Last fall when I brought the bike inside and put it on the trainer, I set a Knighthood attempt as the goal to focus on to keep me motivated through the winter. I did storm the castle in April of this year, and is was one of the best terrible experiences I’ve had on a bike.
This year I’m going to set a vEverest attempt as my goal to keep motivated over the winter. I’m looking at either April 12 or April 26, but the exact date is still TBD. I know this isn’t strictly a Wahoo thing (I believe that I’ll need to get on Zwift for a vEverest attempt?) but I’ll still be training on SYSTM through the winter and I also wanted to post this to the forum for now so that I’ve said it publicly and I can’t chicken out.
I’ve seen a few threads on the forum with some excellent insight and advice so I’ll be checking those out, but if anyone has any words of wisdom they’d like to post here, they would also be more than welcome.
Something like that will truly bring out the best/worst in you. I wish you the best of health and consistent training while you prepare.
In terms of advice, all I can offer is that you need to be very selective about posting pictures of your effort. Nobody can afford lose (scare away) friends.
I’ve vEverested 3 full times successfully. There are a few Knights who have vEverested too as well as a few who have done it irl. My best irl was a 1/2.
Virtually, I have done:
Alpe du Zwift (I did 9 reps but you only have to do 8.5 and a bit if you want it to be recognized in the official Everesting HoF), do NOT stop when Zwift says you’ve Everested cuz they include the lead out, and Hells500 don’t.
Ventoux 6 reps (took less time than AdZ but was horribly horribly horrible and a boring AF relentless grind on a GOOD day.
Leith Hill (75 reps to get 10,000 metres of gain), twas a long day in the saddle and this followed a failed vEverest of the same segment where I bailed at just over 7000 metres ().
In many ways its a lot easier than Knighthood though both really are, at the heart of it, endurance events. You can take as long as you like. You can ride any hill you like (depending on your trainer). You can have as many breaks as you want for as long as you want. The only thing you can’t do on a single vEverest is sleep. Be wary of breaks that are too long though cuz they really add up over the course of a day.
There are rules like trainer difficulty must be set at 100% but virtual gears are allowed if you have them. If you don’t you gotta use what you got. My best ratio was a 34 ring and a 32 cog but I wished I’d had at least one more gear so I could have raised my cadence over time. You won’t regret having more gears, you might regret not having enough.
It doesnt have to be Zwift although it used to be. You can also use Rouvy, MyWhoosh and FulGaz. Edit: You do need to upload it to Strava though, and it has to be made public so when you make the submission to Hells500, they can verify the effort.
I’d be happy to DM with you if you wanna chat about prep, planning, food, targets etc.
I used the GG200 plan for prep (edit: but like most plans I’ve added, I never actually completed the plan and just went for it when I felt ready )
Hi Justin,
I did the vEversting at the end of June this year. I am a Sufferlandrian but I used Zwift for my venue. Specifically, Alpe du Zwift. Like Sir Glen says, it takes 8.5-8.7 times up the climb to accumulate the necessary altitude gain.
Key learnings are:
•Turn around (U turn) immediately upon topping out so as not to waste time on the flat loop at the top.
•On Zwift, once you are starting to descend you can get off the bike completely as it coasts downhill, but get back on when you’re at hairpin 19 or 20 cause you’re almost at the bottom of the descent.
•At the bottom, save time again by doing a U turn as soon as the gradient becomes flat. You’ll get used to the scenery where that happens.
•Use some drink that will replace electrolytes cause at 13 or so hours you are at a high risk of cramping.
•Find some friends capable of doing one of the eight climbs at your pace, for company. And, then assign them to which one of the eight climbs you need their company.
•Change your Zwift name to include “vEversting” so the people on the climb that you are passing/are passing you, know what you’re up to.
If you want more advice, or have more questions, feel free to email me.
Sage advice! A few friends saw a photo of me in the late stages of my Knighthood attempt and they would most likely be happy not to see any additional pictures this time around…
You could always do a vEveresting Roam, by riding every Kom Segment in Zwift! You know, just so you don’t get bored going up the same climb so many times
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