Love this ride! My wife and I frequent this area and enjoy the route(s) this ride takes.

Wondered how the weather played during this event while we were at the Chico Races.

Good Job!

Will

Yeah i did this ride.

Here's my report: http://www.cvcycling.org/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1563

Photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathan.eropkin/EverestChallengeDay1
http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathan.eropkin/EverestChallengeDay2

~j

willbmoto wrote:Havent seen any threads on the Everest Challenge.

How was it?

It was a lot different than the 117 degree version in 2002!

Weather wasn't as bad as it could have been, as of Fri there was still a prediction of as much as 12-15" on the sierra crest. They cut back the first climb b/c the 10k' finish would have snow. Instead we did a second climb after climbing almost to Tom's place & descending. It was on that road on the E. side of 395 that (any rock climbers out there?) runs to Upper Gorge. Also, on the 4th climb we finished at Lake Sabrina instead of South Lake, close in elevation/distance but in more of a rain shadow.

Some rain & hail, and mountain-flurries at the finish - so no final descent, got car rides down. I saw two guys go down on the 3rd descent, might have been damp but I think they just overcooked it. Other than that it was just kind of cloudy & nasty looking, didn't affect the riding all that much. Windy though. And no risk of running out of water this time - kit was soaked.

Second day weather was much better, did the normal course with some tacked onto the 2nd climb to get the total elevation closer to 29k' (fell a little short b/c of that shortened climb day 1). Finish was pretty cold but dry so it wasn't too bad. Oh, except for all that &^%* climbing of course.

Saw a lot of unfamiliar jerseys there. From around here Jesse Moore/Cal Giant looked strong & finished 2nd in the p12, and Colin Cooper/Spine was 2nd in 35+ (technically my race, though I was in another time zone by the finish). Both had some relatively close finishes with their category winner...I can't imagine how that racing was, you can see so far up the climbs and they last forever -- 70 minutes trying to bridge to a dot just up the road? :shock:

For posterity here is most of the race from MotionBased and NO I was not practicing my track stand on the last climb:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4023565
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4037326

I like that this race is out there, it's truly an epic and is really well run -- and it's beautiful riding, one of my favorite parts of the US. I also like that I have now officially done it and don't necessarily need to do it again. I'll let some years pass and embellish the story (more than I have already, that is). I'm thinking something along the lines of Hampsten on the Gavia, with a lot more snow, maybe with a part about digging a snow cave using a tire lever.

-Tad