Everesting

[gibbo]

My wife and I recently did an interstate trip. We knew we would have to isolate at home for two weeks when we got home and have been coming up with different ways to pass time. Somehow we decided to have a crack at vEveresting on Zwift. We both have a Kickr trainer (in separate rooms) so why not??? What could go wrong???? At least the fridge and bathroom will be handy! With the TdF going the Ven-Top route ( a true digital version of Mont Ventoux ) was the route we chose. 6 laps will be enough to get the required 8854m of elevation. After a bit of reading online there were a couple of rules we needed to adhere to. Trainer difficulty set to 100%, kickr spindown/calibration the day before, accurate weigh in updated in Zwift.


With a fridge full of food, a stack of sweat towels, a change of knicks ready for each assent, plenty of chamois cream at the ready we mounted up at 6:15 and set off. I fired up some Spotify tunes and our journey of suffering began.


I had to force myself to control my efforts, I told myself not to allow my HR to exceed 140. I really wanted to push harder half way up the first lap, but did my best to keep it in check, I knew it would be a long day. I drank 2 x 750ml water per lap, thats 9 litres or 2.4 gallons of water. I ate pasta, risotto, chocolate, potato chips, and 1 gel.... while my virtual self was descending I would have a quick rinse in the shower, a stretch, a feed, fresh socks and knicks, refill water bottles and then get back to climbing.... At the end of the second lap I was having doubts, wondering if we are both completely mad? The wife was feeling pretty much the same. We decided to try a 3rd lap and just see how we go. Grinding up a steep climb at a low cadence can make the knees start to hurt (due to the 100% trainer resistance a high cadence is impossible). With a 3rd lap done we both felt like we made it to base camp, yay, anything further is just bonus. By the end of the 4th lap I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Laps 5 and 6 were at a snails pace, I was incapable of producing more than around 150 watts, even though my HR was in the 120s, just totally cooked legs! I resigned myself to a long slow crawl to the finish line, but I was smiling ear to ear.... I dismounted, ended the ride, selected save and exit and crossed my fingers, what if the file doesn’t save, or gets corrupted, or the power to the neighbourhood goes out?!?!? With the ride safely sent to Strava I staggered down the hall to see how Mrs Gibbo was going? She had another 400m to climb, I told her how amazing she is and headed to the shower (sorry planet, a LONG HOT shower was bliss). Soon Mrs Gibbo and I were enjoying a bit of time on the couch before bed. The next day neither of us got out of our PJs, it was coffee, food, nap, repeat.....

We submitted our Strava rides to the official Everesting website and both have been approved into the Everesting hall of fame, yay us! I wonder if many couples have done something like this together? If anyone is considering doing this I will say go for it! With a bit of planning and some fitness it can be done. You definitely don’t need to be a pro level athlete. Determination can go a long way!!!!!



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[Blue Jays]

Congratulations! Interesting real-life narrative. Sounds like it would be tough using Zwift-connected rollers.

[Llewellyn]

Congratulations but that sounds bonkers

[73Bronco]

Congratulations!! Sounds miserable

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[sokyroadie]

Congrats, sounds like NOT fun, after 1/2 hour on the trainer I'm done. Your SO sounds like a BA cyclist.

[jwalther]

That's nuts!

[tomato coupe]

Do I understand this correctly -- you and your wife did an Everest at the same time on stationary bikes, but you did in in separate rooms? Were you trying to make it as mind-numbing as possible?

[NHAero]

Gibbo, I am awed at the fact you both did this at the same time (besides being able to do it at all!) And I love the idea of a "virtual descent" in which you shower, etc.
Congrats!

[Bici-Sonora]

Totally inspiring and I venture that this achievement puts you both in a very elite small (maybe you are the only ones?) group who have done this as a couple. I count it as a victory if my wife and I ride together to dinner and a movie on the flats

[ridethecliche]

Bonkeerrrrsssss!

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Do I understand this correctly -- you and your wife did an Everest at the same time on stationary bikes, but you did in in separate rooms? Were you trying to make it as mind-numbing as possible?

Hard to do together unless you had two TVs/Computers set up right in front of ya!

[gibbo]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Do I understand this correctly -- you and your wife did an Everest at the same time on stationary bikes, but you did in in separate rooms? Were you trying to make it as mind-numbing as possible?

Yes, you definitely understand this correctly. The main reason for seperate rooms if I am going to be fully honest is my breathing (loud breathing) starts to get on her nerves so we have always used our stationary trainers in seperate rooms. She runs Zwift on the home PC, I run it on my phone mirrored to a TV. We can both choose the music we like and there are no conflicts. Doing something like this in close proximity to each other in my opinion would have added another layer of difficulty. We would check in on each other during our descents though.


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[Beanbiken]

Awesome.......and nutz

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by gibbo

Yes, you definitely understand this correctly. The main reason for seperate rooms if I am going to be fully honest is my breathing (loud breathing) starts to get on her nerves so we have always used our stationary trainers in seperate rooms. She runs Zwift on the home PC, I run it on my phone mirrored to a TV. We can both choose the music we like and there are no conflicts. Doing something like this in close proximity to each other in my opinion would have added another layer of difficulty. We would check in on each other during our descents though.

When you say "check in", do you mean in real life or on Zwift? Could you always see each other on Zwift?

[gibbo]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

When you say "check in", do you mean in real life or on Zwift? Could you always see each other on Zwift?

Actually both, while descending I would pop in in person, and from time to time we would send each other messages via Zwift to see how each other were feeling. Quite a few highs and lows mentally throughout the day. It’s quite a long time to stay motivated, and I think we both felt a bit better knowing we were doing it together.


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[merlinmurph]

Congrats! That's pretty sick. 14+ hours on a trainer is just....just....insane.