The long road ahead isn't paved

For more than a decade, I've been training for triathlons. Swimming in overcrowded pools, biking indoors on trainers . I've been running on crowded indoor tracks, tired treadmills and outdoors, only when the weather conditions were not too psychotic.

It was great. The sense of accomplishment when finishing a three-hour, indoor ride; or a two-hour swim was great. Completing a 21km or more run in -20 Celsius or colder was also, believe it or not, surprisingly fulfilling. After a lengthy thaw, the magnitude of the achievement and the perseverance of (my less than well-tuned) body lunging through the cold and wind and snow left a palatable glow that sustained me.

Completing four times and (twice) failing at Ironman were also great accomplishments that helped me grow in ways that I never could have imagined and that no one can ever take away. But I started running (and biking) into issues.

I won't lie. Indoor running sucks; I won't sugar coat that. Indoor swimming is okay and sometimes safer than swimming in a lake filled with boating yahoos. I even found it relaxing and invigorating, at times.

Indoor biking with the challenge of The Sufferfest and the social competition of Zwift both take personal training and skills development to a whole new level. These only make you stronger for when the rubber hits the road. And, of course, the six Tours of Sufferlandria and my Knighthood changed me in ways that I am most proud and pleased. But there was something else.


It's the road, stupid

The issue, after more than 10 years of training is: contemplating another long, straight, flat and windswept road. I'm, well, bored of riding on local highways. Don't get me wrong. The long road ahead, which is only a few more winter months away now, has many merits. This includes riding with favourite groups, such as Spoke 'n Hot Women's Cycling and Spokesmen Masters Cycling.  Both are groups that I'm a charter member of and that are near and dear to my heart.

This also includes taking the opportunity to ride with Elbow Valley Cycle Club out of Calgary, Alberta on one of my favourite rides, the Golden Triangle - a great three day ride through the Canadian Rockies that everyone should do twice, at least, in their lifetime. 

Then there are the fondos and the longer rides with friends. All of them a good day in the saddle. I did a gravel version of one last year, called Kettle Mettle and I was hooked.

But something was missing. I didn't know what it was until I ventured off the paved highway, beyond the road and onto the gravel and the dirt.

There, I found joy on two wheels again. Whether it was cyclocross or gravel grinding or just exploring on knobbies, my love for the sport was rekindled.

And then there was the snow! I love to snowshoe and hike in the winter, but Southern Saskatchewan is in the middle of a drought of sorts and there just has not been enough snow to make snowshoeing worthwhile. But throw in a bike, and a little snow and ice, suddenly become a whole new kettle of arctic fish.

Coming home after a muddy, dirty, and even snowy ride had me grinning like an idiot. Or at least more so than usual. I discovered that the joy of biking wasn't necessarily in going fast, but it was in just visiting places and environments that were different, challenging, interesting.

A new bug out bag

The marathoners or seasoned triathletes or campers or other sport participants will understand when I note that there is a mental preparation that goes into getting ready to participate in a given outdoor activity. That involves, not only getting oneself psyched up to do it, but also preparing all the clothing and equipment that will be needed. For seasoned (or fully baked) athletes like me it is having a bug out bag; a kit that, within a short time, can be thrown together to participate in a sport or a race, or in the case of triathlon, three sports plus travel.

With Ironman, my bug out bag took a couple of hours to assemble and I was good to go. It was known, it was comfortable, familiar, routine. But with cycling off road, onto the gravel and the dirt and especially into the snow; it was unfamiliar, untested, dangerous even! I found this exciting!

How would I dress? Would I get cold? How much cold could I endure on my bike. What about my hands and feet, how will I keep them warm? What about hydration? How should I keep my water from freezing - maybe add vodka? Will I have enough traction? What about the streets? How would I get to where I wanted to ride. I didn't wish to drive there, but would it be safe on the icy roads with car traffic driven by the same boating yahoos that I encountered during lake swims.

Everything about this new activity was interesting, curious, even,  I daresay, a little dangerous. What is it that Kate Bush sang in Cloud Busting? "What made it special, made it dangerous"  I just knew something good was going to happen when venturing out into the unknown.

The process of creating a new bug out bag actually created new brain  and muscle memory and I found that rejuvenating. I had to reorganize all my equipment and my clothing to figure out what I could use and wear and where!

The indoor was and still is necessary!

The going fast on the roads and highways was made possible by all the indoor training, especially with The Sufferfest, where I found bike riding, but also mental training and yoga programs. Riding at full speed wasn't always necessary, or even possible in some of these new conditions. This is true, especially in winter, when going quickly creates even more windchill on the Canadian prairies-- and anywhere else it is cold.

A brief lesson to those who don't normally encounter windchill. When it is cold enough for water to freeze, the outdoor temperature is relative. If there is wind, skin needs to be covered and layers need to be used. If you are cycling, you are multiplying the wind's effect and therefore need to further shield or protect yourself from it. Windchill is a dubious calculation, but it is not a rocket surgery to understand how the cold feeling is increased when one is going quickly against a frigid wind.

So, now I take my "other" bike out as often as I can. I call him Polyphemus Giant - for those with a mythological bent.

Snow is not an impediment. It is a catalyst to get outside. It is an enticement to use all that indoor training and suffering for joy and triumph.


Bikepacking is next

It was on a recent outdoor ride that I had a revelation. I really like to camp and recently was fortunate to do some winter camping at Prince Albert National Park. I really like to ride my bike. It seems lots of people are using their bikes for touring and, to a growing degree to camp, so why can't I?

So that is my newest goal. To get my self organized enough to do some riding and some camping - or bikecamping as the cool kids call it. It is just a question of getting all the gear together, but I've been getting my gear together for over a decade. Just a question of creating yet another bug out bag.

I'll share more details of my planned rad adventures as I get more organized. For the time being, I'm still running. In fact I ran outdoors in -11 Celsius at the end of February. I still love the freedom. I am still running indoors too. I am also riding plenty indoors, not because I have to, but because I do find it enjoyable and useful. Who knows, I may even swim a few laps or 200.

There is still much more of winter in these skies. But I now have more energy to play with, rather than avoid what winter can throw at me. I'm looking forward to the coming months and to the long, unpaved road ahead as the winter gives way to spring and the summer yields to the fall.

I'll be running and biking up that hill and to that horizon with no problems.

Tour of Sufferlandria - 2018 Edition

Well, here we are, the completion of the sixth tour of Sufferlandria. This was my sixth time getting on the start line and I am excited to note that I finished without injury or incident. I am also thrilled to note that at the close of the Tour, the total raised has been over $172,000 on a goal of US$150K for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson's.

The Tour, like previous ones included 9 Stages, a few interestingly painful ones at the the onset and two extremely uncomfortable ones at the end, including Kitchen Sink, a three-hour soup of some of the most difficult rides the Sufferfest has to offer.

But don't take my word for it. The video announcement is here:  Don't mind the abbreviations, we don't really know what they mean either, we just pedal like lunatics in our pain caves.

What was different, this year was that, for the first time, the Tour was to be done on the re-engineered Sufferfest App. Equally new was the introduction of the use of 4DP (Four Dimensional Power) instead of FTP as the measure of power targets for the ride. This created a whole new world of suffering and of the sense of achievement. Four Dimensional Power is explained here. 

Evolution of Suffering

Having done every Tour since 2013. I really appreciated the evolution of what's, essentially a basic fitness product, to a full-spectrum training regimen. You see, back in the good old day, David McQuillen, Founder and Chief Suffering Officer of The Sufferfest, was a guy with a good idea for making cycling better with the use of videos and some simple gamification, or role-play, as some would call it. 

This evolved into riding the Tour and individual rides measuring virtual power with the use a companion training program called Trainer Road, a powerful training app. But the two companies went their own way. The Sufferfest broke new ground creating and adding training for more than just cycling, but also running, triathlon and then yoga and, most lately, mental training - as if anyone didn't already think this was a mental pursuit. 

Some of the original supporters of SUF went their own way, others stuck around and embraced the change, the new App ecosystem, the advent of smart trainers, and an entirely new community. It is this new community that surfaced during the 2018 ToS. I heard rumours of some 5,000 competitors this year, which I believe is a record. Many of them showed up on the Facebook pages to share their joy, their anguish, their suffering and their mirth. As a Facebook refugee, veteran, survivor and frequent avoider, I have to admit, that these past two weeks have been a bit like the Prague Spring. There was, and continues to be so much love and support and peace and encouragement. Let's just hope it doesn't end the same way it ended for Czechoslovakia. But with Facebook, all bets are off.

By the way, if you are interested in that story. Do read Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being or watch the movie of the same name with Lena Olin and Daniel Day Lewis - it isn't the same as the book, but still an awesome work. But I digress.

There were so many Sufferlandrians, and I'd like to think that I was one of them, or at least one who supported the spirit of positivity that abounded during the Tour. It was all fun and games, and at the same time it was not. The efforts required, were at times very demanding. 

But part of the "fun" of the challenge was to demonstrate hard work and struggle in a way that was both inspirational and, well, hilariously funny.

I certainly could not do justice to any of the stories of struggle, of triumph, of success and of failure that I read on the pages. There was not a single day where my Facebook feed was not filled with stories that I would read and reread and even share with others to demonstrate what was going on between the cadence and the power.


Everyone is a Joker

Of course, there was also humour. Some jokesters, like myself took this event as an attempt to get some smiles and some laughter in the depth of, in all honesty what has been a pretty bleak January and February for many.

My way of dealing with it is with humour. Others used personal stories and others still wrote of feats of strength. All was welcome all was taken in the spirit in which it was intended.

At the end of the day, I would say that personally, this was one of the most successful Tours of Sufferlandria.  If you are looking for power targets and athletic achievement stories, you won't find them on this particular blog, as my goal was to suffer, to finish and to manage a new Low Carb-High Fat eating regimen that I have been on for the past two months. I will report on that in a coming blog. Initial results are promising.

One Sufferlandrian, graciously shared this graphic, which I'm including to document which of the videos were included, and their ride profile.

My other goal was, as you may have read from the words above, to strive to enjoy, interact and, when possible, inspire newer Sufferlandrians to a training environment that welcomed me so wholeheartedly many years ago.

Ironically, without any significant training goals, I still managed a couple of personal bests, including a 110 km ride on the final three hour stage. For those really interested in numbers, it was 9 stages, 476 kms and six loads of laundry. (I dubbed this the Tour of Sufferlaundria for appropriate reasons). I also managed to raise more money, personally, than I expected, for the Davis Phinney Foundation. I don't like asking for money, but some very good people donated a few bits and bobs, and I'm sure it helped the totals.

I made several good virtual friends on this Tour. I thank them for their support, their humour and their constant "pulling" through this nine-day virtual tour. I'd also like to thank the whole Sufferlandrian team, that "guy who rides with cows", the insufferable coaches who shall not be named,  and the support folk who humoured my constant "did you know what's not working..." comments. Thanks, as well to the Davis Phinney Foundation team who participated in the awesome circus.

This is truly a Tour for the record books and one that I will not soon forget. Thank you all. I look forward to getting back into the ring with you again! 

The Blog is coming back!

Stay tuned.

Sorry I have been away, but I have so much to tell.
I'm looking forward to sharing stories about bike adventures and camping, flirtations with Ketosis and LCHF eating and incredible weight loss.

Also news of the Tour of Sufferlandria, 2018 edition. 

Also, stay tuned for stories of my next trip to Golden Triangle bike ride in the Canadian Rockies and a Gravel Grinding bike adventure in North Dakota and Wyoming.

See you soon!

Tour of Sufferlandria 2017

The fact is I didn't want to do it.

I was enjoying my semi-retired life as a Knight of Sufferlandria. Don't get me wrong; I wasn't on the couch. I spent most of my time enjoying my newfound appreciation for riding in muddy and snowy and otherwise unfashionable weather.

And there were other sirens calling me, luring me to straddle the saddle for non-Sufferlandrian deeds. Zwift was one of them. A 10-day free trial period and lots of friends posting their "pictures" on Strava had me Zwift-curious.

So I tried it, once or ten times. But I swear, I didn't inhale. Yeah, it was fun, but it didn't feel like home. Not like Sufferlandria felt like home.

This was also the time that I had gone silent on Facebook, and had cut myself off from my usual stream of bike-related frivolity and support. Still, the call of Suffering is not one that can be ignored.

It wasn't long before I found myself, when not riding outdoors in the slush and snow, firing up the SufApp and revisiting some of my favourite rides. From there, I was soon caught up in the excitement of the impending Tour of Sufferlandria 2017.

Bad memories of Facebook

It is no secret, that the ToS had some exceptional years. The years 2013 and 2014 stand out in my mind. Made many friends there. Many of them, like me, were or became Knights of Sufferlandria. Many of them became my virtual friends, and still are to this day. That being said, 2015 and 2016 were also memorable and filled with individuals who I still cherish and consider friends, albeit virtual ones.

This was also a time when social media went from fun to angry to ugly. Echoes of this I felt on several of the Sufferfest Facebook pages run by Sufferlandrians. What happened on Facebook, in my opinion, was a strange confluence of exuberance, ignorance of tradition and the new online ethos. Whatever it was, it left me with hesitation to seriously re-engage with the ToS online community.

At the same time, the The Sufferfest began movement from a video-based to an App-centred paradigm. This business model - because The Sufferfest is, at its roots, a business - something that many ignored or forgot, created some significant enmity for the Sufferfest community. Some went their own way, some dove in head first and others, like myself, just took the long term approach.

Thing is, stuff changes, technology marches on. I'm still annoyed that I have some music CDs that I have only listened to once or twice and that I no longer have a CD player. The SufApp had it's blemishes, (and it's constant, but reasonable cost), but no different than other premium apps, it also offered freedom of use over many platforms that was heretofore unprecedented. That was my way of thinking. And I just sat on the saddle and rode.

In 2015 and 2016, I had great Tour of Sufferlandria. Met some more exceptional people. And had such heartwarming support in my own personal endeavors, including my knighthood, that I still get goosebumps. The spectre of the increasingly solipsistic, alt-fact social media world had me reluctant to re-engage with ToS2017 online.


But I did. And it was the best online experience I have ever had with the tour. I'm not comparing it to my previous four Tour years. I'm comparing it to all other online experiences I have had. What a fine group of supportive, welcoming, earnest and genuine athletes.

There are just too many people to name, too many characters -- dames, knights, veterans,  and newbies, young and old. They are Americans, Austrians, Dutch and Quebecois, Canadians & expats, South Africans, Germans & Australians, Malaysians & Mexicans...Sufferlandrians from all over the world speaking the language of suffering that transcended all of our differences.

They all contributed to a community that created a bubble of support at a time where it seems that the world has lost its bearing. Some of the racers brought smiles to my face every time I heard of their exploits. I can't not mention the pancake-making roller Dame; the one armed bandito and the mustachioed enigma. You know who you are. There were so many more larger than life personalities that made the the race of a lifetime.

This was an experience that I will not soon forget. To be honest, the Tour course itself did not enthuse me. Some stages I found dull, others were repetitive. Previous years made my blood rush more.

This is not to say that this Tour didn't almost kill me. Holy water flowed and many times I had to stick my head in the freezer to regain composure.

But.

The energy, the community, the personal involvement and holy water equity contributed by all of The Sufferfest personnel: Sirs David, Aaron, Jared, Coder-extraordinaire Reid and that tattooed, dulcet-voiced dude, Dylan. Set a compelling tone for the Tour.

The desire to push through, to contribute and to be a part of something "More than you" were reinforced by First Lady of the Tour Connie Carpenter and equally legendary Davis Phinney, the outstanding in his field Mike Cotty and that Sir Neil Henderson. All of them were omnipresent and served as exceptional inspiration, or in the case of that last workout-creating dude, foci of enthusiastic disparagement.

The reciprocation and participation of lay Sufferlandrians and Dames and Knights made this truly a rare and engaging event...an event like no other.

It is not a Tour of Sufferlandria I will soon forget.  Thank you to all.

In a future blog, I may share some of the many videos I made along the way. I didn't believe that I would be as active as I was online.


It is never too late to contribute to the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson's. As of five days after the tour, Sufferlandrians, family and friends had contributed more than US$141,000.  That is incredible and it demonstrates, again. The power of the pedal bike.



I now hang this certificate proudly in my office. 

 

One Sufferlandrian, David Higginson posted this brilliant version of the challenge of the ToS2017 It really: If you like this, donate on his page.

 

The Tour of Sufferlandria 2016

This past weekend, I finished the Tour of Sufferlandria. It is the Greatest Grand Tour of a mythical nation. But it is only mythical in name. There are nine very real stages, participants, most of whom I only know virtually are also very real. There is a very real charity, The Davis Phinney Foundation, that benefits from the efforts of riders. This is my personal donation page. As of February 16, 2016, US$111,671 was raised for the charity that benefits those with Parkinson's.

Here is a link to the event. So much has been said by others and said so much better than I can, that I couldn't do it justice. Besides. I have talked about the Tour many times before.

What else made this a "real" tour? The suffering. Participants worked harder than they thought they could - some for the first time - to achieve the goals of the Tour. Sufferlandrians call this "suffering". There is as tradition of thought that crosses all cultural divides and ages that believes that true gains, true benefit and true enlightenment can only come through suffering.

• Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller 

• To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. Friedrich Nietzsche

So all the participants suffered. Not only physically through the intense efforts needed to do the rides, but also in terms of scheduling, in terms of personal and social sacrifice. Some had to give up activities and plans that they had to complete the rides. Some had to not spend as much time as they normally do with their families. Some actually hurt themselves, or pushed themselves to the limits of pain and endurance. Many went way beyond their comfort zones, physically, socially and in their fund raising efforts.

A big part of this year's Tour, as in previous years, was a Facebook Group. The Tour of Sufferlandria 2016.   This was possibly one of the most sociable, connected, friendly online groups I have ever encountered.  It was not unusual to look at my Facebook feed to find 30 or 40 new notifications every morning - and these were not just comments to the group, these were actual conversations, some frivolous, some completely earnest.

One of the non cycling activities that many engaged in was posting of pictures and video of personal suffering. This was not a display of  "I'm suffering more than you". Rather, it was a proud display, in a safe environment of a shared experience. Individuals posted pictures of total physical exhaustion, or comments from confused or disapproving co-workers or family.

The group understood. The group never judged. To be completely honest, some did judge, but were very quickly shut down by others. this was not a place for trolls or jerks.

It was a place of making friends, albeit sometimes temporary ones. I know that I have made many real friends on this page. Ones that I can trust as much as the flesh and blood ones that I grew up with.

But this wasn't all making friends and singing of kumbaya. This was hard work. This was descending into my, albeit comfortable, pain cave for nine days straight. Descending down there, even when my legs were tired, when my hips were sore, when I had strange and painful abrasions on my nether regions that I haven't had since I was in diapers. It can be noted that a wet chamois on bike shorts may be likened to wet diapers.

Doing this, like I've done it before, required significant mental toughness - as I have written about in earlier blogs.   (note there is a problem with some early blogs and the pictures are not loading). I needed to keep focused on the required task. Unlike in previous tours, in this one, there was no way of proving that you actually did the workouts. Previously, they were measured on Trainer Road.  This link is my rides from last year's Tour.

This year's Tour was based on the honour system - you only had yourself and the virtual group of Sufferlandrians to keep you honest and accountable.

That is only partially true, though. As a Knight of Sufferlandria,  I had the honour of competing in a challenge of power and strength against other knights. This was measured and calculated daily. I'm pleased to say that I cracked the top ten. First time I've ever done that in a sporting event in my life.

So, how did I do? What are my stats? I don't really care for evaluating numbers. Maybe that is why I don't really get that competitive. But it is interesting to see what I achieved.

• 9 Stages
• 12 Videos 
• 12.5 Hours  
• 324 Kilometres
• 11 Changes of clothing
• 20 Towels
• $140 raised personally for Davis Phinney Foundation  

Along the way, I pushed my limits further than I ever have. Made some personal discoveries that I am only now starting to disentangle from my psyche and, as I said, also made many many friends.

I also took lots of selfies of me suffering and learned how to do selfie videos. I've added some of them below. Each is self explanatory. One of my goals was to try to make others smile during a time of very hard work. I posted much of this on the Tour page. I hope that they were liked. I did get some good feedback and considerable laughing - and thankfully not the pointing at me and laughing variety.

In this one, a video, I didn't have time to change, and I had a meeting right afterwards, so I did just what any Sufferlandrian would do; not bother changing.

In this one, I think I really really wanted to call my Mommy. But sadly, she was out of country and not near a phone.

 

In this one, just after I finally finished, I was attached by Wilbur, the dreaded basement-dwelling bear. It was okay though, because Wilbur is very plush.  

This video was in honour of Spoke 'n Hot Women's Cycling.

 This one was in honour of World Bicycle Relief, for whom I had the privilege of raising money during my knighthood attempt. Here is the blog of my attempt that they posted. 

 

And finally. finally! My final video. It includes some fancy, low tech camera techniques.

Thank you all for participating in the Tour and for making this, yet again, another great experience and a key part of my training, not just for sport, but for living!

My musings just before the Tour of Sufferlandria 2016

In less than 24 hours, the Tour of Sufferlandria begins. I've written about the Tour before. You can read some of it here.

Up until now I've been soft peddling, more or less. Even riding outside in this strangely warm weather. 

But now it is time to do some serious basement cycling!

This year, the Tour is a different animal. There is a lot of reasons for that. The first one may be personal. Just over a month ago, I became a Knight of Sufferlandria. I feel different. My perspective is not what it was last year, it is perhaps broader, but also, maybe, a little less idealistic.

One of the other reasons is the new Sufferfest App.  For a variety of reasons, most very valid and reasonable,  the ownership of the Sufferfest decided to launch the new app just before the Tour and to encourage participants to use it for the Tour. In previous years, The Trainer Road App was used.

There was considerable outrage -- yes outrage -- over what some perceived as an abandonment of Trainer Road. So much so that the owner of Sufferfest had to make several public announcements to the online community about the rationale and the realities of moving to the app.

I am not going to argue or choose sides either way. I still use Trainer Road. In fact I'm looking forward to try the Beta version of it for the Tour.

I now also have and use the Sufferfest App too, although I've had issues with it initially because of my low tech (old tech) equipment. It now works better than expected.

Many Sufferlandrian's may forget that in its infancy, Trainer Road also had issues. In any case I'm sticking with both. Both have elements that I need in my training now and in the future.

I think it is going to be an incredible training and gamification exercise tool. And I look forward to its portability. For instance, training in hotel rooms, while on vacation.

I'm not the best training app reviewer, and, well, I can't do math all that well.

So numbers are not my forte. Others can give far better analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both. I like them both for different reasons.  I will probably use them both in tandem.

I'm supposing this is what knighthood does; new perspective.

Another issue relating to the Tour has come up, that isn't really being talked about but I have noticed.

With Trainer Road in previous years. one could not start the Tour early and still get (graphical) credit for it - or Trainer Road prizes. There were prizes for donating money to the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson's and for participating on Trainer Road.

This time around one only needs to donate to be eligible for prizes. 
This is my current donation page. I donated earlier, and it isn't showing up here. Feel free to donate it is a great cause. Read more details here. 

But seriously? The prizes are amazing, as they have been in previous years, but true Sufferlandrians don't do this for the prizes. They do it for the challenge, the training and the camaraderie. Prizes are nice, but so is the lottery. Many dream, few win. 

Now, there continues to be a huge incentive to donate to the Davis Phinney Foundation - and some incredible prizes for donating. But there is no disincentive or technical way to stop people from starting the Tour early. Of course it is understandable. People are busy. To schedule nine days in a row of at least 50 minutes of intense exercise is challenging.

But that was the beauty of the Tour in previous years. Everyone started at the same time. While all are encouraged to start within the 50-hour start period, a surprisingly large number of people have already started days before the group start.  This isn't really a big deal. But it will be a little disconcerting and annoying when people start finishing two or three days before the peloton. Also, as any event planner knows, once the hard boundaries of the event start sliding, other things may fall away too. But maybe I'm just old fashioned. I started my triathlon racing career believing a start time is unchangeable.

Again. This isn't a terrible thing. But it has changed the essence of this wonderful Tour that has, for me, created some great experiences and made several exceptional friendships.

Still, they say nostalgia isn't what is used to be. Things change.

This is still going to be a wonderful tour. Once the legs start turning and the holy water starts saturating the floor and the bike and the air, all will be as it was, a hot, sweaty mess!

Bring on the Tour! Allez Allez!

Testing a New Sufferfest Standard.

In December, 2015, I completed a Sufferfest Knighthood. It was a big deal for me. You probably heard about it, it was in all the news. No? Well I wrote about it here, if you missed it.

One of the privileges, some say duties, of being a Knight is the rare opportunity to test pre-release versions of new videos. I was one of five knights who had this honour this week.

The yet to be released cycling video is called Power Station. It runs at just over 50 minutes duration and it will be released in time for the upcoming Tour of Sufferlandria. 

Here is part of the review I wrote and shared with other Sufferlandrians about the video. I wanted to capture it somewhere other than on Facebook.

Today I had the privilege of testing a pre-release copy of The Sufferfest Power Station. Throughout the day I posted many of my observations and comments of the video, as observed by going through it, second-by-second on the computer. I also shared with David McQuillen, Founder and Chief Suffering Officer of The Sufferfest, some of my critical observations of the video, as was my responsibility and assigned task. 

This evening, I had the honour of riding the video. I rode it pure RPE, (Rated Perceived Exertion) with no indication of virtual power or real power. It was just me VS. the riders on the screen.
 
These are some of my observations:

1. This is a video of honesty. It will be as easy or as hard as you make it. You can go into it thinking that you don't have to commit too much effort, but it entices you to try harder, to show your true Sufferlandrian, to pick a harder gear and to grind out power that you didn't know you had. By the end of the video, I was doing efforts that I never expected to be doing indoors. 
2. This is a beautiful video. It is a feast on the eyes, the ears and the spirit. The music may not be to the liking of heavy metal or thrash lovers, but it has a driving, fresh rhythm, punctuated by a chill sound that keeps you accelerating. Keeps you climbing; and lets you recover, just enough to do it all over again. 
3. Footage in this video is new. You will recognize the riders, from recent races and seasons. You will feel that you are part of those races. You will be one of those racers. You will also spend far too much time (in my opinion) looking at Contador's backside.This is not a bad thing. You will find yourself trying to dance in the pedals like he does.  
   
4. This is the only Sufferfest video, that successfully incorporates The Elements of Style, or correct riding practices into every instruction. While I was struggling to climb, I was constantly reminded of posture, of core and effort. It is like having, beside you, a friendly coach, gently reminding you to ride well, while, having, behind you, a nasty minion, poking and prodding you onward with a pointy stick. 
5. Unlike most Sufferfest videos, this one will work more on your low cadence strength, than your explosive attacks. When you finish this, you will not feel like you want to crawl into your bucket. Rather, you will have, as I did, a radiating glow of exhaustion, highlighted with endorphin rushes of inexplicable joy that will make you, for no reason, wish to do kind things to others and to small woodland creatures.
   
   Final analysis. This is probably going to be one of your go-to videos once you try it. It will grow on you. It will entertain you. It will challenge you. It will make you want to be a better Sufferlandrian.
   I also posted some screen shots of Power Station.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   These screen shots and other musings generated lots of conversation on social media, and I found my Facebook inbox overwhelmed with notifications. 
   
   Was this a good experience? Absolutely. Would I do it again? At the drop of a chamois! 
   How was the actual ride, after I did it? This picture is worth a thousand words. See you at the Tour of Sufferlandria 2016. 
   
   
      
   
   See you at the Tour of Sufferlandria 2016.