# Everest Challenge 2012



## Skimmy (Dec 13, 2011)

Interested in your Everest Challenge reports/pictures/video. Dream of doing it someday.


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

Well, I expected to suck, and I did. It wasn't a goal race, but two climbing workouts for one (La Ruta, a three day mtb race in Costa Rica coming up). That's how I approached it. 

My plan was to do the two big climbs each day and skip the middle ones. That's what I did on Saturday. On Sunday, I felt good after the first climb so I thought I could do the whole ride, and did the second climb up Death Valley Road, which was a mistake because I wilted going up the “2000 ft in 4 miles in 90 F heat” beginning of the third climb up to Schulman Grove, and ended up DNFing. I should have stuck to my game plan and hit the big third climb while it was still somewhat cool and I somewhat fresh. 

Anyway, it's a well organized and supported event with epic climbs and descents in a beautiful place, and the fall colors were beautiful up high. I hope to be better prepared next year.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

It's completely awesome and humbling. 6000 foot climbs! High elevation! Screaming fast descents! Cold temperatures and hot temperatures. Awesome scenery. It will challenge your desire to stay on the bike. It's WAY harder than the Death Ride.

I finished 8th over all in cat 4. I desperately wanted to quit on each day.

This is the fourth time I've finished out of six attempts. Eating is my problem on these- usually not enough, sometimes too much. This time it was not enough. I could have gone faster if I'd consumed enough calories.


I'll have a detailed posting on my blog soon.


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## charris009 (Apr 20, 2010)

Agree with Eric's assessment, it was my first time and only second race. Brutally difficult, but very rewarding. The last 8 miles nearly killed me. I will be back next year. That said I do hope that they move to chip timing to get faster and more accurate results and also that they don't decide to add a bonus 6 miles onto the 2nd stage again...


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## Skimmy (Dec 13, 2011)

Great reports -- especially Eric's blog. Thanks!

Do most riders bring their own food and drink, and a friend to deliver them in a car? Or is there enough provided by the organizers in enough locations for a rider to go alone?

Your specific experiences and tips with training, preparation, nutrition, recovery between days, gearing, etc. would be very interesting. Pictures and video too if you have them.

I've done several 200 km with 5000 m one-day events but have always taken a few easy days afterwards. This sounds much tougher for several reasons.


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## charris009 (Apr 20, 2010)

*More race details*

Food and support are pretty solid and the race director strongly discourages the use of private support vehicles. At higher elevations car access can be limited. Nutrition-wise they have Hammer products including gels along with other whole food options. Also each day's route takes you past the start line twice so you could even grab additional provisions, drop clothing, etc. with minimal time loss. 

As far as the difficulty the factors to consider vs. the 200km/5000m of climbing race is that you are doing that amount of climbing in 110km to 145km each day so it is very intense. Almost no flat sections, either climbing or descending the whole time. Also the cummulative effect on day two coupled with maybe the hardest climb being last definitely takes a toll. That said it is a beautiful sufferfest that is worth the pain.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

It's ok to have personal support as long as they follow the rules and stay out of the way of the race. My wife's supported me (and often some of my team-mates and friends) each time I've done it and not had a problem. As a rider you have to plan ahead for the climbs that support vehicles are not allowed on. What's not ok is to have a vehicle shadowing their rider. That gets in the way of other racers and annoys non race traffic. My wife drives to legal feed zones and parks.

If you can have one person & car supporting a number of riders that's a good idea, but the riders need to be in groups that don't start too far apart and riding at roughly the same speed. This year all my team-mates were in the 55s and starting an hour before me.

I'm allergic to the nuts in many sports bars, and gels and HEED don't sit well in my stomach, so I can't depend on the race aid stations for anything but water. Most people don't have that problem but it's best to test throughly first.


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## Bostic (Nov 17, 2008)

I did it last year in the tourist/non-racer category. Very hard event and you really need to pay attention to calories even if used to climbing at altitude. With the revised route of having climb 1 now climb 3 and vice versa on day one it's in your best interest to get a ride down from the top back to Mill Pond. I didn't and it's a very long and boring descent down HW 395 followed by some miles of straight into bad headwind riding. After the first climb on day one there is some non-climbing to do to get to the second climb. I tried but couldn't keep up with a group of strong riders which cost me later in the day. The second climb on the second day is not rewarding as it leads to a non-summit finish before you turn around and get ready to tackle White Mountain.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

This year the Death Valley rd climb was to the top- they intended to make it a little longer than last year to make up 300' not climbed on the return down Lower Rock Creek, but the course crew that set up the turnaround went too far. 

Unfortuantely the top of the pass there is boring. The good scenery is farther down the road into Death Valley National Park.


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## charris009 (Apr 20, 2010)

Has anyone on this thread done the Death Valley double century? Gross elevation looks pretty tame, but it is still 200 miles in the saddle...


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