In an exchange on another post, Sir Evan talked about doing 9H at 111%, which gave me this great idea. Great is, of course, a relative term.
Here is the idea. We pick a month, later in the year when indoor cycling is the norm for many, to do a month long challenge. I am thinking October or January since Nov & Dec have some holidays that often include travel and other family commitments.
Using ONLY Sufferfest videos, do one a day beginning on the first day at 101%. Day 2 at 102%. Day 3 at 103%…until you either break or you do a ride on the 31st day of the month at 131%. There are 55 Sufferfest videos so how carefully can you craft a schedule to get deep into the month?
Personally I would pick October at the end of the season. Maybe at peak fitness, but possibly not so fresh.
January at the beginning of the season would mean people may be fresher, but maybe not in as good of shape after the holidays. So I would rate it as second choice.
9H has to be a requirement, tho I’m not sure how many people will make it past unless their numbers are stale. If anyone makes it past then we know they’re not using recent numbers.
I’m continuing to refine the idea. What if we use the 54 hour Tour calendar? That would allow those so inclined to double up on any give day and then get a full day off. So you could double up, like morning and evening, for rides 9 & 10 and get a full day off to tackle 9H @111%. I think this would be the break day for most, but doable (maybe).
Also, there are a couple of gimme rides like Igniter & Recharger that you could fold n strategically. But there are also some deceptively hard rides when you ramp up the difficulty. Suf Idol may look ‘easy’ with the recoveries being 50% of threshold. But the six sprints are at over 250% of threshold. Moving the recoveries to 55% of threshold if you did the ride on day 10 is nothing, however moving the sprints to 275% is another story, and a painful one at that.
A couple of other rules. Obviously no repeating a ride and they must be done in ERG mode.
If we do this in October, we should think of a way to incorporate Sufferlandrian National Day. In 24 and 23 there was a SUFday badge awarded for a 3+ hours ride on the last Sunday in October.
This sounds like the kind of fun I can get behind…
For me, Jan is easier as work travel is very unlikely. October might have some travel but I can still suffer in a hotel gym and long haul travel just adds to the Suffering.
Sir Eric, I agree with you. I did the ride yesterday which is why I commented. The six 10 second sprints were hard enough at 100%. At 110%, it would have killed me.
That was just a suggestion, but your point is well taken. That said, 9H has never been the most difficult ride for me. Certainly in the top 20 (maybe top 10), but there are others that just don’t seem compatible with my riding strengths and style that I have a more difficult time with..
The bad, I will be 70 in Nov. 