ANNOUNCING: The STEP Up Challenge

[rebecca.bell]

March is Women’s History Month. And while we are firmly of the opinion that the accomplishments of women should be recognized and celebrated year round, it does give an opportunity to highlight something close to our hearts: gender equality in cycling.

To help bring attention to this important issue, we’re holding the STEP Up Challenge March 27-28. (You can do the rides anytime between March 25-29th to qualify for the badge)

STEP stands for Stand Together for Equal Pay, and the date of the challenge coincides with Equal Pay Day, which marks how far into the next year the average woman would have to work in order to earn the same as a male worker in the same position.

HOW IT WORKS

Complete the following workouts between March 27-28th and win the coveted STEP Up Challenge badge in your passport:

Saturday, 27 March: Who Dares + Half the Road.
Who Dares : One of our favorite workouts, Who Dares features some of the most exciting footage in pro racing from the women’s Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders, and Amstel Gold.

Half the Road: Part of the Inspiration series in the Wahoo SUF Training App, Half the Road is Kathryn Bertine’s 2015 documentary that explores the world of women’s pro cycling and the culture of gender inequality in the sport. This is a moderate-intensity base workout so you can focus on the story while still working on your aerobic endurance.

Sunday, 28 March: Fight Club + I Just Want to Ride
Fight Club : A recently remastered version of a SUF classic, Fight Club features footage of the women’s UCI road world championships.

I Just Want to Ride : Part of the Inspiration series, this documentary chronicles Wahoo athlete and ultra-endurance badass Lael Wilcox as she tackles the 2019 edition of The Tour Divide, one of the most grueling off-road races on the North American calendar.

Kathryn Bertine will be riding Fight Club live with Wahoo Sports Science coach Suzie Snyder on Sunday, 28 March and will be fielding viewer questions. We’ll post details on the SUForum and the Sufferlandria Facebook page as the date gets closer.

Everyone who earns the badge will be in the running to win one of 50 limited-edition signed copies of Kathryn Bertine’s new memoir, Stand . Winners will be chosen at random on April 5th. Earn the badge, earn a chance to win.

[Pierre]

Great challenge! Thank you, @rebecca.bell.
I’m expecting the usual 50-hour SUF day window will be valid for this challenge, right?

Please more of this!

I see the training plan to add the workouts to our calendar is already available in the special focus category of the app. Nice!

@Cody.Moore: Do you want to pin the topic? I think it would make sense.

[Isa]

Great way to raise awareness of this! Looking forward to participating.

[rebecca.bell]

The Homestretch Foundation store just opened back up, you can use this link Shop — Homestretch Foundation to help support this incredible cause.

Kathryn’s new book is also available here: Books and Film — Kathryn Bertine (I’m reading it now and it is incredible!)

[rebecca.bell]

@Pierre We are actually opening this challenge up a bit more. As long as you complete the 4 rides anytime from March 25th to March 29th you’ll get the badge. We know that 4 rides over the weekend can be tough to fit in and we want to encourage as many people to ride as possible!

[Martin]

@rebecca.bell

As long as you complete the 4 rides anytime from March 25th to March 29th

Phew. Was about to ask this question too. That’s handy.
I guess it’ll appear in the challenge page dashboard with start/finish so we see when it opens across the world?

[rebecca.bell]

@Martin We are actually moving away from the dashboard for this challenge. This makes it easier for Sufferlandrians to see when the rides are scheduled without needing to go beyond the calendar in the app

[Pierre]

Sounds promising.

One more thought: Would be super cool if you switch out the suf cycling kit banner in the app against a challenge banner.

This would reach a ton more people.

[CPT_A]

Aww man, that’s my Team Scream weekend in my plan.

Oh well, can’t be helped. Lucky for me this issue is so important, and the challenge sounds EXC.

sigh

[Martin]

@rebecca.bell

This makes it easier for Sufferlandrians to see when the rides are scheduled without needing to go beyond the calendar

Grand.
So for absolute clarity - what criteria is the badge based on? Starting and finishing within those days fir all four rides, irrespective of order, no 50hr day stuff, and therefore based on time zone?

Means people won’t be writing in afterwards about the badge hopefully

Cheers.

[MadFrankie]

Hi,

Great cause and I’m a sucker for badges…I’m in!

[dylan.robbins]

We’re on it!

[Pierre]

Found this on The Sufferfest YouTube Channel:

- YouTube

Scheduled for Mar 28, 2021

Join Coach Suzie Snyder and Kathryn Bertine to ride Fight Club and discuss Kathryn’s documentary Half the Road, equality in cycling, and more! Write in your questions live to have them answered by Kathryn herself!

[Glen.Coutts]

@CPT_A

that’s my Team Scream weekend in my plan

So the questions that remain are whether you are doing Team Scream with the rides on the 27th or the 28th (or both) and then in what order?

[Martin]

Questions re the ‘window’ are also being asked here (@rebecca.bell @dylan.robbins as the two wahooligans in this thread)

Step Up Challenge [in the middle of a VO2 MAP block]

Just a silly challenge question (SUF Noob here) - for this challenge, we simply do the workouts on the days, unlike the ToS where the process was to actually join via the challenge page? Also, is there a time window for earning the badge? As there was in the the ToS? IE anywhere it is that day in the world, is a valid day?

[CPT_A]

[titanicus]

I’m currently planning doing all four on the same day (just because that’s the only way I’ve discovered to fit them in during the window).

🤷🏻