2008 Everest Challenge, also known as the “Eatathon 175″
Stats:
- 2 days
- 175 miles
- 29,035 feet of climbing
- 9 Clif bars
- 10 bottles of HEED
- 8 gels
- 3 Recoverites
- 3 finish line burritos
- 2 stacks of pancakes
- 4 eggs
- 1 large spinach lasagna
- most of a large pizza
- 2 salads
My challenge on these long races is getting enough food. Even with the intake listed above (and assorted snacks), and followed by the largest veggie burrito I have ever seen, I still lost about 2 lbs. I am making it up this week however, with actual beer! on a weeknight!
Anyhow, on to the story.
The plan this year was to ride with the master 45s, the big boys. (If you are not up on bike racing categorization, there are some age categories but also experience/ability categories. Those start with Cat 5, for beginner racers, and at the top are Cat 1s and Pros. Open Master 45s means that I, a lowly Cat 4, am riding with Cat 1,2,3 guys- much better racers).
Webcor/AltoVelo had four guys in the M45s- Kevin K, Bryan, Jamie and myself. During the neutral roll-out I found myself stuck near the back and had to put out a little effort to move up to the front where my smarter teammates were. On the way I found myself next to Chris from the KOM series- he’s a 35+ but was late to the start so he left with the 45s.
When we got to the end of the neutral zone it seemed like no one really wanted to work (unlike the 4/5s which usually get here and explode in an ugly mess of pent-up energy). Kevin went to the front and set a good tempo across the remaining flat and up the first climb for quite a ways. The known top guys were sitting right on his wheel. I even thought about attacking then but I knew it would be stupid. Kevin finally peeled off and last years winner, Mark Schaefer (PaulTracy.com) took over. The pace went a little higher but I was still hanging in. Kevin dropped back and not long after I decided I’d better back off too. A group of about 10 including Bryan gradually got away. Kevin and I worked together for the first climb (about 2 hours) shedding a few who tried to ride with us.
I had been concerned about being able to stick with Kevin on the descents but I had no problem. I have had problems getting dropped on descents in this race before. Maybe it was the aero wheels (deep Reynolds carbon clincher rims) or just being more aggressive about accelerating to get onto wheels. We worked with another guy who seemed to know the turns well but we could still catch up to him when needed.
On the second climb Kevin was still setting a good pace. About halfway up I started having problems sticking with him. I really wanted to hang with him on the descent and then work with him on the 10 miles of flat before the last climb, but it was not to be. I let a gap form and just couldn’t close it.
Near the top the leaders were coming down after turning around. I watched my computer after the first two went by together so I could give Bryan the time gap on them (about a minute). We were up among the M35s and public racers so it was hard to tell exactly how many from my race were ahead, but since I hadn’t caught anyone from my race and had been caught and dropped by one guy I knew there was about 8 or 9 up there.
I rode the flat 10 miles on my own but at a decent pace, catching more public racers.
The last climb is a beast with a long section of 8 or 9% and a series of 15%+ ramps at the end. I caught a pro near the bottom, probably the only time I will be passing a pro racer who is half my age. Farther on I caught one from my race who sat on my wheel, and another guy caught both of us. When we got to the long 8% part Laura was on the side of the road waiting to feed me, so I told the guys that I wanted to move to the right to take a feed. I’d thought about attacking them there but wanted to wait until I’d gotten my feed, but when I looked back I had a good gap so I grabbed a bottle from Laura and kept going. A couple miles up I looked back and one Team Fremont guy was still in sight. Right about then I started getting that crampy feeling in my legs. Then my left quad cramped up hard. Ow! That’s never happened before. I kept pedaling but with a lot less force, and the cramp gradually worked out. But now my legs felt really bad. I knew how steep the finishing climbs were and I had a vision of standing up for them, then cramping, falling over, and laying there flopping around like a bug that’s been turned on its back.
Thinking about that had me going slower. To be honest, I felt pretty bad. Getting to the less steep false flat section before the finishing ramps made me feel worse- the change in tempo was hard for my legs, and the false flat looked like something I should be going faster on than I was.
I kept checking back and on the longer straights I could still see Fremont back there. I ate some more Endurolytes and hoped that going a little slower would let me rest up enough so I could make it up the ramps.
Getting close to the ramps I spotted a Webcor. It was Bryan, looking slow and visibly unhappy. I almost caught him when I got the first ramp. Fremont was back. I had nothing- I was worried about simply making it up. I had nothing left to race with. I congratulated him on coming back. He passed me and then Bryan, who went faster on the steep ramps. I managed to finish 10th, about 2 minutes back of Fremont (8th) and 1:30 back of Bryan (9th). My time was 7:14, which was a little faster than I’d predicted (7:20). Kevin finished best Webcor (6th, 6 minutes up on me).
It took a while to get back to the van and gather everyone up. I could have been better about refueling both myself and my teammates- I forgot about the big box of Recoverite I’d brought for everyone.
At the motel I tried to nap, couldn’t. Walking down the stairs to go to dinner hurt, a lot. That’s not a good sign. I had more than usual of the “pursuiters’ cough” too. At least the lasagna was good.
Second day:
Went to breakfast way early. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant but a few fishermen and some bike racers. One guy, obviously a racer from the thinness of his face, came in and sat in the booth behind us, facing me. When I got up I must have groaned, because he laughed. I laughed too. It’s a laugh of shared stupidity… why are we doing this again?
I didn’t get much of a warm-up. While riding around aimlessly one of the guys that Kevin and I shed on the first climb yesterday came up and complained about Kevin “attacking” him. I told the guy that’s how Kevin rides, he was just going fast, but the guy insisted that he was willing to work with us but Kevin attacked him. Whatever. I also talked to Bill Brier, the Team Fremont guy who caught and dropped me the day before. He said that he rode in the Public class the year before(!). Looking at his results he’s done pretty well this year.
The group was pretty casual about the start, I had no problem staying up at the front as no one wanted to pull even at 18 mph. As soon as we get out of town the fast guys assembled at the front. My legs were NOT WORKING. Crap. I let them go, figuring that I’ll warm and loosen up eventually and something will happen. Brier came by on his way up to the group. He caught them and then I could see Jamie hanging in, then dropping off.
Eventually I felt a little better and caught up to another straggler in Sho-Air kit. My legs seemed to work ok when I stood but when I sat I was not making much power, so I would go slower. I caught Sho-Air during one of my standing surges. He and I did the whole climb together, mostly in silence. Stand up, speed up; sit down, slow down. He didn’t seem to mind my erratic speed. Near the top I started thinking that I recognized him from the 4/5 field a couple years ago so I asked if he raced it. He told me that he normally rides 4/5 but did M45s this year even though there’s a lot of fast guys in it. As soon as he said that one of those fast guys came by- an Eastside Velo rider who also passed me on the second climb on day 1. Sho-Air sprinted to get his wheel and they took off. I swear I saw them shake hands but I don’t know what sort of deal they just struck.
Not long after we reached the turnaround. I had been trying to catch up so I could draft them on the descent but I was about 20 feet back. Eastside cruises around the cone while I slowed to take on water and HEED. (the feeders this year were WAY better than last year- no one yanked back a bottle as I was grabbing for it, they had water and HEED separate and they fed on both sides of the cone so if you missed on the way up you had a second chance).
Sho-Air said “hey guys, I need water, wait up” and went to stop for water. I wasn’t going to wait, I started jamming for the steep part. I expected Sho-Air to catch me but he never did.
On the three miles of flat between the first and second climbs a couple Cat 4s caught and passed me. Then a small group of them. I can see them catch the two escapees, and the group slows down to just about my pace.
As we started the second climb a couple M45s caught me. I hadn’t seen these guys before, they are new. They didn’t want to pull though. I slowed down a bit wanting to conserve for the vicious final climb. I mostly conserved by not standing as often; I still lacked power when seated. The guys on my wheel didn’t seem to mind the slow erratic pace. It’s not long before I realized that we have a slight tailwind so there is no penalty to pulling up the climb. I think maybe if I pull we’ll stick together and I can draft with them on the descent.
After a while some more Cat 4s came up. I could still see the group of them up the road, they were not pulling away. The guy pulling this chase group gets next to me and says “Are you Eric?” When I own up to it, he says “I read your blog. Great stuff!” which is just about the last thing I expect to hear in the middle of a race. Ok, I started this blog partly with an eye for accumulating a bunch of Everest Challenge info so obsessed people like me who are searching for it on the internet can find it, but it’s mostly to give me an excuse to write and to keep my friends up to date on my racing (the few who are interested in it that is). I don’t really expect anyone to be reading it.
I tried to give mr blog reader (I forgot which team he was from, sorry) some intel on the group of 4s up the road, which was probably superfluous since he could see them on the longer straights too. He was pulling at a nice clip which I didn’t think I could match if I wanted to sit down or finish the race, so I let them go too. My new M45 friends were still on my wheel though.
We passed Laura, I declined a feed knowing that she was short on bottles and with the race feeders doing well at the tops of climbs it was a better strategy to get bottles from them anyhow. As I passed I asked how far up Jamie is, Laura said a “little bit”. I asked how long that is (we’re going about 8 mph, plenty of time to talk) and she said a couple minutes. One of the guys behind me said that he prefers to not know how far it is. Now that the ice was broken, they thanked me for pulling and I told them that it’s only because we have a tailwind.
However it still must have counted for something in their eyes because we worked together well on the descent. Each of us in turn would get the draft of the leader, slingshot past in a tuck, then as we slowed in the wind the next guy would take over. Doing this is faster than going solo. Even better, it let me sit up and rest my back for a moment in the leader’s draft before taking over. That’s much easier on the back than trying to stay in a tuck for the whole 20 minutes.
Back at the bottom we passed the cars again. The other guys stopped at their cars. I had full bottles and Laura up the road to give me food so I started up the final 6000′ climb. I put on some speed now, both to get rid of the chasers I knew were behind and to try to catch someone from my race.
The last climb has some really horrific parts. The bottom half is about 9% with little rollers that are even steeper. I felt pretty good on this part- I was standing for much of it, and going at a decent pace. I could see Jamie up the road a couple minutes. I caught some other guys but no one in my race. After what seemed like a long time (probably because it was a long time; this climb takes over 2 hours) a guy caught me. He just sat in though, so I finally turned around and asked which race he was in. “Public” was the reply. “Good”, I said, “that means I don’t have to race you”. Mr Public sat on my wheel for the remainder of the first part of the climb. There’s a couple mile flat section between the two halves, and when I got on it the change in pace completely shattered my legs. Seated, I could do a heart rate of only 120 or so. Mr Public went around and took a pull but I couldn’t even stay on his wheel. I could see him looking back in his mirror and waiting for me, so I waved him on.
At this point I really wanted to stop. Many people in this race want to quit at least once, but last year I didn’t. I was dismayed that I would consider throwing in the towel this time. But passing Laura on the road, even though I didn’t need anything from her, cheered me up just enough. The caffeiniated gel helped too.
We started up the final section. Mr Public stopped to pee. I passed the 10k to go sign. Normally in a race having only 6.2 miles left means that you will be done very soon, but these are special extra hard miles. There is about 3000′ of climbing but a good two miles are flat. That means that the rest is very steep.
I was using lower gears this time than I did on the same climb in last years race. My legs were really fried. I got to that turn that means I am going to finish but instead of last years elation, I just felt disappointed. I’d caught a few riders but none in my race. In fact I had hardly caught any M45s the whole race, unlike the last two years where there was almost always someone in my race to catch. Near the top with 1k to go I finally spotted a M45. With 400m to go I sprinted by to make sure he wouldn’t get my wheel, and then tried to hold it to the line.
At the finish line feed they had a bunch of food. I ate three burritos. Maybe I wasn’t eating enough during the race? In any case by the end I was sick of sports drink and bars and wanted real food.
My overall time was 12:49, which was a little under the 13 hours I had predicted. But it was only good for 12th place so I am a bit disappointed there. Kevin wound up with 5th and third in the California Climbers championship (the top two guys being from Utah). Bryan felt much better, did a great job helping Kevin out, and then went on his own at the end and almost made up all the time he’d lost on Kevin the day before. He wound up 6th. Jamie rode smart- conservative on day 1, finishing behind me, and faster on day 2, for an overall time 12 seconds faster than mine and 11th place.
ericm Everest Challenge, Food, races