Tour of Sufferlandria 2017

October 24th, 2016, the first day of winter in Sufferlandria. Well, let’s just say the first day of winter getting closer to Sufferlandria. I didn’t really cross the border os Sufferlandria until later that week. I gave myself a few open rides to get my legs ready for the pain, misery and agony of the Sufferfest. And since then I have been suffering.

Suffer, suffer, suffer.

5 rides in October.
22 rides in November.
12 rides so far in December.

Soon, the 2017 Tour of Sufferlandria will start. 9 consecutive days of Sufferfest videos in a row. I must be ready for that tour. Why? The pain, misery and agony leads to honor, glory, and victory. Assuming, of course, that I do not collapse in the process.

The tour is done for charity. A donation is made to the Davis Phinney Foundation. The foundation was started by Davis Phinney. He achieved the most victories of any cyclist in American history, 328 victories, before the early onset of Parkinson’s disease. The mission of the foundation is to help people with Parkinson’s live well today. A friend of mine has early onset of Parkinson’s. I did the tour last year for my friend and I will be doing it again this year for my friend.

I need a good reason to endure that much suffering.

Without a doubt, the rides are incredibly challenging. I get on the bike around 6am and, most mornings, I don’t think I will make it through the entire ride. During my winter training, I allow myself a recovery day every 3 days.

On the tour of Sufferlandria there are no rest days. Only suffering. Every day for 9 consecutive days.

Rule #10 // It never gets easier, you just go faster.
As this famous quote by Greg LeMan tells us, training, climbing, and racing is hard. It stays hard.