Everest Challenge, by David Gazsi

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My Hardest Race Ever-est

A few years ago, I stumbled upon this race online and was fascinated by the idea of being able to race against some of the best climbers in North America, on mountains that actually approximated some of the epic climbs we all love when watching the Tour. Earlier this season, I’d mentioned it to a couple of friends and before long, we had a little posse of lunatics all willing to take it on.  Unfortunately, Andrew Stewart broke his collarbone at GMSR (last stage, last lap, brutal) but Cary Moretti and Mark Davies from the Endurosport Team in Toronto joined me by landing in Las Vegas and driving thru Death Valley and onto Bishop California for the 10th anniversary of the Everest Challenge. The drive was amazing. Death Valley was spectacular from every perspective, hot, dry, stunningly beautiful. On into the Sierra Nevadas where the race was based, and you are suddenly surrounded by 14,000 foot peaks, striking and imposing bare rock mountains.  Cary and I were racing the 35+, while Mark was doing the tourist thing, riding the citizen’s race. Mark also provided the trip’s first great quote, as the mountains came into view, declaring, “This isn’t a race, it’s a f@#ing dare!”

Friday was uneventful, built the bikes, nice prerace ride, bad prerace pasta feed but good vibe from the amazing folks that put the race on… very much a group-adventure theme and feel to the entire thing… from getting lectures on aid stations, very well stocked with everything from gels and drink to bananas and bars, etc. thru to ensuring that any and all support drivers were instructed to support all riders whenever possible, the entire day was filled with good sensations, and lots of nervous anticipation. Mostly, I was scared of the distance/time stage 1 would take. Despite all the racing (and climbing) I’ve done in the last 10 years, I never go for long rides, ever… I had done two 5 hr rides in my life and those were in the previous 2 weeks, and the all time record for stage 1 was 6+… yikes!

Saturday: Stage 1

Stage 1 starts outside of Bishop at Millpond Campground, 4,425'. The first climb is to Mosquito Flat. At 10,250', it is the highest paved road in the Sierras. The climb is 22 miles long, with an average grade of 5%. Then, back down to Round Valley for an 8 mile climb up Pine Creek to 7,420', average grade 7%. Then up Bishop Creek to 9,835' in 20.4 miles, average grade 6%. While this is not the highest spot nor the most vertical gain, the last mile has two short sections around 15% grade that will certainly test your strength and endurance and desire to stay on the bike.

That description is from the race bible. So the 7:30 start with about 45 racers went off on time and we rolled thru the neutral. As we approached the base, last year’s dominant winner, a guy named Mauricio Prado, goes to the front with a few teammates – rumour has it he wants a new record… hold on tight!  So ya, the first climb is almost 36 km long, and the first 15 km were sort of open, twisty and about 5-6%, and Prado’s team set a real steady tempo. 10 km in and half the peloton was gone… then after a transition across a highway, we entered some really beautiful pine forests for the second half of the climb – with some real hard pitches. At about the 25 km mark, Prado and two others just start tempo-ing away and Cary and I were the last 2 to come off… If this was a ‘normal’ race, no problem, but with a ton more riding to come, I didn’t dare go that deep, and breathing was becoming much more difficult. Cary and I were alone for a while, then a group of 6 came up and we rode as the first chase. The climb got really cool for the last 3 km, single lane, twisty, streams, giant pinecones everywhere, gorgeous landscape.  Anyways, we get the summit, stop at the aid station, get messed up a bit, and we both lose the group, so we bomb the descent, me following Cary thru other racers from other categories, and chase pretty hard thru the transition to the next climb. We catch the chase at the bottom of the next climb, and we’re already at 90-some kms…

Climb 2 was getting hot… it started with about 3 kms of dead straight, and it looked almost flat, but using my Garmin, I could see it was 6-7% - perception was a real challenge in that terrain all weekend - and I sort of unintentionally rode the group off my wheel. Then using the pitch as my guide for pacing, I rode a really strong pace up the entire climb. Catching anyone wasn’t really a concern, I just wanted to go as hard as I could as long as I could… the climb was pretty barren for most of it, the least interesting of the climbs but with some amazing views and vistas of the surrounding mountains… you really had to look around every now and again to realize the beauty of the place.  Crested, filled up at the aid station, raced down and started another long transition.

The third climb, and its starting at 135km, and its 33 kms long, and the road temperature was now 40+C… trouble… it started with about 5 km at 3-5%, and I just got into tempo mode… I realized from the previous climbs that this would likely be a 2hr effort, and I was getting a bit worked at this point.  Tempo’ed along till about the 10k mark. At that point, the climb rose up to between 8-10%, for about 7kms, and it was dead straight between two peaks, hotter than hell… I was passing lots of other riders but none of us could even speak to each other… legs started going a bit, maybe a little dehydrated, and getting up around 7,000 feet in that heat, I was fading fast… I was just tapping it out in my 38x28, just trying to keep it going forward, and get to the next rider… finally, still 15km to go, we turned off the main road, and some volunteer is standing there with a cooler full of iced water, and he pours 2 bottles right over my head… I almost went into convulsions with the shock, but when I caught my breath, I was much improved… the road got interesting again, pitching back and forth between 5-10% with a few transitional descents for the odd bit  of very temporary relief. Finally, we get to the last 2 km, and it goes up, like 15% up, and I can’t believe it, but someone’s coming up on me… as dead as I’d been for the last hour, I wasn’t going to get caught at that point… and the steeps are what I like, so I sort of attack/rest/attack my way up over the first couple of spikes, and suddenly there’s’ a guy in my category right in front of me – I never knew he was so close, but I caught him due to being chased, passed him at 500m to go, and crossed the line.

I finished in 6:56, 5th on the stage. Prado had won in 6:11, second was in 6:35… Prado’s a rockstar… amazing volunteers at the top, and a great spread. Someone caught me, helped me off my bike, and got me settled with bean quesadillas and recovery drink and all sorts of snacks, etc… then the best thing happened, well, for me… Mark had blown due to the heat, on the second climb, and showed up with the van – we wouldn’t have to ride back down, thank god! Cary had blown sky high and finished a bit later, feeling even worse than me… The picture of Cary and me here is at the top of Stage 1, now pseudo-recovered, on the banks of a stunningly gorgeous lake. 

Mark gave us quote number 2 as we climbed the stairs to our rooms… “Friends don’t let friends do the Everest Challenge…” ya, now you tell us…!

Lots of leg-rolling and stretching, freezing cold shower on the legs, sketchy but large dinner of lasagna and much garlic bread, and a giant bag of M&Ms later, it was bedtime at 830… and at that point I really didn’t know about Sunday. I had got thru Saturday promising myself that I’d had a great season, and I’d ridden this stage, and I didn’t need to do anymore, hurt anymore, this year…

And Sunday at 430 am, I felt exactly the same… I woke up early and emailed Cary in the next room – “u sure about today?” – and just then I get an email from my daughter Sydney, saying ‘Will just wants me to be safe out in the desert, but she wants me to do really well today and to call her when I was done…’ how could I call her and tell her I didn’t even try? Ugh… I emailed Cary again and said, ‘ok, I’m in’.

Sunday: Stage 2

Stage 2 starts East of Big Pine with a climb up towards the Palisade Glacier, the most southern glacier in North America. Starting elevation is 3,940', finishing elevation is 7,800'. The climb is 9 miles with an average grade of almost 8%-max is 11%. Then riders head back across the valley past the Start / Finish. The second climb heads up Death Valley Road through Waucoba Canyon to an elevation of 6,545' in 8.5 miles, with an average grade of 5%. The maximum just touches 12% in the rollers through the "narrows" and 11% in one corner before that. Finally, back down to the Start / Finish, and then up White Mountain to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest at 10,100' in 21 miles-average grade 6%. Maximum grade in the lower half is 14% while max in the upper half is 17%. There are lots of 9-12% rollers in the bottom third. The last 3 miles average a 10% grade.

Despite feeling bad for Mark about having blown the day before, his dropping out was a total blessing for Cary and me, as Mark was an absolutely brilliant soigneur, keeping us supported all day.  Stage 2 started rather differently… first climb, Prado attacks at the bottom, everyone laughed, wished him luck, see ya... ½ a km into the climb, just riding tempo, it was down to 3 of us chasing, the rest of the group well back, and then both those guys separated away from me... it was early, I was hurting from the pace, and it was long and steep – extended sections of 9-10% for about an hour of climbing. The climb was barren at the bottom, forested at the top, pretty straightforward, although the descent, with some very steep sections and some open-edged roads with very long drops was a bit precarious. I crested, descended, and started climb 2, a real different climb, very steady at 5-6% for 15 kms and hot and rocky, desert-like – well, it was called Death Valley Road, so you get the picture… I rode a really nice tempo, and started calculating, and shooting for the 5 hour mark... I knew that was a good time from previous results on this stage, and it seemed within reach the way I was riding – and riding alone, I needed to find a pace-maker of some sort (pun intended)... from the 5km mark of the day, I was alone, and that would be the case all day...

Got to the base of the third climb, monster, 32 km, and it started with lots of 7-8% for about 15km, from long straight desert roads up into some really beautiful rock formations and eventually pine forest. Then a lot of modulating, 4-12% for about 5 km, and I felt great, really ticking it over, lots of other-category riders for targets, great support from Mark with cold drinks and ice for the neck, and eating and drinking well… We turned off with about 15km to go and got into some smaller roads, with some sweet S-turn descending, twisty turny rollers, and then bam, the last 8 km averaged 10% with pitches over 15%... not much of a story really,  I just rode within myself, never got within sight of the 3 guys (all solo as well) ahead of me, and just kept turning it over.  Legs felt great, but breathing was a struggle – I would accelerate on a climb, and then literally start panting, dial it back, recover, and repeat... we topped out at 10100 feet and oxygen was at a premium. The climbing was amazing, dramatic corners and drops as I twisted up thru various peaks, and finally up around the last bend, and a little descent into the finish. I came in at 5:02, and ended up 4th on the day, and 4th overall, missing the podium by a measly 2 minutes. Had I made 5 hrs… ack!

So, perspective… kind of crazy and a little disappointing to be that close to the podium, but overall, what an amazing experience... most fantastic scenery I’ve ever enjoyed, greatest riding for sure, and really fun to attempt to, and eventually overcome the physical requirements... I realized that I rarely do anything for just the achievement – I love to compete, and honestly I don’t apologize for that being my motivation to train and race – winning is really fun – but it took an event of this type of magnitude to make me appreciate something like a Finisher’s Medal, which I proudly took while mashing 6 more quesadillas into my grill at the finish! Cary finished a few minutes behind me, having had a much better day, and the 3 of us enjoyed another spectacular drive back to Vegas for the flights home. Check out the site at www.everestchallenge.com, and think about it… I’m already working on the family for 2011!