Tour of Sufferlandria

February 2, 2013

So I have been cycling much more as of lately because I have set myself a big cycling goal. I am not quite ready to publicly say what that goal is, but it will be a big deal if I achieve it! I am a little behind the curve because running has been the dominant sport in my life for the past several years. So, to get my cycling legs back this winter I have purchased a trainer, a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine to be exact. It is pretty awesome by the way!

While doing the research to find the best trainer for my needs I ran across a site called The Sufferfest. The Sufferfest makes interesting training videos that are designed for advanced cyclists. The videos are unique because they use video footage from actual big name cycling races. Most training videos just show a group of people in the pain cave riding trainer with the “coach” walking around telling them what todo; not very interesting.

Well, it just happened to be that The Sufferfest’s annual Tour of Sufferlandria was starting the weekend after I got my trainer. Perfect! I decided to do the tour. The tour has been described by its creators:

They say that the Tour of Qatar isn’t hard enough. There are murmurs that the Tour Down Under, even though harder than before, still isn’t terribly difficult. Rumor has it that the Tour de San Luis in Argentina is little more than a tourist trip and even Europe’s early season races have become simple warm-ups for the rest of the season.

That’s all changing thanks to a new race sponsored by the Sufferlandrian Tourist Bureau. Slotting in nicely to the UCI calender of early season races, the Tour of Sufferlandria was created to bring back the drama, agony and misery that the early season peloton deserves. Starting on January 26th, the 9 day event promises to turn even the softest rider into a true Sufferlandrian by the end, on Feb 3rd.

The idea of the “race” is simple… Just ride each of the tour stages as hard as you can at home, on your trainer. Additionally, if you choose you can use a software called Trainer Road to track your progress. Trainer Road uses data sent via ANT+ sensors like, speed, cadence, and heart rate to calculate power based on the trainers power curve. It then displays this information on your computer real time, the cool feature is that they have built workouts that mimic The Sufferfest videos.

When you have completed the Tour of Sufferlandria stage it then places it on a Trainer Road page displaying the progress of the Tour. Trainer Road Tour of Sufferlandria
The whole tour is socially based, which I think is really cool. It keeps the cost down and increases the social pressure to help make sure the workouts get done. This is a big help as riding on trainers is not the most enjoyable experience but it is necessary where I live because winter kicks me off the roads and trails. In running, Tour of Sufferlandria is most like, Runners Worlds Run Streak. Both social and they keep you busy during the off season.

Another neat aspect of social is that people come up with some great ideas for the events. This time a Tour rider had a great idea to create a number plate template using MS PowerPoint and shared it with the community of Tour riders. Below is my number plate.

The schedule of the Tour of Sufferlandria is as follows:

Saturday, Jan 26th: Hell Hath No Fury

Sunday, Jan 27th: The Hunted

Monday, Jan 28th: Extra Shot & Fight Club

Tuesday, Jan 29th: A Very Dark Place

Wednesday, Jan 30th: Angels

Thursday, Jan 31st: The Wretched & The Long Scream

Friday, Feb 1st: The Downward Spiral

Saturday, Feb 2nd: There is No Try & Revolver

Sunday, Feb 3rd: Local Hero

The links within the schedule will take you to my individual efforts for each stage. Take a look they are kinda cool! The Tour is over tomorrow and as soon as I get myself out of bed I will get today’s stage done.

Please feel free to cheer me on in the comments during these final stages of the Tour as well as your thoughts on the Tour of Sufferlandria and Trainer Road.

Tagged with: agony • Cycling • cycling video • despair • Indoor • misery • Sufferfest • The Sufferfest • Tour of Sufferlandria • Trainer • Trainer Road • TrainerRoad