Everesting Basecamp

[Renzo]

Hello, Sufferlandrians.

Have you Suffered today?

My intention is to have this thread be built on, so any others can reference it and add to it.

I’m planning on attempting an Everesting Basecamp this Sunday. I’m figuring out some of the logistics (particularly hydration and nutrition) and biosafety, but it should be manageable. A friend is interested in joining me, and that will be great motivation.

My last training plan was the Mountainous/Hilly Gran Fondo, and it ended 2 weeks ago. since then, I’ve been having a sort of Off Season with one eRace and only a couple of easy and fun rides, but I’ve gotten started with running and kept active. I should be in good-enough form for the challenge, I think. Either way, Sufferlandrians enjoy Suffering!

Do you have any suggestions? I’ve been to the Everesting Site and I’m reading through their rules and guidelines. My Wahoo Elemnt Bolt will take care of the data. My car will have a cooler in the trunk with bottles and refills.

My result from the Calculator is attached below. I added a kg to my weight to consider the water bottle I’d take.

The suggested climbing power is within my Z2. My Half Monty from the 6th of November put my FTP at 294, so the target (190) should be achievable even if my power has fallen a bit. I plan on putting my Assiomas on the MTB to help me with pacing. The challenge is on a mostly-paved road, but it’s in poor state, so a MTB will be much more comfortable and safe, especially for the descents, and the gearing will be nicer because it’s a 9% average grade.

As an additional motivational factor, my friend and I would be the first Hondurans to achieve this challenge.

Sir @Glen.Coutts, thank you for the inspiration. It’s because of you that I’m considering this madness. Challenge, I meant challenge. Honest mistake.

[Glen.Coutts]

More than you Sir @Renzo!

This is fantastic news, Everesting is all the rage, or so I hear

I have no doubt you will CRUSH this and really have no advice for you. You are strong like a Sufferlandrian Wildebeest, smart, and fit. It will be EPIC though. While I’ve vEverested 3 times (one was a 10k) and vBased once (a bailed attempt at a vEveresting converted to a successful vBasecamp ) I’ve only done 1 real life Basecamp Everest and it was on the only hill we have in my city (a converted garbage dump, unofficially and affectionately called Garbage Hill) but it was more like a speed bump than a hill so it took me 300 reps to get it done, lol!!

If all goes well I’ll be going for my irl full Everest in June/July 2021 (where I live, I have to drive for 2 and a half hours just to find a suitable hill. Life on the prairies.)

For now Sir, I wish you only the best!

You’ve GOT this!

[Glen.Coutts]

I’ve relooked at the results on your calculator and the only thing I will say is to be prepared to take longer breaks and hence a longer overall elapsed time. 4x5 minute breaks on that beastly climb might be a little overly optimistic. Not saying you can’t do it but a general bit of advice I got is that whatever time you think you’ll finish you should be prepared to add on a chunk that you hadn’t anticipated.

Looking forward to read the tale of this adventure when you’re done. Perhaps it will make it into the Inspirational category of the new SUF vids

[Renzo]

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, Sir Glen!

Wow! 300 repeats of a hill sounds like quite a mental battle. It’s so strange, trying to imagine having so much flat terrain around you; Honduras is very mountainous, so it’s rare that you can be somewhere and not see mountains.

I’m sure you’ll also crush your goal in 2021, Sir Glen. You’re a BADASS!

Regarding your observation, thank you! I believe you’re right and that it would be too little rest. I was initially thinking of doing longer rests, but changed the duration and didn’t change the frequency. Do you think that eight 5-minute rests should be more appropriate? That would line up nicely with changing bottles once an hour, every two descents. 5 minutes should also feel nice but not let the legs cool down too much.

An additional rest might come up, depending on the need for a nature break or extra nutrition.

[Glen.Coutts]

Hey Sir @Renzo, breaks are such a personal thing with soooo much depending on you. You def want to keep breaks to a minimum cuz they do really add up.

Another bit of advice that was given to me was to consider taking 5 mins each hour or so then 30 mins each 3 hours or so. Based on your calculator that’s a 5 min for every 2 reps and a 30 min every 6. That adds about 1.5 hours or so to 8.5 hours of riding for a total of 10 hours, kinda like a Knighthood. This, assuming you can maintain the 30 min/rep pace you’ve got set up and remember the calculator doesn’t take into consideration that you have to turn around at the top and bottom. I’m guessing you won’t need 30 min breaks. Based on your FTP, your pace looks totally reasonable too.

All that said, you know your body and your need for breaks better than anyone. Taking a 5 min each hour, like you said, so about 8 in total will def keep your elapsed time down.

They call where I live Big Sky country, you can literally drive for hours and see nothing but sky, and endless horizon. I love it, personally, and for the couple of times where I’ve been in a really mountainous area, I’ve felt a bit claustrophobic. It won’t come as a surprise that I’m also shit at descending (partly lack of skill, partly sheer terror, lol!)

[Glen.Coutts]

Oh and Sir @Renzo, thank YOU for your kind words as well.

[Renzo]

Excellent insight, Sir Glen. Thank you for sharing!

I’ll keep that extra 30 minutes in mind, but the weather in San Pedro Sula is horribly hot and humid, so we’ll definitely try to keep it as brief as possible. A great advantage of the chosen route is the amount of trees around that mountain road, which will shield us a considerable amount from our unrelenting sun.

Are the Minions playing with the weather controls again? It’s going to be hot. Good thing I’m not doing this in “summer”, where temps have reached 49 °C.

Interesting insight into descending! You can mix up your training a bit for better climbing preparation, but there isn’t much to be done for descending. I imagine you’re as unflappable as a Sufferlandrian Wildebeest against headwinds and crosswinds, though.

[Ross]

Several of us (including Glen) have done Everestings. I didn’t do a virtual one but an outside one.

I used SUF a lot in my training but did a LOT of tough sessions (eg AVDP, Nine Hammers, Hunted etc) and followed them off with loads of tempo and sweetspot work. Worked very well for me but I was training like a madman. Full time job plus 20 hours/week on the bike became tough. Over 120 CTL by the end.

Dont think too much about it but get stuck in with a lot of tempo and sweetspot work as well as, of course, endurance.

As you say, nutrition is so important, nutrition is a real passion of mine so if there’s anything in particular you want to ask please do so.

For reference, my longest ride pre Everesting was about 7 hours, but during that I had 6.5 hours where I AVERAGED the power I planned for my climbing rep. Overall final ride time was just over 15 hours (176 miles, 8975m) with a total of about 30mins break (I don’t like stopping!),

Crush I (and do the SUF mental training programme!).

[Renzo]

Excellent info, Ross. Thank you!

I’m planning on preparing many bottles, with most of them having sports drinks such as Gatorade/Powerade, having about one gel or bar per hour, and a few bottles with water, since I imagine that I’ll want some water occasionally instead of the sports drinks. I get along fairly well with all of those but, considering the length of time, do you think I should go for a few more bars or a few more gels in that mix?

Wow! That’s impressive. Congratulations on such an epic achievement . I’m impressed that you took less time resting than I plan to in half the distance you did

The MTP is amazing! Thanks for recommending it. I could use a refresher!

[TLa]

Good luck Renzo, sounds like a fun little ride

[Ross]

How long do you expect it to take? If you want the best energy source get yourself some cluster dextrin (aka cyclic dextrin), fructose and soy protein

Mix the CD and fructose in a 2:1 ratio, aiming for a total of up to 90g/hour (although that includes gels). Soy protein helps prevent muscle breakdown and is better than whey protein for DURING exercise (fewer nitrates which can contribute to feeling fatigued). CD can be fairly expensive so if you don’t want to fork out for that maltodextrin is also very good and way cheaper. Mix it so you have approx 50g of CD in 500ml bottle. You can have more, CD is better than anything else in terms of not causing gastric issues and can be made more concentrated too.

I would steer clear of gatorade, personally, it isn’t the best fuel if you want the best…

[Renzo]

Thank you, Ross!

About 9 hours, assuming we have no unexpected problems.

Are the CD and MD things I should be able to find at any sports nutrition store, or where should I look for them?

What do you think about it being the first time I use them? I’ve tried to avoid experimenting with new things on event days; my stomach isn’t easily upset normally, though, so I don’t feel too intimidated by the idea. If they’re part of something like the Hammer Nutrition HEED, its SIS equivalent, etc., then I’ve had them before and haven’t had issues.

Edit: I looked up HEED, and it has MD. I think I’ll substitute the bottles of generic sports drink for that. Would you say it’s a better option?

[Ross]

Most of the “proper” sports drinks (SIS etc) use maltodextrin, so just get MD on its own and have with squash, it’s way cheaper and goes to show how expensive they are!

CD isn’t as widely used, it’s a lot more expensive and a lot newer, but research has shown it trumps maltodextrin. You can get it at places like myprotein.com. You can have it with squash and/or electrolyte tablets too.

[Renzo]

Mission accomplished, my friends!

Two friends joined me for the challenge, which we conquered with 4,532 m ascended in 100 km in just under 11 hours, including rest periods.

Thank you for all of your advice! I made a mistake and took in too many carbs without having trained my stomach to do so. After about 5 hours I started to feel uncomfortable and that persisted almost until the end, leaving me with dehydration because my stomach had stopped processing and was full . Not nice, but I slowed down, kept going, and eventually felt better again.

My friends tell me I’ve lost the privilege of suggesting what rides we should do for 3 months, though. Worth it!

[Glen.Coutts]

@Renzo

My friends tell me I’ve lost the privilege of suggesting what rides we should do for 3 months

Brilliant! Also, congrats again to you Sir, and to your friends. 3 months will be over faster than a couchlandrian on a donut.

[MartijnL]

Silly question maybe: I know what Everesting is (even know what Trenching is) but what is Everesting Basecamp?

Thanks!

[Ross]

Basically riding the elevation to the Mount Everest base camp, which is approx 1/2 way to the top of Everest.

[caashford]

So I completed my Knighthood on Friday and now looking for the next challenge. vEveresting? Anyone with experience or thoughts? Do I need to do any more specific training? Do I need to do a base camp ride between Christmas and NY and then full Everest in early January (and then roll into TOS build) or could I just blag it based on KoS?

[Glen.Coutts]

I could (and have) go on and on and on about this. But, my best advice is to go to everesting.cc as well as check out the facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/veveresting

[Glen.Coutts]

Everesting Basecamp is the gateway drug to Everesting. Virtually or irl. 4424 metres gained in a single activity (half the height of Mt. Everest), following all the same rules set out by Hells 500. You can read all about it, and other Everesting stuff at http://www.everesting.cc