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Tour of Sufferlandria

I haven't paid any attention to Sufferfest since they insisted on starting that fairly shit app idea and going to a subscription based payment system.

I have so many of the videos paid for, what do they expect me to do with them now?

There is a 60 days of the sufferfest for free for Veloviewer pro and pro+ users but not if you're an existing member. I may sign up with another email and take advantage of this...

Did it in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but the app turned me off last year as it had no power targets and the video played in some minuscule window, maybe it's been improved since then. Anyone know?
 
Looking at some screenshots, it looks like they have power and hr targets integrated with the videos now. They also have something called 4 dimensional power instead of FTP. Have to take a test for that to set yours. ugh. hate those tests. That one sounds nasty too. I think you should do it now that you have replied to this thread :-O
 
I'm doing the ToS this year, first time. Looks pretty tough; 13+ hours over the nine days with 1050+ TSS.
I've done 10 hours over the past nine days at 850 TSS, and I'd *still* need to fit in a 3+ hour 300 TSS ride. Yikes.

But you may want to take another look at the SufferFest app; it's very well done. Works great on PC, iPad or iPhone (sorry, don't know about Android).
Power, heart rate and cadence targets, all matched to your 'four-dimensional power' (4DP) profile, not FTP.
Assuming I'm explaining this correctly, it means that sprints, 1-minute, five-minute and threshold efforts and such are based on your specific abilities, not based on one FTP number.

Outside of racing, the SufferFest videos have been by far the best at getting the most effort out of me during a workout. There's something about the story-esque visual clues and the soundtrack that really kicks it up a notch. At $10 a month (less if you pay for a year upfront) it's not a ton of money, although granted, I previously didn't own any of the SufferFest videos.

You do have to kinda get into the whole 'sufferlandria' thing, but it really is a good community, and the company videos are very well done, tongue in cheek without taking itself too seriously.

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Yeah. It does look daunting. Especially since I only ride about 4 hours a week right now. Guess I can go all out every second day and lower the intensity on the other days to recover a bit. Good to hear you'll be doing it.
 
I just jumped back on the subscription today after a few months off with a torn meniscus. I like it and at less than two cups of coffee in a cafe a month, I use the payment as a good motivation to use it. Trainers are boring but the app makes it bearable.
 
The code didn't work but I got in touch and told my tale.
They were sorry to hear a long time user was unhappy with what they were offering and agreed to give me the free months for a new account so I'm going to sign up at least for as long as it's free.

That last day looks impossible for me to do indoors. My ass cannot take the trainer for that long.

181minutes

Sufferno.JPG
 
I downloaded the windows app for SF last night. It worked fine with my devices. I did the full frontal 4DP test this morning. Horrible things those tests. Nice to have it finished. Ended up with the same FTP as my FTP test 3 weeks ago and some other numbers also. The 5 second test was hard to execute properly as I'm not used to pushing really high power on the trainer and didn't want to break my bike. The 5 minute test must have been an hour long as those 5 minutes just didn't end. Unlike TrainerRoad which gives you an interval clock, SF you are riding blind with only quick reminders every now and again regarding time if you keep your eye on the screen. Anyway - 5 minutes sounded short so took the out too hard and fade badly approach which I executed really well. The actual 20 minute FTP test was fine. The only problem that I had was keeping the watts up mentally as I found that watching the videos, I'd ease off on the downhill sections, coming to corners or drafting the guys. Bit of a mind f**k. I usually just watch power. I guess I'll get the hang of it with more practice. The 1 minute test was not too bad. I was just smashed but gave it what I could. The minute actually went by pretty fast. Overall, very happy to be finished with that.

So - now I am ready for the Tour! Unsubscribe from this thread if you don't want to read about a grown man crying.
 
My trainer is kinda loud. It's the Lemond Revolution so generates more and more air noise the faster you go. This creates the problem with Sufferfest for me that I can't really hear the music or audio prompts for that matter when I'm hard at it. Kind of a waste of all that good music. Up to know, I've been just vegging out on numbers so been quite happy without sound.

Can anyone recommend a fairly cheap set of head phones (not the in ear type ideally) that don't fall off so easily (light?) and can take a good sweating while providing decent'ish sound. I'll probably go on the prowl to Bic Camera or something at some point but if anyone has a recommendation in the mean time that would help. Hopefully, this will help with 9 days of pleasure I'm gonna embark on.
 
These are what I use but you don't want in ear so...

I did 9 Hammers today and set the FTP at 3.9w/kg for shits and giggles, how hard could it be? "I used to be better than that and I've been riding fairly well recently"

Was bad!

Not devastatingly bad just got hammered by the hammers bad and had to dial it back on hammer five and eight...and nine...

The video is still only taking up a small amount of real estate on the screen, though better than the original app but the numbers are all over the damned place!
They really need to re-shoot all the videos and optimise them for the app.
The lack of proper timing is a real pain, too. They urge you to pace your efforts then neglect to tell you the time. Using it in conjunction with TraineRoad was the best thing for it.
@wexford already stated on Strava but the lack of lap splits and data on the mobile app is another thing they should have sorted out by now.
How many cyclist don't have all these accounts and don't have them synced? If they offer syncing they should make sure it is fully compatible.

Again, TraineRoad has this down pat.

I will probably do the 4DP test at the end of the week. Not looking forward to it.
 
For those of you wanting to ride the tour but you don't have a trainer, my friend is currently going to a studio called https://www.pedalsup.jp where they have 5x WATT Bikes and a monitor etc in front of you. Now that has got to be fun. It's near either "Shin Maruko" station or "Musashi Kosugi" station. They rent out gear too like shoes, towels etc.
 
I'm all signed up at this point. As well as just quite simply being a mad thing to do, the main goal of the tour is to raise money for the Parkinson's disease. I'm not much of a fundraiser usually, but I figure why not give it a go as it will also ensure that I don't fail on my way to the Sufferlandria finish line 9 days later (and way too many hours spent indoors later also).

If any of you would like to donate to edge me and the greater cause forward, please do so. Or better still sign up yourselves or indeed donate to another TCCers efforts! As long as all the funds go the right way, I'm happy.

The tour starts this Saturday! Help!
 
Looking at the stages and the amount of time they expect people to spend indoors on the trainer, I am not going to bother with it.

I'll do the odd one if time and my training schedule permits the kind of ride they are prescribing but at this time of year it's far too much.

There is no way I can do late night or early morning trainer sessions and the window I do have with work, family responsibilities, and outdoor rides doesn't permit the completion of this year's tour:ashamed:

They ask more than I can give
 
Yep. It's a lot to ask of yourself and those around you. Not fond of the idea of doing 3 hours inside instead of out. At least it's not summer. For a good cause though and now that I have some fundraising momentum, I gotta see it through! Will miss you.

Don't suppose you wanna go to pedals up to do a session together on Tuesday night? I'm meeting another guy there to try their watt bike out for the dose that day. PM me if interested.
 
Stage 1 - 1h48m done this morning. Legs got a lot of abuse. It was actually quite a heavy ride considering there is not recovery ride to follow. Tomorrow is just over 2 hours and looks like a killer with a lot of high watt sprints. Not looking forward to that. Am looking forward to having it finished though. Plan so far is to do these all at 100% intensity. Let's see how long I last.
 
I did the full frontal test yesterday, I had knee surgery in December so set intensity at 80% and was pretty happen to finish it. Turns out I forgot to check the virtual power check box and the test was only a ride not a correct 4D test per se. My PM is on my road bike and it won't get put in a trainer while I have a choice to use another bike. Will retry the test tomorrow after I shovel snow for an hour or two. Still snowing now stuff it, wet spring like snow about a foot deep. Yuck!
@wexford good luck for the rest of the rides.
 
Stage 1, 2 and 3 done now. Stage 2 was the hardest so far at just over 2 hours. Somehow it also made me smile too though as it was strangely satisfying to get through the shovel. Legs were super tired last night though. Todays stage was much easier. Still whacking along at 100% and giving it everything. Was so happy after finishing today's stage to notice that I've raised $939 for Parkinson's so far! That has me feeling so awesome. Only 6 more to go.
 
@WattsUp - how are you getting on with your tour?

I completed stage 4 this morning. My legs were in pieces last night so I was kind of dreading it this morning. Found some out of date salonpas in the press and sprayed it on. oh yeah! Straight to bed and I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. So that's 4 done and 5 to go.

I'm kind of getting used to SF vids now and the way they work. Been enjoying some of the footage. I've been using their yoga videos to recover and that feels rather nice. Kind of want to try more of the yoga videos so that is what I think I'll be doing after the tour finishes if it doesn't take me with it. That last 3 hour monster still haunts me.
 
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