Sufferfest rides to increase speed

1

I have a series of Sufferfest rides I have been doing for some time. To be honest, after a few 4DP tests I have little enthusiasm for going to the next level of Suffering. Outside I ride almost exclusively solo and not as fast as when I wasn’t 62. I decided to go on a group ride today and the results were predictable. They start out way too fast for me but by the end we are nearly equal.
I have to assume that there are Sufferfest rides that will challenge me more, maybe race paced.

1 Like
2

There are a good number of race-like WahooX workouts. If you go to the library and select Cycling, and filter for Racing, there are some very good ones.

That said. In my early 60s, by far the most productive thing was challenging group rides. I was lucky in that I had three different very good ones and each started at widely different spots, all ~8-12 miles from my house. I’d ride there, the rides would vary from 25 to 45 miles, and ride back. I was getting in a lot of miles and the friendly competitive nature of the rides made me work really hard. Since then, I’ve been riding solo and doing workouts on the trainer, but it’s nowhere near the same. If you can find some regular challenging group rides, I think that’ll have a bigger impact than riding the trainer.

4 Likes
3

I agree with the Group Rides thing, but you have to be EXTREMELY careful when selecting the group. I find that you have to get with a group that has:

  1. Riders at a level which is just outside your comfort zone to those that will rip your legs off at the hips and feed them back to you. You want to start with the latter and finish with the former.
  2. The ride has a sweeper or S.A.G. If you blow up in a blaze of GLORY, you want to have someone who will help you get back to the start.
  3. (This is extremely important) The group publishes their rides in a public forum. This allows you to load the route into your device so you can get through if the group drops you or you find the dreaded bonk half way through the ride and #2 is not available or otherwise busy.
    BTW, I’ve found #1 but I want to ride with a group that I’ve been riding with for over two years that is still challenging but not so crazy that they are riding at or over the speed limit on public roads.
    Enjoy finding your ride.