Monday, December 1st. Training begins.
The morning dawned bright and humid. I was up at 4:15am, grabbed a cup of coffee then hit the trails for a quick hitout before work. The "Standard Morning Ride", that I've been doing for years now is only short, but heavy on short steep pinch climbs, and is a mix of tarmac and dirt. I'm lucky the Niner is very light as I was feeling washed out from a night of broken sleep and so took things pretty slow. The humidity though was oppressive.
I did a few rides over the weekend, just short rides on the Niner around the mountain bike parks in my area. Yesterday I went out (road cycling) with the intention of putting in an easy 100k or so, however that didn't eventuate due to a road full of glass and crap from the storm we had a few nights back.
My plan for now, building up my base, is to do as much mountain biking and road cycling as I can for the entire month of December. I figure the mountain biking will contribute to a lot of strength, and the road riding adding in some much needed endurance.
I'l have another look at my proposed climb for this Everest after receiving a lot of advice from the Strava Cycling group. It'll most likely depend on how I'm going as March draws near. I have a full 3 months of preparation, so at this stage at least, I'm feeling confident.
My trouble is I'm not built like a "roadie", i.e. tall and slim. I'm pretty "square" as my wife would say, with wide shoulders, long torso and short legs. It'd be nice to be a skinny, tall roadie but I have to live with what I've got I'm afraid. Therefore I'll just have to suck it up and make do.
My mantra from here on is "Don't limit your challenges, challenge your limits".
Sunday 30 November 2014
Thursday 27 November 2014
A "Hot" Run and a Storm Hits BrisVegas
What a day it was!
The Run
Decided at lunchtime that I needed to do some exercise, and that my Strava 10k Challenge trophy was fast slipping away from me with only a couple of days left until the end of the month. So I headed out in disgustingly humid and hot conditions to "get it over and done with". I wanted that trophy, no matter how long the run would take. Cleared it with my boss so all was good in the world.
Now I'm no "runner", more like a "shuffler". I just shuffle along and take in the world around me. I was a good runner once, a long time ago I could run 10k in under 50mins and a half marathon well under 2hrs. These days a lot has changed. For one I've hardly run at all in many years, and I've also aged a lot since those days!
Despite this it was a good run going out. It rapidly got super heated with the reflected heat off the tarmac dehydrating me a lot. I sought shade wherever I could find it. Ran to the top of this reservoir hill at Wilston, had a look over the city then decided time to get back to work.
Coming back I walked more than I ran, but hey, who cares right? I got that trophy to keep courtesy of Strava :-) If going out seemed all hills, then coming back ought to have been easy. How wrong I was. The heat was ridiculous, as was the humidity.
In a strange way, known only to those who like to suffer, it was fun..
The Storm
Later in the afternoon I was complaining to some programmers near me that there wasn't a drop of rain in sight, from our vantage point anyway. Seems I was very wrong and in another 20 minutes Brisbane was getting smashed by one of the worst storms in decades. I got back to my car after everything subsided only to find it banged up from hailstones.
My building was a sanctuary in a sea of people frantically trying to get out of the driving rain and hammering hail. Trees were brought down, planes flipped over at a local aerodrome, and the public transit system brought to it's knees. The whole city was a chaos mode.
Today begins the big cleanup said to be worth over $100 million dollars.
The Run
Decided at lunchtime that I needed to do some exercise, and that my Strava 10k Challenge trophy was fast slipping away from me with only a couple of days left until the end of the month. So I headed out in disgustingly humid and hot conditions to "get it over and done with". I wanted that trophy, no matter how long the run would take. Cleared it with my boss so all was good in the world.
Now I'm no "runner", more like a "shuffler". I just shuffle along and take in the world around me. I was a good runner once, a long time ago I could run 10k in under 50mins and a half marathon well under 2hrs. These days a lot has changed. For one I've hardly run at all in many years, and I've also aged a lot since those days!
Despite this it was a good run going out. It rapidly got super heated with the reflected heat off the tarmac dehydrating me a lot. I sought shade wherever I could find it. Ran to the top of this reservoir hill at Wilston, had a look over the city then decided time to get back to work.
Coming back I walked more than I ran, but hey, who cares right? I got that trophy to keep courtesy of Strava :-) If going out seemed all hills, then coming back ought to have been easy. How wrong I was. The heat was ridiculous, as was the humidity.
In a strange way, known only to those who like to suffer, it was fun..
The Storm
Later in the afternoon I was complaining to some programmers near me that there wasn't a drop of rain in sight, from our vantage point anyway. Seems I was very wrong and in another 20 minutes Brisbane was getting smashed by one of the worst storms in decades. I got back to my car after everything subsided only to find it banged up from hailstones.
My building was a sanctuary in a sea of people frantically trying to get out of the driving rain and hammering hail. Trees were brought down, planes flipped over at a local aerodrome, and the public transit system brought to it's knees. The whole city was a chaos mode.
Today begins the big cleanup said to be worth over $100 million dollars.
Monday 24 November 2014
Ready to get back to training
Finally back into riding! Got out of bed at 4:15am, grabbed a cup of coffee, checked Velonews (http://velonews.com) got dressed, grabbed the Niner and off I went for some dedicated trail time.
I didn’t push the pace as it’s been quite a while since I’ve ridden. I think my heart rate was pretty high really the entire way round, though I felt OK. I took the steep pinches slowly and easy, trying to keep a nice even pace. I’ll maintain this type of riding until I feel my body respond to more miles and efforts. No use trying to smash myself before I’m ready I guess! The trails offer steep pinches and a few decent climbs to get myself used to the effort of riding again.
Lunchtime (we all have to work right?) rolled around and I decided I’d try doing a bit of running again. It was 31 degrees outside and humid. Not exactly what you’d call perfect weather for a run. Nonetheless off I went. It was much harder than I remember. I used to regularly run half marathon’s at 5:10 pace, which I could sustain for the full 21k’s. Those days seem like an eternity ago. I found myself hitting that pace, but for only 400-500m at a time before walking for a distance.
Strava Files
http://www.strava.com/activities/222949038
http://www.strava.com/activities/222847087
I came to a small park full of water and waterbirds. I decided I’d do some stair reps, and then some push-ups and sit-ups. Sort of a mini HIIT session. By the time I got back to the uni where I work I was drenched in sweat and already late for a meeting. Couldn’t care though as I’d done my first decent hit outs in weeks and despite the tiredness setting in, I felt great.
Strava Files
http://www.strava.com/activities/222949038
http://www.strava.com/activities/222847087
It’s a long way to the finish line of my own personal “Everest” so for the present, “time is on my side” as the Stones song goes..
Looking forward to tomorrow's ride already.
Sunday 16 November 2014
The "Procedure"
Well, I went to the doctor and had the "excision" last week. No fun there as you could abseil down the hole. The doc put 4 stitches inside and another 3 on the outside. Really painful and very sore to touch.
I get the stitches out Thursday and we'll see how long it takes after that to get mobile again. At present I've been told no riding which is kinda frustrating!
The resulting bandage....waterproof and all.
The stitches in all their glory. Ouch!
In the meantime I've recalculated my future Everest and it's now over 400km as I forgot about the "downhill". Doesn't matter too much as that will be "recovery" as it involves very little pedaling thank goodness.
It's a daunting prospect and gives me a ton of respect to those that have done "Everests" already.
I plan to buy another Garmin shortly to ensure nothing's left to chance on the day. The Hell's 500 website has a tool to stitch together files so I'm hoping all will be good on the day.
Tuesday 11 November 2014
Thoughts on #Everesting
Over the past few months I've been entertaining thoughts on Everesting a certain climb not far from my home. All up it's an 8k route which I would need to do at least 24 times to attain the equivalent height of Mt Everest. Can it be done? hmm, maybe. That's 192k at an average of 368m per 8k repeat.
My recent motivation levels have been less than stellar and honestly, the thought of riding even a 100k route fills me with dread. But after reading more "everesting" rides on some of the websites I'm filling up with motivation to at least have a go at it.
At present I'm laid up with a large incision in my arm due to getting a skin cancer cut out yesterday (11/11/20114). So no riding at present. But the thoughts won't subside...so I've spent my day thinking through the whole scenario to get it clear in my head.
The climb itself isn't too bad, the road is good and the climb not too taxing, with only a couple steep(ish) pinches to get over, although by the 10th repeat I imagine my legs will be screaming "what the hell are we doing here?". At least the views are outstanding over the nearby valley's.
LOGISTICS:
Herein lies the rub. In order to do this I need to drive to a nearby town to set up camp for the day and night. There's ample food available nearby so I won't need a large amount for at least the daytime repeats. Amenities are also right beside where I plan to start so that's another thing taken care of. Plenty of shade also for when I need to rest up.
But there are rules to these things according the the Hells 500 website that I need to abide:
RULES ABOUT THE RIDE ROUTE
- Rides can be of any length, and on any hill or mountain.
- Rides must only focus on one hill or mountain per ride (e.g. you can’t base yourself in one location and ride multiple hills). You cannot ride different routes on the same mountain. If there are 4 routes, that means there are 4 possible ‘everestings’ (think of it like the North and South face of Everest).
- Rides cannot be loops – that’s for Sunday mornings (acceptable – a Yarra Street ‘loop’ which is essentially the only way back down to the bottom of the ride. Unacceptable – the Three Peaks loop).
- Rides must be full ascents each time (Strava segments or the accepted ‘traditional’ route will generally be the best guide for this. You can’t commit to a combination of full and half laps). Acceptable is a shorter segment of a climb if it is recognised in its own right. If in doubt, ask.
- The 8,848m is taken as your total elevation gain. If your descent includes a bit of climbing this still counts toward your total.
- Take caution when calculating your laps based on Strava segments, as these only show ‘elevation difference’ and not ‘elevation gain’ (i.e. if your climb has a few descents you want to ensure you are calculating laps based on the total elevation gain, and not simply the difference between the base and summit). It is strongly suggested that you check the listed elevation gain against your own recording. You really don’t want to find out on the day that you need to do an additional half-a-dozen laps!
- It does not matter how long the ride takes, but it must be ridden in one attempt (i.e. no sleeping in between). Breaks for meals etc. are fine. You can break for as long or as little as you like. Bear in mind break times add up quickly, and can add significantly to your elapsed time.
- Each repeat must be ridden up and down (i.e. you can’t get driven down each time). You also need to keep your device recording the whole time.
- The ride does not have to be ridden on sealed roads. In fact you get bonus kudos and cafe-respect for hitting the vitamin G.
- Only the first Everesting ride for each climb will be added to the Everesting map. Copied a ride that someone else has done? It absolutely still counts in the hall of fame, just not on the map. Everesting is tough whichever way you look at it. This isn’t Beach Road so in the spirit of adventure why not seek something uncharted and stamp your name on the side of it?
- Interested in Everesting as a group for a first known ascent? That’s fine, and so long as you are not finishing hours and hours apart we’ll include all riders in the Hall of Fame with an asterisk to signify the group attempt. We list all riders in the group one set of data to remove any discrepancy between recording units.
- Rides can be added retrospectively, however they must be able to be correctly verified in order to qualify. If it turns out someone was before you, then they were before you. Simple.
- No section of the ride can be walked. This is a cycling challenge. Sheesh.
- We don’t want you to take this challenge lying down, and mechanical doping is a no-no (obviously). Acceptable bikes: Road, MTB, CX, Track, BMX. Not acceptable: Electric, tandem, recumbent. If in doubt email info@hells500.com
RECORDING THE RIDE
- Our preference is for the ride to be recorded with a dedicated GPS device which has an altimeter or barometer (i.e. not a Garmin Forerunner). If you absolutely positively must use a phone or non-barometric device then please keep in mind these rides receive special scrutiny to ensure the 8,848m target was reached. We know why, and you know why. You will need to verify the height gained by the number of repeats of the segment climbed.
- In the event that barometric pressure affects the height recorded leave the ride in the original state and we can verify the height by the repeats of the segment that has been climbed.
- We suggest you take pictures of your stats throughout the ride. History has shown that data can fail, either on the bike or in the upload. Data is important, but we understand shit happens. So long as you can sufficiently prove the ride we’ll accept it. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis and may include the requirement to ‘pinky swear’.
- Batteries have a tendency to die after around 15 hours of recording. A portable battery pack is a cheap solution for charging on the fly. Please note that units such as the Garmin Edge 500 will reset if plugged in mid-ride. Not cool. The workaround is to find an OTG (On The Go) micro USB cable (look it up, they only cost a few bucks). This cable has a pin removed which ‘tricks’ the unit into ‘thinking’ that it isn’t actually plugged in. Test it beforehand, but trust us – it works. Also good for charging your phone on alternate laps (#protips).
STRAVA
- All rides must be publicly verifiable via Strava (i.e not set to private).
- Once the 8,848m is complete the current lap can be abandoned or completed at the rider’s discretion. The ride must be more than 8,848m on Strava so use a little bit of common sense and log some extra vertical metres just to be safe.
SUBMISSION
- Submit your ride through the contact form. Include your Strava profile (if you don’t have one, create one) and a link to your ride.
- All Everesting submissions must be verified by our panel prior to being accepted as valid.
EARNING THE HELLS 500 GREY STRIPE
- Verified Everesting automatically qualifies you for the coveted Hells 500 grey stripe.
- Once earned, a grey stripe is for life.
THE NITTY GRITTY
- Riders take full responsibility for taking on an Everesting attempt. The excuse “you told me to” won’t stick. Talk it through with your mates and family. They are generally a pretty good judge of whether a 20% urban street known for doorings is the right choice. Listen to your mum.
- It is up to you to make a judgement call on your own ability level, fitness, health, mental state, route planning, traffic safety, support, lighting setup, bike maintenance etc. You are your own person. Think it through, plan it, make a call, and make the right one.
- Support is not only allowed, it is recommended. Pick non-annoying riding buddies to cut laps with you at times, it keeps you sane, and keeps you safe.
- If you are riding solo check in along the way. You can have people track your progress via the #everesting hashtag
My recent motivation levels have been less than stellar and honestly, the thought of riding even a 100k route fills me with dread. But after reading more "everesting" rides on some of the websites I'm filling up with motivation to at least have a go at it.
At present I'm laid up with a large incision in my arm due to getting a skin cancer cut out yesterday (11/11/20114). So no riding at present. But the thoughts won't subside...so I've spent my day thinking through the whole scenario to get it clear in my head.
The climb itself isn't too bad, the road is good and the climb not too taxing, with only a couple steep(ish) pinches to get over, although by the 10th repeat I imagine my legs will be screaming "what the hell are we doing here?". At least the views are outstanding over the nearby valley's.
LOGISTICS:
Herein lies the rub. In order to do this I need to drive to a nearby town to set up camp for the day and night. There's ample food available nearby so I won't need a large amount for at least the daytime repeats. Amenities are also right beside where I plan to start so that's another thing taken care of. Plenty of shade also for when I need to rest up.
Also I need a day (and night) where my family won't be inconvenienced with my being away for such a long period, so I will need to find a date where they're either at school, or visiting relatives in Melbourne. That way I won't be loaded down with guilt about where I should be spending my time.
TRAINING
I plan to use this blog as a way of both informing everyone of my own journey to hell (and to the vaunted Grey Stripe of the Hell's 500 crew), following in the footsteps are far worthier men (and women), and also as a way of being accountable and doing the work to achieve this goal. I need to find the motivation, and a kick in the arse to get me out there again and to get over this "slump" I've been in for a few months now.
The plan is to start this journey as soon as I feel well enough, my arm has healed, and I've had the "all clear" from the resulting biopsy that I don't have anything drastically wrong with me.
Each day or so I will update this blog with my training, how I'm feeling physically and mentally,, my weight (always been an issue!) and anything else I can think of.
Given my family commitments, I always seem to do everything on will power alone, and I imagine this journey won't be anything different. If nothing I do have plenty of stubbornness to keep suffering in spite of a lack of fitness. Quitting has never been an option.
RULES ABOUT THE RIDE ROUTE
- Rides can be of any length, and on any hill or mountain.
- Rides must only focus on one hill or mountain per ride (e.g. you can’t base yourself in one location and ride multiple hills). You cannot ride different routes on the same mountain. If there are 4 routes, that means there are 4 possible ‘everestings’ (think of it like the North and South face of Everest).
- Rides cannot be loops – that’s for Sunday mornings (acceptable – a Yarra Street ‘loop’ which is essentially the only way back down to the bottom of the ride. Unacceptable – the Three Peaks loop).
- Rides must be full ascents each time (Strava segments or the accepted ‘traditional’ route will generally be the best guide for this. You can’t commit to a combination of full and half laps). Acceptable is a shorter segment of a climb if it is recognised in its own right. If in doubt, ask.
- The 8,848m is taken as your total elevation gain. If your descent includes a bit of climbing this still counts toward your total.
- Take caution when calculating your laps based on Strava segments, as these only show ‘elevation difference’ and not ‘elevation gain’ (i.e. if your climb has a few descents you want to ensure you are calculating laps based on the total elevation gain, and not simply the difference between the base and summit). It is strongly suggested that you check the listed elevation gain against your own recording. You really don’t want to find out on the day that you need to do an additional half-a-dozen laps!
- It does not matter how long the ride takes, but it must be ridden in one attempt (i.e. no sleeping in between). Breaks for meals etc. are fine. You can break for as long or as little as you like. Bear in mind break times add up quickly, and can add significantly to your elapsed time.
- Each repeat must be ridden up and down (i.e. you can’t get driven down each time). You also need to keep your device recording the whole time.
- The ride does not have to be ridden on sealed roads. In fact you get bonus kudos and cafe-respect for hitting the vitamin G.
- Only the first Everesting ride for each climb will be added to the Everesting map. Copied a ride that someone else has done? It absolutely still counts in the hall of fame, just not on the map. Everesting is tough whichever way you look at it. This isn’t Beach Road so in the spirit of adventure why not seek something uncharted and stamp your name on the side of it?
- Interested in Everesting as a group for a first known ascent? That’s fine, and so long as you are not finishing hours and hours apart we’ll include all riders in the Hall of Fame with an asterisk to signify the group attempt. We list all riders in the group one set of data to remove any discrepancy between recording units.
- Rides can be added retrospectively, however they must be able to be correctly verified in order to qualify. If it turns out someone was before you, then they were before you. Simple.
- No section of the ride can be walked. This is a cycling challenge. Sheesh.
- We don’t want you to take this challenge lying down, and mechanical doping is a no-no (obviously). Acceptable bikes: Road, MTB, CX, Track, BMX. Not acceptable: Electric, tandem, recumbent. If in doubt email info@hells500.com
RECORDING THE RIDE
- Our preference is for the ride to be recorded with a dedicated GPS device which has an altimeter or barometer (i.e. not a Garmin Forerunner). If you absolutely positively must use a phone or non-barometric device then please keep in mind these rides receive special scrutiny to ensure the 8,848m target was reached. We know why, and you know why. You will need to verify the height gained by the number of repeats of the segment climbed.
- In the event that barometric pressure affects the height recorded leave the ride in the original state and we can verify the height by the repeats of the segment that has been climbed.
- We suggest you take pictures of your stats throughout the ride. History has shown that data can fail, either on the bike or in the upload. Data is important, but we understand shit happens. So long as you can sufficiently prove the ride we’ll accept it. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis and may include the requirement to ‘pinky swear’.
- Batteries have a tendency to die after around 15 hours of recording. A portable battery pack is a cheap solution for charging on the fly. Please note that units such as the Garmin Edge 500 will reset if plugged in mid-ride. Not cool. The workaround is to find an OTG (On The Go) micro USB cable (look it up, they only cost a few bucks). This cable has a pin removed which ‘tricks’ the unit into ‘thinking’ that it isn’t actually plugged in. Test it beforehand, but trust us – it works. Also good for charging your phone on alternate laps (#protips).
STRAVA
- All rides must be publicly verifiable via Strava (i.e not set to private).
- Once the 8,848m is complete the current lap can be abandoned or completed at the rider’s discretion. The ride must be more than 8,848m on Strava so use a little bit of common sense and log some extra vertical metres just to be safe.
SUBMISSION
- Submit your ride through the contact form. Include your Strava profile (if you don’t have one, create one) and a link to your ride.
- All Everesting submissions must be verified by our panel prior to being accepted as valid.
EARNING THE HELLS 500 GREY STRIPE
- Verified Everesting automatically qualifies you for the coveted Hells 500 grey stripe.
- Once earned, a grey stripe is for life.
THE NITTY GRITTY
- Riders take full responsibility for taking on an Everesting attempt. The excuse “you told me to” won’t stick. Talk it through with your mates and family. They are generally a pretty good judge of whether a 20% urban street known for doorings is the right choice. Listen to your mum.
- It is up to you to make a judgement call on your own ability level, fitness, health, mental state, route planning, traffic safety, support, lighting setup, bike maintenance etc. You are your own person. Think it through, plan it, make a call, and make the right one.
- Support is not only allowed, it is recommended. Pick non-annoying riding buddies to cut laps with you at times, it keeps you sane, and keeps you safe.
- If you are riding solo check in along the way. You can have people track your progress via the #everesting hashtag
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