[banners_ad id=136]
Irish cycling club member Paul Ryback last weekend traded his usual winter cycling week in the sunshine of Marbella for an epic 12-hour session in his garden shed in Clane, Co Kildare.
Unable to travel abroad this year with his club mates
from Lucan CRC, due to Covid-19, Ryback decided he needed to get a few hours into
his legs so he set himself the challenge of Everesting on Zwift.
The 38-year-old father of two, who sometimes races as an A3, put in more than 12 hours on the home trainer, riding up Alpe Du Zwift – the virtual Alpe d’Huez – a massive 8½ times.
At the end of it all Ryback reached his target; riding
9,000 metres elevation gain to bring him past the magic 8,848 metres required
for an Everesting.
Advertisement
“I picked the perfect weekend last weekend because it was pissing down with rain and I wouldn’t have gotten outdoors on the bike anyway,” he told stickybottle.
It was a bit challenging on his undercarriage, he
explained, but aside from that he felt well able for it; aided and abetted by
his wife who handed up smoothies to him when food became hard to digest a few
hours into the ride.
“I don’t think many people would take it on,” he said of
riding the climb, with its 21 hairpins, so many times on Zwift.
He initially set out a schedule for himself of doing each ascent in a maximum of 70 minutes, at 2.7w/kg. But he found that pace too gentle to start with and so decided to up his effort to at least 3w/kg.
“I then kept that pace going for the next seven times up
the climb,” he said, adding that under the rules of Everesting on Zwift, riders
don’t have to stay on their bike during the descent of their chosen climb.
Related News
This afforded him a short break between climbs and on one occasion he even ran back into his house and had a shower. He also ate some food and got back onto his bike, all staying within the rules set down by Hells 500 which adjudicates on how Everesting must be done.
Having read about Irish riders Dermot Kavanagh and then
Ronan McLaughlin breaking the Irish Everesting record on the road last year –
McLaughlin doing an incredible ride to take the world record – Ryback said he
was inspired to give it a go himself.
“I said to myself, ‘OK, I can never do as well as these
lads did, they are way above my level’. But I thought there wouldn’t be too
many riders who would have a go at this on Zwift, so I went for it.
“I was aiming for 12 hours and in the end I had 11 hours
15 minutes moving time and with the break for the shower it was just over 12
hours.”
Ryback added he “loves sweets but can’t justify eating sweets when I am not on the bike”. So he combined his passion for eating sweets and his Everesting effort on Zwift – munching down on sweets and smoothies after food became too hard to digest a few hours into the ride.
Ryback is originally from Warsaw in Poland, where he previously worked as a police officer, but has lived in Ireland since 2004, as his word-perfect English and his now Irish accent confirms.
His said his neck and arms took the brunt of his Alpe Du
Zwift effort. And while more concerned about his backside when he started, he
was pleasantly surprised he had no issues in that area.
“Never underestimate the powers of Sudocrem,” he laughed.
“The day after the ride, on Sunday, the legs were very sore. But I went out
yesterday and I was fine; absolutely no problems.”
Ryback said he usually trains about 10 hours per week and did no special preparation for his effort. He had already been training indoors and in 5km loops outdoors in between continuing to work as a painter and decorator as some of the jobs he does are deemed “essential work”.
“My wife was great during the ride; she was making me smoothies and making me lunch and she was very supportive. The kids? They didn’t really care,” he laughed.
Topics
