It’s all good, Dame Isa. The magic of banding keeps everyone together no matter what one’s personal plan is for the day. Just being in a group of friends makes the ride go by quicker. BTW, I did see that you got a Zwift green jersey on one of the sprints 
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Ah, I had to go google that jersey thing. Neat!
I knew about the rubber banding, but since I’ve only ever used zwift occasionally and usually solo, I don’t even know what the powerups do. Lol. The feather is self explanatory at least.
So, I wasn’t sure if a group would have to work harder if rubber banding was on and a rider like me is freeloading along.
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Ah, always too short, like every good Paincation, you do know that feeling, too?
With a group of 10 joining together in the GvA’s secret Retreat and Spa we started out our practice session for the perfect Painface. It was a splendid mix of regulars and returning faces.
The plan for practice was pretty straight forward. 5 Official Sprints and one Sprint to the Line. As there was also a small KoM with a line, there was another opportunity to have a sprint. So of course we did.
Spanning over about 90 minutes with 7 sprints, it was a hard and easy ride at the same time. Sir Rich @rrutis was not satisfied with so few opportunities to practice his Painface, so he had a Half Monty while riding on top of it.
After getting the legs up to speed after the first few sprints we were chatting happily away, like always. Of course there was deep knowledge to be found and we discovered the hidden truth about Daylight Saving Time, Sir Ruben’s Dogs past time and Undead Squirrels.
(Picture: Sir Ruben)
It was a joyful ride, with laughs in the best company you could wish for a Saturday, topped off by very tough sprints, we didn’t hold back. The best thing when sprinting with fellow Sufferlandrians is, everyone wins if you do your best.
(Typical Knight Ride! Like usual, if it has elevation, the immortal engine, Sir Ruben, leads us out.)
While it was not a short ride, it felt kind of short, because we had lots of fun. It was like every good Paincation should be in our Mythical Nation of Sufferlandria.
Thank you all for joining and the Ministry of Tourism of Sufferlandria for the support. Show your newly honed Painface proudly and see you next Saturday when we embark on a mystical Quest!
More than you!
Citizen Blackwater
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Dame Isa, glad you joined up again!
While the rubber band works exactly as you say (the group power and stats are combined), never think of you as burdening us.
We are not racing against each other, there is no time cut off we need to make, we are just enjoying the ride. Everyone can ride as hard as fast or slow as she or he wants. Sprints and hard efforts are purely optional (but waaaaay fun if it is a day you can do them). You have to keep your legs tuning to make the rubber band stick. That’s it.
Some of us quite often use the ride as a great opportunity for doing base Zone Work and forgetting the time while doing so.
For the Knight Rides it is about the company and having a great day out. So “just” bring your company to the ride and we are happy. If you manage a setup you can read and chat if you feel like it, it is a great bonus. If you rather not, that is perfectly ok as well. 
Hope to see you next week again and have a great Sunday!
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Thanks! I will have Zwift until Nov. 24th so I’ll hop on as much as I can before then!
I do have a setup where I can chat (as if I have ever been able to type and ride before) so I’ll do that rather than dual record on the next one. The dual record forced me to use my phone for zwift.
I did see something about squirrels and time zones, mainly I was trying to squint to see where exactly any sprint sections were. Phone screens are too tiny for this haha.
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The Knight Rides! The Quest (on Knights of the Roundabout)
There is much to be said about us Sufferlandrians. While Couchlandrians think we are strange and dangerous it is actually the opposite. For example Sufferlandrians are friendly, speak in the harsh but beautiful tongue of Painglish* (see below) and are very supportive.
So when we see someone in need we naturally see if we cannot help out if it is a valid concern.
As it happens it seems a certain Company still is having trouble of gathering enough vowels to fill all names. It is unclear if they are only forgetful and loose them way to easy or if they simply cannot afford them.
Sufferlandrians are not rich, but that is something we can help with. Our language Painglish has tons of vowels, so there should be enough to spare, even for a Company in need.
So it is our duty to embark on a Quest for vowels. And of course there is no better place to do so than France. There we shall search the country while going in circles for a huge number of sprints (10!!!), which naturally are a great place to find all the vowels we need.
After the ride we will pass around a (hopefully clean!) SUF-Bucket to collect all donated vowels. We can even put a few other letters in to make sure everything is fine.
With that we should ensure the Company can finally and proudly name it’s products like they were intended to be named.
Say it proudly: KICKaaaagghhhR……
Join The Knight Ride! The Quest HERE!
Everyone’s welcome, Knights, Citizens and all friends, especially BBC. Even if you forget your empty SUF-Bucket and just join for the ride.
Every collected vowel will be donated to the Company.
Guaranteed 100% GvA approved and Couchlandrian free.
Every Saturday in the Off (or is it On?) Season.
*) Taken from the Tourist Guide to Sufferlandria
“ […] Language is the best window into a culture. Sufferlandrians are proud of our heritage, and we are eager to share our rich oral tradition with visitors. Our native tongue is Painglish, an ancient language closely related to Phlegmish. Painglish is at once guttural and expressive, and is not hard to master once you’ve completed sixteen one-minute intervals at 240% of FTP. While in our country you may find the following greetings and phrases useful:
MRRRPPHHAAAAGGHH!: “Hello! Have you suffered today?” (Traditional greeting)
FFFFFFGGGHHAAA!!: “Yes! More than you, my doughy minion.” (Traditional response)
THHHPPHHHAABBBAAARFF!: “You must excuse me. I must complete another interval of soul-shattering intensity and duration! May your competitors rue the day they pinned on a number!”
OOOOONYOUURLEEFFT!!: “Sufferlandrian on the course. Please abandon all hope of victory.”
IWBMATTKYT (pronounced “Aye-Wuu-Bee-Ma-TEET”): “I Will Beat My Ass Today to Kick Yours Tomorrow.” […]
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CoS @Blackwater are we banded for the November 8 Knights Ride? I need to know what to tell the Barrington Bicycle Club portion of the peloton. Thanks
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@Medina81 The invitation is fixed Sir! Please let all know, their vowels are welcome as well!
Sorry, missread your post, the ride is banded like every time if I not mess up. There are no planned unbanded rides this season.
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You speak my language.
See you Saturday!
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I have a prep ride on the Long Strait of Loneliness scheduled for Saturday. I will definitely be joining as this will help get me through the last third of it.
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We will be cheering you on Sir @emacdoug!
The last part of your ride will be the fastest. 
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Hoping to join for the first time this weekend. Still have zwift for a couple of weeks, so keen to at least make one. I have 1hr30 z2 in my plan, so will just be taking it steady (building some endurance post injury).
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Looking forward to riding with you Sir @sir_james.p!
Just go as easy as good for you and try not to get caught up in the sprints, like I always do, even if I want to get easy. 
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I can’t promise I won’t, I am not very good at going easy…..
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Spoken like a true Knight, sir.
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Great ride today all. Definitely made the time indoors pass quickly. It was a beautiful sunny day here in South West England, didn’t really want to be indoors.
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Yours and Sir Alan’s extra suffering was inspiring, Sir James.
As were the showers of PR’s raining down with the vowels and sweat….
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Soooo many extra vowels.
Oh my, GVAaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!
I definitely wasn’t planning on adding that many sprints into my long Z2 day.
I rode 1:45 before the Knight Ride. Then rode 2:15 including the Knight Ride which lasted about 1:50 including the cool down. Wahoo analysis I put a LOT more work into the Knight Ride portion. 
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Ooof, that time frame looks like half a knighthood!
Well suffered Sir.
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Probably about 4/10ths
Or could be just 2 if you ride Blender and Cobbler.
I did take a 10 minute break in between, too. Good practice. 
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