Michael Hyman, a Sufferlandrian based in Norfolk, USA, just sent us a photo of himself. Not just any photo, mind you. But, representing his country in all its glory, he’s in full Sufferlandrian National Team Kit at the 2011 UCI Master’s World Championships in Belgium. (He also just ordered the Darkside kit, so if you live in Norfolk, you’re outta luck.)
As you probably heard, our very Limited Edition Darkside National Team Kit (no longer available) was only sold to Sufferlandrians who have all 9 videos. Furthermore, only one set of kit was sold per city (including a city’s suburbs*) – the ultimate in exclusivity.
Here is the list of cities where a Darksider will be riding.
- Arcola, USA
- Atlantic Beach, USA
- Ballarat, Australia
- Beaconsfield, Canada
- Beith, UK
- Billings, USA
- Black Creek, Canada
- Bloomington, USA
- Boston, USA
- Braddan, Isle of Man, UK
- Brantford, Canada
- Bright’s Grove, Canada
- Brisbane, AUS
- Butlers Cross, GB
- Cadiz, Spain
- Calgary, Canada
- Cambridge, USA
- Carmel, USA
- Chatham, UK
- Church Crookham, UK
- Chicago, USA
- Cincinnati, USA
- Clacton-on-sea, UK
- Clarksville, USA
- Coatesville, USA
- Colleyville, USA
- Colorado Springs, USA
- Cork, Ireland
- Cornwall, UK
- Coronado, USA
- Dallas, USA
- Darlingtom, UK
- Denver, USA
- Edmonton, Canada
- Epsom, New Zealand
- Elkview, USA
- Encinitas, USA
- Etobicoke, Canada
- Evanston, USA
- Fayetteville (AR), USA
- Fayetteville (GA), USA
- Fort Washington, USA
- Geelong, Australia
- Grand Haven, USA
- Greenville, USA
- Grosse Pointe Woods, USA
- Haubstadt, USA
- Heidelberg, Germany
- Hoboken, USA
- Holmes Chapel, UK
- Huntington, USA
- Invermere, Canada
- Aragu√° do Sul, Brazil
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Kamloops, Canada
- Kanata, Canada
- La Crescenta, USA
- Lake Oswego, USA
- La Mesa, USA
- Lawrence, USA
- Lebanon, USA
- London, Canada
- London, UK
- Lulea, Sweden
- Madison (NJ), USA
- Madison (AL), USA
- Melbourne, Australia
- Memphis, USA
- Milton, Canada
- Minesing, Canada
- Mississauga, Canada
- Monaco
- Montreal, Canada
- Morristown, USA
- Murfreesboro, USA
- Nelson, Canada
- Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
- New Plymouth, New Zealand
- North Yarmouth, USA
- Norwalk, USA
- Nyack, USA
- NYC, USA
- Oakville, USA
- Oberrohrdorf, Switzerland
- O Fallon, USA
- Oneonta, USA
- Pawling, USA
- Penarth, UK
- Perry, USA
- Piscataway, USA
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Powell, USA
- Regina, Canada
- Rensselaer, USA
- Rocklin, USA
- Rosemount, USA
- Ruislip, UK
- Salt Lake City, USA
- San Antonio, USA
- San Francisco, USA
- San Paolo, Brazil
- Shelburne Falls, USA
- Sheridan, USA
- Singapore
- Spring, USA
- Springfield (VA), USA
- South Euclid, Ohio
- St. Albert, Canada
- St. Catharines, Canada
- Stanisławowska, Poland
- Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK
- Sufferlandria
- Sydney, Australia
- Sykesville, USA
- Tampa, USA
- Tokyo, Japan
- Toronto, Canada
- Torrance, USA
- Tulsa, USA
- Tuscon, USA
- Vancouver, Canada
- Verden, Germany
- Victoria, Canada
- Vienna, Austria
- Washington DC, USA
- Waterloo, Canada
- Wheaton, USA
- Woodinville, USA
- Worthing, UK
- Yokohama, Japan
Extremely limited and premium edition: Sufferfest Darkside National Team Kit
Available on pre-order only until Wednesday, January 11th – only ONE set sold PER CITY!!!!
Together with our clothing partner, France’s F2P sports, we’re very excited to announce an extremely limited run of Sufferfest National Team Kit in a special ‘Darkside’ design. If you’ve ever wanted to wear what the pros wear, and wear something nobody else in your town has, this is your chance.
Available for only two weeks on pre-order, to Sufferlandrians who have bought all 9 videos and not sold to more than one person in any city, you’re guaranteed of being the only person around wearing this unique kit. It is available only as a package of both jersey and shorts, and includes a free Sufferfest National Team flag and stickers (a 36.99 USD value).
You can see all the details at the Darkside kit page here.
Just got an email with this ‘Ode to the Sufferfest’ by Sufferlandrian Poet Nancy Summers. Thought we’d share it with you!
“Ode to Sufferfest
Yes, it’s another cold dreary morning and I jump on my trainer
My goals is to maximize time and pain, it’s really a no brainer.
With Sufferfest my adventures are many as all nine videos I do prize
Just me and my trainer…my sweat tells no lies.
With a click of the mouse, I start my favorite Local Hero
Cadence is 105, up from a zero
Now the shot of the cannon signals the start of my attack
Passing each competitor, leaving them one by one in the back.
Oh, Sufferfest you motivate and hurt me, which keeps me coming back for more
By the time I get to work I am usually a little bit sore.
My Sufferfest Chamber is my sanctuary and my haven..it’s what I do for me
I’m in the best shape of my life and the Sufferfest videos are the key.”
Long time Sufferlandrian, Andrew M. (@serviceplease on Twitter), just created some 
Spotify playlists of The Sufferfest soundtracks. Now, we’ve long been known for having great music on our videos – and now you can listen to the soundtracks even when you’re not suffering (just to remind you of the Suffering that is to come!). Here are the Spotify lists:
A Very Dark Place
TSF Revolver
TSF The Hunted
TSF Downward Spiral
TSF Fight Club
If you’re not using Strava yet, you should be. And if you are, you should be part of the Sufferlandrian National Team club. Easy to join, and you can follow your fellow Sufferlandrians and see who’s got the highest suffer score these days!
Wade Wallace over at CyclingTipsblog.com has created one of the best cycling blogs on the internet today. And he’s done it in only a couple of years. Pretty impressive stuff. The other day, he asked us if we’d write a little bit about the history of the ‘fest. We jumped at the chance. Here’s the full article that appeared at http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/12/the-sufferfest-from-the-beginning/
The Sufferfest – From the Beginning
December 8, 2011
If you train indoors you’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger motivator than The Sufferfest videos. Exciting race footage mixed with music and challenging workouts. The on-screen cues that David puts up make it feel like he’s toying with you and he knows the precise moment you’re getting soft. The Sufferfest training videos have been a huge success and I can only see them getting even bigger. I always find the stories of regular people taking a punt very interesting, so I’ve asked David to share his with you.
The Sufferfest – From the Beginning
by David McQuillen
I’m not quite sure when I cracked. It might have been after a couple of hours. Maybe it was after a few minutes. I simply couldn’t take it anymore – I would rather shoot myself than go on. Like many who hit rock bottom, I finally realised that I had to take matters into my own hands if I was going to get better.
Of course, what could I do? Winters in Zurich, Switzerland, where I lived, didn’t lend themselves to much other than time on the turbo trainer – a torture device if ever there was one. I tried everything: writing down workouts, custom music playlists, online coaching, watching cycling training videos of other people riding turbo trainers and even spin classes. Nothing worked.
I couldn’t stand that damned machine and I couldn’t get on it any more and I couldn’t motivate myself to work hard when I was on it because I only wanted off and I wasn’t getting any freaking faster come spring. Ever feel like that?
So, I made my own workout video. I took old pro racing videos and, teaching myself how to edit video, I cut them up and arranged them into a sort of workout. I put it on my iPhone. I got on my bike. An hour passed. I got off. Shattered, excited, amazed!
This worked! I felt like I had cured….a critical illness of a sort: turbo trainer boredom. The mix of professional racing footage, great music, a structured workout with instructions on screen and a bit of humour made the time fly. The moments on the trainer were motivating, exciting and terribly painful.
It was crazy talk, but I wasn’t crazy. I felt that if I could make workout videos that were entertaining, and a solid workout, people would be more likely to actually do them – enterPAINment, as it were. I wanted to make the videos for others, but in order to do so, I had to properly license the racing footage and music, and figure out a way to produce and distribute them.
Having no idea how to do this or how difficult it would be, I dove right into it. Hey, ASO and UCI, can we talk? I taught myself how to edit video and sound, I worked with some coaches on proper workouts and mixed their advice with my 20 years of cycling and racing. I did it – and continue to do it – while working a full time job in banking. I love bikes and this was a labour of love, if ever there was one.
Today, about two years from the online launch of The Sufferfest, we’ve got nine workout videos, ranging in length from 45 to 85 minutes with intense intervals, climbs, time trials and sprints. Think you can outsprint Hushovd or hold onto Cancellara when he attacks? The videos feature races like Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice, the Dauphine, Tour de Suisse and others. We’ve even got one, Hell Hath No Fury, that features all women’s racing (it is terribly difficult).
Our videos are playing in bike torture chambers in more than 50 countries around the world. Our mantra, “I Will Beat My Ass Today To Kick Yours Tomorrow,” has become a rallying cry (and a popular Twitter hash tag #IWBMATTKYT) for those who want to push themselves beyond the ordinary. Nearly 100 reviews in blogs, magazines and cycling websites around the world have praised The Sufferfest as possibly the best cycling training videos in the world.
Why? Above all, I think that the ‘fest helps people feel proud of themselves. Nothing is better than putting yourself through a hard workout, perhaps bobbling a bit halfway through, doubting yourself, and still making it to the end. To help people do that we introduced humour and insults to motivate you. We even introduced storytelling: several of our videos place you as an actor in a story. For example, in Local Hero, you’re the sole representative from a country called Sufferlandria in the UCI Road World Championships in Geelong and you must win the race or face execution (or worse!) when you get back home.
That video caused the growing community of ‘fest customers to christen themselves Sufferlandrians – masochists and sadists who take great pleasure beating the hell out of themselves on their turbo trainers with the hope of kicking ass on the road come spring. The Sufferlandrians now tell me what they want – a full line of Sufferfest National Team jerseys, shorts, windvest, stickers and even a National Flag have followed.
Running the ‘fest is incredible fun. But it’s got a serious side, too: I’m obsessed with delivering great customer service. I answer all emails myself and do my best to help anyone who might be having trouble with a video. I listen to feedback and do my best to act on it. And it may well be that I’m the only owner of a company who loves hate mail. On any given day, my inbox will have message that start with “You ba&t$rd! You nearly made me throw up. It was great. I’ll still hit you if I ever meet you” or “I hate you and your videos. Please make more.” They tweet and post with abandon on our Facebook page about just how much punishment they inflicted on themselves – and will on others out on the road. I love them all. Tough love, that is.
Links to all the videos: http://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests
Not only is he the guitarist for killer band Pendulum, but he’s also a Sufferlandrian. Cycling Plus interviews Peredur ap Gwynedd about Rock n’ Rouleur…and the ‘fest is what he’s training to!
More than 68 reviews online are saying that our cycling workout videos are the best in the world. That makes me incredibly happy because I put my heart and soul into creating these. As a consequence, I’ve been getting asked a lot lately why I don’t raise our prices when all other cycling workout videos cost about $39.99. I’m not going to. Here is why:
- I started making these videos for people like me. I would not pay $40 for a cycling DVD.
- I think of ‘fest videos like buying a music album. And those cost about $11.99.
- I want everyone to be able to buy one – so it has to be afforable. I don’t want this to be some kind of rich person thing. The ‘fest believes in equal opportunity suffering for all. It’s more about helping people enjoy their time on the turbo trainer and getting faster, than making $40 bucks.
- By offering downloads, I can save the cost of producing DVDs (not only the cost of producing plastic, which is wasteful, but of getting license rights for DVDs, which is more expensive than downloads).
- Of course, I have to charge something. These cost me a lot of money to make. Ignoring the approximately 250+ hours it take for me to make one ‘fest video, there are: the fees it costs to license the videos, the fees for licensing music, transaction fees, hosting fees, design fees, advertising fees, pizza and beer for those late nights designing workouts, fees for fees I never thought about, and more.
So, the price remains $11.99 per video. I think it’s fair. And I hope you think that you got more than your money’s worth!
I’ve got an evil, terrible, awful new way of doing Sufferfest videos: Freestyle.
When doing a 'fest video Freestyle, you will blow. Big time.
Let me explain.
I teach a small (the class would like me to say ‘elite’) spin class on Tuesdays. Today, we decided to do Fight Club. Any Sufferlandrians who know Fight Club, also know that the worst part of the workout are the unexpected and frequent attacks. Now, on the best of days, Fight Club is just an ugly, messy experience that leaves me shattered after trying to keep up with Evans on the final climb of the Mendrisio World Championsihps.
But today, for some bizzare reason, I decided to make it even harder. After the 2nd lap, I told the class that we were taking the gloves off and going Freestyle.
Freestyle?
Yes, Freestyle. I explained to the class: you will continue to follow the instructions on screen about cadence and resistance, but you will ignore the instructions to ATTACK! Rather, any member of the class, at any time, could say “ATTACK!” and then the class would have to follow…and not sit down until you said “Done!” There could be as many attacks, or as few, as the class wanted.
Of course, being an aggressive group of Type A personalities, ‘few’ attacks was never going to be an option. One member of the class (Twitter: @antjoh) clarified the rules by saying you had to also describe the intensity of the attack “Attack 1″ meant one turn of resistance on the spin bike, “Attack 2″ was two turns and “Attack 3″ was three turns. Diabolical.
And so went into those laps determined to beat the hell out of each other. And we did. A true slugfest. Each member of the class launching attacks, one after the other, swearing at each other, trying to recover hoping nobody would attack and then launching your own attack, holding long attacks, short attacks. Who would crack? Who couldn’t follow? Who wasn’t Sufferlandrian enough to launch an attack? It was FREAKING AWFUL. I don’t think that I’ve worked that hard in a long, long, long time. We all loved it.
Although we only did it with Fight Club, you can go Freestyle with any of the videos (group edition licensed for group use, of course).
We officially declare this an Acceptable Alertnative Way of Doing Sufferfest Videos When You Really Want Even More IWBMATTKYT Spirit With Friends.
Thinking of your loved ones and wondering how you can bring more suffering into their lives? It’s easy with our Sufferfest 9 Pack gift code.
Santa's spreading IWBMATTKYT cheer!
Here’s how it works:
- Order a gift code below – it costs 84.99 and is good for one Sufferfest 9 Pack.
- After purchase, you’ll get a confirmation email.
- Within 24 hours, you’ll get another email with the gift code you bought and a certificate (including instructions) you can print out.
- Give the code + certificate to the poor wretched soul on the receiving end of your generosity.
- They then go to the Sufferfest video website, order the 9 Pack and enter the code.
| 9 Pack Gift Code - $84.99 (Good for our nine-video bundle pack) |
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Details
- Each code expires after 6 months if not used.
- Each code is good for one use.
- Sorry, we don’t have gift codes for individual videos.
So many Sufferlandrians have done a ‘fest workout. 
An elite group has done a DOUBLE, some have even done TRIPLES. Two madmen have done ALL the videos and earned themselves a Knighthood of Sufferlandria (Sir Conehead and Sir Wiggys to you, my friends).
The release of Extra Shot, which is meant to be a little kick in the ass of any ‘fest workout, got us to thinking about these combinations. And, like the great cocktails of the world, here they are:
(Thanks to the Sufferlandrians on FB and Twitter who posted these. Sorry I can’t name you individually…too many!):
- Downward Spiral + Angels = The Fall From Grace
- Angels + Downward Spiral + Hell Hath No Fury = The Dante
- Revolver + Extra Shot = Shotgun
- A Very Dark Place + Extra Shot = A Shot in the Dark
- Local Hero + Fight Club = The Gladiator
- Fight Club + Extra Shot = The Knockout
- The Hunted + AVDP = The Stalker
- Revolver + Fight Club = The Massacre
- Angels + Revolver = I Thought She Was One of the Good Ones
- Fight Club + Revolver = Gunfight
- Fight Club + Revolver = One of us isn’t going to make it out of here alive
- The Hunted + Local Hero = The Great Escape
- HHNF + AVDP = Her Revenge
- HHNF + Fight Club = Bare Knuckle B*tchslap
- Local Hero + Revolver = Madman
- Downward Spiral+Revolver=Gatling Gun
- HHNF + Angels = Hell hath no Angels
- Angels + Revolver = Fallen Angel
- AVDP + Revolver = Mr. Green in the Billiard Room
- Angels + Downward Spiral = Lucifer
- AVDP + Revolver + Extra Shot = Russian Roulette
- Fight Club + The Hunted = Deathmatch
- Revolver + The Hunted = Dead Man Walking = Dead Man Walking + Extra Shot = DOA
- Local Hero + Angels = The Martyr
- Extra Shot + Extra Shot + Extra Shot = The Sinatra (2 shots of happy, 1 shot of sad)
- Fight Club + Fight Club = Suckerpunch
- Angels + Angels = Antichrist
- The Hunted + The Hunted = Wretched Beast
- AVDP + AVDP = Black Hole
- HHNF + HHNF = Misirilou
- Revolver + Extra Shot = A Dirty Harry
- Local Hero + The Hunted = A Bobby Fischer
- Downward Spiral + Fight Club = A Mike Tyson
Sufferlandrian Dave Burns thought that, while our stickers were a good idea, he would go one step further to show just how deeply his Sufferlandrian blood runs.
He got an IWBMATTKYT tattoo. We think it’s the most awesome thing ever. Now we want one.
If you're behind Dave Burns, you're going to get dropped.
Let’s make no mistake about it, Hell Hath No Fury features only women’s racing, but it’s not designed ‘for women.’ It’s designed for Sufferlandrians: anyone who wants to put to beat their ass to kick someone else’s tomorrow. It’s in true IWBMATTKTY spirit. Plenty of rave reviews are popping up – here are just a few of them:
- Read a brilliant review of HHNF by Australian female PRO cyclist Bridie O’Donnell.
- GottaRunGottaRide “Badass bitches.”
- Beating Limitations “Loved the sense of humour.”
- Faster Further Fitter “This ain’t no sugar and spice.”
- TriBecca “The best workout I have done.”
- Fitness Fatale “Rather than watching nerdy cyclists on trainers, we got to race with the pros”
- PV Andersneddon “Fast and Furious – why do they keep attacking? Why?”
- Patisseriecyclisme “Racing with Emma Pooley – not an experience we mere mortals get.”
- Whole Iron Woman “Fun and challenging – a real ball breaker.”
Pez Cycling News wanted to know if the Sufferfest videos REALLY work. So they had a certified coach analyse them from a power perspective. Conclusion? They hurt for a reason: they make you fast.
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Sufferfest Videos: From The Power Perspective
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 11:31:27 AM PT
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The Sufferfest series of training videos have quickly gained popularity as their use of actual pro race footage, variety of sessions, and heavy dose of humor are great motivators through the dark days of winter. But how do they stack up as a power-based workout? We asked Matt McNamara to apply his expertise as a power-based USA Cycling Level 1 coach to put them to the test. |
By: Matt McNamara
Suffer (verb): Experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant). To tolerate or endure evil, injury, pain, or death. In general usage the preferred preposition after suffer is from, rather than with, in constructions such as He suffered from hypertension. Within cycling a more apt preposition might be for, as he suffered for cycling.
By Matt McNamara
The gang of n’er-do-wells at The Sufferfest have consistently raised the bar on quality indoor training videos over the past couple of years. Toolbox editor, and avowed hard man, Dr. Stephen Cheung wrote a thorough overview of the series in 2010, while the Pez himself gave two tired thumbs up to “Local Hero” earlier this year. So what is left to say? Well, as a power based coach and one who loathes indoor training more than most, I thought I’d look at the training value of the videos from a power based perspective to put a little science behind the praise.
Easy to follow on screen instructions encourage maximum volume for the musical accompaniment.
The Method
When starting this project it was immediately obvious that the only way to truly measure the effectiveness of the videos was by using a CompuTrainer system. CompuTrainer is a stable and highly accurate ergometer that has been the industry standard for over a decade. Although showing its age in a few important areas (read: user experience), the CompuTrainer Lab model is accurate to within 0.5% when calibrated and offers a downloadable format that can be imported into various analysis software. [Note: CompuTrainer reports that a very redesigned software package is coming soon. = ed.]
Thanks to special licensing with the UCI, you get to join the racing on some very famous courses.
The next step was to decide what I wanted to measure. Once again the obvious choices presented themselves: By looking at training stress score (TSS), intensity factor (IF), and interval composition I could get a pretty comprehensive view of the workouts and their efficacy as training tools.
The final piece of the puzzle was to translate the workouts into a file format that would work on the CompuTrainer. This was a daunting task, frankly. Each video is an hour or more and the workouts are based entirely on self selected Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale efforts that are cued by on screen prompts! That meant I would have to watch each video, record the time stamps of all on screen prompts and then create an erg file that matched those up with my own RPE scale.
The latest release “A Very Dark Place” piles on the suffering with some of their hardest intervals yet.
Fortunately, I stumbled across a critical component when I found an excel spreadsheet by Ted Meisky, a Sufferlandrien of some repute, who had already broken each video into the component sections I needed. Further, his spreadsheet was laid out as a text file that is easily converted to a CompuTrainer compatible format. You can download his spreadsheet here and a bit more information about the rationale here .
He has also given the spreadsheet several custom inputs for each athlete including the ability to select the threshold power level and the percentages of threshold power used for recovery and maximal efforts (those nefarious 10 on a 10 scale intervals). I used my FTP (functional threshold power) with recovery at 50% (most athletes will self-select a 50% threshold effort for recovery) and max effort at 140%, as that scaled the workout to match my preferred RPE scale where a 7 is considered a circa-threshold effort.
Since I wanted to know the individual TSS and IF scores for each video, I went ahead and created each workout again in Cycling Peaks ERG+ software. The ERG+ software allows me to see TSS/IF values and to scale the workouts for different FTP levels. Unfortunately, it will not open a standard .erg file, so I had to manually create each workout (so much for saving time!). In the end it was worth the effort because I now have good data on each of the videos, so let’s see how a few stack up…
Sufferfest offers up their own brand of humor to help distract from the pain you may feel during the workouts.
The Hunted
This wasn’t the first video produced, but it was the first one I purchased a little over a year ago. Like most, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the experience. Not only did I complete the ride, but I actually wanted to come back for more! For me, the key was the music, each song kept a good rhythm that helped me stay on task. Admittedly, the first ride was not at the same power level that would be assigned by the .erg file – but I think that is one of the true benefits of an RPE based workout; you can scale your effort to your current fitness level, enjoy the experience and simply go harder as fitness allows.
That said we are here to quantify the workout from a power perspective so let’s look at some data from both my ride (ahem!) and an estimate of actual work expected.
Here is the graph of my ride. Not as disciplined as I might like, but at least the efforts at the end – those oh-my-G sprints – were decent:
So it worked out to be 58 minutes at a Normalized power of 252W, an IF of 0.84. Training Stress was 67 points and I burned through 825KJ’s. Compared to the erg file build which looks like this:
Total TSS is up to 81 and Intensity Factor rises to 0.89 – right in that “Sweet Spot” zone we coaches espouse so readily. Still, I’d say that I got pretty close for not having an erg file to push me!
Next up we have the Downward Spiral –
Looking at this one from a coaching perspective I can say that the composition of the workout is surprisingly difficult! With a TSS score of 100 and an Intensity Factor of 0.98 this is one tough hour I set the “max effort” values at 140% of FTP to better correlate an RPE of 7 with a threshold effort, and that had the hard intervals at and above my Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP/VO2max). Fortunately, one can adjust intensity down pretty easily using Mr. Meisky’s erg spreadsheet, so you can scale it to a more sustainable level that is maybe 115 – 125% of FTP. When scaled down to 125% the hardest intervals fall just below MAP and the TSS and IF scores fall to 82 and 0.89 respectively.
A saving grace of this workout is that the MAP efforts are all fairly short ranging from 15s to just over 2 minutes. These short intervals fit nicely into the school of thought espoused by Dr. Guy Thibault (read it here: Intervals Part 3: MAP Intervals) regarding intensity and duration of MAP efforts and recovery. That doesn’t make it any easier to do “The Downward Sprial,” but at least you’ll know you are following a sound strategy.
Ride the World Time Trial Championships (and road race) in ‘Local Hero’
Local Hero
Finally, I wanted to look at “Local Hero” the longest of the series so far at 85 minutes. This story-book tale of a young man-gone-good represents a great cross section of cycling with a cyclocross race, a criterium, lots of on-screen heckling, a selection of toe tapping good music, and the appropriately engaging Melbourne World Championships road race as a back drop. So what’s the breakdown?
Ouch! In about an hour and a half you get 130 Training stress points with an intensity factor of 0.95 when you build it with max power set at 140% of FTP. It is a manageable workout, but probably not in your early base period. To me this is yet another example of the wisdom of building several erg files to represent different levels of fitness (or desire) If you aren’t up to a 130 point workout at 95% FTP, simply build an erg file that has a lower percentage of FTP for maximum. At 125% max this workout scales down to 107 TSS at 0.86 IF. A bit more relaxed, but only a bit.
Summary
The return of winter sees the inevitable return of indoor training. This time tested right of passage will lead you to a fitter and faster next year, but that doesn’t mean it has to be as tortured as you might think. There are numerous tools and programs that will help you pass the time without going crazy and the finest among these is the Sufferfest series. Professionally produced and with an air of tormented humor, each of the videos so far has been just engaging enough to make me want to come back time after time. But of course, being a coach, I expect more than just entertainment value, so I put Sufferfest to the test.
Specifically, I turned to the venerable CompuTrainer system to see just how hard the workouts are and if they address specific systems development. The short answer is the workouts are well designed and appreciably difficult. Each workout measures north of 85 points in TSS and Intensity Factor when they are corrected against an athlete’s functional threshold power.
Though originally designed around rating of perceived exertion, the videos are equally useful for those wanting to build their own ergometer files, and in fact offer a unique ability to adjust the workload for those who do. Simply modulating the workload changes the profile to suit each athlete’s specific fitness needs. Dial it down 10-15% or so, and a challenging Level 4 workout becomes a manageable Level 3.
While the specificity offered by an ergometer based approach is quite robust, it should be noted that simply applying an appropriate RPE scale will accomplish much of the same thing. In short, as designed, an athlete with sufficient self knowledge and desire can make each of the Sufferfest series serve a useful training purpose at most any time of the year.
• Check them out at www.thesufferfest.com
• The Sufferfest library has expanded again, with their latest offeringA Very Dark Place
Best described by the Suffer-meisters themselves: “You know that ride you’ve done where you thought you went harder, deeper and to a darker place than you’d ever gone before? Well, this takes you further, deeper and darker than that with offically licensed footage from races like Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and featuring pro cyclists like Phillipe Gilbert, Fabian Cancellara, Thor Hushovd and Bradley Wiggins. Like our Downward Spiral and Revolver videos, A Very Dark Place is about maximum effort for shorter durations: in this case, 4:00 intervals.”
- Check out the preview:
About Matt McNamara:
Matt McNamara is a USA Cycling Level 1 coach with over 20 years of racing, coaching and team management experience. You can find him on www.facebook.com.. Facebook or out on the roads of NorCal. He is the President of Sterling Sports Group and races road, track, and cyclocross. Questions, comments, or training advice? Drop him a line – sterlingspeed@gmail.com
Reece Robinson from Hunter District Cycling Team (sponsored by The Sufferfest) suffered to win the silver in the U19 107.4 kilo NSW, Australia championships. HAIL SUFFERLANDRIA!
A couple of Sufferlandrians were kind enough to stop flogging themselves for a few minutes and write in with some feedback on the vids. Thought I’d share their comments with you.
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Dear David,
I am truly blessed. I have finally found someone who is “sicker” than I am. I thought I “hated” Revolver and totally despised Downward Spiral. They are NOTHING !!!!!!!!! compared to the “joy” of hearing angels sing at the end of A Very Dark Place. You have outdone yourself and I want to congratulate you. You are ill and I can’t wait for your next trip down that dark lane.
On a serious note, I want to thank you. I had a wonderful season and I thank Sufferfest for adding to my training the intensity and focus that were needed to complete the miles that I set out to do this year.
Steve C.
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Hi David,
I know I already gave my thumbs up to your ‘fest videos, but I feel that once is not quite enough. But a bit of background on myself first.
I’m 42 and used to race road/mtb 20 years ago. Probably a good senior 3/bad senior 2 racer. Just your typical weekend warrior. After 5 years of racing I got burned out, sold all my gear and stopped the bicycle thing all together. 3 years ago I moved provinces and jobs that put me behind a computer; resulting in a weight gain of 40lbs and I felt pretty disgusted with myself. I started biking again 18 months ago “recreationally” I thought; I don’t want to do that “race shit” as I called it. Well, the competitive virus I had 20 years ago never really went away and I hooked up with a local club here who race and started the entire process again of pain, intervals, and the money trap of buying expensive kit. Last winter was my first year of trainer rides, which kept my fitness up, but at a terrible cost of watching Coach Troy on Spinervals. I dreaded doing it again this year as it’s akin to torture. Somewhere this summer, I saw (I believe on facebook) your page and then I then saw a competitor in a race this August wearing the Sufferfest kit (Wayne from Nova Scotia). I started poking around thesufferfest.com and saw the trailers for the videos. I was sucked in. Bought the kit and all 7 videos in September! (and yes, the stickers that came with the kit are now all over the place!) If it was Spinervals, I wouldn’t even think of the trainer until December.
I’m currently doing the local cyclocross race series here in October/November (lot of fun, but God, its an intense workout, slogging in mud) and use the ‘fest videos once/week to keep working the high intensity. Last year, if someone told me, “Allan, you will be riding the trainer doing intervals in October”, I would have either called them delusional or knock their block off for bringing up such a terrible concept.
Now, I look forward to the trainer workout, doing a different one each week (probably A Very Dark Place tomorrow) and I can’t wait to see how high I can bring the pain level up, knowing that each #$#%$ interval I do will make me that little bit stronger for the rest of the season and certainly for next year. My performance level is getting close to where I was in my 20′s and I expect to get there next year. I still remember my best average speed for a 15k TT (42k/hr) so if I can reach that average next year, I know that I did it. I also lost 50lb!! in 18 months and weigh the same as I did when I was 20.
Your videos will certainly play a part in reaching my goal for next year, as my enthusiasm for them and the results they will create is very high, so I want to send you a very big THANK YOU for creating these.
IWBMATTKYT,
Allan S.
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Last year about this time, I noticed an order come through from a Connie Carpenter. I wrote to her immediately: “Are you THE Connie Carpenter?” Indeed she was the very Connie Carpenter who won, among a million other things, the 1984 Olympic Road Race, married Davis Phinney and had two kids: one of whom is BMC’s Taylor Phinney.
Turns out that Connie was using the ‘fest videos in the spin class she teaches every week in Boulder, Colorado. Since I was in Colorado last week, I asked Connie if she’d like the new videos: we arranged to meet at a local cyclocross race.
To be honest, I was pretty nervous – and even more so when she walked up behind me, recognizing my Sufferfest shirt, and said ‘Are you the Sufferfest?’ (Having anyone say that to me is just awesome, but having her say it? !!!)
Turning around, I greeted not only her but…oh, man….my boyhood hero Davis Phinney. I had a photo of this guy on my training diary when I was racing as a kid. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. He brought a copy of his book for me, even signing it “IWBMATTKYT, Davis.” I spent about 30 minutes talking to them, chatting with Connie about life in Boulder and with Davis about the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s. It was truly a wonderful time and I just couldn’t believe it was happening. I’m so grateful for all the people that the ‘fest has enabled me to meet – thank you so much Connie and Davis!
PS. I also got to meet Taylor as he was on his way to a Halloween Party, and Lucas Euser from the Spidertech team (who happened to be kind enough to take this photo!).
Connie Carpenter, yours truly, and Davis Phinney
Our newest video, Hell Hath No Fury, will be out in mid-November.
All of the footage is from this year’s Women’s UCI World Cup, and features races like the Tour of Flanders and stars like Pooley and Vos.
The workout is very, very tough:
- 9:00 warm-up
- 20:00 interval (flat racing ending in a hilly circuit)
- 7:00 recovery
- 20:00 interval (hilly racing ending in an urban circuit)
- 2:30 recovery
- 2:30 TTT
- 4:00 warm-down
Sufferlandrian Ted Meisky created a detailed ERG file for all the Sufferfest videos for his computrainer. He’s been generous enough to share it with all fellow Sufferlandrians. You can find his blog post, with the file at the bottom, here. Be sure to thank him!!!
“Well, how do I put this: it’s not so much the bike, it’s you.” Tom Barry had been trying to break it to me nicely, but there really wasn’t any avoiding it. He’d done all he could with the machine – now it was up to me.
Tom, an osteopath who also happens to be a Retul certified bike fit specialist, is normally based just outside Melbourne, Australia (Albury to be precise). He was in Singapore for a weekend to visit friends and do a few bike fits. A Sufferlandrian, he got in touch to see if I’d be interested in one. I immediately booked an appointment. I haven’t been right on the bike for years. For the last year, in particular, I’ve felt so uncomfortable on the bike that I was often dreading getting on it. Having just got a new bike, I figured this was perfect timing to sort out my issues once and for all. A touch higher here, a bit lower there and a twist and a turn and I was sure I’d have the grace of Anquetil and the power of Merckx.
When we started, we didn’t actually get on the bike. The fit started with an assessment of how I stood (bowlegged, flat feet) and moved and of my flexibility. I asked Tom what the worst case of bike mis-fit he’d ever had – he said he’d tell me after mine as I might have raised the bar.
After properly diagnosing me as a slumped over, mouse using office worker with a pathetic core and horrific flexibility, we got on the bike. I’d only ever seen the Retul fit equipment in pictures, but it was really impressive. A string of sensors was attached to all my joints from the front of my foot up to my wrists. Then I started pedaling at various intensities and in different positions. “Your knee tracking is world class,” he said. I’d never thought about my knee tracking before, much less that it was world class, but at this point, I was grateful for whatever compliment I could get.
Assessing the angles and range of motion for ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists, Tom started making adjustments. The saddle came down…way down. And it came forward – way forward. This really challenged how I always thought about my position – that I should be higher and further back (although I am no good at it and am far too heavy, I fancy myself a bit of a climber). I was confused: it felt too compact but it also felt more powerful. More Merckx and less Anquetil? We worked on my cleats a lot. I’d felt for a long time like I wasn’t really connected to the bike – as if only the outside of my feet were pushing on the pedals and that one foot was further forward than the other. Tom moved my cleats inwards and it instantly relieved the pressure on my feet. He then suggested that I put in eSoles (a special brand of customizable orthotics) to help improve the connection between my forefoot and the pedal.
Once we got the bike adjusted as much as possible, Tom started talking about me. The bike position would make a difference – but not as much as sorting myself out would. And here is the benefit of working with a bike-fit specialist who also happens to be a health professional: an equal focus on bike and body. “Do you stretch?” Once. About ten years back. “Do you do any core exercises?” Core what? As much as I had wished that only the bike would have to change, and after doing detailed measurements on my new set-up, Tom told me he would provide a set of exercises and a recommendation to start seeing a local osteopath in the report he’s send me once he returned to Australia.
I rode home. And felt weird. The next day, I rode again. And felt even weirder: and slower. It wasn’t good. But then, about two weeks later, the position started to feel more normal, more powerful. It felt…right. Then, I went out and set my fastest average time over a 50km loop that I often tackle. I was able to stay down in the drops in a way that I never could before, and I felt a much deeper – and different – engagement of muscles: not just in my legs, but in my back as well. Tom sent a detailed report that included photos of my session, all the measurements for the bike and for my position, and a series of stretches that would help alleviate much of the discomfort I feel.
Fantastic service from a really expert and attentive professional. He even, as promised, put me in touch with someone in Singapore who could help. I really should start doing those stretches….
Fit and assessment by: Tom Barry B Sc, B Ost Sc, B App Sc, Member of AOA
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Osteohealth/148531415232950
Website: www.osteohealth.net.au
When I started working on A Very Dark Place, it wasn’t called that. I simply called it ‘Five’ – after the five intervals – in my notes and in my filing system. It took awhile for the name, and the full experience, to reveal itself to me.
I say ‘reveal itself to me’ because I never truly know what I’m going to end up with when I start creating a Sufferfest video. I have a basic idea, of course: this one was always going to be 5×4:00 intervals and feature the races that it does (Paris-Nice, Liege, Fleche, Paris-Roubaix, Dauphine), and have a rock/indie soundtrack, but beyond that things have to work themselves out as I pull the pieces together.
The first time I did a 5×4:00 workout was with my spinclass. I told them that we were going to prototype a workout for a future fest video. Two things became clear during that session: 5×4:00 hurts a lot, and it can be boring to slug through 4:00 intervals. Really boring.
Since we’re in the enterPAINment business, boring doesn’t work. We’ve always believed that we MUST entertain you as it’s the only way to keep you on the bike and get you through a workout. The best designed workout in the world isn’t going to do anything for you if you’re too bored to do it a second, third and more times.
This led me to start crafting each 4:00 interval with it’s own personality. I wanted the first one to be something straightforward – the interval that would lead you into the others without too much trouble or thinking. Remy di Gregorio’s solo escape in Paris-Nice made perfect footage for this feeling: steady and aggressive. His finish with arms raised, the camera shooting from behind as the banner comes into view, made a perfect close for this.
The second interval needed to be a little bit harder. I wanted it to take on the steady feeling of the first, but then take a turn for the ugly in the second half…making sure you were fully tuned up and ready to dig really, really deep on the last three intervals. The climb up Mur de Huy in Fleche-Wallone is a brutal effort, but you rarely get to see it from behind the riders. I found footage of an early breakaway, though, in which the camera stayed behind the group during the climb – it lent itself to exactly the feeling I wanted to get.
Since the moment I first watched Phillipe Gilbert’s win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege back in the spring, I knew it had to be in a ‘fest. I wanted to capture some of the desperation that the Schleck’s must have felt as they slowly realised that no matter what they did, they were going to lose. As I cut it into this video, it took on a very ugly, mean spirit: it wanted to attack, attack and attack. I let that happen and create a truly brutal third interval with numerous changes of pace, standing, sitting and sprinting.
I always wanted the fourth interval to be the hardest. I didn’t want you to arrive at the fifth interval with too much left in the tank wishing you had gone harder on the earlier segments. The hardest interval had to be of Paris-Roubaix. Fabian Cancellara was so intimidating, so powerful and so aggressive and I wanted to get that feeling of supreme power into the interval. I wanted you to be scared of him like the riders alongside him must have been. Of course, he didn’t win, but he put everything he had trying to take home another cobblestone and I wanted him to beat you to an absolute pulp in doing so. In some ways, I think the fourth interval is too hard. It’s truly awful if you try to follow the instructions, and might even be a bit out of reach for mere mortals, but if it doesn’t leave you desperate and destroyed then I didn’t do a good enough job in motivating you to push yourself as far as you could…and a little bit beyond.
It was at about this time – while cutting the fourth interval – that the name A Very Dark Place came up. I had really been struggling to find a name up to that point, and the names of the videos mean a lot to me. I want them to be fun, different and somehow indicate what you’re doing to get into. I was riding to work one day and thinking about how hard No. 4 was and said “That is really going to put people into a dark place.” Whahey!
Christophe Kern, the Europcar rider, impressed me in the Dauphine with his complete lack of style and his ability to suffer like no other. I wanted him in this video, and the big climbs of the Dauphine provided a great finish. I wanted No. 5 to be a big gear masher, and trying to stay with Wiggins and crew as attacks keep going off the front made for a great closer: something that would wring every last bit out of you…especially when Purito attacks!
A few new things worked their way into A Very Dark Place. First was the evil laugh. It’s not used often, but I think you’ll agree that it’s used at exactly the right places. Second was a stand/sit indicator for some of the intervals. This allows you to know what you should be doing when the pace changes or the road tilts upward. I also had fun cutting in a visit from the team car and a verbal beat down from Phillipe Gilbert…things I thought of late at night while sifting through footage. These are the kinds of things that are never planned when I start the video…they just sort of find their ways in there as the creative process unfolds.
Music. After a few videos of mostly techno, I wanted a change. You might of wanted one, too. I decided to go with heavy indie and rock, but had to pick the songs really carefully: I didn’t want anything that would get screamo, or too aggressive that it would alienate people, but strong enough to hold the feeling that AVDP was trying to create. The song that might stand out the most is ‘The Hammer Comes Down’ by an ACDC tribute band. I was going to use it for the last interval, but then, at the last minute, shifted it to the last rest period. The soft music I originally had there just didn’t seem right for what was about to happen, and the Hammer lyrics fit perfectly for the time right before the last interval. It’s pretty different for a ‘fest, but I hope you like it.
And that’s just about the story of AVDP. After dozens and dozens and dozens of hours, it finally came out. I’m exhausted and I hope you love the video. Let me know if you’ve got any questions or feedback my fellow Sufferlandrians.
I hope you like them.
It’s been getting dark now for a couple of days, and in that time a few reviews of A Very Dark Place, our new cycling workout video, have popped out. Obviously, the video was not hard enough if these bloggers were able to pull coherent thoughts together afterwards, but do have a read.
Industry Outsider – “Phenomenal.”
Team HasBean - “No punches pulled.”
Training Wheels - “Rode it last night at 8pm. Took till 11am to recover.”
Quadrathalon - “Masochistic.”
Gazzetta CC - “My face spent much of the time about 2cm from my stem.”
Anello Grande – “50 minutes of suffering.”
In The Saddle – “Do I really deserve to suffer so much?”
Tribeccato - “If you don’t know what The Sufferfest is, you need to educate yourself ASAP.”
Faster Further Fitter – “Prove to yourself you are not weak.”
Learning How to Suffer - “Gorgeous.”
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And here is a review from 12 year-old Griffin Schwartz. Griffin lives in Canada, but is an elite member of the Sufferlandrian National Junior Team (Sufferlandria allows dual citizenship).
I think an early sign of a good training video is when your face is already red before you start the intervals. But honestly, I think the video could be harder……LOL! Actually no, because I think my Dad was close to throwing up by the third interval.The video is really tough. I especially like how the intervals differ from one another, the first one is steady, the second very gradually gets harder, the third one has some slight accelerations, the fourth one has some really hard attacks and the fifth one is just a really, really tough climb. I enjoyed the humour (I mean, as much as one can enjoy humour while in A Very Dark Place).
I also like that it’s a very different kind of workout than the other 6 ‘Fests that we have, so it’s nice to have another type of workout to choose from. Even though it might seem boring to just have the same intervals, in fact it’s still interesting because of the changes in footage and music.
And speaking of footage, it’s just awesome — and YAY, it’s in better resolution than older Sufferfests! MUCH better looking on our TV! It gets you super motivated to work hard. The way the video is put together is great. It’s very well edited. The music, what I heard of it, was good.
All-in-all, a must-have addition to our Library-O-Suffering!
Griffin and his (about to throw-up) Dad in Sufferlandrian National Team Kit
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Hmmm. Here in Sufferfest Studios, we’ve done a few triathlons. Our performance in those races would lead the casual observer to surmise that we don’t know jack about triathlons. That observation would be correct. And we know even less about triathlon kit. What we do know is that our clothing partner, F2P makes some very highly respected tri kit, and they’ve come up with some designs for us based on our favorite ‘fest cycling kit.
What do you think of the designs? Want to see any changes? New ideas?
Shorts for the two piece kit
Top for the two-piece. Two pockets in back.
One piece.
Amanda, a Sufferlandrian who has been with us since we released our first video, recently sent me this email which I thought I’d share with you all. I love it because even elite athletes from other sports can benefit from a little trip to Sufferlandria now and again.
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Hi David,
As you know, I’ve been training with The Sufferfest for two years now – it’s the cornerstone of my endurance training for rugby. I do at least one Suffer-session per week, using the longer interval videos in the off-season and Revolver and The Downward Spiral in pre-season. During the competition phase, I mix it around depending on other training demands.
Anyway, at the National Championships this year, I performed very well. One independent strength and conditioning professional estimated my fitness to be in the top 5% of all players in the country – pretty impressive when you consider most others in the top 15 % would be in the Australian Rugby Union’s (ARU) training squad!
And, in fact, the ARU calculated some statistics from the final and concluded I had the highest workrate in the country and recommended my inclusion in the Australian 7s squad on the basis of my “outstanding” performance. I’m extremely proud of that, and while I do a lot of other training, my endurance is a testament to the effectiveness of the Sufferfest videos and I hope you are proud of that, too 
The Aussie Sevens squad won’t take me on the basis that I’m too old and they’re preparing for the 2016 Olympics. But next month, I have the opportunity to play against them in a 7s tournament and you can be sure I’ll make them suffer for not including me on such a silly basis 
Hope this finds you well. I’m very much looking forward to A Dark Place!
Cheers,
Amanda
Oh, this one is going to hurt.
Hey David,
I want to thank you for making these videos. After my first full year of racing, and using your videos for training, I’ve wrapped up my season with a 9th place in Idaho Master’s Road Championships, a 5th in Idaho State Time Trial Championships and I went to Bend, Oregon and competed in the National Time Trial Championships. Did I win? Hell no, but I did finish 34th in the nation for 45-49 and 4th in Cat 4′s. Not too shabby for year 1.
Thanks again for making the vids, I look forward to beating my ass all over again for next year. The Jason Broome Memorial TT is only 6 months away!
Regards,
Steve T
There are those of you, when first coming into contact with the ‘fest, can’t wait to put yourself into as much misery as possible. We love you. So, we’re now offering a package just for those who have chucked all those other cycling workout videos and are focused on true suffering. Here it is: All nine Sufferfest videos at a discounted price: 84.99. That’s about 17 bucks off the regular price for all the videos! Get your ‘fest library off to the right start.
Videos included in the Sufferfest Nine-Pack Bundle: Downward Spiral, Revolver, Fight Club, Angels, The Hunted, Local Hero, A Very Dark Place, Hell Hath No Fury and Extra Shot.
| Ten videos for individual use - $94.99 (Save $17!) | Eight videos for Group & Class use - $179.99 (Save $20!) (HHNF not available yet) |
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For those who bleed Sufferlandrian. Two new essential items of National Team kit.
You can get them here: http://sufferfest.myshopify.com/
It'll look wonderful flying over the fields of Flanders come spring. Until then, it'll look good in your BTC.
Perfect for descents off the Galibier during spring training camps.