Badwater to Whitney Duathlon (CA)

[Peter Bakwin]

Ryan Tetz has the men's FKT, 13h56m16s on October 17, 2017
Tina Lewis has the women's FKT, 23h27m21s on November 11, 2017

The Badwater Duathlon is a bike / hike traverse from Badwater to the top of Mt Whitney. It consists of about 132 miles of road cycling from Badwater (at 266' below sea level) to Whitney Portal (8374') followed by 7 miles (if the Mountaineer's Route is taken) of hiking to the summit of Mt Whitney (14,500'.) Of course you still need to hike back down to the road after doing this!

Ryan Tetz and Don Bowie have traded the FKT over the past few years. Currently it is held by Tetz, at 13h56m16s set on October 17, 2017. An interview with Bowie. who set the previous FKT at 14h9m in 2014, is here, and a slick video of Bowie's trip is on Vimeo.

Here's Tetz' GPS track on Strava, and his post on Instagram about the trip.

Tina Lewis has the only known time for a woman, 23h27m21s, with about 18h54m on the bike and 4h26m for the hike. Here's Lewis' GPS track on Strava.

All of these trips have been done supported.

[Ralph Burgess]

Peter (or anyone) - what does "supported" mean here, when cycling is involved? Ryan Tetz mentions pacing. But not drafting on the bike, I assume?

[Peter Bakwin]

My understanding is that these have been done w/o drafting on the bike, but usually accompanied on the Mtneers Rte. And someone to drop you at Badwater. Being crewed along the way makes sense, but not drafting.

[longranger]

I'm actually quite surprised that:

(1 there's no self supported - or even unsupported record for this, as it seems one could camel up at the start of Badwater, with enough food to last you to Whitney and,

(2 there's no roundtrip record at all.

Def. on my radar, now!