wanted to work very hard, so we rode on and off at 6 mph. Not that the 8 mph we were going when someone was out front was that much faster, but it certainly felt like it. I can’t adequately describe how long the climb seemed, but riding in a group with a bunch of tired riders kept up morale. About this point there was some discussion in the pack about people being content with their GC positions and one rider commented that he wondered if I was going to attack (since I was only ~40 seconds off his and another riders time). For the moment, I was content to let them wonder what I was going to do, as I really didn’t know yet. Half way up the climb, I learned that we had dropped the 3rd place GC rider, which everyone was pretty happy about. We kept chugging along and with 8 miles to go, got caught by some masters riders. The pace quickened a little as we hung with them through a few flatter sections. I would like to tell you that I felt better when we hit the 10 K mark, but at the pace we were going, I knew there was still 50 minutes of hard climbing ahead. With roughly 5K to go we hit the sustained steep section, and it was at this point that I felt content with my GC position, as I figured I was in fifth and didn’t want to attack, blow up, and get caught by the guy we dropped. So, I convinced the other riders that I wouldn’t actively attack their 40 seconds and we rode on together, shedding a few more riders. With a mile and a half to go, the riders in 2nd and 3rd picked up the pace a little and the guy in 4th and I were content to let them go and ride in together. For those you who have climbed Mt. Baldy to the lifts, this is what that section reminded me of, except it was much longer. As we finally neared the finish line I asked the rider I was with if I could cross the line in front of him and he graciously agreed (which was the nice thing to do since I had agreed not to attack him in the final couple miles. I really wasn’t in the mood to hurt, cramp, or blow up). We rolled across the line together two minutes behind second and third in a time of 5:04:12. I actually felt much better at the finish of the second stage than the first. I never cramped and was happy about that. I put on some warmer clothes, ate a couple burritos, a PB&J, drank a can of Mountain Dew and some hot chocolate, and then waited around for a while before descending 8 miles back to the car.

Overall, it was a great experience! While it was definitely brutal, I had a great time and would recommend this race to anyone who likes to suffer and mental tough as nails. Will I do it again? I’m undecided. But, if anyone wants support for next year, count me in.