I was feeling disappointed that I had not raced the Everest Challenge this weekend, as I had planned and trained for. I started to think that maybe I could have just toughed out the rain and cold and still be okay. It might have been these thoughts that got me to do a local ride today even though there was forecast for rain.

I left the home at 6 am while it was still dark, and drove over to Aptos to Margie’s birthday ride. This ride was to be a 100m mile route with about 10,000 feet of climbing. We rode from there to Scott’s Valley where picked up more riders, eventually having a group of 15 riders all together. It had rained during the night so the roads were wet, but it was not raining so I felt fine with the 54 degree temperature.

Our first climb was over Bean Creek, then we headed up to Mt. Charlie. Some of us hammered up the hill as the rain started to come down. Because I was climbing I was still plenty warm enough. At the top we had to wait for others and I started to cool off rapidly. The rain was coming down harder now and the temperature had dropped to the high 40’s.

Collectively the group decided to cut the ride short and we headed back down Mt. Charlie. Going down that hill is no fun when dry, let alone wet, so it took me awhile to descend. I was cooling off further all the way down and was glad to reach the bottom where I could start to pedal. I was totally soaked by that time.

I can deal with wet and I can deal with cold, I just can’t deal with both at the same time.

During the decent I realized how miserable I would have been if I had tried to do the Everest Challenge being wet and with temperatures even cooler than what I was experiencing. I no longer had any regrets about bailing out of that race.

Maybe next year.

Categories: Everest Challenge
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I was looking foward with great expectation to do the Everest Challenge. This was the year of climbing a lot, hill repeasts, interval training and just putting in a lot of miles on the bike. I felt ready to do the ride and get a good time. But the weather has not cooperated. I had held out hope that maybe the forecast would change so I waited until this morning to make a final decision. When I got up it still showed a 60% chance of rain and cooler temperatures. This webcam shot of Tioga Pass says it all and that is not even as high as we would be climbing (click photo to enlarge).

I already expected very cold temperatures near the summit, but when you mix that with rain, it is not only misserable but more dangerous than I want to take on, especially considering I still have the Furnace Creek 508 in two weeks. And that ride is a much bigger investment, both in terms of money and time as well as others depending on me.

It is not all lost however. The initial reason why I decided to do the Everest Challenge was to kind of force me to ramp up the training and not wait too long to get in shape for the 508. That was all accomplished.

We all started out a couple months ago with Joe, Gary and myself doing a lot of training together. We all rode the Death Ride together. Gary and I were going to do the Everest Challenge together and Joe and Gary were to be a two man team for the 508. So between the three of us, that meant two doing the Everest Challenge and three doing the 508. Gary was injured and pulled out of the Everest Challenge, but still had hopes of doing the 508. But that is not going to happen now, so amongst the three of us, all that is left is my doing the 508. Oh well, there is always another year.

I have another great local ride I will do tomorrow, 100 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing.  Not quite the challenge of the Everest Challenge, but the training I need for the FC 508.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Furnace Creek 508
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The weather forecast for Saturday is looking bad in the Bishop CA area, where the Everest Challenge will be held. It shows temperatures in the low 60’s and a 60% chance of rain. Since the bike race climbs to over 10,000 feet, that would mean SNOW. With the Furnace Creek 508 coming up, I can’t afford to get injured by trying to bike in the snow, even if I was willing to try. So it looks like the Everest Challenge may be a no go. I went ahead and canceled the hotel reservation now. If the forecast changes back to good weather, then we may make a last minute decision to still do the event if we can get a room. Kind of a bummer.

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Today was my last hard day of training for the Everest Challenge coming up this weekend. Part of the ride include some interval work on the bike, hard for 7 minutes and easy for 3 minutes.

When I do intervals training for a marathon I used fixed distance (such as mile repeats) but this is not as useful for a bicycle because the grade and the wind have a big bearing on the effort. It is easier to just use the lap feature on my Polar heart rate monitor. Each 7 minutes hard equates to about 2 miles and is a similar lap time running mile repeats.

This curve shows my heart rate for each of the four repeats. I was able to only briefly get into the “red zone” for the first interval but primarily did the intervals in the anaerobic zone. It is normal with intervals to not be able to push your heart rate as high on subsequent intervals and that is what happened. (click graph to enlarge)

My average/maximum heart rate for the four intervals was 159/167; 157/162; 156/163, 154/161. I found it hard to take my heart rate up for this type of interval training compared with climbing a steep hill. I guess my “climbing legs” can push my heart harder. I never was a good time trialist.

This is clear when I look at yesterday’s graph climbing Mt. Hamilton. For over 18 miles I was able to get to an average heart rate of 158, about the same as the average for the four 7 minute intervals today. Of course having David H. push the pace so hard helped. (click graph to enlarge)

I have changed my method of calculating my heart rate zones so some of my prior entries were based on a different approach using the default setting in my Polar Heart Rate software. I have now defined the zones based on the reserve between resting heart (45) rate and maximum heart rate (180) using these four zones:

Max or Red Line (red color) - 90% to 100% or 168 to 180 bpm
Anaerobic (yellow color) - 80% to 90% or 154 to 168 bpm
Aerobic (green color) - 70% to 80% or 140 to 154 bpm
Recovery (blue color) - less than 70% or below 140 bpm

I may fine tune these zones going forward.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Training Log
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Last week I had a good amount of climbing getting ready for the Everest Challenge this coming Saturday/Sunday. This brought my total climbing on my bicycle to 513,000 feet so far this year, which is nearly 100 miles vertically. Here is a chart that shows how I did compared with last year. The flat portion in the spring was due to training for the Boston Marathon. (click chart to enlarge)

Because I had signed up to do a two man team for the Furnace Creek 508 this year in October, I had thought about waiting until next year to do the Everest Challenge, but with all the climbing I have been doing, I decided this was the best shot I would have. By the end of this month I will reach the 100 mile mark.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Training Log
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The weather is turning noticeably more like fall. Although the days are still warm, the mornings are a bit cooler. I am also closely approaching the major cycling events I have scheduled for the year and am in the final stages of training.

First up is the Everest Challenge. I leave for that in only a week from today. Then less than two weeks later I will be doing the Furnance Creek 508. I had previously read an interesting blog of someone who attempted to do both in the save season. He blew up on the 508. I hope that doesn’t happen to me.

I took it easy today, only ran 6 miles. I will then do some good cycling over the next 3 days, then go into a 3 day recovery period. I hope it all comes together. I have a better handle on training for a marathon where I have worked out more of a detailed training schedule. Both the Everest Challenge and FC 508 are new to me so I am just trying to adapt what I do for marathons to see if it works for ultra distance cycling events.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Furnace Creek 508, Ultra Distance Events
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Ouch! I mean Ouch!

The Everest Challenge is only 18 days away. Is it too late to cram for the finals? I got in a good week of biking (370 miles last week) but I have not been climbing quite as much as I hoped to with only 24,000 feet last week. I probably need to focus more on climbing now and do some hill repeats.

Their website boldly calls this event:

THE HARDEST TWO DAY U.S.C.F. RACE!!!

“North American Climbers’ Cup”

Here the profiles and descriptions for the two days:

DAY 1 (click graph to enlarge):

Day One starts outside of Bishop at Millpond Park, 4,425′. The first climb is up to Mosquito Flat. At 10,250′ it is the highest paved road in the Sierras. The run in is 11 miles long. The climb is 22 miles, average grade is 5%. Maximum grade lower half 9%, upper half 11%.

Back down to Round Valley for a short climb up Pine Creek to 7,420′ in 8 miles, average grade is 7%, max is 9%, extended sections of 8%.

Then past the start/cars and up Bishop Creek to 9,835′ in 20.4 miles, average grade 6%. While this is not the highest spot or most vertical gain, the last mile has two short sections around 15% grade and will certainly test your strength and endurance and desire to stay on the bike. Bottom half has extended sections of 8-9% grade, max grade 9%. Timing finish will be at the top after the turnoff to the boat ramp. Total climbing for Day One is 15,465′ in 120 miles.

DAY 2 (click graph to enlarge):

Day Two starts outside Big Pine with a climb up towards the Palisade Glacier. Starting elevation 3,940′ finishing elevation 7,800′. The actual climb is 9 miles with an average grade of almost 8% (max is 11%). There are extended portions of 9-10%. Then riders head back across the valley past the original start. Next we head up the Death Valley Road/Waucoba Canyon to 6,545′ in 8.5 miles, average grade 5% (max just touches 12% in the roller in the “narrows”, 11% in one corner before that).

Back down to the cars/start and then up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest at 10,100′ in 21 miles, average grade 6% (max in the lower half is just touches 14%, max in the upper half just touches 17%). There are dozens of 9-12% rollers in the bottom third. The last 3 miles averages 10% grade. Timing finish will be at the high point a half mile before the Visitors Center. Total climbing for Day Two is 13,570′ in 86 miles. This brings the two day total to 29,035′ (the elevation of Mount Everest) in 206 miles.

In late September when we climb to over 10,000 feet, we may well encounter snow. But down in the valley it could be warm. So I expect a wide swing in the temperatures, making this ordeal even more challenging.

I was also checking the gearing recommended: pro 39/25-27, CAT 1-2 39/27-30, CAT 3 34-39/34, CAT 4-5 30-34/34, Public 26-30/34. If you are a great climber you may get away with higher gears. If you aren’t a good climber go LOWER.

Gee they are recommending mountain bike gearing for me. That is silly, but I am wondering if I should take my older Trek bike with the triple crankshaft. I would prefer to use my new bike because it is lighter and descends and climbs better. I will have to think it over.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Ultra Distance Events
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I am trying to figure out how long for each day 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 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.

For the recent Death Ride my total time was 9:22 and a rolling time of 8:40. I doubt I can do any better, especially since the Everest Challenge is two days back to back. Using the 9:22 total time, less 10% less for Day 1 and 35% less for day 2, I calculate what I consider the very best possible time I could ever do as:

Day 1 8:25 (average 10.9 mph total time)
Day 2 6:05 (average 10.0 mph total time)
Total: 14:30

But looking at Gary’s time last year makes me think that I can not possibly do it in 14:30, maybe 15:30 is more likely.

For 2006, the time for my age group range from 12:40 (1st) to 18:04 (7th place). The best time in 2005 for my age group (55+) was 12:55. The slowest of the four entries was 17:33. For 2003, it is similar. The 55+ category that year ranged from 13:42 to 17:43.

So if I place, it will be only because there are no more than 2 other people in the 55+ grouping.

I am about ready to register for the event. I just need to decide if I should enter it as a race or tourist class.

Categories: Everest Challenge, Ultra Distance Events
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