The Adventures of Franz » 11 2 EC 25 2 508

With only 11 days left before the Everest Challenge and 25 days to the Furnace Creek 508, I have moved into the final stages of my training. With these two major events only 13 days apart, I have been using a single training program, with the major emphasis on getting ready for the EC. I figure if I am ready for the Everest Challenge, I will be ready for the 508.

The Everest Challenge will prove to be the most difficult cycling event I will ever compete in. I registered as a Master 55+. I wish they had a 60+ category but they jump to 65+. When people hit their sixties, as I have, you age faster than you do in your 30′s and 40′s so why not move to every 5 years?

Last year I was training for the same event and decided the week before to cancel out for a couple of reasons. First the weather had turned very bad and I was looking at biking up to snow, with rain and cold on the descents. Second, I was going to compete in the Furnace Creek 508 two weeks later. Again I will be doing the 508 two weeks later but this year I am no longer a rookie in that event and know what to expect.

For the Everest Challenge, Day 1 has 120 miles with 15,465 feet of climb and Day 2 has 86 miles with 13,570 feet of climbing. However the actual racing distance (excluding neutralized start and neutralized last descent after timing finish) is 92 miles for Day 1 and 61 miles for Day 2, or a total of 153 miles. I believe that the neutralized starts are included in the times, but not the descent after the last climb. For Day 1 the neutralized start is 8 miles and for Day 2 it is 3 miles. So the timed distance is 100 miles for Day 1 and 64 miles for Day 2.

I found this on the website:How long will it take you? A rough guide is – you should be able to do Day Two in 15 to 20% less than your Death Valley to Mount Whitney time, or 35 to 40% less than your Markleeville Death Ride time. Day One should take you 10-15% longer than your Death Valley to Mount Whitney time, or 10-20% less than your Markleeville Death Ride time.

Last year I did the Death Ride with a total time was 9:22 and a rolling time of 8:40. I doubt I could do that again right now, but using that as a benchmark I calculate this. Using the 8:40 rolling time, less 10% less for Day 1 and 35% less for day 2, plus 45 minutes for Day 1 and 35 minutes for Day 2 for stopping/less conditioning, I calculate what I consider the time I could do as:

Day 1 513 minutes or 8:33
Day 2 373 minutes or 6:13
Total: 14:46

The times for 2007 are not valid due to a course change. For 2006, the time for my age group range from 12:40 (1st) to 18:04 (8th place), with 4 DNFs. Third place was 13:24. The difference between Day 1 and Day 2 was roughly 1:40. With a time of 14:46 it would not be possible for me to place. That is no surprise since this race attracts the best climbers for the entire state of California. Still I decided to enter as a race category because I want to get my time recorded.

In 2003 they did have a 60+ category and in that year the best time for 60+ was 15:29:04. I guess that will be a target I will go after which should give me a little bragging right. So my target is under 15.5 hours.

So far I am on track with my training. Here are a couple of training charts. I have one training program for both Everest Challenge that the 508 because they are only two weeks apart. The Everest Challenge occurs a the end of week 17 and the 508 at the end of week 19. Click to enlarge.

Miles: Over the past 15 weeks I running about the same as last year and on plan.