Tour Recap

This year I rode the Tour of Sufferlandria, and indoor training event featuring 9 days of riding between 1 and 2 hours each day. It didn’t sound too bad but man it was hard!

Last year was the 1st ever Tour, and we were in Maui so I didn’t participate. Touring Maui was way easier and way more enjoyable. Going into the Tour may FTP was 288. The 1st ride, Rubber Glove, is and FTP test and the results came in at 311. I was pretty excited about the improvement and cranked up Trainerroad to 311 for the next ride. That turned out to be quite a mistake. The next few rides were humbling as keeping the power on the ride proved to be impossible and I was forced to dial it down in order to complete the daily rides.

I was surprised at the difficulty of the cumulative stress of riding day after day. I’d never done so many back to back sessions. After Stage 5 I was really starting to wonder what I’d got myself into, and if I could finish. By Stage 7, I just wanted it to be over and was not looking forward to coming home after work because that meant another ride. Not only that but I’d mentally told myself that Stage 7 was just 1 hour, but in fact it was two videos for two hours, followed by Stage 8 for 1:44! While Stage 9 consisted of 64 sprints, which I thought would be incredibly difficult, it was a great way to finish the Tour and not as hard as I had anticipated. An overview of my Tour is on the Trainerroad site and a full description of the Tour is on The Sufferfest site. Did I mention the prizes? There are lots, and with only about 1,500 riders completing all nine rides, there is a possibility.