Costelloe conquers virtual Everesting

FORMER NATIONAL mountain bike champion Jason Costelloe completed the grueling Everesting challenge on December 18.

Everesting is an activity in which cyclists ascend and descend a given hill multiple times, in order to have cumulatively climbed 8,848 metres (the elevation of Mount Everest). Costelloe, however, completed the course virtually via pro cycling app Zwift.

He chose to achieve the feat by attempting the famous climb called Alpe Du Zwift. This is a 7.7 mile long climb with an average gradient of 8.5 percent and an elevation gain of 3,400 feet. He was required to complete 8.5 laps to complete the full challenge.

A week ago, the reigning national triathlon champion successfully completed the virtual Everesting challenge by cycling to an elevation gain of 29,029ft in one single sitting. He completed the course in 11 hours and 58 minutes racing from 3am to 3pm.

Costelloe covered a total distance of 209 kilometres. This meant that he maintained an average power output of 182 watts for each 7.7 mile long hill repeat needed. For the 8.5 hill repeats needed, his average climb time was 70 minutes.

While he was elated to conquer the distance, Costelloe said he was lucky to have benefitted from completing the challenge indoors.

“Some of the main advantages that came with completing the challenge indoors was that I was able to control my environment for starters. I had an air-condition unit blasting on me from my start time of 3 am.

“This meant that throughout the day my body temperature would remain cool, and I would not be losing too much weight and nutrients as compared to riding in the hot sun. This was the major advantage for me,” he said.

Since Costelloe needed to virtually pedal back downhill after his respective climbs, he also had to “cycle” down the hill to the bottom each time to start a new repeat. This, however, was completed by his “ride avatar” which gave him a chance to get off the bike, stretch, change clothes, shower, eat, and refuel for the next climb.

He also had direct visual access to all the data, such as gradient, power, output, cadence and time, on his computer screen.

Additionally, he was unable to fall off the bike and unbothered by vehicular traffic if he was attempting the feat outdoors.

He added, “With these advantages, came one major disadvantage. This would be the mental aspect of staying in one place, surrounded by four walls, and not moving an inch for the entire time needed.

“I must say that this was a seriously tough physical and mental challenge. But I feel very proud that I was able to successfully complete this and what a great feeling to complete the year on.

“What an interesting year it has been but I have been able to accomplish new goals and tasks while adapting to the new norms of 2020. Who knows what 2021 will bring, but I am already looking forward to it.”

Initially, Costelloe attempted the full Everesting challenge at Mt Catherine hill in Chaguaramas in November. After 12 reps out of 22 needed, and nearly 11 hours of cycling, he called it quits after running out of gas.

That day, according to him, he thought that he would never attempt this challenge again, in which his wife's response was “just sleep on it”. No sooner than a few days later, Costelloe was back online researching different ways to complete this challenge.

Costelloe’s last major event was in December 2019 after completing a personal best 70.3 triathlon at the Challenge Daytona in Miami, US. He still considers this performance this best thus far since he won his age group in a time of four hours and 17 minutes.

There, he placed sixth overall out of hundreds of international athletes.

Ending 2019 on such a high, Costelloe already had event plans for 2020 and was greatly excited. The pandemic, though, put these plans on hold.

Nonetheless, he still maintained a great 2020 season adapting to the changing times and constantly competing in online/virtual reality events and any local events which took place.