Looking into doing an everest attempt early in the summer. Thought I would see if anyone here has attempted and/or completed an effort like this. Looking for any advice on does and don’t s for the day!
Thanks in advance
Did 82 times up a 350 ft hill a couple years ago.
What I learned
You have lots of time to eat and drink. Don’t worry about getting enough - just make sure it’s there and eat and drink plenty.
Pickle juice was a big help in the second half. Anything with sugar just jacked up my HR and it took hours to come down. Soup is great and warming.
I’d recommend not to use a big climb. Your legs tend to lock up and cool down too much on the descent. If the descent is longer than 5 mins this is a risk. 5-600 ft climbing would be ideal for me.
Pay attention to the turnaround points, these are the most dangerous spots.
Try to choose a day with little traffic. I did mine on July 4th weekend. Traditionally very quiet where I lived - people usually for out of town or went to distant fireworks shows - avoid or be very careful if the route might have drunk drivers though.
Bring extra chamois cream and change your bibs halfway through. Your ass will thank you.
Don’t mess around with your bike or fit. Ride what you know.
Set a maximum target HR and don’t go above this. I set 140 bpm for a threshold of 165 bpm. Kept most of the ride below 130 bpm.
Start at 3 am and ride in darkness for a couple of hours. With a bit of luck you will only have to ride a couple of hours of darkness at the end.
Enjoy. The best part was observing the crepuscular creatures and the way the day, weather and light changed over the ride. You’re going to get lonely at some stage. Slug some pickle juice and a treat, maybe a shot of whiskey, to get you over this.
wow…chapeau to you. I honestly thought he meant doing it over a summer, not all in one go!
I’d recommend not to use a big climb. Your legs tend to lock up and cool down too much on the descent
Underrated comment
It’s bloody hard and I only went 2/3s of the way.
Another $20,000 for the rest of the way.
Fly over it’s cheaper and the scenery is better.
I’ve done two, both on 13-15 minute climbs.
A few things I picked up from the first that meant the second took three hours less.
- Don’t stop riding unless you have to. Every time you stop means it takes longer.
- Don’t tell people you are doing it. Stopping for a chat or getting out of your rhythm when you are riding just takes longer.
- Real food tastes great in the second half. Crisps were also a winner.
- Prep so that you don’t need to be stuffing around filling bottles and so on as much as possible. Have filled bottles ready as much as possible to keep it ticking along.
- Even when you feel shattered with 3000 or so to go (that happened to me both times) you can just keep going if you need to.
- I started the second one a few hours before sunrise. That helped as by the time it was light I had some good vertical distance already up and mentally it felt like I was just starting.
That’s about it I guess. To be honest it was harder than I thought it would be, but doable.
How many hours in the saddle are we looking at?
The first one was 15, the second 12.
The first one was on a steeper hill, and it was wet which didn’t help.
The second one was better planned. I think it averaged about 9-10%, steady all the way.
I like the other tips on here.
This is a fun post from a bloke who did it up and down a far bigger (than recommended on here) hill. Some meticulous planning and an interesting insight into the mental side of things.
Bring extra chamois cream and change your bibs halfway through. Your ass will thank you.
Set a maximum target HR and don’t go above this. I set 140 bpm for a threshold of 165 bpm. Kept most of the ride below 130 bpm.
Start at 3 am and ride in darkness for a couple of hours. With a bit of luck you will only have to ride a couple of hours of darkness at the end.
Enjoy. The best part was observing the crepuscular creatures and the way the day, weather and light changed over the ride. You’re going to get lonely at some stage.
True to this.
I started just after midnight, was the best.
**Ride Report: **arrived around midnight & setup ‘base camp’. Started the ascent before 1am. The reason was to try avoid the heat later in the day, and finish before sunset. That didn’t end up happening. Miscalculated the no. of laps required (thought 55, ended up being 62).
Pretty surreal riding in the dark for so long. Lights managed to stay on the whole time. A cop car slowed to a stop around 3am likely wondering wth was going on, but drove away. Sunrise was at 4.52am which brought a kick of energy but also dread—the sun was up. Temp’s peaked at (29C/84F) but it felt hotter than that. Avg temp for the ride 27C!
Started alright but struggled to get a rhythm. Lots of stop/starts restocking. The hottest parts saw lap times drop and break times increase. In the end the heat blew things out a bit.
The amount of fuel & liquids required was ridiculous: Pasta bake, Raisin toast, 5 bananas, 14 clif bars, 10 blueberry banana muffins, 3 oranges, bowl of oats, mango slices, & a few lollies. Consumed about 12L of water mixed with Endura. Around 16-20 bottles, n’ a coke.
Misc; the last celebratory lap I decided to smash it out-mouth/lips started to tingle/go numb! Breathing also tends to hurt. Nearly gagged about 10 times because the stomach was so full of liquid and constant eating of food. Animals; 2m long snake, possum, and Gallah’s. Saw several riders get punctures from glass, spoke failure.
I rate the night ride, beat the heat at that point which was the biggest sapper. Also it blurs into one thing… music playlist as well. I had that all lined up with appropriate music at various times.
Kept HRM low AF as much as possible until last lap I unleashed.
I could have kept going to 10k vert but had my family there etc. and I’d taken longer than meant to, had gotten dark again. So would have been a big slap in the face ha.
The first one was 15, the second 12.
The first one was on a steeper hill, and it was wet which didn’t help.
The second one was better planned. I think it averaged about 9-10%, steady all the way.
Yeah that is a lot of hours!
Looking over this idea, i realise i live in a country which can not provide a 500 feet hill within 2-3 hours driving range, guess i will just miss out 
The first one was 15, the second 12.
The first one was on a steeper hill, and it was wet which didn’t help.
The second one was better planned. I think it averaged about 9-10%, steady all the way.
Yeah that is a lot of hours!
Looking over this idea, i realise i live in a country which can not provide a 500 feet hill within 2-3 hours driving range, guess i will just miss out
No need to miss out- there’s also Virtual Everesting or vEveresting on Zwift. I did mine last year with 8.5 times up Alpe du Zwift. Fueling plan is as others have mentioned- LOTS- with the added benefit that you can set everything on a table next to you and eat as you go. It’s also allowed (by Hell’s 500 if you’re going for an “official” attempt) to get off the bike during the virtual descent which is very helpful to stretch/bathroom/etc.
Ride on!
The first one was 15, the second 12.
The first one was on a steeper hill, and it was wet which didn’t help.
The second one was better planned. I think it averaged about 9-10%, steady all the way.
Yeah that is a lot of hours!
Looking over this idea, i realise i live in a country which can not provide a 500 feet hill within 2-3 hours driving range, guess i will just miss out
No need to miss out- there’s also Virtual Everesting or vEveresting on Zwift. I did mine last year with 8.5 times up Alpe du Zwift. Fueling plan is as others have mentioned- LOTS- with the added benefit that you can set everything on a table next to you and eat as you go. It’s also allowed (by Hell’s 500 if you’re going for an “official” attempt) to get off the bike during the virtual descent which is very helpful to stretch/bathroom/etc.
Ride on!
I know, saw some threads on this on reddit, quite impressive, but there is NO WAY i would do this inside! A nice summer day thank you.
Not done it, but math and physiology are your friends and enemies outside of the advice of the experienced hard men and women who have done it.
-If you have the gearing, maximize you VAM for your energy spend with something with enough gradient. Something like 3 or 4% is wasting energy going forward instead of going up. The target is elevation, not distance. I wouldn’t do something that causes a terrible cadence or dangerous descent, but do the math!
-Physiology, think about your power duration curve for a metric or century ride. Then, cut more % off power from there even further. Or HR. Sure, more time stinks, but going out at let’s say 180w instead of 160w could be a tragic blow to the effort! Just an example. But I’d imagine early it must feel as easy as possible so that the ability is there later.
-The tips others had here that have done it before, they probably know best.
Looking into doing an everest attempt early in the summer. Thought I would see if anyone here has attempted and/or completed an effort like this. Looking for any advice on does and don’t s for the day!
Thanks in advance
I took my mini van and parked it on the top of the mountain.
I had my dad’s bike in there as a backup.
The van was stocked with all sorts of food and clothing for the change in elements.
Also stocked with all my bike maintenance tools, parts, stand etc
I borrowed very good lights to protect myself from animals on the descents - both head lamp and bike mounted, including backup lights
I chose an 8% grade .75 mile mountain in my hometown with little car traffic.
My dad checked in on my now and then and also took my lights back to the house to charge for that evening.
I started at 3:15 AM and finished at 9:30 PM with 16 hours of moving time.
139 miles with 29,200’ elevation. 92 repeats at 320’ each.
Looking back, it was the perfect mountain for me - somewhat easy grade, no large spikes in grade
I did 10 repeats about a week before in the pitch dark to test out the lights, gear, and get a feel for what pace I felt I could hold. I highly recommend doing a scouting practice effort like that.
q and a about my ride:
http://meggorun.blogspot.com/2017/10/everesting-my-brother-is-beast.html
summarized, my tips are:
- take the time to plan the perfect mountain for your strengths and weaknesses
- do a practice effort
- be careful at night, one animal can end the ride and seriously hurt you
- get bright lights - low traffic mountain if possible
- force yourself to drink
- force yourself to eat
- keep all gear and food close in a vehicle
- its 17,000’ from sea level to the base of Everest. Over half the ride is just getting to the base. when you get to 17,000’, mentally lock in and you are set.
Thanks for the reply. I hadn’t really thought of vehicle placement, in regards to top of hill or bottom. You chose the top, any particular reason for that and were you happy with it?
Thanks for the reply.
The hill we are looking at is 500m over 5km so 10% grade. I’m going to be using a great granny gear of 36x40, so as long as my cadence can stay above 70 I’m looking at a speed of 7.5 km/hr in the 40. I’m thinking I will be in the 12-14hour moving time range and hopefully 2 hours max stoppage time assuming no major mechanicals and the all day buffet goes as planned.
So the math makes sense to me, but a lot of things will need to happen to make the day a success!
I like the other tips on here.
This is a fun post from a bloke who did it up and down a far bigger (than recommended on here) hill. Some meticulous planning and an interesting insight into the mental side of things.
https://cyclingtips.com/...mt-everest-in-a-day/
A good read. “What manner of lunatic!”
A few of friends did it a couple of weeks ago and went the extra to do 10,000m. They did a shorter hill about 1 mile long at about 9% average. They started before dawn and finished at night. They took there time resting in between several repeats to stay fueled. They weren’t worried about the uphill…it was bombing downhill at 40+ MPH totally spent. They also had people riding with them at times and had base camp and sag support (eg, follow car in the dark going downhill). They did set some awesome Strava KOMs though!
Thanks for the reply. I hadn’t really thought of vehicle placement, in regards to top of hill or bottom. You chose the top, any particular reason for that and were you happy with it?
There was a spot to park at the top but not at the bottom so I had no choice. The top was my preference though and looking back I am glad I chose parking my support at the top of the mountain instead of the bottom. I guess the only good reason I can think of is after a 5 minute pit stop to take care of needs, its a mental boost to fly down the mountain and not have to climb it again immediately. There might be other logical reasons to chose one over the other but for me it was close to splitting hairs.