Everest Challenge

[eric]

Anyone here doing the Everest Challenge stage race in California this weekend?

It's a two day race with 29,035 feet of climbing, on the east side of the Sierras. Multiple trips to 10,000', 6000' climbs, heat, etc. This will be my 7th time.

[stella-azzurra]

A friend of mine did the Everest Challenge a few times and his best placement was 8th.

[LocoDuck]

Sounds painful!

Is this a yearly thing? I may have to sign up for the future, nice little road trip to boot.

[eric]

The first few were in July but since then it's been in September when it's a little cooler in Bishop... 90s instead of 100. It's been held starting with 2001.

[jmilliron]

Good luck Eric.

[Dalai]

Good luck Eric.

I'll second that. These climbs are tough enough to just ride up, let alone race!

[boysa]

Have a great race! I did it once (2009) and it was incredible. I keep trying to get back every year, but unfortunately haven't been able to time it right.

[53x12]

My legs are burning just thinking about this.

[ipdamages]

The race is a serious deathmarch. They started it right after Death Valley-Mount Whitney ended. DV-MW was more of a race, while the Everest Challenge is sort of like a marathon: a few people racing it but most just trying to finish. Now there is an "endurance cycling fundraiser" from DV to MW. 135 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing, starting at 3pm and finishing at noon the following day.

http://www.summitadventure.com/whitney-classic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or there is the Death Ride. Another beast.

http://www.deathride.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.deathride.com/elemap.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In one sense, rides like these cause you to appreciate every gram saved. On the other, there comes a time in rides like these that one could care less about grams and bikes and thinks that maybe it would be a good time to change sports.

[prendrefeu]

Death Ride is easy. I thought of it as a really fun, only slightly challenging ride with 3000 other people.

[boysa]

+1

Death Ride did not live up to its name. It was a great day on the bike, though, and I'd do it again. Nothing in the same department as EC, however. That was serious, and I think the guys I was racing against missed the memo about just trying to finish. There was no stopping... we were getting bottle hand-ups on the move and my wife resupplied me and whoever was near me a couple of times by driving ahead.

[ipdamages]

I guess it's all a question of how hard you ride the rides and how well you've prepared.

I've raced Devil's Punchbowl, Boulevard Road Race, DV-MW, Corral Hollow, San Dimas Stage Race, Pine Flat, Visalia/Exeter, and some other tough road race courses, and my opinion of each changed depending on how hard I rode, combined with my training and my placing. My first time at DV-MW was a horror, but when I came back better prepared and did well it was memorable in a positive way.

[prendrefeu]

They all pale in comparison:

http://tourdebc.com/tour-of-british-columbia/

[dmp]

They all pale in comparison:

http://tourdebc.com/tour-of-british-columbia/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is there a single day unsupported option?

[prendrefeu]

For that race, I don't think so, but you may want to contact the organizer to find out. I would imagine it would be a much, much shorter course however which negates a lot of the toughness found on the more remote lands in the north.

Single-Day unsupported... toughest that I know of is the Hoodoo 500, "Voyager" division (formerly known as the "Maverick" division), but it will take more than one day.
Invitation only for the Voyager division. 500 miles and 31,060ft of climbing doesn't sound too bad, but it is considered the toughest race around. People who do this scoff, rightfully so, at the regular racer who aims for Everest, and Everest is not single day... in fact you get a full night's rest in between! The Hoodoo 500 is a straight shot with no pre-determined breaks in between the sections although there is an opportunity to legally check into a hotel (you're still timed though), the majority of the route is at a high altitude, and you hit 10,600ft elevation at miles 255 and 407.
http://hoodoo500.com/

Everest is technically not supported, but having people/family/friends/whatever hand you bottles is support. Voyager division = you're on your own for support. Period.
Of course there is working with other racers along the course, and people I ride with can rattle off many stories about how they helped other racers who were coming down with serious health breakdowns in certain areas (like getting hypothermia at 10,000ft at 2am), sometimes racers would work together for certain stretches, etc:, but that's humanity and racing. Outside of them you are on your own.

I'm not at the capability to be there yet (circumstances limit my ability to train for those events at the moment), but I do ride with friends who are at that level. Both Tour de BC and Hoodoo are personal goals.


For those that want to race your own personal clock and make it really challenging, there are a few very small bunny-hop supported good ones:
http://www.inyoultra.com/
Temperatures for both the Sherman Pass and Mt. Whitney editions hovered above 115° F.
Single-day, no breaks.