What is vEveresting?
The idea behind Everesting is to climb 8,848m on a bike, which is the equivalent of Mount Everest, the Earth’s highest mountain above sea-level. It has to be done as one single activity either outdoors or inside on a turbo trainer as a virtual ride (hence vEveresting).
4Performance Head Coach Jon recently completed a vEveresting attempt in 12 hours, here are his tops tips for anyone aiming to complete this challenge:
1. Nutrition
Have an organised and practised nutrition plan for your event and make sure you start fuelling from the moment you start. Don't forget that you are fuelling for what’s coming in 4,5,6,7 hours time, where the effort really gets hard.
As an example, Jon’s nutrition plan was as follows:
Before starting, a black coffee and some overnight oats mixed with peanut butter, banana, honey and whey protein.
Then every 90 minutes:
500 ml of a carb drink (40g of carbs).
500 ml of water with electrolytes.
1 gel. (22g of carbs). This was alternating caffeine and non.
Either half a bagel with Nutella or half a flapjack (25g of carbs).
For his sports nutrition products, Jon used 4performanceuk nutrition partner OTE, using their Energy Drink, Electrolyte Tabs, Energy Gels and Anytime Flapjack Bars.
2. Sodium/salt intake
When riding on the turbo for prolonged periods of time you sweat much more than a normal ride out on the road. You do not have the benefit of a cooling breeze and the opportunity to get out of the saddle as much. As a result, the amount of sweat you will lose is higher. This needs to be factored in and additional sodium/salts to be taken on to prevent cramps. Jon did this by using a SaltStick salt capsule every 90 mins and using OTE electrolytes as mentioned above.
3. Kit/clothing choice
Use quality kit. We all prefer wearing our best kit when out on the road for our endurance rides but this is one of the times you need to use it indoors. Make sure you change your clothing frequently (every couple of hours) to stay dry and warm and to avoid unnecessary chaffing due to wet kit through sweat loss. Also do not forget to reapply the chamois cream!
In terms of set up, make sure you have the right gearing selected on your bike. A vEveresting attempt requires you to have your trainer difficultly set to max which may therefore require a bigger cassette. Also, make sure your bike and drivetrain is clean. A clean bike is a fast bike, (even inside). Jon was provided with a freshly waxed training chain and cassette by partner NRG Chains.
4. Route choice and recce
Jon used the Alpe Du Zwift on Zwift for his vEveresting attempt. But there are numerous other routes you can choose and other training platforms too. Just make sure you practice, know what it takes to complete a climb and come up with plan to follow in terms of what power output and heart rate is sustainable for you to follow.
5. Lastly, support
Tell people what you are about to do and advertise it so that they can join you for some of your attempt. Jon had great support all throughout his vEveresting from around the world. He was joined by friends in America, France, Germany and the UK. Using free app Discord he was able to create an event voice channel so he could talk to his friends whilst riding which served as a great distraction when things got painful.
If you have any questions you would like to ask Jon regarding his vEveresting then please drop us a comment below