After a little contemplation and a short conversation with my supportive spouse, I have decided and am hereby announcing that on Nov 19 I will be reaffirming my commitment to my Knighthood of Sufferlandria with a SECOND quest.
I will be starting at approximately 3AM Pacific Standard Time on Friday morning, Nov 19. Here is my very tentative early playlist with no duplicates from my previous quest.
I’m considering swapping in Cobber instead of The Chores. But that may be a game time decision. Or maybe I’ll just have to do 11 as a hat tip to my first quest.
Yep! My first one I tried to pick a lot of shorter (but not too short) and hard workouts so I only had one that was an hour or more because I only had so much time allotted to me so i didn’t leave my wife alone with the kids for 11 hours.
This time I’ve planned it on a school day instead of a weekend, so I’ll have most of the day to myself. So, I’m making up for it with a bunch of longer sessions. Time will tell if that ends up being a bad idea or a worse idea.
Absolutely. Gotta turn it up to 11! We’ll how well my knees can take it this time. Last time I was out for 2 months with tendonitis. Hopefully a little strength and yoga will make the difference. If not, it’ll still be worth it. Probably. lol.
Chapeau! Woudn’t it be “fun” if a new Cobbler/ Muddler using this past weekend’s races was ready for your quest. Who knows, perhaps GvA has even spoken to Wahoo about adding to their hardware range (Kickr, Tickr, Rollr) with a Rainr and perhaps even a Mudr (that clogs up your trainer and cakes your face!). You could be the first Beta tester of the Rainr and Mudr, and to be fair to you, you would only have to use it for #11
You can ride them at whatever level feels comfortable. For my first quest (last year) I started with the first 3 at 80% and then dropped them to 75%. Towards the end I was at 70/65% - and also my right knee was all hella painful and I had tendonitis for the next 2 months and I probably should’ve dropped them all by 5% lol. But it all depends on what workouts you’re riding and your fitness level. The only rule is that you try to stay true to the ride profile and that you suffer. By #10 that could be as low at 60/55%.
Do it! The Hilly Gran Fondo Plan or the Century Plan will get you riding up to 4-5 hour rides on the weekends. Then you can do the 4 week knighthood prep plan in the month leading up to your chosen date. Or, if you’re more adventurous and spontaneous, just wake up one day and ride the heck out of your trainer. You can do it!
Form should be good enough without special prep (300km rides are no problem at the moment, even at 30+km/u average)
Got through the summer with such a form, never been this good in October, no idea what I’ve done different. That’s the main reason I’m willing to try it now, enjoy the good form while it lasts (at 42 years old, you got to choose your moments )
Thanks for the insights. I think I’m going to plan something for end november or december.
You’re welcome! And if you do a quick search in the forum for “knighthood” you’ll find a number of other threads with loads of advice for knighthood quests. If you’re doing 300km rides on a regular basis then you’re already well ahead of the curve.
Well, the outlook for my attempt is getting more… interesting… by the week.
I was looking great the beginning of July. But then I had to take time off to visit my ailing father and then quarantine. After that it took me a couple more weeks to recovery mentally.
I got back into it in August and in Sept I built back up my mileage, but my endurance was still nowhere near what it was the end of June when I had been doing 100k rides almost every other weekend.
I started a recovery week 2 weeks ago, and then somehow came down with some kind of tummy problems last Sunday that took me completely off my bike. I knew something was off on Sunday, and then Monday I could barely put pressure on the pedals without feeling nauseous while simply doing Recharger. I ended up taking the whole week off and am now trying to slowly get back into it this week. I’ve lost 8 pounds and definitely can feel the loss of energy as I try to ramp back up.
So, I know I will not be anywhere near where I hoped to be in just 4 and half weeks. I really only have 3 and half weeks to work with before I recover the week of my attempt. I prefer to by in control of my events so that I know I have the fitness and the only question marks are the intensity and the technical things I can never control. This will be a much bigger test as my physical state will now be one of those question marks. So, I guess GvA is having his way with this one!
Time will tell if that ends up being a bad idea or a worse idea. 
)
