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Everest Challenge Stage Race is sometimes called the hardest two day race in North America. The only thing that this event has to do with Mt. Everest is the fact that you haul yourself and your bicycle up 29,035’ over the duration of the almost 200 mile race. The race takes place near Bishop California. A beautiful setting with mountains rising up to 14,000’ on both sides of the valley. The race is made up of six out and back climbs (three each day).
Friday on the 250 mile drive to Bishop I was still feeling like shit. Fighting a bad cold that I had come down with on Wednesday. My plan was to at least try and start the race. I would pull out if I started to feel worse. Weather was also a big concern as the first storm of the year was scheduled to hit the mountains that night. When I got to check in I found out that they were most likely going to change the first climb for the next day. By breaking the first climb into two shorter ones we would stay under 7,000’ during the cold hours of the morning. Although we would have to do an additional 1500’ on Sunday to make up lost climbing.
Saturday morning was cold (36 degrees at the start of the race). At least the rain of the night before seemed to have stopped. And so my group rolled out almost 60 strong for an eight mile neutralized start. When the climbing started I was really feeling bad. I was working far too hard to no get dropped. At this point I didn’t really think I would finish the race. Then I started to fall off the back. I looked down at my heart rate monitor, my heart was racing at 180 bpm. I knew if I tried to stay with the lead riders I would not make it to the top of the first climb. So I slowed down and worked on keeping my heart rate under 160 bpm. As I watched 40 riders slowly pull away from me I decided that I had to try and finish. Eventually I made it to the top of the first climb. As I started the second climb I was feeling a little better. It was not much of a problem to make it to the top of this climb. The third climb (which normally would have been the second) was a similar grade to some of the climbs I had been training on with a few short steeper sections. I was now feeling good considering the circumstances. I started to pass riders from my race and others. The descent was good too I got up to 52 mph. On the long flat leading to the final climb I was working with two other racers for a few miles but finally had to leave them in the dust as they were just holding me back. This is when it stated to rain which would turn into hail. The last climb of the day was a brute. It just got steeper and steeper. The last six miles I was sure that my rear tire was going flat. Then with less than a mile to go the road flattens out and you think that you have made it. Then the 17 percent rollers start and it begins to snow. It was hell but I was half way there.
Day two was sunny. The first climb was a beautiful short but steep run from Big Pine to Glacier Lodge. I let my self get dropped by about 20 guys who were hammering way too hard. I was thinking about the last climb of the day. The second climb was uneventful. Number three, there are no words to describe the pain. 20 miles, 6,200’ of climbing with the finish line at 10,100’. It was somewhere in the last six miles that I totally hit the wall. I think the altitude was starting to get to me. I finished. I felt like a broken man but I finished.
Of the almost 60 racers in my category 46 finished and I came in 14th.
PROPS.....If I've never seen you ride personally, I would think that you where full of shit. Congratulations....broken man, NO, you are more of man, full of strength and endurance to do what you did. Just riding flat at that altitude, makes me tired. There not many riders in the world who could pull that off.
Everest Challenge Stage Race is probably the hardest two-day USCF sanctioned stage race. It takes place every September in Bishop California and uses some of the most scenic roads in the Eastern Sierra Nevada and White Mountains. Over some 168 miles the race climbs 29,035’. Everest Challenge also serves as the California/Nevada state climbing championships. At the highest point the race reaches an altitude of 10,250’. The race consists of three out and back climbs each day. The race profile really does not do justice to the enormity of these climbs.
I completed this race in 2007 in horrendous weather conditions. On the first day it rained, then hailed and snowed at the finish line. I came in fourteenth place. I was miserable and swore never to do this race again. How quickly we forget our pain. When I broke my shoulder at the end of May I was a little worried that I would not have enough time to train properly for the 2008 edition. I was back on the bike at the beginning of July and by August I had decided to turn all my energy toward training for Everest Challenge. I proceeded to put in about 2,300 miles of training for the race. I was riding a century with eight to ten thousand feet of climbing every weekend as well as doing other hill work. With two weeks to go until the race I started tapering my training. My goal going into the race was to make it into the top ten.
Day one dawned clear and relatively warm at about forty degrees. No need for leg warmers or a vest. I raced my Cannondale Synapse SL with Bontrager Race X Lite wheels. I ran a standard crank (53/39) and an 11-28 cassette. The Cat 4/5 field rolled out about fifty strong for an eight-mile neutral start. At about mile six we stopped to water the side of the road. As the pace picked up I made my way toward the front. Wanting to avoid picking my way through the carnage I knew would happen at the back as soon as we really began to climb. I was happy that although the pace increased I was able to keep my heart rate at about 160 beats per minute. Ten miles into the twenty-mile climb the lead group was down to about twenty guys. I followed several attacks that never got very far but did serve to whittle the size of the field down to about twelve as we approached the 10,250’ turn around point. At the top I slowed to get fresh bottle of sports drink from neutral aid. As I began the descent I thought there were three or four riders in front of me so I accelerated fast and worked hard to keep my speed at around forty-five miles per hour. By the time I was back down in the valley I had realized that there was no one up the road from me as I was passing guys from the 35+ and 45+ races. So there I was alone off the front. I tried to keep up a good tempo going into the second climb. Compared to first climb the second is short and easy. Eight miles at an average grade of seven percent maxing out at nine. Seven miles into the climb I was caught by a lone racer from my category. We picked up the pace a little and road together to the top of climb two. On the descent I was away again. My speed on the downhill portions of the race was due to my size (168 pounds) and pushing something like 130 gear inches. Between climb two and three there is a relatively flat section that lasts about six miles. It was just at the end of this that I was caught by five guys. A couple miles into the last climb I thought it would be a good idea to take some Endurolyte tablets. Well it was not, as the tablets and half a bottle of Heed ended up on the road and my handlebars. After this I was not able consume anything but water for the remainder of the day. Not a good situation with fifteen miles of climbing to do. At this point there were just three of use left at the front. Soon after this I found my self in a chase group of two. Well not so much chasing as watching one guy ride away from us. With about ten miles to go I was unable to stop the other rider from pulling away. Two miles to go and my left calf began to cramp. I had to stop and message my leg for a few seconds. The last quarter mile must be about a twelve percent grade that goes up to fifteen in the last few hundred feet. This was not fun. Five miles per hour not fun. I finished, I ate, I drank and I was in third place. I was twenty minutes back from first but less than five behind second place. This was the best I’d ever finished in a race.
Day two played out a lot like day one. Only thirty some racers were left now. We put in a pretty good effort on the first climb. By the top only the top three in the race and sixth place were left. I accelerated away on the downhill. Got up to fifty-six miles per hour. Up and down the second climb alone. I was passed by first and sixth place racers about a third of the way up the final climb. Although I saw him behind me second place was never able to catch me and ended up finishing about two minutes back. This climb goes on forever. 6,200’ in twenty-one miles. The last three miles average ten percent grade with a maximum grade of seventeen percent. At this point I was really wishing that I had a compact crank. After I crossed the finish line I stopped and laid down at the side of the road for almost twenty minutes. I was in third place again and my time was good enough to secure third overall in the general classification. I was thirty minutes behind first place and three behind second. So I went home with a bronze state championships medal. Overall time 12:18:28, fifty eight minutes faster than last year.
congrats to wise on 3rd overall in the 4s and hitthepoles_ow and wiz_vanmeter for completing the course.
i basically went in sag and pretty much all you hear is "damn....DAMN.....DAAAAAAAAMNnnnn.......holy.....DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMNNNNNNN..." as you continue up the climbs.
there is nothing in los angeles even close to what these have to offer. honestly its too much for me. it's like take the steepest hill you can find, and do it for 15 miles. 6 times.
I am planning on next year doing my 4th Everest Challenge. I skipped last year and this year due to an 97 Honda Accord in '08 and my ass being to busy in '09.
This is acctually harder than any given 2 days combined in the Tour de France.
The summits in the Tour never go much over 8-9000ft. Every summit on Everest Challenge is over 8000 some over 11,000. You spend all of your riding allready at a base of 3800 at the lowest point.
The Giro has finished above 10,000 a few times in the last couple of years.
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Everest Challenge Stage Race is sometimes called the hardest two day race in North America. The only thing that this event has to do with Mt. Everest is the fact that you haul yourself and your bicycle up 29,035’ over the duration of the almost 200 mile race. The race takes place near Bishop California. A beautiful setting with mountains rising up to 14,000’ on both sides of the valley. The race is made up of six out and back climbs (three each day).
